“Who’s at the door?” called Turkey Lurkey. “It’s the flu!” cried Ducky not-so Lucky, and it only took one week to get here, after a possible pandemic was announced by the UN. In the same week military scientists declared they had recreated Spanish flu with similarities to the H5N1 strain found in birds. In the following days, it was detected in Romanian ducks and Turkish turkeys, only a short flight away from the British Isles.

The relentless Avian flu ad campaign has reached fever pitch. Someone with a slight temperature or cold symptoms could trigger widespread panic, as well as germs, but the virus has to mutate first to become contagious between humans. The experts say that is inevitable and it’s not a case of if... but when. The “speed of evolution” indicates it will probably happen tomorrow, but it could take several months to develop a vaccine.

Even a fake health scare would create a reaction. The government will respond by putting poultry farmers out of business and exterminating countless foul. Schools will close and travel will be restricted. People will demand flu jabs, hospitals will be inundated and public events, such as sports will be cancelled. Normal life will grind to a standstill. However, in the event of a genuine outbreak the scenario becomes much more sinister.

The TV film, 'Outbreak' follows the script to the letter. A new strain of a deadly virus is brought into America from Africa by a monkey and spreads to a small rural town. Fifty died and twenty were quarantined, those with the initial flu-like symptoms had to hang a white rag on their door, to be escorted by armed military police in gas masks to a 'treatment centre' with razor wire, which made Camp X-Ray look like a holiday resort.

Military checkpoints were in place and truck loads of people were arriving. Black helicopters circled overhead, escorting the convoys and enforcing a curfew through megaphones. Reporters said, “it looks like a war-zone.” The dead were burned like mad-cows. Graphic images of the sick and dying were shown with blood oozing from orifices, like Ebola. And this is entertainment? I would call it desensitization and conditioning.

The heroic plan to contain the epidemic and save 260 million Americans, was to vaporize the town of 26,000 residents where the virus originated and so preserve the ‘life and liberty’ of the whole world. Everyone had to support the President in this initiative and no dissent was allowed. It can only happen in the movies, right? Wrong! So, when you hear a rooster in the morning crowing, ‘cock-a-doodle-do’ remember, it’s a wake-up call!