LETTER: Sharp practice

From Ms Catherine Moody

Sir: Your headline "Straw urges action on knife adverts" (23 December) prompts the reflection that if manufacturers of kitchen equipment would stop making kitchen knives with a point, much less damage might be done.

To enhance a macho image in chefs, both male and female, is about all a pointed kitchen knife can do. A blunt-ended knife is better for spreading; an oblique end acts as a turner and a convex blade is wanted to cut up butter in a bowl for making pastry.

In the hand of the excited or violent, a stab can mean death. A round- ended kitchen knife, on the other hand, refuses to be such an efficient accessory. Why not design a knife that is handy for cooking and not for death? It would also be safer while you dash about the kitchen, just cooking.

Yours faithfully,

Catherine Moody

Malvern, Worcestershire