Terrorism alert.

Terrorism alert The era of cheap and easy foreign flights is over THE attempted bombing of a Northwest Airlines flight on Christmas Day has prompted the predictable knee-jerk tightening of airport security measures around the world. While this was inevitable given the need to placate anxious travellers, it makes little sense unless the measures themselves are not only effective but sustainable.

Unfortunately, in all too many cases neither applies. For a start, US Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano has already stated that there is no indication of a broader plot against American airliners, or those serving any other part of the world, than that implemented by the …