I've been reading the experiences of those who've had the chinkyflu

[Burney]

When you look at it in those terms then it looks a massive overreaction. However all the countries involved are actually putting people before money here which I never thought I'd ever see. I think we've probably got this just about right at the moment, would be thousands more deaths if most of the population caught this around the same time.

Got any spare bog roll?

That's all very touching, b, but the fact is that you can't separate people and money as if one had nothing to do with the other. It's like trying to separate blood and organs.

Deprioritising money will have a savage negative effect on people as they lose jobs, homes, businesses, etc. That means less tax income and less effective public services, which means - you guessed it - more dead people.

To be honest, my more cynical view is that in these days of instant communications, social media, cameraphones, etc, it's not politically possible for a government to be seen to preside over large numbers of deaths in the short term without being seen to do apparently radical things to try and prevent them - even if it what they do is massively harmful in the longer term.