Swine flu

Yesterday I heard a person on the radio explaining that they’d chosen to cycle to work instead of using the London Underground for fear of contracting Swine Flu.  I suspect, but I haven’t the data to prove it, that travelling by cycle in London rather than using the tube exposes this person to higher personal injury risk than the risk of contracting flu.  I hope the fear of flu doesn’t persuade others to begin to alter their lifestyle choices in ways that are similarly counter-productive.

There is a large global industry populated by well-paid experts whose entire career is predicated on events such as the possible Swine Flu epidemic.  They spend their lives planning and rehearsing for such eventualities.  Like the soldier in the far off outpost that spends his life waiting for the enemy attack that never comes, is it possible that the experts tend to oversell the risk, hoping secretly that their time to shine has come?

For the conspiracy theorists amongst us, it’s taken our attention off the parlous state of the world economy, hasn’t it?

Piggy