The outbreak of swine flu is the latest avenue for our governments to act out as the ‘parental’ states they are. Here in the UK we are pretty used to always being told what to look out for. ‘Mind the gap’. ‘Look left’. ‘Take care when alighting the bus’. Now there is a new campaign out from the NHS, telling us how to sneeze. Or rather, what to just after we have sneezed.

So is this necessary? I think so. I work in an office, and during the course of the day I visit the ladies room. Three toilets, four sinks. The toilets are frequently used, the sinks not so much. The number of women who fail to make use of the sinks after having been using the toilets are alarmingly high, and if they don’t wash their hands after passing water (or worse), I am pretty sure neither a tissue or soap and water will be used after a sneeze or a cough. I am not particularly worried about the swine flu, but I do worry about carelessness about hygiene. Nobody likes the flu, an upset stomach or even the swine flu.

Are we now so completely reliant on the state to tell us what to do that we need signs saying ‘mind your head’ and ‘wash your hands’? Whatever happened to common sense? Or even thinking?