So, the world-class travel experience at Heathrow is soon to be further enhanced by the addition of "full body scanners" as part of the security screening process. Gordon Brown has announced this, and BAA is rushing to comply, despite the rather inconvenient fact that this technology would not have detected the explosive Y-fronts of the would-be Christmas Day bomber. Then again, nor would it have detected the explosive Nikes of the cretinous shoe bomber, Richard Reid. Nor would it have had any impact on the 9/11 mob, who carried their fearsome box cutters aboard in their carry-on luggage, if memory serves. Nor will it detect explosives carried in body cavities, which Al-Qaeda has already used in a couple of assassination attempts, though not yet on an aircraft. Nor, of course, will it do anything for travellers on other forms of transport that Al-Qaeda has targeted, like commuter trains. It is, in short, no more than an expensive and annoying pre-election gesture on Brown's part.
The US seems to be starting down a different route, announcing that travellers from 14 countries will be subject to additional security checks. I expect we shall see a lot more of this kind of racial profiling in the months ahead, which will cause cries of pain at The Guardian but will no doubt be warmly welcomed by the legal community. Security specialists seem to think that such profiling is the way to go, but I have my doubts. There are something like two hundred countries in the world, all of them issuing passports. It is unlikely to be beyond the wit of Al-Qaeda to secure non-incriminating travel documents ahead of its next attempted atrocity.
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