On a recent flight into Heathrow airport we were able to collect all our luggage, except for a bag belonging to my wife. We were told it would certainly be recovered and delivered to us within 24 hours. It turned up eight hours later (the point being that I couldn’t have been left by accident in America).

It appears that the bag must have been opened by the security people at Heathrow. Who else? A perfume canister had been violently pierced and crushed and the contents spewed all over the clothing. Cardboard boxes of other medications had been torn open or crushed Nothing had been stolen, and the bag itself was undamaged and in good condition. It couldn’t have been caused by accident.

Thousands of women travel with cosmetics in their luggage. My wife’s collection was not much different, I guess, than anyone else’s. There was no explanation for the violence of the person concerned, no apology. Take it or leave it. The “suspicious” perfume could have been removed and dealt with. But no, it had to be destroyed among the clothes, pierced with a sharp object (had it been a bomb the perpetrator would now be dead. So why do it that way?)

I have no problem with airport security if it keeps the traveler safe. But this is what we would expect from a totalitarian regime. Intolerable.

I mention this because we dearly need more people to espouse the Epicurean ideal of thoughtfulness for others, consideration, good manners and reasonable behavior. The societal movement toward conservative selfishness and indifference to others is disagreeable.