The message
from The Natural Philosopher contains these words:

I reiterate "what collapsible baton"?

None of the reports I saw mentioned that...URL?

AIUI the original report was in the Spectator but it was crossposted
(verbatim I think) to a number of ngs including uk.rec.walking here I
read it and the subsequent lengthy discussion. Not at home atm so unable
to spend time searching for it myself but I am fairly sure swiss army
knife was in the title of the thread.

From what I remember the story was that as well as the so called swiss
army knife the plod found a collapsible baton within the briefcase that
the owner claimed he had got for protection at home (itself of
questionable legality) and had only put it in his briefcase to keep it
away from his young daughter who had found it and was playing with it.

I don't have any truck with such offensive weapons. However I do find
that the most convenient place to store my ice axe is close to my
bedhead.

--
Roger