Privacy laws make it hard to share Christmas joy

IT has been widely acknowledged that people’s sense of wellbeing is very closely linked to belonging to a community. Feeling isolated from others can contribute to mental ill health.

It seems today that the insistence on privacy is seriously contributing to the breakdown of community and making it difficult to do simple acts of kindness.

I was attempting to deposit some money into the account of a man currently in prison, in time for Christmas. In order to do so, I needed not only the bank account number of the prison, which was no problem, but also the PRN number of the prisoner. The prison refused to give me this number and said I will need to get it from the prisoner himself, which was easier said than done.

Fortunately, I was able to speak to someone in PARS (Prisoners Aid Rehabilitation Society) who managed to talk to prison staff and persuade them to use some common sense.

When will a popular outcry arise and say enough is enough in pushing privacy too far? James Irwin

Normanby

College concerts

RE Colin Campbell’s letter (ODT, 30.11.18). It was great of him to bring this to everyone’s attention, but it must actually be nigh on the 60year anniversary of those magnificent Dunedin Teachers’ College concerts in the town hall.

I still have my LPs of the 1961 and 1962 concerts in which I participated, and I have to say they were one of the highlights of my two years at the college. However, it is probably 50 years since I listened to them. I was actually moved to tears when this morning I heard Climb Every Mountain and Somewhere My Love from the 1968(?) concert being sung with Norma’s glorious accompaniment on our wonderful Otago Access Radio.

So, thank you, Colin Campbell, and to Russell Campbell and his programme ‘‘Golden Sounds of Stage and Screen’’ on OAR every Monday at 10am, for a lovely dollop of nostalgia — I am now off to play my own record after all these years. Suzanne Lane

Waldronville