Just heard a couple of aviation "experts" on Radio 4. God save us from experts!
One antipodean lady claimed that "an explosion against the skin of the aircraft in the passenger cabin would cause "massive decompression"; and I thought there was decompression and not-decompression and now we seem to have grades of decompression. Anyway, she then assured us that this "massive decompression" will result in all on board dying. Well, I never!
I wonder how much we have collectively forgotten about security. In the 1990s it was routine at Frankfurt airport to have your lap top tested for chemical residues, vapours etc, followed by an instruction to switch it on to demonstrate to the police officer that it really is a computer.
Similarly, when travelling by ferry or train from UK to France, it was a common occurrence to be pulled over by a police officer (on the UK side). The usual routine was for the officer to put on a pair of nice white cotton gloves and run his hand all over various surfaces of the car, inside and out. The gloves would then go into the office and into a machine for analysis. One doesn't see this sort of thing any more.
Finally, I wonder how the airlines will react when a laptop goes missing? The standard response is that they are not responsible for valuable items stored in hold baggage.