On the face of it, James Inverne would not seem to have a huge amount in common with Simon Cowell. Inverne is, after all, not a showbusiness impresario but rather a classical music journalist who is much more enthusiastic about Berlioz than boy bands.

The history of peace negotiations between Israelis and the Palestinians does not inspire a huge amount of confidence that the present talks will lead to agreement. However, there are those on both sides who continue to hope, if not believe, that this time an agreement will be reached.

Gideon Levy has no illusions about how he is perceived in the mainstream Jewish world. The veteran Ha'aretz journalist is one of the most outspoken critics of Israel's presence in the West Bank and Gaza, and has been for 25 years. The fact that he has promoted his new book, The Punishment of Gaza, at a series of events organised by pro-Palestinian groups, has not endeared him to Zionist groups here, and he has been called "a propagandist for Hamas" by right wingers at home in Israel.

I am sitting in the Central Synagogue in London sipping tea, hoping that I will get a chance to speak to Josef Levinson. Levinson is 93 years old and exhausted after his flight from Vilnius. He has an ongoing high blood pressure problem and has apparently had a bad night. His son Alex, a tall, square-jawed man with a booming voice, tells me that his father has been having doubts about whether to talk to the newspapers.

Look at Britain's Jews from the outside and you will see a shining success story. An influx of poverty-stricken refugees a century ago has evolved into a middle-class community with superb educational facilities, vibrant cultural life and outstanding achievement in many fields.

Tim Samuels is famous for his stunts. The pensioner's choir that he assembled, named The Zimmers, topped the YouTube charts. He invaded Trafalgar Square with a platoon of disgruntled ex-soldiers, and organised a guerrilla clean-up of dirty hospitals by MRSA victims. He also drove a car bedecked with England football regalia through Scotland during the 2006 World Cup only to have it trashed outside the Celtic stadium.

If you have been watching the World Cup over the past month you will have been marvelling at the way Argentinian superstar Lionel Messi manages to glide his way through defences with the ball seemingly attached to his left foot - how he evade tackles, finds team-mates with a flick of his boot and shoots unerringly at the goal.

Messi is sublimely gifted - a natural-born genius like Maradona and Pele before him. Or is he? Is it just conceivable that Messi's genius is due to the fact that he practises harder than his contemporaries?

A few weeks ago, journalists at the JC received a memo about directory enquiries numbers entitled "The Power of Advertising". Apparently over half of all directory enquiries calls had been made to 118118 - one of the most expensive numbers. We were implored to use an alternative service.

Some people collect stamps, some collect postcards and others collect art. Most are proud to have their collections on display. Simon Cohen's collection is more unusual and he is rather ambivalent about it. He has around 1,600 pieces, of which most are tucked away in a back room and rarely see the light of day.