Davos Newbies

I’m astounded at the absolute chaos continuing at London’s Heathrow Airport in the aftermath of the security crackdown the other week.

A colleague of mine flew through Heathrow on the Monday after the terrorist alert. Although he was flying British Airways first class, he was only allowed to take a small plastic bag with a handful of personal items in it. He had to check his suitcase, including his laptop and his mobile phone. Medications that weren’t required during the duration of the flight also had to be checked. He wasn’t even allowed to carry a notebook or a pad of paper.

It’s now 10 days after that flight and he still doesn’t have his bag. Apparently BA update him every 12 hours on the search, but they are dealing with tens of thousands of bags that have gone astray. So with vital business meetings looming, my colleague is missing everything he needs for business.
Neither the BA nor the BAA (the company that runs Heathrow) websites have any information about the chaos.

Way back when, I became interested in inviting Xavier Sala-i-Martin to Davos because he had the weirdest web site of any academic I had ever encountered. Upon examination, it also turned out that he was a very good economist and an engaging speaker.

Even though I don’t share his sour view about governments, his gallery of misguided public works is a treasure (be sure to click to the second page). Via Marginal Revolution.