It is highly likely that the critics of Mr Howard for being overboard on security at airports are the same people who screamed at the lack of warning when many Australians were killed in Bali not to long back. Funny that Mr Blair does not cop the same criticism.

Robg:

"Did not the idea of banning cosmetics and liquids arise in the UK after a plot to smuggle in dangerous liquids was foiled in the UK, not the US?"

A plot that was revealed to be empty hype - the kind of thing that whilst possible in theory, in the confines of a plane, is pretty much impossible.

You say: "You are a trouble maker granny, and you ought to know better at your age."

How delightfully sanctimonious. I don't know how old you are Rob, but I hope there's always troublemakers out there. We wouldn't have rights at all were it not for troublemakers which people seem so keen to dismiss these days.

This notion that we should all just toe the line is abhorrent to the founding principles that have made western society the free place that it is.

Rather than lecturing the author with empty rhetoric, perhaps you could articulate why she's wrong.

great article - a reminder that some of us should get a life, or at least a sense of proportion. It seems that every new threat - real, imagined, or embellished - is used as an excuse to curtail freedom, increase the control of the state and manufacture fear and alienation for political ends. To rail against this is good; to laugh at it is even better

Robg.
Having travelled through Asia and Europe, never have I experienced such indifferent and anti social attitude to the travelling public, as the Australian airport security.
By my overseas travel experience, I understand the point the writer is making, that we have become paranoid.

TRTL,

Before bandying about the fancy words that make up your “delightfully sanctimonious” drivel, you ought to work on your comprehension. Start by working out the difference between “tow” and “toe”.

Kipp,

I have never had an issue airport security here. If anything, quarantine is the mess. Quarantine is where the paranoia lies. The anti-social and hostile attitudes you point to seem to be a common Australian trait, not limited to airport security staff. If we remember that people in a uniform are just people, and treat others with respect, not being deliberately provocative like Melody, we shouldn’t have a problem.

Thanks, Melody, for reminding us that our recently-acquired distaste for risk comes at a huge cost.

The really interesting thing is how risks that can be clearly identified have to be avoided at all costs, while less definable but equally known risks are perfectly acceptable. For example, the risk that children might get into trouble on the way to school is intolerable, so they are driven there, increasing the (acceptable) risk that they will get fat, or in a real emergency be unable to find their way home. A friend of mine is regularly condemned by other mothers because she sometimes sends her seven-year-old daughter 100 metres up the road to get some groceries from the supermarket. These days, the marketing of fear starts young.

Yes, we are much safer today from disease, war and ambient cigarette smoke. But the less immediate dangers are very scary too: Krohn's disease, Alzheimer's disease and humiliation by low-ranking officials - we're now much more at risk of these.

For many people the trade-off is worth it. Still, it's good to be reminded what we've lost in the process.

Robg said, "You are a trouble maker granny." Perhaps so - I suspect it takes one to know one.

I favour a well-informed trouble maker any day: http://www.grammartips.homestead.com/toetheline.html