The news is full of the inability of G4S to fulfil its targets of security for the upcoming Olympic Games.

Here are some snippets of how it looks on the ground from where I live at the entrance to the Olympic Village.

My road is blocked by security guards who stop all traffic and only allow Olympic badges and buses to go through. I counted 16 of them. One to do the stopping and one to stop the traffic again to check the first checked correctly. The other 14 are there to watch or in case they are needed. They were supplemented by a group of 10 policeman this morning who appeared to be there to watch the security guards. Perhaps this is in case all 16 of the security guards fell ill and the police had to step in.

Since I can't use my car for ten weeks without a huge detour, I use the bus. On the bus yesterday were a group of four drunken thugs wearing Olympic Security badges terrorising passengers with their loutish behaviour. Must be from out of town, not knowing that you can't drink alcohol on London Transport.

It is just a thought but the number of security guards around appears to be neurotic overkill. We might be better off with fewer.