[h3]British aviation bans all hand-luggage [/h3] Scotland Yard reports that it foiled an attempt to blow up a US-bound UK passenger jet though a bomb in hand luggage. The UK government has responded to this exemplary bit of policing -- using investigative techniques to discover plots while they are hatching -- by prohibiting all hand-luggage on planes, except for a transparent shopping bag carrying a few permitted items: a couple tampons, baby food (if another passenger is forced to taste it first), glasses without cases (deadly, deadly cases!), contact holders (but no cleaning fluid!), keys (but no electric fobs), and your wallet. You're not allowed to bring on magazines (deadly, deadly magazines!) or books, no laptops, no iPods, no oversized watches (!), and so forth. The point of terrorism is to make us afraid. The UK response to a [em]foiled[/em] plot is to create an unspecified period during which fliers are arbitrarily deprived of iPods, novels and dignity. [/p]If this is a good idea now, then why won't it still be a good idea in a year? A decade? After all, terrorist plots will always exist in potentia (can you prove that no terrorist plots are hatching at this moment?) Until they handcuff us all nude to our seats and dart us with tranquilizers, there will always be the possibility that a passenger will do something naughty on a plane (even then, who knows how much semtex and roofing nails a bad guy could hide in his colon?). [/p][a href="vny!://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/4778615.stm?ls"]Link[/a] [/p] [font color="red"]Update:[/font] The TSA has also [a href="vny!://www.tsa.gov/press/happenings/threat-change.shtm"]prohibited liquids on flights[/a] Woo boy, I really feel safe now!
