Never mind a boring terrestrial virus – what would happen to our planet if aliens from another planet ever make an official appearance? Fox UK has commissioned a survey of 2000 British adults who weren’t busy panic buying toilet paper to answer a few questions. Here are some key results:

• Fifty per cent believe that extraterrestrials exist and that contact will occur within the next fifty years.
• Curiously, almost three quarters think that governments are hiding from us what they know about aliens.
• Of the believers in future contact, over 70 per cent fear the human panic as a result of the landing.
• The same number believe that aliens have already visited our planet before in the past.
• Nearly 30 per cent would welcome the arrivals with open arms but around 20 per cent think the future visitors will be unfriendly.
• Should the governments have an advance knowledge of an impending invasion, almost 60 per cent believe the information will be kept from the population to avoid mass panic and only a quarter trust the authorities to do the right thing.
• If aliens were to invade, 46 per cent would join the resistance while 20 per cent would keep out of it.
• All this might be a mute question since 50 per cent believe the invasion would be the end of humanity and only just under a quarter think we would emerge victorious.

An overall conclusion? Our British fellow Earthians (as Bob Brown would call them) have less faith and trust in own government than in extraterrestrial visitors.

Arthur Chrenkoff blogs at The Daily Chrenk, where a version of this piece also appears.

Illustration: Ten Thirteen Productions/20th Century Fox.

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