Runaway

As I write this, the north runway at Heathrow has been closed for over an hour and a half.

The reason for this is that a man armed with a rucksack scaled the perimeter fence, got onto the runway and ran into the path of a plane.

The man was arrested and taken into custody and sniffer dogs called to check the rucksack for explosives. The news does not say whether any were found.

So why is the runway still closed? He is no longer a threat. Why keep the runway shut? Why cause delay and misery for thousands of people? The danger (if there ever actually was any) has been averted.

I'm not saying this guy was a terrorist, because he was probably just one of those idiots who protest against the expansion of Heathrow, given that Terminal 5 is due to be opened tommorow, but when we close runways at airports over small incidents like this, or shut down our train and tube network at the drop of a hat. Well, isn't that what terrorists want? They get pretty much the same affect without going through the actual bother of blowing themselves up. They want to cause disruption and we are letting them do it by our own stupidity.

Open the runway and let the stranded passengers get on with their lives.