International

It sounds like something used in an annual check-up, but the bodyscan is actually a security device. Already being given a trial run at Amsterdam's Schiphol airport, the bodyscan produces a kind of X-ray enabling a security guard to look right through your clothing to see whether you are carrying a gun next to your skin, or a knife down your underpants. No longer can any nook or cranny of your body escape Big Brother's investigating eye. Only after the debate did MEPs receive the information necessary to decide whether this was acceptable.

On the return journey from the US to the Netherlands last week, I had the 'honour' to be subjected to a thorough search by the American customs. In addition to the famous body scan, my shoes were investigated with a special apparatus and the contents of my rucksack were examined.