When it comes to the subject of graffiti, one has only to read “The Way We Were” (The Press, December 31), when 100 years ago, a prisoner was sentenced for chalking on public pavements.

The prisoner had refused to state a religion until, under duress, he chose the Church of England, even though being a non-conformist; this seemed more important than the initial charge.

Now, in this day and age, we have pavement artists, displaying their wares under licence outside York Minster. On the other side of the coin, there are miscreants who daub their graffiti on every available building and structure that takes their fancy, much of which has to be removed at the taxpayers’ expense.

So now we have a conundrum, to distinguish between what can be descried as graffiti or a pastime of an artistic person, whose inner self craves attention by their actions.

There seems to be a fine dividing line between criminal damage and artistic expression.

Kenneth Bowker, Vesper Walk, Huntington, York.