Great to see the Army stressing its commitment to York on the fifth anniversary of this proud military city losing its general to - of all places - Scotland.

As we reported yesterday, Army bosses insist the importance of York as a military command centre has grown if anything over the five years since our Major General and his divisional staff debunked northwards.

"The salary of the man at the top has changed," insisted Brigadier Richard Dennis, the commanding officer of 15 (NE) Brigade which still has its HQ in York (an oblique reference to the fact that a Brigadier, now York's top military man, is a less exalted rank than a Major General). "But the importance of the HQ has not changed at all. In fact, if anything, it has increased."

The Diary is glad to hear that - just as we're grateful to our soldiers for their help over the last few years in tackling everything from floods to foot and mouth.

But what about the poor old Prince Of Wales's Own Regiment of Yorkshire?

Last December York's favourite minister, charismatic Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon, announced that the Catterick-based Prince of Wales' Own was to be merged with the Green Howards and the Duke of Wellington's Regiment to form a new "super-regiment".

Fears were immediately expressed that The Yorkshire Regiment - as it is to be known - might, despite its name, be based outside Yorkshire.

That, said Ryedale MP John Greenway, would be a huge blow that would erode the regiment's local links.

No need to worry, says Brigadier Dennis: it's not going to happen. The new regiment will have its headquarters in Yorkshire. Definitely.

That will come as a relief to many - especially since the Brigadier, who happens to be chairman of the formation committee of the Yorkshire Regiment, clearly speaks with some authority.

So where in Yorkshire will the new regiment have its HQ? Nothing has been decided yet, the Brigadier insists. Possibly Catterick? asks your fearless Diary correspondent, fishing wildly. Or even York? Nothing has been decided yet, the Brigadier repeats - before hinting that actually, yes, York is a distinct possibility. Now that would be good news.

OUT of the mouths of babes come the most profound of statements.

Three-year-old Megan Harrington was walking through a cow-filled meadow on the North York Moors last weekend with her dad Peter. On seeing the cows, Peter, boss of York-based QA Research and Brackenhill Design, reached protectively for her hand.

Megan was having none of it. "I am braver by myself," she declared.

It didn't end there. Three quarters of the way through negotiating her way past the animals - do you remember how big cows seemed when you were a three-year-old? - she came out with the following. "I am the leader. There is no need to be calm."

It took the Diary some time to get its head around the implications of that.

But having thought about it for a while, it strikes us that it might well be the perfect election slogan for politicians who happen to believe in that unlikely thing, the truth.

Updated: 10:51 Friday, April 01, 2005