Swine flu madness....

That's the real disease...

Among those stoking up the swine flu hysteria last week was Professor Neil Ferguson of the World Health Organisation, whose computer model predicts that the killer virus could strike down “four in 10 Britons”.

At the time of the 2001 foot and mouth crisis, it may be noted, Prof Ferguson was part of Prof Roy Anderson’s Imperial College team whose computer modelling was responsible for the “pre-emptive cull” that resulted in killing some eight million perfectly healthy animals not directly exposed to infection. As many lawyers pointed out, this mass slaughter was illegal. The loudest health warnings, it seems, should be reserved for any policy based on a computer model.