SO FAR, so good. With swine flu spreading relentlessly across the globe, it is encouraging to note the stoical attitude of Britons as the first cases are reported in the UK.

Flu as we know it properly – forget all the jibes about heavy colds and “man flu – is a nasty illness that usually lays a healthy adult up for several days.

But the word “usually” leaves the door ajar to a frightening array of variations.

The Spanish Flu pandemic of 1918 has almost slipped over the horizon of first-hand memories, but the records are still there to show that here was disease that could and often did kill young adults in a matter of hours.

More recently, the bird flu outbreak of a few years ago seemed to raise the spectre of Spanish flu once again. Mercifully, that particular bug did not evolve into a form that could be transmitted between humans.

This time, though, it seems that a flu outbreak with the potential to spread rapidly among the human population has definitely arrived in the UK.

What will happen next is difficult to predict: if swine flu proves an annoyance at worst for adults, then the chances are that the stiff upper lip will prevail.

If, on the other hand, previously healthy people start dying in large numbers, then there is a real risk of panic setting in.

As the public in general are not virologists or epidemiologists, all they can do is take note of what senior doctors and the health authorities are saying.

This applies to politicians, too, including government leaders, and this is no time for anyone, wherever they are on the political spectrum, to start point-scoring.

Meanwhile, we just wait. And, we hope, act sensibly.