20 FEBRUARY 1988, Page 23

Shazam

A DIRE report reaches me from Wall Street of a bond salesman in trouble sacked by his firm, wiped out on his personal dealings, sued by his wife, in- formed that his mistress has tested Aids- positive, trudging down to the East River to end it all and stumbling over a bottle, which released a genie. `Shazam', said the genie, politely. 'For releasing me, make a wish, and it shall be granted.' The bond salesman, reasoning that what he needed most was a stable job and thinking the US trade deficit as stable a feature of life as any, wished to become a salesman of imported cars. `Shazam' — and when the smoke cleared, he found himself selling Chryslers in Tokyo.