"...unless they are just doing their usual 'flog the leading story as long as it gets good ratings' bit" - got it in one I'd saw Little Hawk.

It'd be wrong to blame the reporters and such, they're just the footsoldiers. It's the proprietors and the advertisers. Don't care who they hurt.

Don't knock flu-shots. I had a really unpleasant dose of flu a couple of years ago, and since then had a flu shot, and it hasn't recurred. People always tend to say "flu" when they really mean a bad cold, bu it ain't the same animal at all. Even when it's not life threatening, you sill feel like you are dying.

Typically I wrote a song about it - The Millennium Flu. So I may as well put it here, to subvert the distinction between music threads and non-music threads:

                   a                                     G
      They call it the flu, but you don't fly,
                               F                            E
      just hang around, and wait to die -
                               a                               G
      it seems like time's just crawling by
                         F E                     a
      Millenium Flu, it's got to you.

                                       C                                  G
      When your body aches, your mouth is dry,
                            F                            E
      you cry for help, there's no reply,
                            F                                        G
      you pray to live, but you can't think why -
                      F E                     a
      Millenium Flu, it's got to you.

                   F               G                   C                  a
Now my head is so dizzy and my mind is confused
       F                   G                        C                   G   
my body feels so shaken and so worn out and used
                         F                           G
like I'd been drinking, getting stinking,
             C
and I just couldn't stop,
             F               C       G                         C               G
all the perils of the bar-room - and I'd not had a drop.

                                 F                      G                     C
      Well you may talk about the future, try to get me enthused
                        F                            G                   C                  G
      but the dreams I'm having lately do not leave me amused -
                        F                               G                                  C            a
      like, I've been there, and I've seen there, and I've been disabused.
                           F                              a                        F   G      C
      Nothing straightens out your notions like Millennium Flu.
                                  F                           G
      Yes, you can straighten out your notions
                                 C                           a
      while you're knocking back the potions
                  F                            G
      as you go through the emotions
                   a   G       C
      of Millennium Flu.

                They call it the flu, but you don't fly,
                just hang around, and wait to die,
                it feels like time's just crawling by -
                Millennium Flu, it's got to you.
                When your body aches, your mouth is dry,.
                you cry for help, there's no reply,
                you pray to live, but you can't think why -
                Millennium Flu, it's got to you.

Well I was standing on this palace, Oh so far from my home,
and someone said they call this the Millenium Dome.
We were up there, we were stuck there, with the world all around,
but I couldn't help but wonder, "Where's the way to get down?"

    Well you may talk about the future, try to get me enthused
    but the dreams I'm having lately seem to leave me bemused -
    like, I've been there, and I've seen there, and I've been disabused.
    Nothing straightens out your notions like Millennium Flu.

    Yes, you can straighten out your notions
    while you're knocking back the potions
    as you go through the emotions
    of Millennium Flu.

            They call it the flu, but you don't fly,
            just hang around, and wait to die,
            it feels like time's just crawling by -
            Millennium Flu, it's got to you.

                When your body aches, your mouth is dry,
                you cry for help, there's no reply,
                you pray to live, but you can't think why -
                Millennium Flu, it's got to you.

Then we were out there on the ocean with the stars up above,
and someone started talking of a summer of love.
we were rolling, we were strolling, and what more could be said
- then I got a sinking feeling, there's an iceberg ahead.
Sure there's no need for to panic, when you're safe on the Titanic
on a slowly tilting planet trying to stand on its head.

   Well you may talk about the future, try to get me enthused
   but the dreams I'm having lately do not leave me amused -
   like, I've been there, and I've seen there, and I've been disabused.
   Nothing straightens out your notions like Millennium Flu.

         Yes, you can straighten out your notions
       while you're knocking back the potions
       as you go through the emotions
       of Millennium Flu.

                They call it the flu, but you don't fly,
                just hang around, and wait to die -
                it seems like time's just crawling by.
                Millennium flu, it's got to you.
                When your body aches, your mouth is dry,
                you cry for help, there's no reply,
                you pray to live, but you can't think why -
                Millennium Flu, it's got to you.

January 1st 1999

It was my prediction about the 21st century - and it seesm depressingly accurate so far.