The interviews of government ministers and doctors and academics on what people should do, regarding swine flu, here in Britain are - in the main - so sad and self-serving.

There are raucous attempts to insist on inconsistencies in statements, traps to get ministers to issue some sort of 'Don't do X' - so then there will be headlines about the disasters for X - and compliants about no guidance.

There is an insistent search for black or white answers when, of course, as interviewers must surely know, it is a matter of unknown degrees of risk and how people feel about various risks.

Yes, obviously, you are more likely to catch an infectious or contagious disease if out in crowds than if living as a hermit.  Yes, obviously, you may therefore choose to avoid embracing crowds to a greater or lesser extent.  But that comment is hardly headline, compared with headlines such as 'ministers in health muddle' or 'don't go to football' or 'pregnant women left helpless'.