25 FEBRUARY 1989, Page 24

Sir: In your leading article defending priva- cy and attacking

secrecy, you make the common press comment that 'secrecy is an evil. . . . Governments use secrecy because they have something to hide.' What you seem to ignore is that there is such a thing as confidentiality. No organisation, whether it be a government or any other, can function if it cannot trust its people with confidential material. The fashion among politically motivated civil servants to betray the confidence of their colleagues is something any government has to stamp out.

Esher

Christmas Common Tower, Watlington, Oxford