Special: The SPANISH FLU and You – with Nick Cohen and Laura Spinney

What can the Spanish Flu of 1918 tell us about coping with Coronavirus – and maybe the next pandemic too? Nick Cohen of The Observer talks to Laura Spinney, author of Pale Rider: The Spanish Flu Of 1918 And How It Changed The World, about the lessons from possibly the greatest public health disaster in history.

Did populations weakened by the First World War provide a fertile breeding ground for the Spanish Flu? Is democracy really at a disadvantage when dealing with pandemics? Will post-COVID generations have to face up to the inherent viral dangers of eating meat? And the myth of a new Roaring Twenties: will we go from a new Spanish Flu to a new Wall Street Crash without a an intervening Jazz Age? 

• “What matters is the level of trust in a society. If it’s not there when the outbreak happens it’s very hard to create it.” 
• “Populations tend to bounce back rapidly from pandemics for the simple reason that pandemics tend not to destroy your capital cities.” 
• “This is the first digitally-witnessed pandemic. Every detail has been tracked and traced.”
• “Every strain of flu that has ever circulated began as a pandemic. But the Spanish Flu was at least 25 times as virulent than most strains.”

Presented by Nick Cohen. Produced by Andrew Harrison. Assistant producers Jacob Archbold and Jelena Sofrenijevic. Music by Kenny Dickinson. Audio production by Alex Rees. THE BUNKER is a Podmasters Production.

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