I do remember reading somewhere that for all the vaunted safety features of the plugs, etc, more people do in fact die in Europe and the UK than in the US from

I do remember reading somewhere that for all the vaunted safety features of the plugs, etc, more people do in fact die in Europe and the UK than in the US from contact with the mains, precisely because of the 240V potential. (Definitely anecdata, would be curious about the hard numbers too!) Of course, the trade off is much faster kettles. How many lives is faster tea worth? For the British, clearly the answer is 'yes'. :P