Letter: American fantasy

AS AN ex-Brit ex-journalist, I know anything goes when it comes to US coverage, but your bizarre fantasy about "Americans" battening down for the millennium is really over the top ("America stocks up on guns and honey for Y2K", 18 July). I mean, it's not exactly wrong as long as you realise that "many Americans" means the same one-in-500,000 loonies who have been preparing for Armageddon at every excuse since for ever. The other 215 million of us will be laying in a couple of hundred bucks in case there's a problem with the ATMs, and perhaps a few extra flashlights. Looney Toons is a cartoon series, not a nation, mates! And I speak as one of those rural residents your reporter in Washington seems to think live on roadkill and red-eye.

JOHN STORM ROBERTS

Tivoli, NY, USA