Place your bets

Have you ever noticed how people who dismiss the chance of winning the lottery, or dying in an airplane crash always say things like, "You're more likely to be killed by a falling meteorite, or to be kicked to death by a donkey." Hello? Twice a week we hear about people winning the lottery, and too often we hear about people dying in plane crashes. I have never, ever heard of anyone being killed by a falling meteorite. We're told that 50 people or some ludicrous number of people are killed by being kicked to death by donkeys every year. How many donkeys are there in this country, or indeed the world? How do these people get themselves close enough to (a) be in a fight with a donkey, (b) to lose the fight, and (c) to lose so badly in the fight that they are actually kicked to death by these raging donkeys? One would've thought there would be armed guards at the end of every road, waiting to shoot homicidal donkeys on sight.

The nuclear industry always claims that the chances of a serious accident at a nuclear reactor are so infinitesimal as to almost be of the order of 300 billion to 1, but we have already had Chernobyl and Three Mile Island. That's two more practically impossible accidents than the number of people I have ever heard of being killed by falling meteorites. Airlines are forever telling us how much safer it is to travel by air because when we get smashed to bits in aircraft it is much less common than being killed in cars. But I drive my own car. I'm not going to crash the damn thing. Some other dumbasses will - I'm not saying it's safe for them. Then again, at least there are no worldwide terrorist organisations trying to blast my car with shoulder held rocket launchers.

Murphy's law states that if something can go wrong, it will. There will be people kicked to death by donkeys, there will be people killed by falling meteorites, and there will be disasters with nuclear power stations. If you buy a ticket in the lottery, and also support nuclear power, you are saying you place more value on your chances of winning a million pounds, than you do on your safety from nuclear catastrophes. If you buy a ticket in the lottery, and support overflight of cities like London by airlines, you are saying that it is more important for you to get rich than to ensure the safety and peace of London. In order to avoid hypocrisy, anyone who buys a ticket in the lottery, must also oppose flights over built-up areas and nuclear power, because they have proved by paying for their ticket in the lottery that they know there is every chance that the almost impossible will indeed happen.

Malachy Dunhill