Meanwhile BA and other airlines have openly criticised the BAA, claiming their contingency planning is inadequate. There are public calls for the troops or police to be drafted in to help impose the almost-no-hand-luggage rules. No key fobs, no iPods, no books, no magazines, no fluids of almost any kind. The rules seem endless and are in need of a clear explanation as to their reason. For me, I hope they keep these new rules as it is apparently the only way to prevent liquid bombs being taken on board. As passengers worry about the safety of valuable equipment such as cameras and laptops in the holds of airplanes, they are warned that insurance will not cover any damage caused or in some cases any cancellations.
The leaders of British Muslim groups have written a public letter to the government blaming the government’s foreign policies for putting us all at risk, and the foreign office minister has, I fear, somewhat unwisely publicly expressed the sentiments of many of us by criticising them.
I understand why some of the papers are calling on Blair to return from his holiday. Sadly, it seems as if we as a nation seem to need Blair to help sort out this bickering and LEAD all these officials. Certainly John Prescott is not doing much to reassure me in his absence. We keep being told that Blair is in constant contact from Cliff Richard’s Barbados home – in one sense he shouldn’t have to be. Our two so-called prime-ministers-in-waiting, Gordon Brown and David Cameron, do not seem to have said anything to the public. But with Cameron being famous for boasting that he often rides a bicycle into Westminster to the House of Commons, you have to question his understanding of security issues.
The BBC NEWS has more on all of these stories. This morning I felt sorry for Blair and wanted everyone to leave him alone to finish his holiday. This evening I want him to return, take charge more visibly, and not resign this year, nor next year, nor probably even at the end of this Parliament.
Blair seems to know how to reassure and how to lead. The only spokesman I have seen on the news who seems to even come close to doing this is our new home secretary, John Reid, who has certainly seemed to lead far more than the man nominally running the country whilst Blair is away. When Reid has to go on TV to deny claims that Prescott has been sidelined, you know that he is more of a leader than our Deputy Prime Minister.
The Americans among my readers probably do not understand quite how much we love to hate our leaders over here. Churchill was, of course, hated before the war and lost the first election after the war, but became the first prime minister to have a full state funeral.
Blair is fast developing an image as a wartime leader. When we start to feel we are safe, we want shot of him. Somehow I feel I am not the only one who, when we see just how real the threat remains, want him to go on and on leading us. Back in March I dared to suggest Blair might decide not to resign after all and decide to fight yet another election. I have a feeling that events like those of this week make such a U-turn more likely. What our prime minister’s wife and kids might have to say about even the possibility of that is another question altogether.
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