On the wider subject of airport security my mate, Dave, recounts a time when he was flying to Belfast every two weeks or so from East Midlands to see his ailing mum. Having previously worked as a Customs Officer at that airport he didn't have much of a good opinion of the staff on the security barriers and scanners and noticed that they appeared to be checking the shoes only of every third passenger who passed through the scanner, irrespective of who that was, type of shoe etc. This was at a time when you didn't routinely have to put them in the tray with everything else. In front of him in the queue was a mother with two fractious infants and an armful of baby-equipment, all of which was going to have to be guided through the scanners. Dave spotted that she would be the passenger who, according to his theory, would be asked to remove her shoes, so he briefly explained to her that if they changed places then he'd be the mug instead...................
Sorry to disappoint everyone but he was absolutely correct, and received a wide smile and a thank-you from the lady as he was re-tying his laces. What price any claim to "targeting" or especially "intelligence" when deciding who to check - or is the definition of intelligence within airport security now considered to be simply the ability to count up to three?
I can do that - gizza job!
DM