So, what do you think? Is it or isn’t it? Yes or no?

Oh, sorry. I forgot to tell you what I am thinking about.

Well, the question is: Has the virus gone viral?

Is this really the end of life as we know it, or is it a final warning?

You’ll have to agree though that the planet has been dropping enough hints, but have we been taking notice? I don’t think so.

We have plundered, squandered and taken whatever we decided that we needed.

We have hunted and exploited to extinction countless species of animals and birds. The oceans have been fished beyond recovery and polluted beyond imagination.

At one time mankind could have made ignorance their defence, but now there is no excuse. We know what we have done and we know what we must do in order to survive.

But are we changing our ways? In our dreams.

We are now facing global warming, the polar ice caps are melting and the sea levels are rising.

Many of the world’s rivers are open sewers and the weather patterns are so confused that every continent is experiencing unseasonal floods or droughts which were once classed as a ’once in every 100 years’ category, but now can happen without warning.

The rain forests are vanishing by the day to create more and more grazing land for cattle that are killed and exported to countries thousands of miles away. Countries that already have more red meat than is safe for them to eat. In other parts of the world, countless acres of forest and farmland are flattened by exploiters who can see the cash rolling in from the sale of palm oil that they supply to be made into everything from food to furniture polish.

It’s win, win all the way round. Except of course for the small farmer who once scratched the soil to grow enough to support his family.

And who cares? It certainly isn’t us.

And now we are faced with a pandemic of unknown origin. There is no cure, there is no treatment and, thus far, there is no natural protection.

What can we do? Well, first off, sit down in a quiet room and think about it.

What are the options? Well, that didn’t take long. The fact is, we haven’t any.

The message from our Chief Minister, Howard Quayle, is simple and repetitive.

Stay at home, avoid physical contact with strangers and don’t buy any more food than you need.

That just about covers everything. Personally, I wouldn’t be surprised if the scientists discovered a link between this new virus and an exposure to too many TV adverts for leather sofas, oak furniture and multi-spring beds.

It does no-one any favours to see the behaviour of our fellow humans in the nation’s shops and supermarkets.

How many different ways do our senior politicians and health experts have to spell it out to us?

In plain language, world-wide, the total casualty numbers could eventually run into millions.

The final figure can only be a guess. Folk will die and the elderly will be the most vulnerable. And what are we going to do to ease their pain and fear? Fight over bags of toilet paper and pasta.

The generation to who we owe our respect and gratitude should not be the victims of other’s greed.

Do you know? If you ask anyone who is, as they say, getting on a bit, ’what is it like to be old?’, the one thing that you hear is that you mentally feel no different. But physically it is all creak and groan.

So remember when we feel aggrieved with the way with the way some people behave, just look in the mirror.

We made the rules for the next generation to follow.

Keep as well as you can.

Let us all share the load and, if we’re spared, I’ll see you all next week.