Still nothing to report.

PIMP MY ARMOURED

Usually, the armoured cars we use to travel around hostile environments are pretty utilitarian affairs.

The air conditioning rarely works, you can't wind down the windows, and they handle like a skip on wheels.

Trust CNN to buck the trend.

They've taken the Hummer they used during the Iraq war to the custom shop for a few modifications.

The result is Warrior One -- a flag waving, gas guzzling, CO2 producing publicity stunt.......sorry, I meant "memorial to the journalists who risked their lives and in some cases gave their lives to tell the story of the war."

Just the thing that's needed for dodging small arms fire in....er....the local strip mall.

This story caused much amusement in the office this morning -- but poor Radio 2 newsreader John Marsh was expected to read it on air.

Here's the inevitable result.

I'm a loyal member of the National Union of Journalists.

The union helped me out with legal advice after I was injured in Iraq and I was very grateful.

But now I'm seriously considering canceling my subscription.

One of the main reasons is a groveling apology to MP Gregory Campbell in the union magazine, the Journalist -- which has itself long been an embarrassment to our profession.

The union which is supposed to represent journalists in the UK has paid substantial damages and legal costs -- funded out of our subscriptions -- because it totally failed to follow the most basic principles of media law.

Do I really want to be a member of an organisation which can't even follow the rules taught to trainee hacks on day one?

Can you give me a good reason why I shouldn't leave?

Why can't newsreaders just read the news? asks the Telegraph's Jan Moir, to universal agreement.

What the Israelis will make of seeing the BBC's most senior Middle East correspondent camping it up as a James Bond villain is anyone's guess.

Nothing to report. Absolutely nothing.

It looks as though my son is going to miss his first, and most important, deadline.

I'm dismayed -- He'll never make it as a journalist if he can't file on time.

Does my bump look big in this?

72 hours to the due day -- but no sign of my son and heir yet.

According to which old wives tale you read, labour can be helped along through long walks, pineapples, hot curries and sex (although crucially, it's not made clear whether the sex has to be with the mum-to-be).

I'm going to be knackered and have chronic indigestion come Monday.

We all know that Rageh Omaar, formerly of this parish and now of Al Jazeera, is a precocious talent -- but was he honestly a pre-pubescent newshound?

In a press release announcing his new documentary about Iran, the BBC press office says that:

"Omaar's last visit to Tehran, the region's capital, was as a news reporter, filming the incendiary demonstrations and recording the uncompromising statements from officials in the aftermath of the Islamic Revolution of 1979."

Rageh was born on 19th July 1967, which means he would have been 12 when the Shah was toppled.

A new world record for the youngest foreign correspondent ever?

Vote early, vote often for your favourite Welshman.

I don't need a slate plaque -- I'm already well used to being walked all over.

A major victory in the war against terror -- reported by AFP:

BAQUBA, Iraq, Nov 1, 2006 (AFP) - Iraqi forces have seized a donkey laden with land mines on the border with Iran, police in the border province of Diyala said Wednesday.

"Smugglers were bringing 52 mines from Iran on a donkey. When we intercepted them, the smugglers managed to escape back across the border but we got the donkey," an officer told AFP on condition of anonymity.

To Marylebone this evening for the launch of fellow Cardiffian Jeremy Bowen's new book.

But wait. Spot the deliberate mistake on the front cover.

In the public's imagination Jeremy will forever be associated with the hairy caterpillar nestling on his top lip but our venerable Middle East Editor shaved off his trademark 'tache several years ago.

I can exclusively reveal that the cover photo was in fact taken in 1999, when we were all a lot younger.