[evingar]

It's true that many appliances, including the PC I'm typing this on can be put to sleep, but still draw mains current. However they still have an off/on switch.

Indeed, also this type of equipment is designed to be left switched on unattended, an old style valve radio or TV most certainly was not. The only serious house fire I have personal knowledge of was caused by a 1960s hybrid colour TV set left on unattended by the vicar! Traditional mains switch fitted to that one no doubt!

Modern domestic brown goods may be tackily built, but bar the occasional Far eastern monstrosity (that comes in illegally) they are electrically very safe IMHO. As mentioned, thermal fuses and a host of other shutdown devices are fitted. Old TVs of my experience often failed with a bang or belched smoke, nowadays they are far more likely to “click off” as a safety device is activated, or the micro controller removes power from the set having detected a fault. In addition to all this, legislation now dicates use of fireproof PCB’s, cases and other components.



Sorry, no contest IMHO, modern equipment is far far safer than old valve era equipment – both in terms of shock risk and fire risk