“Trane & Trane Mini-M Satfone, scanner, Kevlar helmet, Gulf War 1-vintage waistcoat-style lightweight flak jacket, two-person tent, sleeping bag, water bottle, etc. £3,500 new, all for 500 quid. Email [email protected] if interested.”

This, The Scotsman reported last week, is being put up for sale by war correspondent Paul Harris who, it seems, is finally hanging up his boots.

Mr Harris, it said, has been promising to give it up for some time now and is setting up a new family home in Malta.

The sale offer appeared as a small ad in the Freelance magazine of the National Union of Journalists.