UK Terror Chief Blocked From Boarding Aircraft 237
Jeremiah Cornelius writes "Two days before toner cartridges threatened western civilization, Britain's Home Office minister Baroness Neville-Jones was en route to a Washington summit when she was found to have an over-sized aerosol can in her bag. While being questioned by airport security staff for transporting a container with more than 100ml of liquid, the Baroness seemingly took offense at being lectured on the importance of security procedure: 'Of course I know how important it is,' she said, 'I'm the Security Minister.' The Baroness is also former head of the British Joint Intelligence Committee, and was traveling at the time to discuss the war on terror with US security chiefs. According to a Home Office spokesman, trained in the use of the passive voice, 'Liquids were inadvertently left in a bag. The item was removed and the Minister fully complied with subsequent checks.'"
Re:Hmm, Pity... (Score:5, Informative)
Note that it was posted just today.
Re:Cobraaaa! (Score:4, Informative)
For the benefit of those who didn't grow up in the US in the 80s, it's not just like something from a Hollywood movie, in the context of terrorism The Baroness is a very specific someone, [wikipedia.org] whose name was chosen presumably because of the military connotations you mention. The whole thing combines to make articles like this [bbc.co.uk] intensely amusing.
Re:high up gov people can do DO YOU KNOW WHO I'M (Score:5, Informative)
If she said "Do you know who I am?", the correct answer would surely be:
"You're a Baroness that no-one has ever had the chance to vote for - or against - and you were allegedly vetoed by MI5 for the position of National Security Adviser due to your ill-advised links to dodgy Russian mafia-linked oligarchs, from whom you take sizeable donations [guardian.co.uk] to run your office.
Next question please."
Astounding! Time to do something... (Score:5, Informative)
Yeah, something like this [youtube.com].
This really has gone too far. TSA should be eliminated. Let the airlines and airports provide security - they, at least, have no interest in intimidating and humiliating their customers.
I'm not the type to write Congresscritters, but it can do no harm. A bit of Googling... It turns out that both the House of Representatives [house.gov] and the Senate [senate.gov] provide convenient web forms that let you contact your Congresscritters.
Even if you are not normally political, please consider taking the time to send a message. It takes no more time than posting on /.
Re:Sweet delicious irony (Score:1, Informative)
Of Course Timothy McVeigh, John "Ted" Kaczynski and Joseph Stack fit perfectly into your idea of a terrorist profile. And the IRA and ETA are well known for their Islamic beliefs. Right?
Re:I see it differently - "technical" background (Score:3, Informative)
Dealing with the details of laws is her job. She knows as well as you or I how ridiculous that law is and how stupid it is that it is implemented by a guy that cannot deviate from a script that could almost be replaced by a robot. She's getting angry about something we should all be angry about and she knows that things are done differently in her country (perhaps just as stupid, but in different ways).
What on Earth are you talking about? She is a UK politician who was flying to the US. However, the aerosol was taken off her in Heathrow airport
Re:Sweet delicious irony (Score:1, Informative)
And they would be correct to claim racism.
Re:Wasn't the liquid bomb a hoax anyway? (Score:3, Informative)
Because it has nothing to do with security and everything to do with the appearance of security. The two are often quite different, and should not be confused.
If our politicians wanted security, they'd canvass the opinion of the worlds' experts. If they want political appearance of security, they will do what they think looks good.
The worlds' experts have almost universally said "Everything being done is a waste of time - obvious knee-jerk reactions are pointless"; the world's politicians have without fail carried out the obvious knee-jerk reaction whenever something bad happens.
And no muslim has ever blown up a hotel in Brighto (Score:2, Informative)
And no muslim has ever blown up a hotel in Brighton.
Mind you, the 11/9 terrorists didn't blow up a plane either. The crashed them.
Re:Do as I say not as I do (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Do as I say not as I do (Score:1, Informative)
It has long since ceased being kabuki theater and has passed into bukkake theater.
On that pleasant note, here's a photo of the baroness herself: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Pauline_neville-jones.jpg [wikipedia.org]
Re:Do as I say not as I do (Score:2, Informative)
No it doesn't. Did you not read it? It said she complied with subsequent checks. Not sure how you collaborate with a measure rather than conform to them, but she didn't conform to the measures in as much as she breached them then had a hissy fit when this was pointed out to her. This situation was paraphrased perfectly by the person you were replying to.