Bird flu - we're all doomed
Listening to John Humphrys foaming at the mouth on the Today programme this morning was enough to make one want to set up a cordon sanitaire at the end of the garden. The BBC asks "Are you worried about bird flu?" to which most respondents appear to be saying "No".
Frankly, unless the good ladies of Cellardyke were re-enacting the visit of Zeus to Leda as part of a late Spring equinox festival, we have more to fear from media hysteria than from avian flu.
Given that Cellardyke lies deep within the constituency of Sir Ming Campbell it won't be long before we have the LibDems' take on the matter. Can't wait.
Update: I missed the first LibDem comment of the day:
Rural Affairs Minister Ross Finnie told BBC Scotland that there was no need for panic.
"This is a very serious situation but it is a situation where we need to look at the evidence, deal with it rationally and put all of the planning measures that we have been rehearsing for some time into place, but without inducing a general state of panic."
Panic - who said anything about panic..?
Update 2: Doubtless this weekend's media will be full of helpful hints as to how best to cope with this latest mass panic. (Was the last mass panic Sars or Foot & Mouth?) Here is some useful advice given to readers of the News of the World during the 'flu pandemic of 1918-1919:
Wash inside nose with soap and water each night and morning; force yourself to sneeze night and morning, then breathe deeply; do not wear a muffler; take sharp walks regularly and walk home from work; eat plenty of porridge.
Update 3: BBC News: Opposition parties have called for First Minister Jack McConnell to return to the country from New York, where he is taking part in US Tartan Week celebrations.
What possible use would that serve?
Update 4: Welcome to readers of the Corner; we would be delighted to see all of you on vacation in Scotland this year. Do not be alarmed by the sight of assorted politicians and journalists running round like headless chickens. The real chickens still have their heads, as do the rest of us.
"What possible use would that serve?"
I can't tell if you're referring to McConnell coming back or Tartan Week...
Posted by: doctorvee | April 06, 2006 at 06:01 PM
Well, with any luck the bugger would catch bird flu.
Posted by: dearieme | April 07, 2006 at 03:01 PM
By coincidence, I came to your site through The Corner immediately after reading the BBC forum.
As an American, I can't believe the responses! Even a few minutes of research on the web would disabuse these idiots of the notions that 1) BF is a bird disease only and 2) modern medicine can protect us against another pandemic. AIDS has killed 25 million people in 25 years. The 1918 flu killed twice that many in TWO MONTHS! And the current H5N1 strain is TWO AMINO ACID mutations away from being easily transmissable between humans!
Do you think their attitudes are a result of living in a nanny state society, where individuals don't have to be accountable for anything, including their own lives?
Posted by: beloml | April 07, 2006 at 03:50 PM
No sense losing sleep over things that probably won't happen anyway.
Worry is interest paid on a debt not owed.
Posted by: Citizen Grim | April 07, 2006 at 07:13 PM
y'all is a US southernism. The fine people at National Review are predominantly New Yorkers which is where they have their offices. The two zones are not famous for being anything like each other or even much liking each other.
Posted by: TM Lutas | April 07, 2006 at 09:43 PM
Noted and amended - and apologies to our fine Southern readership.
Posted by: Arthur | April 07, 2006 at 11:05 PM
"The real chickens still have their heads..."
The swans don't:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/4895322.stm
Posted by: Andy Wood | April 11, 2006 at 12:14 PM