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

Dear Rebecca,

As an outright and committed feminist, how do you look upon men who play bridge ?

Yours would love to know your thoughts on this matter,

Wanda Pritchard

Dear Wanda,

As you know when it comes to men I can happily suck them in and spit them out by their bootlaces. Men who play bridge are just as vulnerable. As to how I look upon men................ it would be far more appropriate to use the word " down ". Anyway my views can be summed up best by the following quotes, all taken from a variety of bridge books written by the fairer sex. Indeed, all the writers are renown for their insight, wisdom and perceptive observations, having that wonderful gift of being able to see the light.

- It may have taken millions of years to make men out of monkeys, but in the world of bridge it takes only a few minutes to reverse the process

- Male prejudice against women players is so astounding, because women must do twice as well even to be thought of as half as good

- For a man his local bridge club is his castle on the outside : on the inside it is his nursery

- Male bridge players are like eggs - occasionally fresh, but more likely to be rotten or hard boiled

- Many men are far too fond at dishing out puerile advice : they do this if only to console themselves over their inability to give good examples of the finer points of bidding and play

- There is no greater fury on earth than a man's scorn towards his errant partner

- Bridge , indeed, may bring out the fury of a man's passion, but never a desire to mend his ill-temper

- To most men saying or doing something unpleasant to their partners or opponents is more of a duty than a weakness

- Bridge clubs are one of the last bastions of male chauvinism : not only do they discriminate against women they also discriminate against each other

- Despite the vast amount of time men can spend together developing a perfect system, their contact rarely goes beyond the world of bridge : a limitation which tends to make their partnership nothing more than a shallow, unsatisfying and meaningless friendship

- Bridge has a knack of turning a man into a black and selfish monster, who undergoes a fatty degeneration of his moral being

- Men always want power over their new partners if only to avenge the crimes committed by their former ones

- When I see the lengths some men will go to to win at bridge, no wonder they call women the " fairer " sex

Yours enlightening as ever, Rebecca