Dear Sir/Madam,

I read with interest Michael Utley’s account of how he was struck by lightening and the serious consequences it had for his life. Understandably, he is now acutely aware of and hypersensitive to the danger, about which he seeks to warn the rest of us.

I appreciate his concern, but personally I would still rather take my chances going out in a thunderstorm (taking reasonable precautions, of course) than live in one of your cities, where my chances being killed by a car or shot by some idiot with a gun are much higher.

A thunderstorm is a magnificent and awe-inspiring natural event, which is a lot more than can be said for the far greater dangers lurking in our cities (mine is in Germany. Not too many guns here, thank goodness, but plenty of speeding cars).