20 AUGUST 1988, Page 22

Insider bidding

THE excoriation of the teeny-bopper share dealers (for whom, we are told, sacking isn't bad enough) set me turning to Skid Simon's masterpiece, Why You Lose at Bridge. 'I hold the revolutionary view (Simon says) 'that bridge would be a much fairer game if it was played all in. There is so much unconscious and unavoidable cheating anyway — every pair that plays together continually just can't help cheat- ing through their knowledge of each other — that it would be far more ethical to abolish all ethics. Perhaps I'm not serious. Or am I?' Or am I?