Bourne killer

George, our youngest son, was packing his bag for a short flight. I was reminding him about all the restrictions covering items in your hand luggage.

"Can you take keys in hand luggage?" he asked.

"Yes," I said.

"You could do someone a lot of damage with a key," he said. "Jason Bourne killed someone with a pen."

Bourne, in fact, could be quite a liability on aeroplanes as he turned out to be a master at killing people with everyday objects, variously dispatching assorted assassins with a pen, a rolled-up magazine and a towel across the three Bourne films.

What might be left in the Bourne armoury? A beer mat? A fluffy pink slipper? A haddock?

Absurd, I know, but not that long ago we would have thought the same of a bottle of aftershave or a shoe for heaven's sake. A few years earlier we wouldn't have balked at an umbrella but it did for Georgi Markov. It's a shame he never read Robert Ludlum.

Stop press: If all else fails Bourne could always reach for the couch.