Patrick Smith, blogging on the Times’ air travel blog, writes:

Air travel today is a sterling example of a successfully evolved technology: something that was once extraordinary and available only to a privileged few is now ordinary and affordable to virtually everyone. With such progress, a certain level of hassle was inevitable: crowded planes, noisy terminals, lackluster service. But it seems we got more than we bargained for. What, for example, can possibly justify the tedious and humiliating rigmarole of airport security?

Unbelievable.