As I walked under a tree in the park today, and it did not threaten me at all, just waved a cheery hello with its new green leaves.

Peter, London,

attaboy! The real trouble is that Hampstead has just got too small: they should bulldoze Heath Street, not to mention New End and Flask Walk - and complete the A1/M1 link too!

[Only joking}

David Wilson, London,

Happy April Fool's Day!

Sam, Oxford, UK

Brilliant article, David. You had me fooled until the "April Fool" at the end. The torrent of idiocy supporting Martin Samuel's contention that the last 11 years of economic growth was a mirage, and that Brown was to blame for the price of a coffee in Starbucks had me worried, and when you seemed to be caving in to the mob I was in despair. Then at the end you rekindled the hope that reason and sanity will prevail in the end.

Wilf, London,

Yes, David, you really, really are out of touch. You are as out of touch, in a different way, as the Minister who thinks she needs a stab vest to walk around in Peckham. Perhaps you are right and everybody else is wrong, but I think you should get around more before making that judgement.

Frank Upton, Solihull,

Peterj,

A BMW 5-series isn't a 4x4 though, is it?

A Porsche Cayenne gets between 13 and 20 mpg, depending on where/how it's driven, while the BMW X-5 (their 4x4) gets somewhere between 17 and 25. While the 5-series diesel does get a highly commendable 50.1 mpg on average, the Prius is only a couple behind at 48--still way better than any genuine 4x4.

The argument against designer water and gas-guzzling cars is that there are relatively painless alternatives--vehicles that achieve better mpg ratings, and tap water. Thus, we can do the same things with less cost to the environment, rather than advocating outright prohibition, as you do with alcohol.

No-one is suggesting stopping drinking water or driving outright, so a knee-jerk reaction like banning alcohol smacks of an attempt to cover one societal ill by fatuously drawing attention to another. Why not ban the production and distribution of books while we're at it?

Phil Stott, New York, via Dundee

David, this the first occasion on which I have agreed with anything that you have written.
Why then do you continue to believe in the theory of anthropogenic warming when there is not a shred of evidence to support it?
Perhaps because you have adopted the flawed logic of the lady in Seattle that it must be burning of fossil fuel despite the fact those previous periods of warming over the Earth occurred before man was burning large amounts of C02 or burning C02 at all.

Stan Coveney, London,

There is no denying that SUVs/4x4s are fundamentally selfish. As well as guzzling gas, they take up more road space, restrict car drivers' visibility (at roundabouts and junctions I have to pull into traffic before I can see round the SUV on my right), they are much more likely to kill pedestrians and other car drives all the while offering only illusory safety to the SUV driver. They are less stable than cars and much more likely to tip over. They have the aerodynamics of a brick. SUV drivers take up 1 1/2 parkig spaces because they can't fit into a single space.

I feel sorry for anyone who has such low self esteem that they need to drive a 3 ton behemoth.

But people can't help being selfish. It's just the way they are. They will put their fingers in their ears and close their minds to any facts they dont like: Climate change is a myth; people who complain about them are envious (funny how I'm not envious of cars and motorbikes and could have bought one but think of others)

Ian, Sheffield, UK

Yes. Some odd things are going on. Trouser waistbands are definitely getting smaller, but the petrol tank on my car seems to get bigger every time I fill it up.

Anthony Price, Truro,

For the last 60 years we have been run by accountants, economists, and conmen. Some reminders.
The USA is so rich in natural resources they could pay someone else and still have a better standard than most. The 1929 crash was caused by the above.
Japan has no natural resources. The country was so overdeveloped in 60/70s there is no space for further hence stagnation.
Britain had the right resources at the right time to insitgate the industrial revolution, but whilst 80% of world cotton exports came from Lancashire. 80% of the chemicals came from Switzerland, and Germany.
Some countries are so fragile one person per square mile is overcrowding. the same applies to a tiny island now with the wrong resources, and lacking basic skills.
Hence continuing friction between those in La La land and those struggling .

ged, manchester,

If everyone gets a 4x4 then there is no individual impact safety advantage; therefore neurotic, selfish and stupid people would want hummers, armoured cars, tanks.

