Kate Beckinsale becomes an embarrassing mother to daughter Lily Emirates Airways would, however, appear to have a soft spot for the man who was foreign secretary when Britain went into Iraq. The 65-year-old MP has admitted that he secured two "space available upgrades" for himself and his party on the airline from economy to business class. On the first leg, from Dubai to the Indian coastal city of Cochin on December 28, the upgrades given to Straw and four others was worth £966. Returning from Dubai to Heathrow on January 6, he and five others enjoyed upgrades worth £12,296. With no takers yet for his memoirs, Straw will, I fancy, be increasingly reliant upon such generosity. Knowing you There is a tradition of Bond baddies being played by actors of some distinction - not so long ago, Toby Stephens followed in the footsteps of Donald Pleasence, Charles Gray and Sir Christopher Lee - but that hasn't dissuaded Steve Coogan from wanting to have a stab at it, too. Still, even Coogan admits he has a handicap. "People would go, 'Well, he's not really a threat, because he's Alan Partridge,"" he sighs. Bare necessities Jo Swinson may not have cared for the way L'Oréal airbrushed a model in one of its advertisements, but it seems the Lib Dem MP is not opposed to all cosmetics firms. She has just declared a £10,000 donation to her all-party group on body image, from a make-up company called Bare Minerals.