[jimworcs]

Let's just be clear about a few things:

1. Travelling from Germany to the UK on an EU passport is not the same as travelling inter-state in the US. This is because despite having the rights to live and work in any EU state, each state within the Union has retained it's rights to exercise their sovereignty in relation to the right to live and work there. For example, Germany could refuse a UK citizen with a criminal record to live there, notwithstanding their rights under EU Law to live in any EU country.

2. The UK is not a member of the Schengen group of countries and therefore immigration rules apply to all people entering and leaving countries, even within the EU. The UK opted out of this. Khaled is wrong to suggest that this applies to UK citizens. The fact that the security staff at FRA selected her is not in of itself racist.

3. The questions you were asked, such as what work do you do, what is your specialty and where do you work are not personal or private questions. You are over sensitive if you think they are.

4. You work in a hospital. If I have a problem with the catering can I complain to you as the doctor and expect you to do something about it? It is ridiculous for you to ask Lufthansa to do something about an employee of a different legal entity over which they have no control. Your refusal to understand this distinction suggests that you have problems in appropriately assessing situations and causes me to have doubts about whether you have assessed the actions of the security officer appropriately also.

5. Until about 10 years ago, there was a significant problem in the UK with Irish Terrorists. This resulted in many of the people who travelled from Northern Ireland to England or Scotland being stopped by police at border control points in airports and ports. These people were travelling within the UK. Was this racist or prudent policing? We cannot allow our sensitivity to racial profiling to hamstring our security forces who are trying to protect us all. Just to be clear.. I am not suggesting in any way that anything more than a tiny minority of people of middle eastern origin are involved in terrorism, just as a tiny minority of irish people were involved in terrorism...but that is not the same as saying being suspicious of irish people or people of middle eastern origin is automatically racist in those specific circumstances.

You are perfectly within your rights to decide not to travel through Germany because you dislike their security procedures. In fact, I find the UK security rules at airport ridiculous, inconsistent and annoying and have reduced my flying as a result. But alleging racism when there is nothing in your allegations to back it up is unnecessary and likely to inflame people. I find that irresponsible and surprising from someone with a scientific background.