Posted By Tom McCrory Hi Folks I know I should get a bit of response on this one during the current political climate. I can assure all my H&S people I am the last person to be a bigot, my question is no matter what political party you lean too, or what your feelings are on the wars in countries all over the world, we have people who work in a risk assessment world. I know we may have some members who may give honest but unworkable solutions, I am only looking at this from a H&S angle, (we have staff working on airlines) should we stop all people from an ethnic minority flying, should we continue to keep hand luggage from people, every passenger has a right to fly, where should we stop, how should we control this situation, I am sure this subject must come under H&S not only for our workforce but our people as a nation Bit of a touchy subject Anyone want to reply Thanks S Perhaps we can pass this info onto the boffins

Posted By Jason911 I think the scariest part of this whole new threat is that it will end up being the new Northern Ireland. There is no solution. I can see the day when we all have to travel seperatly from our luggauge when using air travel.

Posted By Stupendous Man Jim, While terrorists in NI were not referred to as 'Christian', they were often categorised by their faith i.e. Catholic or Protestant. The people who determine the level of threat to security and those who implement it on the front line all have a very difficult job to do - a job that I think is being done to the best of their ability at the moment. If the facts of previous terrorist attacks in the current climate are that minority ethnic persons are more likely to be involved, then it is only to be expected that that specific ethnic group is subjected to increased scrutiny. Think back a few years to the thugs who used football as an excuse to get together for a punch-up. They were mostly young white males - therefore, that was the group that was targetted in surveillance. You assess risk on the basis of the knowledge, facts, experience and information that is available at the time. If the result of this is that one particular group (whether identified by race, age or sex) presents a higher risk, should we really ignore those results on the basis that they do not seem politically correct?

Posted By Paul Oliver Its far worse than the conflict the UK had with the IRA. Look at the devestation that is happening on a numberous continents throughout the world.

Posted By Jim Walker Paul Oliver, You either have a poor memory or are a young lad. USA funded terrorism in the UK killed far more than 9/11

Posted By Descarte or reading more thoroughly again, you want to know if you can restrict ethnic minorities from flying to increase the safety of your staff working on airlines? As you say these descisions are to made on a political UK level and homeland security with backing and agreement from airline operators customs and security forces / intelligence. Keep up to date on current airport enforcement and requirements for luggage, everything that can be done is being done and adequate security measures are being taken.

Posted By Martin Mulholland Has anyone asked the question as to why this seems to be affecting only airports? What about rail networks and other forms of transport such as passenger ferries? Is it an attempt to put budget airlines out of business? Or is this all just a smokescreen to justify the level of threat we are supposedly under so that our backing of Israel's recent actions seems in some way justified? Conspiracy theories abound.

Posted By Jeffrey Watt Tom The organised bomber will get through and the only defence is the vigilance of the intelligence services leading up to any bomb run. As for singling out by race, all that does is upset honest folk. Upset honest folk soon become die hard supporters after they have been mis-identified and manhandled a few times. Just a thought Jeff

Posted By Tabs This is a facinating and complex subject about which many strong opinions will be held. I cannot see that it is appropriate for this forum though. Moderators, I support the request to lock or remove it - despite my strong temptation to add to the debate.

Posted By Paul Ethnic descrimination is one thing that I am sure most people abhor... If we are going down that route why don't we just say every plane bomber to date has been a man so lets ban men from flying.