"Terrorists are"...... right, because when they post their vacation snapshots they really don't want the government to trace them back to them so they can be apprehended for the inappropriate wearing of a speedo... Scheesh - there is paranoid and funny paranoid. This leaps into I-really-need-to-get-a-life paranoid. Trust me, no one cares about you this much.

Couple of points here:

1. Is anyone surprised that was a monumental screw up? Just take a look at the rest of Heathrow. They've had *years* to get it right with only backwards progress (and yes - I had the displeasure of flying through Heathrow last Monday so I have recent, first-hand expereince). Take a leaf from the pages of many other industries (especially the software industry ;-) It *never* works first time; that's why a "soft opening" is so important. Run a smaller set of traffic through the system first to work out the kinks. Then ramp it up over time. Big bang launches are aptly named...

2. Let us bow our heads and remember the works of Douglas Adams (and I paraphrase as It's been years since I read the quote): "no society in the universe has ever come up with a phase that is equivalent to "as beautiful as an airport"...

3. Bring back Dennis Howell. Minister of Sport and then Minister of drought. Where are you Dennis when we need you so much...

Couple of points here:

1. Is anyone surprised that was a monumental screw up? Just take a look at the rest of Heathrow. They've had *years* to get it right with only backwards progress (and yes - I had the displeasure of flying through Heathrow last Monday so I have recent, first-hand expereince). Take a leaf from the pages of many other industries (especially the software industry ;-) It *never* works first time; that's why a "soft opening" is so important. Run a smaller set of traffic through the system first to work out the kinks. Then ramp it up over time. Big bang launches are aptly named...

2. Let us bow our heads and remember the works of Douglas Adams (and I paraphrase as It's been years since I read the quote): "no society in the universe has ever come up with a phase that is equivalent to "as beautiful as an airport"...

3. Bring back Dennis Howell. Minister of Sport and then Minister of drought. Where are you Dennis when we need you so much...

Cory - the link to the Kindle version of "Down and out..." is: http://www.amazon.com/Down-Out-Magic-Kingdom/dp/B000FA6676

Well gee Cory - I bought "Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom" written, well, by you, for my Kindle just a few days ago. How do you reconcile your latest rant with the fact that you're supporting that to which you are objecting?

What happened: his bags went through the x-ray machine. DHS staff asked to look inside he bag. This proces, which lasted all of 1 minute, was what he reported as "being detained". Yeah - well on that basis I've been "detained" by the DHS over 100 times. Big whoop. Gotta love that objective BBC reporting, just chock full o' details....