REBECCA ROOD'S MAILBAG..............................................................................

• Dear Rebecca, I wrote to you sometime ago only to receive a rather offensive reply. Was it necessary for you to be so blunt ? Yours utterly distressed, Gaylord
• Dear Gaylord, It's not in my nature to bend the truth, to beat about the bush, to indulge in euphemisms and gentle lies......I give it to people straight. You wanted to know how a rated you as a bridge player following our one-off ill-fated performance at the Brighton Congress. I have to admit that your cheque was the most generous sum I have ever received from a fee-paying partner, but the price I had to pay in terms of agony at the table was far far greater. I told you in my first letter that a straw man possesses a better bridge brain than yourself.......and that view is the one that I still carry today. Yours unashamedly Rood