There's an awful lot of choice out there and it really depends on what you want from the camera. My only suggestion is get something with a high pixel count and a decent lens, and the TZ6 seems to fit the bill.
The problem, for me at any rate, is once you get into this game you'll want to get something bigger and better as the technology improves or you want more out of your photography in which case you might want to look at the digital SLR type of camera - but you won't get much change out of £500 at the bottom end of the range.
Then again, if you think you're only going to be taking the odd "snap" then you might as well just upgrade your mobile phone (if you have one) which has a half decent camera built in and fits in your pocket!
A few pics from my Nokia 6500 phone -
http://picasaweb.google.com/p.j.west/PhonePics#