Etc...

Hey, are you a terrorist?

Everyone knows better than to joke about bombs while in an airport, right? But how about in a taxi on the way to the airport? To his sad surprise, Harraj Mann found out last week that may not be a good idea either. The 20-something was already aboard a plane that was to fly from Durham in northern England to London when police showed up and escorted him off. He was subjected to questioning, and by the time detectives satisfied themselves that he posed no security threat, he'd missed his flight. And all because en route to Durham Tees Valley Airport he plugged an MP3 player into a port in the taxi and ran through a few of his favorite tunes. One of them was "London Calling," a 1979 number by the punk rock band the Clash. It features such lyrics as "Now war is declared, and battle come down." And "A nuclear error, but I have no fear 'cause London is drowning and I live by the river." Mann chose to sing along, which the cabbie found worrying and reported him. "He didn't like ... the Clash," our guy grumped, "but I don't think there was any need to tell the police." Said a spokeswoman for the force, "The report was made with the best of intentions."