Britain has its fair share of maverick politicians, but as a dependable source of soundbites and surprises, few can match George Galloway.

Former foreign minister Tzipi Livni announced her resignation from Israel's parliament yesterday with a withering attack against the current leadership, warning that its policies had placed Israel's existence as a Jewish and democratic state "in mortal danger".

Tony Nicklinson’s request that any doctor who helps him die should be protected by the common law definition of necessity is a bold one.

“Bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb Iran!” sings the AIPAC delegate, striding cheerfully through illegal Israeli settlements in his sharp tan suit.

Morrissey, the former lead singer of the band The Smiths, has waded into the continuing row over the sovereignty of the Falkland Islands at a gig in Argentina.

Police have removed the late Brian Haw's 10-year-old peace camp in Parliament Square, claiming it amounted to "litter".

Brian showed us what a quiescent and supine country we've become. After two million came out to protest against the Iraq war it was as if everybody decided to give up. But Brian never gave up. Then they brought in laws trying to curtail his/our right to protest outside Parliament and very few lifted a finger to do anything about that.

Veteran anti-war campaigner Brian Haw has died, a message on his website said.

Three months before the 10th anniversary of his continuing anti-war protest in Parliament Square, Brian Haw has lost his battle against eviction at the High Court. In a case brought by London Mayor Boris Johnson, a judge ruled that Mr Haw must leave his so-called "Democracy Village".

Scott Ritter, the former UN weapons inspector who strived to put the brakes on the 2003 invasion of Iraq by loudly disputing claims by Washington and London that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction, was in court in Pennsylvania last night on charges of soliciting sex with a minor over the internet.

Nine British servicemen and women have applied to be discharged from the military as conscientious objectors since the start of the war in Afghanistan, official figures disclose.

Pharrell Williams explained in a recent interview that N*E*R*D's latest album is intended to reflect an era when "there's a lot of war... the economy sucks, [but] girls are still beautiful", which pretty much covers most of the ground a hip-hop/rock act like his should.

The crowds passing through Westminster on Wednesday evening would not have been too surprised to encounter one of the political village's most famous faces, with its trademark thick black spectacles and the lights of the camera crew bouncing off his shiny dome.

There are certain jobs that require superhuman patience: gold prospector, living statue, Buckingham Palace guardsman. And to that list we must surely add: roving TV correspondent. Consider the torments of the latter. There they are, attempting to speak in coherent sentences though a live link to the studio and then a local extrovert starts dancing around behind them, perhaps waving a banner, generally putting them off in those crucial moments.