No fly zone

Scores of stories are breaking of "regular" US travellers being put security check hell at US airports because their name matches that of someone on the "No Fly List" - a list meant to alert the Transport Safety Authority as to people considered a risk. Unfortunately the list is out of date and misses obvious candidates - like eleven of the people charged with the recent London bomb plot, all of whom were under survelliance for more than a year. There are 44,000 plus names on this list so the chances of cross over and mistake are enormous. Here are a couple

• Connecticut resident Robert Johnson is being stopped regularly because his name matches a former Black Panther and arms dealer
• Sixty-eight year old grandmother Mary McCabe now knows that she is on some kind of list but cannot find which one or why; and
• My favourite - 4 year old Sam Adams - a boy born after September 11 2001 is on the same list as 14 of the 19 dead 9/11 hijackers
  

I am not arguing for removing security checks in America. Both the Brits and Americans have a right and duty to be paranoid about airport security. However there is some madness involved in a poorly maintained list being at the centre of that paranoia.