I R Baboon, Northampton, UK

Many people fear the worse,disaster is always around the corner.When it never happens it makes them feel better --- until the next storm is about to break. Read the article on page 28. Thats how they live and survive and I admit in some ways I do to.Let them have their say -- most of the time they don't mean it.Its human nature. Nothing to worry about. Life moves on and society slowly gets better and safer.

Robert, Milton Keynes, England

David,

Just popped over for a gander from me normal stomping ground of GuardianUnlimited...Class.

Larry, Coventry,

Lying in bed this morning, listening to someone on the Today programme pulling immigration to pieces, got up feeling slightly depressed. Over a coffee and half way through your article my gloom deepened. By chance the TV was on and with half an ear heard a man completely destroy the report on immigration, my spirits began to soar. When I got to the end of your article I laughed out loud. Back on track! Always a good read.

G Hallett, Bradford, West Yorkshire

Good article, as usual. It makes me so angry how angry everyone else is and it was heartening to read a piece which copes with the contradiction in getting into a rage at other peoples' fury.

By the way, the Danny Finkelstein piece was excellent, but no-one could have expected support from the slavering trolls who responded, infesting our political culture, battening onto the opinions of others to pollute the air with their.........

H'mmm. will sign off now, hoping to recover soon.

David Stanley, Harrow, Miidx

the porsche cayenne turbo ????

' if i wanted a tonka toy terry i would have asked for one' (arthur daly)

and it still holds good today

david c, purbeck,

Hm... a clear case of "my ideas are based on even-handed assessment, reason and logic; yours on prejudice".

There's an easy test for prejudiced thinking: conclusions will always point in the same direction. After a while you can tell what someone will say on almost any topic before they've said it. The conclusion of course comes first, the reason and logic serve merely to justify it. The test works on anyone - all the way from Dianne Abbott to Jeremy Clarkson. It probably even works on me.

Ken Leyland, Liverpool, U.K.

Now you've done it. You've said that most accident victims in your borough were pedestrians or cyclists.

Expect a tsunami of rage from outraged cyclists. How dare you suggest, ever so obliquely, that cycling is dangerous! If it weren't for all those 4x4s then there wouldn't be any road deaths, etc.

Christopher Chantrill, Seattle, USA

Sorry, but parking spaces - and streets - are definitely shrinking. On holiday in England last year I rented a mid-range car and discovered it would barely fit into the road I used to live in.
Since I recall driving up and down that road in my old mini without any trouble, it seems pretty obvious to me that either the council have sneakily been expanding the pavements, or that England is in fact shrinking. Since the council never in living memory spent anything on pavements, it must be the latter.

Clive, Monterrey , Mexico

it is popular to criticize ownership of 4x4 but what about the environmental vandalism associated with consuming alcohol. Apart from the obvious problem of antisocial behaviour just consider the energy wasted in manufacturing and distributing huge volumes of alcohol. The containers needed to temporarily store it. The fuel used transporting it and the resources used to process the "residue"! Forget about designer water and 4x4's it's time we recognized the 80/20 rule. Besides which some 4x4's are more economical than small cars. It is the average rpm of the engine that generally determines it's efficiency. ...and to overturn a populist myth, a diesel BMW 5 Series is less poluting and more economical than a hybrid Toyota Prius! It's all about envy not environmental impact.

peterj, aberdeen, uk

April Fool's day or not, David Aaronovitch lost touch with ordinary reality and people a long time ago; the advocate of the elitist separatism of political correctness that he is. He has plenty of company, of course, in that most of the establishment are fellow PC fascists. All deserve our firm contempt.

Steve Moxon, Sheffield,

April 1st. Columnist says he can see the trees but denies the existence of the wood

Avana Beach, London, UK