There is an art to heckling, but a good put-down of a heckle is a work of split-second genius. And, given that politics is a branch of stand-up comedy, some of the best practitioners of both have been elected representatives. Harold Wilson might not have been a great PM, but was a master of the improvised one-liner and thus features three times in this list.

One of my friends has a habit of announcing, out of the blue, his word of the day. Once it was poltroon. This prompted me to think of all those words that ought to be rescued from the penumbra of obscurity. After all, I spend so much of my time railing against cliché, surely I ought to offer up some words that are not familiar enough.

To my surprise David Cameron seems to be attempting the impossible on immigration

Prime Minister was furious when it was said that he wanted Chinese-style censorship

In the course of praising Spandau Ballet, Patrick Hennessy, the political editor of 'The Sunday Telegraph', mentioned the first couplet on this list as a "contender for the worst of all time". I thought that a little broad, not wanting to bring Shakespeare or, worse, Milton into it. So I decided to keep it to popular music after 'Lady Chatterley's Lover'.

The median voter has no idea who this supposed magician might be

This week's top 10 was suggested by Citizen Sane, one of the great assumed identities of the internet, which allows people to be both anonymous and completely traceable. Once Alex Massie got involved, I realised we could have done the top 50 place names in Orkney alone, but had to limit its contribution to a single entry.

It takes an unusual form of political principle to say no to £9m a year

In exceeding the bounds of the European Convention on Human Rights, this ruling only strengthens the case for repudiating the Court in the Conservative manifesto

Chris Deerin, a fellow journalist, is to blame for this one. He complained on Twitter that there was "Doors music being played all over the radio this morning. Just horrible." When I asked for suggestions of more 1960s bands that were not as good as everyone thinks, John Mullin, my friend and former editor, suggested the Rolling Stones, which of course I ruled out of order.