It's that time of year again. A new Prime Minister wants to show he's not "Soft on Terror" and so has revamped the UK's anti-terrorism measures.

This time vehicle exclusion zones are in, exterior security checkpoints on buildings are in, vehicle barriers are in, face recognition is in, number plate recognition is in, longer detention without trial is in.

Out go strict controls about what can be taken on board an aircraft.

Common sense went out a long time ago.

What effect does this have on the chances of the UK becoming the victim of terrorism again? Absolutely none. The truth is that it is in our culture and society to do two things: Congregate and Travel. Whenever we want to do these things we are potentially at risk, as people will be able to target us. It doesn't matter if we are queuing inside the airport or queuing TO GET inside the airport, at some point in time between when we leave our homes and when we reach our destination or return home we will be at risk, and we will be at risk en masse.

The current and new ant-terror measures may stop some attacks and lessen the impact of others. They will certainly force some terrorists to re-examine their tactics. They will not solve the problem of terrorism - or make us safe.

Let me use a simple example to illustrate my point. Consider street crime. In the UK is street crime lowest in the areas where security is tightest? Where there are most police officers? Or is it lowest in the areas where people don't want to commit street crime?

Let's come back to terrorism. I haven't killed anyone in my entire life and it's not through lack of opportunity or lack. I haven't chosen not to kill anyone because I was afraid of getting caught and I have not set out to kill someone only to be deterred by their security arrangements. Like almost everyone I don't kill because I don't want to. And until We can understand and defuse the motivations for terrorism we can not beat it, even with the help of surveillance technology.

So are all the anti-terror measures and legislation that we have a complete waste of time? Of course not! They improve our politicians chances of re-election and pacify the short sighted journalists who will whip up a media frenzy if there is any sign of "going soft" on terrorism.