After being reminded that John Cleese can understandably take exception to ill-founded fears his funny bone may have been surgically removed in recent years, I would like to place on record the confident belief his best work could still be ahead of him. (Just pretend it's some other bloke in those rubbish AA adverts). Now the old boy proudly informs us that he wouldn't still be plain old Mr Cleese to you and I, if he had seen fit to accept a peerage from Paddy Ashdown back in 1999.

David Miliband, the former foreign secretary, is considering a role in television after losing the Labour leadership contest last year.

Media Studies: Google may provide an invaluable service but it actually produces nothing much of value

David Cameron spent three hours in Oldham East and Saddleworth, scene of a by-election where some people suspect the Tories are pulling their punches to avoid hurting the Lib Dems. The Prime Minister's visibility was so low at times that reporters on the scene starting wondering what he might be doing.

The last time Pandora heard from Jonathan Aitken he was in darkest Kazakhstan, inspecting prisons. This time it's Russia, where he is up to "all kind of things". So he can't talk at length, you understand. But he has this much to offer: his backing for Diane Abbott as leader of the Labour Party.

The old Etonian has shown his party that he is not too privileged to appeal to voters. But, having taken the Tories to the threshold of No 10, can he now persuade them to embrace Nick Clegg?

Stephen Twigg, the symbol of New Labour's 1997 landslide, lost his seat in 2005. Now he returns as a Labour candidate in Liverpool West Derby. Rob Hastings meets him

The man tipped as Gordon Brown's successor faces an uphill struggle to win his seat. Andy McSmith reports from the battleground

Ed Balls faces a tough fight to hold on to his seat in the face of a concerted Tory decapitation strategy, a survey by The Independent has found.

Recommending Michael Foot for a job on the Evening Standard, Aneurin Bevan said to its proprietor, Lord Beaverbrook: "I've got a young bloody knight errant here." The description held true. Political and journalistic opponents paid tribute to Foot last week with a mixture of wonder and exasperation. The Daily Mail's obituary was a version of the famous American epitaph for Foot's spiritual predecessor, Thomas Paine: "He had lived long, did some good and much harm."

MPs vote to retain late-night counts, meaning public will not have to wait for results

Where every year is the Year of the Tiger

The singer Joss Stone, Duran Duran's Nick Rhodes, magazine editor Jefferson Hack and My Summer of Love actress Natalie Press were out in force on Monday night for the private view of Rankin's exhibition Destroy at London's Phillips de Pury Gallery.

Diary