What about camera crews and photographers who carry kilos of lumpy electronic gear onboard?
It is trivial to provide enough power to activate a camera to make the battery appear unadulterated, when the cells have been repacked with something deadly.
Unless every item is sniffed, a laptop ban seems half arsed...
Whilst I'm here, should we assume the reason the recent terrorist activity in U.K. did not result in a death toll in the hundreds, is that airport security was a detterant?