BIRD FLU AND SARS CONSPIRACY THEORY

In the days pre-SARS almost noone had ever heard of the World Health Organisation, and those who had couldn't actually tell you specifically what they did.

Now suddenly, as a result of 2 rather pathetic viruses which combined have killed fewer people than 1 decent coalmine collapse in China, we hang on their every word. The worlds stock markets rise and fall with the severity of their "you're all about to die" warnings. Tourism-based economies teeter on the brink of collapse as yet another version of a nasty cold is touted as the next global killer.

And who disseminates all this (mis)information? CNN. Their ratings have gone through the roof. Their presenters are becoming household names. Their perceived importance has never been greater.

And who benefits from all this? Anyone who wants the eyes of the world to be focussed somewhere else. Who could this be? Who has been having a rough time recently as weapons of mass destruction fail to be found, record trade deficits and dollar weakness hit the headlines, coalition soliders die daily in Iraq? Surely not George W Bush? Or perhaps it could be someone who has narrowly survived votes in parliament despite his theoretical huge majority, whose involvement in the dealings leading up to the suicide of a government scientist are shrouded in mystery, whose ability to lead the government into the next election is openly being questioned by his own side? Surely not Tony Blair?

I'm sure MI6 and/or the CIA are not involved in all these scare stories and mysterious viruses, and that CNN are just reporting what they believe to be the truth, but then again stranger things have happened....