do i need a visa to travel between the uk and the usa?

I'm an alien. I'm a legal alien. I'm an Englishman...

Jesus.

Now you aren't even allowed to go to the toilet on transatlantic flights...

Haha a visit to relatives down the country when younger (7-8) did involve me chasing my sisters around with what later turned out to be a loaded shotgun. But other than that, no guns for Andrew :)

The Guardian seems to think it's not dangerous (at least for pressurised cabin reasons):

http://www.guardian.co.uk/life/thisweek/story/0,12977,1117803,00.html

And aircraft have got loads of holes in them already, it's part of their design. Another couple of holes aren't going to make much difference," says McBride.

besides, from what i understand about airplanes it isn't that people would get sucked out a hole the size of a 9mm bullet. it's that a hole of any size will create a situation where the pressurized cabin has a catastrophic decompression, which can be unpleasant for everyone and stuff.

You mean it wouldn't be like the end of Alien Resurrection? Damn!

Even highly trained people would find a dangerous situation on a crowded aircraft almost impossible to control, I think. I'm sure that the best & probably only solution is to more carefully check passengers and luggage, as well as check the backgrounds of people who train as commercial pilots. Obviously this would cost lots of $$$, and make flights slower and more expensive, so we'll probably just get the 'sky marshal' anyway. I hate being cynical, but I just want to see someone do the proper thing, rather than the cheap option.

U.S. tells Brazil to change security program
The U.S. State Department has changed its stance on a new Brazilian security process for U.S. citizens entering the South American nation.
Washington is now urging Brazil to alter its new process of fingerprinting and photographing U.S. visitors.

"We have told the Brazilians that we think that these are measures that provide tremendous inconvenience to travelers and that they need to be changed," State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said Tuesday.

Just last week, Boucher's deputy -- J. Adam Ereli -- said the United States understood Brazil's new policy. "This is their sovereign right to do if they want to do it." Ereli said.

Brazil's program began after a similar process was announced for the United States. The US-VISIT program began January 5 and applies to any visitor, including Brazilians, who are required to have visa to enter the United States. Visitors from most European nations are excluded.

Thats so staggeringly hypocritical I'm almost speechless. My god.

let's label (A) as: how many lives have been lost due to having armed marshalls on flights? (not a new idea, nor an exclusively american one.)

and then (B) can be: how many to the lack of them?

so, is A > B or B > A?