The only thing I’d another angle on the use of the forces for security checks. I think the complete screw-up of g4s has been something of a happy accident.

Firstly, compared with similar systems I have encountered at airports and music festivals, I thought that the security checks at the Olympics were astonishingly efficient, the staff more polite, friendly and efficient than any security company I have had to deal with. Seeing uniformed squaddies is far more reassuring than a bunch of power-happy security guards. So using the forces actually seems to have ensured a system which is cheaper, better and more efficient than anything I believe G4S could have done.

Secondly, such a positive encounter between the armed forces and the general public can only be a good thing. To actually meet the men and women who serve in the armed forces and find them helpful, polite and courteous must up awareness of the important role these men and women play. Putting a face to a force can only increase concerns about to what uses that force is put.

Is the army over-qualified to perform bag checks? Well, I asked the naval officer oversee-ing my bag check what she thought of coming to the Olympics. She grinned: “Oh, we do all-sorts here!”