For past couple of days Heathrow Airport, which is near London, has been under military guard due to the threat of a 9/11 scale attack. They are apparently trying to protect against missile attacks and expect to be on the alert for the next week. The story and photos here at the BBC Online website

Slightly more bizarre and less understandable is our little Jersey airport with armed guards, presumably the Chief of Police who has only been here (from the UK) for a relatively short time is feeling left out of things so has decided to frighten the life out of passengers by having armed police patrolling the terminal buildings. I am not quite sure how they think walking about INSIDE the terminal will deter someone with a Bazooka in the sand dunes from taking a pop at an aircraft which is taking off or landing but there you go.

I saw on the local television news that Guernsey (even smaller than Jersey) has armed police AND Territorial Army personnel at their airport, our Territorial Army have been excused this exercise at the Airport, well they would as they have all been called up to serve in the Gulf. THAT will have come as a nasty shock to many of our TA, they wouldn't have expected to go into active service.

All we need now is another firefighter strike and Britain will certainly be in a mess, most of the armed forces are heading for the Gulf, loads more at Heathrow so that doesn't leave many to play at being firefighters.

It is all very serious, but bemusing, this just can't be Britain with all these guns and stuff.

My thoughts and prayers are with you all, Sue.

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It is all very serious, but bemusing, this just can't be Britain with all these guns and stuff.

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It seems surreal to me too. I've never had a chance to make it there, but I never would have dreamed it would come to a point where you would have to have such security. Even going through it for all this time here in America, it still doesn't seem real. It is like an ongoing bad dream. It is beyond me to have such security here.

I saw a picture of a tank outside Heathrow airport, scary.

Britain is no stranger to being on high security alert for terrorism, we have lived with the IRA (and whatever) terror campaigns for many years, there always seemed to be alerts particularly on the build-up to Christmas but they didn't used to bring the troops out for them.

One of my colleagues is due to fly out of Heathrow today heading for Thailand, somehow the excitment has turned to apprehension.

All this high alert at Heathrow and then they find a man with a live grenade in his baggage at Gatwick!

The story, including how some men are arrested by the Heathrow perimeter fence

It is amazing how determined/stupid some people are! I couldn't imagne how he thought he was going to get by with it.