IS it a female prerogative that when a man is sitting at the breakfast table and beginning to peruse the national and local newspapers, that his quiet contemplation is shattered by the words: "Guess what your stars say about you today?"

I reckon if I was in the middle of the Gobi desert with a wife or partner, and without a newspaper in sight, she would predict my fortune by the stars.

Mind you, having pontificated on this subject, with no disrespect to Claire Petulengro, of The Press, I suppose one's opposite number must be disgruntled listening to my version of how my favourite football, rugby or cricket team should have done better.

I bet, though, that Claire can't predict the winner of next year's Grand National - or is that asking too much?

Kenneth Bowker, Vesper Walk, Huntington, York.