LESLEY KEATING: Shouldn't there be a total ban on electronic devices on planes?

New regulations are prohibiting laptops, iPads, Kindles and other electronic devices from being brought into the UK in hand luggage via direct flights from six Middle Eastern nations '“ Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan, Egypt, Tunisia and Saudi Arabia.
Lesley says we could live without electronics on flightsLesley says we could live without electronics on flights
Lesley says we could live without electronics on flights

But are we really to think that these are the only countries from which potential terrorists fly?

What’s to stop them taking a non-direct route via a different nation not enforcing this ban?

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What if travellers to those destinations wish to fly out of, rather than into, the UK? Does that make laptops less of a risk?

And are we also to assume it’s better to remotely detonate a laptop in the hold rather than the cabin?

Sorry, but it all seems more than a bit bonkers to me.

Terrorism is sadly all too common in today’s world and an ongoing issue to address. But for some strange reason, we are really good at flagging up our security strategies for all the world to read online or see on TV, and particularly adept at describing exactly what we think might happen and how we’re planning to improve our security measures.

But by doing so, aren’t we giving potential terrorists new ideas and also alerting them to our weak spots?

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Shouldn’t there just be a blanket ban on laptops and similar items in hand luggage, or on flights in general, from now if they’re considered even just a tiny risk, a bit like the way liquids in hand luggage have been restricted by all airlines to 100ml since 2006?

Our security is paramount, so maybe we should just start learning to live without electronics on flights and go back to good old-fashioned books and newspapers, pens and paper. At least they won’t get stolen or need additional insurance.

Lost, misrouted or damaged suitcases will also be less traumatic if your laptop or another prized electronic device isn’t inside.

Someone on Twitter said: ‘Breakfast in Turkey, lunch in London, laptop in Beijing’.

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But having seen how baggage handlers hurl our cases about, I think I can go one better. How about ‘laptop in pieces’?

BIGGEST HEADACHE IS TRYING TO MAKE A SUGAR-FREE LUNCH

I am finding the sugar-free lifestyle easier than anticipated. However, the biggest headache is lunch at work. I used to grab something to wolf down at my desk, but reading labels in search of the evil refined sugar makes it more complex now.

Even my favourite carrot and coriander soup is no longer an option.

Furthermore, the office kitchen can also be used for meetings, which sometimes makes even rustling up a quick salad a challenge.

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It’s not just me. A healthy-eating trucker was fined on the M25 the other week.

He was seen chopping tomatoes and onions on his truck’s diesel tank and told the hard shoulder was ‘probably not the best place to prepare salad’.

I feel his pain.

ALWAYS DOUBLE-CHECK E-MAILS BEFORE HITTING SEND BUTTON

Always double-check e-mails before you push the dreaded send button.

The other day a colleague sent a quick group e-mail to a selection of her female friends before nipping out to lunch.

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It was to arrange a girlie pamper evening with a beautician and a mobile hairdresser at her house.

She ended the e-mail asking them to let her know asap that afternoon as she had to arrange numbers.

Sounds innocuous enough. But when she returned to her desk, not only did she have several acceptances, she also, embarrassingly, got a reply from a male client thanking her for the ‘most unexpected offer of a bikini wax and a glass of bubbly’ but, regretfully, he was busy that weekend.