Really depends on what you want to use it for, how portable do you want it to be and ultimately your budget!
If it's for nights out and you want something to fit in your pocket / bag the canon ixus is very compact and ideal for this.
If the size doesn't matter so much, I have a Canon Powershot, this is a bit bigger (still fits in my pockiet) and really takes good pictures. (costs a bit less than the ixus too)
I would definitely try and get a camera with optical zoom if you can, as this gives far better quality when you zoom in; my camera will zoom 4x optical and 3x digital, (12x zoom all together).
If you wanted a camera of high quality you'd be looking at digital SLR's, these are much larger and from what you're said I don't think you are looking for this..
I personally think Canon are the best, although I have seen a very good Nikon SLR.
I would do a bit of research around the type you want, check out Ebuyer for some good deals and pixmania, often amazon do have good deals also especially on end of line products.
Nearly forgot, the number of megapixels is only important to a certain degree, if you want to print say up to A4, you would need the bare minimum of 3 megapixel - in all honesty in todays market the megapixels on offer are in excess of this so you'd be unlikely to encounter any problems with regard quality of picture detail.
Hope this helps and the above isn't confusing!
. 
"How far is it now Kev?"
"7 miles!?" 
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