UK losing "foul" liquid ban, baby

Don’t expect the US to follow suit, but the UK has set a date to flush their liquids-in-carry-on ban:

The ban on carrying liquids in hand luggage at UK airports is to be eased and could be phased out completely by 2013.

In an interview with the Sunday Times, Transport Secretary Philip Hammond revealed that airports would begin to relax restrictions next April…

Mr Hammond said he sympathised with parents with young children.

He said: ‘I have seen mothers tasting it, and doesn’t it taste foul? The good news is that by 2013 the ban on mush will have ended.’

Mr Hammond said he planned to make the system more flexible. - Daily Mail

Somehow I can’t imagine US officials speaking this way. The EU announced earlier this year that the ban could be lifted in 2013 because of the development of technology to detect explosives in liquids. I’m sure it’s easier to get the liquid detection tech distributed around a small country. Sounds like a rolling phaseout — good news anyway.

(Brad)

Update on December 8, 2010 by Frank@OBOW

More British common sense from the Telegraph:

Philip Hammond, the Transport Secretary, has been pushing his European counterparts to overhaul airport security, which he believes is too rigid.

He is lobbying hard for changes which would allow bodyscanners to be used as a primary screening method and an alternative to metal detecting arches.

Last month he Mr Hammond told the Transport Select Committee that he believed airline passengers were being subjected to more security checks than necessary,

“It is possible in some cases more searches than are necessary are being carried out. Different approaches using technology could eliminate risk,” he said.

“I am not suggesting we relax the standards we require. I am suggesting more flexibility.”

This guy obviously didn’t get the same memo that the US agencies got. Or missed an important meeting. Expect him to be sacked any day.

Comments

[Frank II]

The British may ban it but TSA won't allow it. They'll insist that all planes coming to the U.S.or flying over its airspace follow their rules. What a headache this will be for the British.

I honestly don't believe the TSA has instituted all these rules because it makes us safer. They are proving who is boss and how easily the population can be controlled. After all, when the corporations and the super rich take over, they'll want an easily controlled populace. And were in training for it now. All they have to do is instill fear.

People who live in fear are easily controlled . Let them believe that some group or being can hurt them, or worse, unless they follow as told, the majority will follow. Get tough with the non-followers and they'll be forced by the masses to follow along for the sake of everyone. And if they are different, they will be seen as dangerous and shunned.

Don't believe me? Billions of people live like this every day.

[Alan]

You are mostly right my friend, but you put the blame on the wrong people. It isn't the super rich and corporations that are attempting to control us. It is the Ruling Class trying to dominate the rest of us in the Country Class. Please read the following article Frank---http://spectator.org/archives/2010/07/16/americas-ruling-class-and-the

[Frank II]

Sorry, Alan, but I couldn't disagree more.

This article does nothing more than separate the two sides. All it does is bash the left. (Which is what I'd expect from the American Spectator.).

If that's what you want to believe, then go ahead. But I see through all of that.

I'm neither Republican nor Democrat, liberal nor conservative. I'm an independent, moderate, middle class American who looks past all the one-sided media and makes my own decisions.

I still have hope that a group of sensible politicians, with different viewpoints, will come together and find some type of common ground. Just like it used to be. And it wasn't that long ago. Less than 20 years before our government was taken over by extremists on both sides.

I remember the days when the major parties held joint press conferences to explain how they got
to their bipartisan compromises.

Today, there is nothing but hatred for the other side. Trying to even get them in the same room is difficult. Neither side wants to budge. They are protecting themselves, their lobbyists and their ideals.

And how does that help us?

By having a Supreme Court that says corporations can donate as much as they want to political campaigns but American citizens are limited? To a Republican party that holds up extensions to middle class tax cuts just so their super rich friends can also get extended tax cuts? To a Democratic party who passes a health care bill that helps the poor but forgets about much of the middle class?

No, when we take extremists views, we help no one. When we blame the other side for all our problems, we help no one. When our media has taken sides and doesn't give unbiased facts, we help no one.

The moderates in both parties are being pushed aside, and even party support is being taken away, in favor of extremists. Extremism sells. Extremism gets media attention. Extremism gets people riled up.

And Extremism ruins a great nation.

[Frank II]

I also find it ironic that when the U.S. was first discussing independence, it was the progressives/liberals/the left who pushed for it while the conservatives were all for staying part of Britain and finding a peaceful solution.

Today, the conservatives make it sound as if you are not with them, you are un-American.

The Constitution is for all Americans regardless of their political beliefs. No one party, people or religion holds more right to it than another.

And when I have problems with the TSA, it's not with the job they're trying to do, it's with a government agency attempting to take away my rights as afforded me in that same Constitution.

[Skycap]

Please, please!! Enough with the politics!!!! Let's get back to bags & travel!!!!

[Frank II]

Skycap....you're right. Sadly, it's the government making our travel lives that much more difficult.

[Alan]

That's right Frank and Skycap, that is the point of that article I posted---it is the government that is the power-- not Republicans or Democrats. Those in power, and that includes both parties, let power go to their head. That was my point!!!!