The fear factor

"The history of newspaper headlines is a history of fears. Over recent years we've been bombarded with anxiety-inducing stories about hospital superbugs, mad cow disease, weapons of mass destruction, obesity epidemics, MMR jabs and binge drinking, to name but a few. However, the most ironic scare-story of them all is that fear is out of control."

Review of two books on fear and risk in today's Guardian.