MySQL query for current GMT time

This sounds simple enough but I haven't been able to figure out how to use a

 simple SELECT statement to return the current time in GMT.

I have been trying to use CONVERT_TZ() to convert NOW() to GMT based on 

the server time zone and the GMT time zone but for some reason it returns 

NULL when I put in the text time zones. The only way I get a result is to actually 

put in the offsets which is getting way too complicated for what should be a 

really simple operation. Here is what I mean:

mysql> SELECT CONVERT_TZ(NOW(),@@global.system_time_zone,'GMT');
NULL

mysql> SELECT CONVERT_TZ(NOW(),'PST','GMT');
NULL

mysql> SELECT CONVERT_TZ(NOW(),'-08:00','+00:00');
2010-02-13 18:28:22

All I need is a simple query to return the current time in GMT. 

 Answers

Just use UTC (doesnt get affected with daylight savings time)

SELECT UTC_TIMESTAMP();

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Old Content for reference:

this should work, but with

SELECT CONVERT_TZ(NOW(),'PST','GMT');

i got also NULL as result. funny enough the example in the mysql docu also returns null

SELECT CONVERT_TZ('2004-01-01 12:00:00','GMT','MET');

http://dev.mysql.com/doc/refman/5.1/en/date-and-time-functions.html#function_convert-tz 

you could try:

SET @OLD_TIME_ZONE=@@TIME_ZONE;
SET TIME_ZONE='+00:00';
SELECT NOW();
SET TIME_ZONE=@OLD_TIME_ZONE;

ok is not exactly what you wanted (its 4 queries, but only one select :-)

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Note: GMT might have DST UTC does not have DST

SELECT UTC_TIMESTAMP();

I made a cheatsheet here: Should MySQL have its timezone set to UTC?

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After seeing all the answers above and seeing it's unreliable to convert to PST, 

I just used this:

DATE_SUB(user_last_login, INTERVAL 7 hour)

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When the source server timestamp is unknown but the requirement is for a 

specific tz do this:

select convert_tz(utc_timestamp(),'+05:00','+00:00')

This uses CST as an example. utc_timestamp will guarantee a '+00:00' result no 

matter where you query it. The '+05:00' is your desired offset. This works great when 

hitting multiple unknown servers and it assures you that you returning result will all be

 in a common tz result set.

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This should work SELECT date_add(UTC_TIMESTAMP(), interval 330 minute);