I caught up with a colleague this afternoon who's back in London after his latest tour of duty in Baghdad.

We chatted about working conditions for journalists at the moment. What he told me was not dissimilar to this article in the Christian Science Monitor -- in short, that Baghdad isn't a pleasant place for a hack to be right now (even though some people -- like BBC Brussels Correspondent Tim Franks do manage to make the best of it, training for the London Marathon in spite of the armed guards and razor wire.)

On a related issue, on Thursday journalists around the world will remember Taras Protsiuk of Reuters and José Couso from Spanish network Telecinco, who were killed a year ago in an attack by American forces on the Palestine Hotel in Baghdad.