Aston Martin has been displaying its luxury city car, the Cygnet, in the UK for the first time.

Jane Keller, 64, is returning to the UK to live in the Peak District. She wants an utterly reliable and compact five-door. The engine must be small, economical, and ecological. The car also needs plenty of head and leg room, front and back. Her budget is between £9,000 and £12,000 – cash, no part exchange. Jane is prepared to buy new, and is considering a Hyundai i20.

Kia has released early pictures of the next Picanto which will be seen in the metal for the first time at the Geneva Motor Show in March.

The manufacturer of the world's cheapest car, the Tata Nano, has announced it will provide free safety upgrades after a number of the vehicles mysteriously caught fire.

Celine Lawrence is a new driver with a big budget to spend on her first car. She is 20, has just passed her driving test in the south of France, but will be moving back to Britain and will buy her car then. The car has to be new, belong to a low insurance bracket, needs automatic transmission, and have air conditioning. All this to be included in a budget of £13,500.

Roll up, roll up – for an exhibition about the radical collectivist circus Archaos, running as part of the Mayor's Thames Festival this September.

Beyond her famous rueful wit and hard-won, lightly-worn insight, Wendy Cope in her poems offers a painless lesson in the intricate pleasures of form. "How to Deal with the Press", for example, is a villanelle.

Toyota has introduced a new, more luxurious version of its cheapest car, the Aygo.

Alison Thompson is currently driving a Fiat Seicento, which she bought almost seven years ago on entering retirement. She reckons it won't see her out, and she has up to £5,000 to spend on a replacement. Ideally, Alison wants a very small car, and does not wish to pay more than £35 per annum road tax. She hates irritating gadgets so it must be basic. She also lives in a rural area so it must be able to cope with muddy roads just as well as more urban environments.

Pay-as-you-go City Car Club has bought rival WhizzGo for a six-figure sum to become the UK's biggest with a network in 15 cities, 16,000 members and 500 cars.