Either our intelligence agencies are doing a really good job or perhaps John Reid just wants to reinstill a bit of fear into the minds of the public, but as you must have heard in the news there have been 21 arrests around the UK today, 2 of which were in Birmingham over on Belchers Lane in the Alum Rock area. The apparent plot was to use liquid explosives, smuggled on to the plan in sports drink bottles with the detonator concealed in the flash of a disposable camera or an mp3 player. Consequently passengers were banned from carrying ALL non-essential hand luggage on board the aircraft. Obviously this resulted in massive disruptions in airports all around the country. The BBC has up-to-date travel information and links to various airport websites.

Hopefully in the future airlines will start seriously restricting the amount of hand luggage people take with them on board. On the last few flights i’ve been on some people have been carrying far too much in to the cabin and then take up the entire overhead luggage compartment meaning other passengers have had to either put their smaller things under the seats in front of them OR in other compartments further down the cabin (causing a hassle when they try and push through everyone when the plane is unloading in an attempt to get off the plane quicker).

Anyway… well done to the police, MI5, and all the other agencies involved. Although you may have only postponed the inevitable, it’s good to see that you’re doing your best.