Jos,
Requiring everybody to remove notebooks does mean that nobody can holler "discrimination" if their notebook is inspected every time.
The good news is that new machines are being trialed that send multiple brief blasts of gas at passengers and luggage, and sniff the result. Even the tiniest explosive residue is apparently detected.
"... They ne'er cared for us
yet: suffer us to famish, and their store-houses
crammed with grain; make edicts for usury, to
support usurers; repeal daily any wholesome act
established against the rich, and provide more
piercing statutes daily, to chain up and restrain
the poor. If the wars eat us not up, they will; and
there's all the love they bear us."
-- Shakespeare: Coriolanus, Act 1, scene 1
