Westminster Diary

MY HOPES rose when I read that air travellers could soon be asked merely to
walk through a tunnel system that can sniff out narcotic drugs and explosives
(New Scientist, 5 August, p 7).
Could this be the end of those infernal
queues at passenger search points? Ion Track Instruments of Massachusetts has
developed a “sniffer portal system” able to pick up the telltale signs of
contraband just from the air flowing over somebody’s body. I asked Ian
McCartney, a Cabinet Office minister with responsibilities for overseeing
policies against narcotic drugs, whether he thought this idea was a runner.…