At least I am able to look in the mirror, which is more than most politicians! I see more years than I care to remember and, if it is a full-length mirror, a stone too much. My best feature is my big blue eyes. I am sporting a fetching Che Guevara beard - devilish, some girls say. I grew it 18 months ago in Cuba when I was doing picture research for my Fidel Castro book. I can't see myself without one now; it hides my double chin.

Recently somebody asked me what my hair colour was and I automatically said brown, but it isn't. It's white and, even worse, there are precious few hairs - even white ones. My baldness is almost complete and I wish I had a head of hair like Jeremy Paxman.

I wear glasses. Until I was exactly 50 I hadn't dreamt of having glasses and then, within a few days, I had to hold my Guardian further away. Within a week or two I had specs and now I can't read without them.

At the moment I have a bruise on my left temple and a lump on the right side of my head. I was in an open-top bus campaigning for the London Assembly when an object hit me. Perched astride two front seats on the upper deck, I dropped my microphone and tumbled against the side of the bus, banging my head. For a moment I thought I'd been shot. The person who threw it claims it was a rubber ball, but we never saw it. I was dazed, and my children and grandchildren, who were on the bus, thought I'd had a heart attack. It was distressing, and I am consulting my lawyer.

· George Galloway is Respect MP for Bethnal Green and Bow.

Tory councillor Darren Gilbert, 22, was elected to represent Hatfield Central on Welwyn Hatfield Borough Council, Hertfordshire, last week.

The claims were allegedly made when he was employed by Tesco.

Council leader, Conservative John Dean, said: "Unfortunately, at his selection interview he failed to disclose certain aspects of his past employment."

Apart from George McGovern, a plainspoken man who knows something about losing elections, not a single Democrat of national stature publicly urged Hillary Rodham Clinton on Wednesday to end her campaign for the White House.

They didn't have to.