Just had a horrible day at Heathrow, plance cancelled. 8 hours of hell.

I asked airport security why on earth I, as well as clearly innocent fellow passengers, were being subjected to the new ridiculous rules. Reply - 'security measure'. In pique perhaps I replied that it is muslims that want to do this, it is abundantly clear that the threat comes from the islamic community and therefore the new rules should only apply to them, because it is from that community that these people come. 'That would be discriminatory', came the reply. Of course.

But I did get a round of applause.

The problem is, how do you identify a muslim? As Perry has pointed out, it isn't a race, it is a set of beliefs. Now if we had some magical way to identify what beliefs someone subscribed to, we could then screen only the most likely.

Dale

You're spot on and my comment was tasteless, my only excuse being the day I have had. Jermaine Lindsay was a Jamaican etc. You can't tell who is up to no good, however I would have thought that the rules could be applied selectively in cases where the traveller is clearly not going to kill people for allah.

In fact this is a positive outcome. We all know that these people are out there, but it appears that the intelligence community now also have a better idea. In my view a haul of 21 indicates that for the first time, MI5 have started getting people inside these groups, much like the French did so successfully against the Algerian extremists in the 1990s. Successful infiltration is the best way to get good info. This also suggests (if true) that we have more than a few muslims fighting the good fight and willing to put their lives on the line in the service of the country.

Let's just hope that there are no attacks over the coming 24-48 hours.

As I noted before, I would not want to fly on August 22nd out of pure paranoia... about what Mahmoud Ahmadinejad meant by that being the day when "Iran would give its answer".

They don't need to identify Muslims, they can just start using pork in the manufacture of special gloves for use in security searches at airports. Out of respect for Islam, of course they will not be used for any Muslim passengers who ask to be excused.

Or they can ask everyone in a security queue to drink from the same cup.

TD
Sorry you had a rough day. Over here in the US some of us are still wondering what the other 8 missing "egyptian students" are up to...
The FBI has names and photos, they should be easy to spot, but I am sure we will hear whines of "no profiling, it's discrimination!"

Of course it is, and it will keep us safe.

Good luck.

TD, my commiserations. No one here will give you a hard time for what you said. My in-laws had a delayed journey to the UK on Thursday although their experience was not too bad.

The rules on what folk can carry on the plane is likely to hammer tourism. No more carrying of breakable items such as little presents for the wife and kids. The ban on reading material, iPods or laptops will also deter business travellers like me who take their laptops to conferences and meetings. The airlines will have to figure out a way that travellers can take these things in safety.

The liquid thing is also a real nuisance. I usually take a bottle of mineral water on a plane to counter the dehydrating effects of pressurised air cabins. If I cannot do that, it is also going to make long-haul flights even more of a pain in the ass.

The airlines have to figure out ways to sort these things out, otherwise their business model is toast.

Perhaps a few Muslim women have wondered what alternative afterlife the West has to offer...

The airlines have to figure out ways to sort these things out, otherwise their business model is toast.

Well that sort of depends on the compliance of the travelling public, which seems surprisingly high.

I personally found the intrusive bureaucracy of flying and the insolence of security staff, customs and immigration officers hard to bear before 2001. I flew only when necessary, and only ever with hand-luggage. I haven't flown since 9/11 and won't go on a scheduled airliner again until the War on Terror is called off and it goes back to being a means of transport not an exercise in subordination to official bullying.

guy, well, I dunno how you cope then as many folk like me have to go abroad on business and flying is the only way to do it. I don't have a private jet (anyone want to buy me one?), so I have to submit to this stuff. But there is no doubt that this sort of thing is bound to reduce the numbers of business travellers, encourage video-conferencing, hit the conference industry, hotels, etc.

"The problem is, how do you identify a muslim? "
Identifying a muslim should be relatively easy as Islam imposes several idiotic restrictions on its poor followers. Each passenger wishing to be fasttracked through security could volunteer to eat some bacon, spit on a koran, play a game of chess, draw a picture of Mohammed, and so forth. :)

"The problem is, how do you identify a muslim?"

Dental records.