I avoid LHR like the plague, I will just not spend two hours in a queue waiting to go through security. At the end of the day it's often BA who are losing out as a result of actions like mine. Example; next week I'm going to Baku, my nearest major airports are SXB and FRA and my choices are FRA-LHR-BAK or SXB-VIE-BAK, the first is a BA flight and its cheaper but I'll take the Austrian Airlines from SXB such is my aversion to LHR.
That said these queues are the sole responsibility of BAA, the excuses like "we don't have enough staff" or "there isn't enough space to install more security lanes" won't wash, if you don't have enough staff employ more, if you can't find enough staff then pay them more (this being the real issue I suspect) if you don't have enough space for more security lanes then start knocking down WHSmith and Costa Coffee so you can fit more in
I don't know of such queues at any other airports on mainland europe, FRA is my usual point of departure and it's a huge airport and I never spend more than a few minutes waiting to go through security and we've been taking laptops out of bags for years.
At the end of the day nearly all of the problems at Heathrow connected to security, buildings etc etc are down to the fact that the place is very poorly managed. BAA are only interested making $$$, LHR is a cash cow and BAA is milking it for as much as they can get. Until people start voting with their feet it won't change.