Week after next I'm heading to Brussels and Frankfurt for meetings, and whilst the first will be on the Eurostar the second will be by plane from London City. But it got me checking the new requirements ^H^H^H^H demands on hand luggage, and I realised that they have become - effectively - sexist.

As a very frequent flyer on business in years gone by, I used to do the 'get everything into the carry-on bag' so that I didn't have to wait anything up to an hour for someone to get the luggage off the plane, transport it to the terminal, put it on the wrong conveyor, and then wait for it to hit a carousel, This could be a saving of at least 30 minutes at each end, so making the trips less tiring (and being first to the taxi rank!)

Now though, while most men can still do this, most women cannot!

Because we have makeup (foundation is a liquid so banned) and toner/cleanser (more liquids), and keep our nails trimmed/cleaned (sharp objects are banned), etc. Yes, I supposed on each trip the first thing one could do on arrival is go shopping, but that would cost time and be wasteful of money too.

Seems to me that these new rules help the men get out the airport first …