Stephen Rees’s blog

Cory Doctorow has a good piece in today’s Guardian about how daft our current security methods are. There’s also a link from that to an earlier one which seems to be more specific to the UK.

On my most recent trip by air to New York we had to change planes in Toronto both ways. And that meant that even though we were inside the so called “quarantine area” all the time, we had to pass through the security screen not one but twice each way. As though somehow we would have been able to pick up sharp knives or explosives while on board a plane or walking from the gate to the bag claim – not that we had any checked baggage (and we had to report that at least four times too). And of course each time we had to go through the same time consuming, degrading rutuals. Which achieve absolutely nothing in terms of safety.

(hint: you can’t really blow up an airplane with hair-gel and iPods).

But you are not allowed to say that the Department of Homeland Security (there) or the Border Services Agency (here) is a ludicrous waste of resources – because we have been pressganged into the “war on terror” – even though our opponents appear to have turned their attentions to the much easier and conveniently located targets we have been sending their way for the last seven years. To no good effect.

The sudden loss of life on 9/11 was shocking, of course. But it is still much less significant in terms of statistical probability than the daily carnage on the bit of the transportation system most of use. But we still spend far more time and effort trying to eliminate any risk at all from flying, or riding a train, but shrug helplessly when looking at road deaths – and then lecture cyclists about why they should wear helmets. Even though the great risk of on road cyclist head injuries only comes from the risk of being hit by a car driven by someone who has a short attention span and a problem with both impatience and anger management.