Dear Editor,

On numerous occasions, every year, the well at Covent Garden breaks down. The Saturday before last it again broke down and now, several days later, no one says when the water supply will be restored.

Contrast this with what I saw on TV (Channel 6) early evening two Sundays ago.

Someone, under the guise of public education, accompanied by imitations of the human genitalia, demonstrated the use of the condom. Calm and composed, and holding on to a large life-like phallus, he slowly rolled on the plastic and then, equally carefully, rolled it off. Lightness of touch and lack of speed were his hallmarks.

When, to his satisfaction, he had executed this intricate operation, he turned to the female anatomy. After inserting the condom, he did not omit mention of one vital bit of information, namely, where, during the actual act, the penis had to be placed. It must, he pointed out, be placed into the inserted condom. Again, using his finger, he demonstrated where.

Does pornography posing as public education have priority over water?

Are such displays on TV, at 7.30 in the evening, allowable in Washington, Ottawa and London?

Why do ‘civilized’ folks aid the wanton slaughter of the value system in this country?

Yours faithfully,
M Gopal

Editor’s note

We sent a copy of this letter to Mr Chandranarine Sharma, Managing Director of CNS Channel 6, for any comments he might have wished to make, and received the following response:

“Thank you for sharing the contents of contributor Mr M. Gopal’s letter with us.

“We make four points below:

“1. CNS Channel 6 has aired material of such a nature but never at “7.30 in the evening.”

“2. Based on the contents of the letter, we assume the material to which Mr Gopal is referring is a documentary called ‘Living In A World With AIDS – (Part Two)’ which was created by Guyenterprise for the Ministry of Health and the National AIDS Programme Secretariat, presented by Ms Lorraine Harris and supported by the Global Fund.

“3. We believe the objective of this documentary is to sensitize the public on AIDS Awareness and inform them about precautionary measures to avoid this deadly disease, since 33.2 million people globally are living with it.

“4. If Mr Gopal find a documentary of such nature to be offensive to “the value system of this country” then we strongly recommend that he engage the attention of the producers, the Ministry of Health, with his opinion about values.

“We are grateful to you for allowing us the opportunity to share our comments.”