If we were to take everything we were told as truth, by now, everybody would have been driven into insanity by the media. Throughout the summer, we've been forced to listen to the constant whining of news reporters, frantically telling us that one more person has been killed by Swine Flu, and that unless we go into total lockdown, we're all going to die. For some reason, they seem to have given up a bit on the scare stories- even though our increasing proximity to the winter months should have been able to get a few more people into a hypochondriac state.

But what if it did happen? What if school were shut down, shops were put out of business, public transport was halted, and walking in the streets was a dare-devil, risking-your-life-and-that-of-others thing? What if sections of hospitals had to be closed off to the public, to prevent the deaths of immunocompromised patients?

A fairly high majority of the student body would probably embrace a temporary no-school life- but when the disadvantages kick in, I can't imagine many people enjoying the rationed food, the restricted (if any) access to friends, the grounding, or the future impact that months with no education would make. And what about the main shopping districts?

If the high street was closed for a few months ten or twenty years ago, we would probably starve, and our entertainment would dwindle out after the first few days, if it lasted for that long. But now, could we survive? Internet shopping is a massive business, and ordering food online is now a perfectly feasible alternative to supermarkets. eBay and Amazon are far larger than their physical counterparts. Postal services have been in part replaced by emails- including the advertisement leaflets. Movies can be downloaded, illegally or legally. We'd manage?

But I still don't think we'd manage. Humans have always evolved to need company, civilisation is necessary. By cordoning off each family for themselves, we'd take out the community we all probably need to survive how we currently do. Sure, we wouldn't drop off the face of the earth, but we'd change substantially, we'd learn to enjoy solidarity. Even world wars haven't forced the same despotic control that one virus could.

It doesn't look good.