evidence: Volcanic explosions send rocks flying into the air. "There is now a danger that has become a threat to us all," intones John Hurt’s voiceover. Black rocks tumble down a cliff. "It is a deadly disease and there is no known cure." This is the beginning of Monolith, the infamous public information film made to highlight the Aids epidemic in 1986. The doom-filled climax is a bouquet of white lilies tossed on to a fallen tombstone. The government spent £20m on the campaign, including £5m on its TV adverts. Those were the days: authoritative, unambiguous, utterly terrifying information films, distributed nationally to mitigate impending catastrophe. They haven’t made them like that since 2012, when the coalition government closed down the Central Office of Information (COI). Given the current government’s threadbare, often muddled messaging on what to do about Covid-19, you wonder how different things might have been.