Some people just do not listen, do they?
The vulcanologists have clearly stated that this eruption is unusual in the content of its ash and the dispersal pattern. Several aircraft have suffered clearly photographed damage that allowed the engines to run, but would have resulted in failure after cumulative exposure.
Whatever is happening in continental Europe is not necessarily appropriate for the UK - look at the dispersal pattern and you'll see the plume comes down straight over the UK before it starts to spread east and west, becoming vastly thinner in the process of that divergence - it would be reasonable to assume from that map, if it's sufficiently accurate, that the ash is far denser over the UK than over continental Europe.
How many airlines will boroscope all of their engines after each flight, or even each night? It's not likely to be the first day of operation that will see problems, but later in the week if there is a big threat. Those of you claiming that the lack of engine failures this morning are showing a complete lack of technical understanding of the issue. The experts are unanimously stating there is a risk - it is only the airline managers and the uninformed media and public crying foul.
There seems to have been very little co-ordination or political will to get on top of the situation to determine definitively if ops are safe, but in the lack of that determination, the restrictions are not unreasonable.