are we security conscious enough.?

Well I'd rather have them than not

I have to say that I think handbag searches are more for show/public reassurance than any "real" device checking, and any real terrorists won't find it any sort of deterrent

I think they are using a lot of intelligance like super-recognisers in crowds etc and are doing a good job

handbag searches = IMO a platitude to give us a sense of security, and I'ld be more worried by that

My husband usually keeps his G Granddad's penknife in his pocked 'just in case' he says it is handy for doing odd jobs. He forgot about it and was searched....'Ello, ello, ello, what's this ere?' He convinced them that he was not 'going equipped' for anything but he had to leave it at the checking in desk just the same.

My house is like Fort Knox, even when we are in. He locks all the doors and it drives me mad if I am in the garden working then cannot get in because he has locked the door.

my parents once were woken up with a man standing at their bedroom door... local bobby noticed keys in the door and went in to make sure they were ok!!

A colleague once, after a boozy night out, put the dog out and brought the cat in. As she said, though, the dog would have been okay if only he'd had opposable thumbs, as she'd left the key in the door outside.

One Christmas Eve, with the family here overnight (six extra adults, pre grandchildren), we left all the presents, handbags, suitcases etc piled up in the hall to save space elsewhere and all settled down to sleep upstairs. With the front door unlocked. Again, Victorian terrace, straight out to the street. Somebody could have had themselves a very merry little Christmas at our expense.

You are forgiven Anya I am guilty of that myself on occasion.

During IRA years I went to a TGI Friday's with friends, asked to open my handbag, Security Guard just glanced into my large bag & said that's ok.

I did Jury Service a few years ago at the Royal Courts of Justice where we had to walk through a scanner & bags scanned. My coat had metal buttons which often set it off so they'd use a hand held scanner to check everything was ok. However after 2 & half weeks my bag showed an item in it, a small knife which had been in all along (I'd forgotten it was there) in case I wanted to put soft cheese on crackers

I have frequently returned home & found door/doors unlocked or when I get up in the morning

Oh Auntieflo I did that last year when we had to go into rented accomodation after the fire. It was a Victorian terrace, front door straight onto the street, car parked directly outside. Keys left in front door overnight on a Saturday.

They could have stolen what few possessions we had left and loaded them into our car. Never lived that down.

Oops! Sorry Nina & Katy I do confess to not reading the whole thread. Mea culpa.

On a lighter note, last week after I had picked up DH, we got home to find the keys still in the front door.

Anya that's the incident that KatyK and I commented on up the page.
As I say

Well at least my post was read by a couple of people and perhaps others will be a rad more aware now too.

I am all for security, even though at Airports it always means giving extra time etc, but it is for OUR safety. Checks at Museums etc is good, especially these days when weapons seem to be the thing people are hiding, what is the world coming to?!

My OH was involved in the Sefridge's bomb - he was blown across a restaurant and covered in glass. I still feel twitchy at the thought of untended packages, and would certainly report them at once and get out.

It's important to be aware - especially these days when the security risk is assessed to be high both here and in other countries - look at France's experience in the past 12 months. Too easy to leave the responsibility for keeping your eyes open and reporting something suspicious to someone else.

We have a close friend who missed being blown up - by seconds - in the Charing Cross bomb explosion during the 70's. Makes you think differently.

My daughter and I went to see the Welsh National Opera perform Mozart's 'The Marriage of Figaro' at the Bristol Hippodrome last year. All bags were checked at the door, not for weapons or explosive devices but for alcohol! No chance of a reasonably priced drink in the interval. The bar prices are ridiculous! ??

In the 1970's, my hubby and I went to the ideal Home exhibition where every handbag etc was searched before anyone was even allowed inside.
Didn't stop the bomb being planted, and detonated.?

Don't put all the onus on security personal, we have a role to play too.

There was a set up in a Coventry shopping centre where a large case was left, in plain view, for several hours.. Over 3,000 people passed it by and only a handful (mainly OAPs) reported it to a security guard who was about 20m away.

We have to do our bit too.

Security in London has become so much more sophisticated over the years and a lot less visible. But we should not become too nonchalant about it.

Sorry message meant for the shop blowing up in Birmingham?

That was the incident at North Greenwich last week- near me

When was this, I don't remember hearing about it and I live there too?

There is a case in the news at the moment about that teenager who left a bag on a Tube train - two passengers reported it to the driver who took it into his cab, went along for four stops then looked inside and it was a bomb. He then reported it!