Bakewell revs up in BMW spat

DAME Joan Bakewell is furious with BMW after receiving her second police fine for leaving her mini Cooper unattended with the engine running.

‘Buyers beware,’ warns the doughty broadcaster. ‘The mini Cooper has a major design fault. Because it has no plug-in key, it’s easy to leave it with the engine running.’

Earlier this year the Labour peer, 87, was fined after leaving the engine running and the lights on while she was away for the weekend. She admitted to police that she had accidentally done this because it was a keyless vehicle and gave them permission to smash a window and switch off the engine.

But now it has happened again, she is despairing. ‘There is a design fault,’ she tells me.

BMW disagrees. ‘ There isn’t a design fault,’ says a BMW spokesman. ‘The majority of cars today have keyless ignition systems and most customers really enjoy the convenience they bring.’

Perhaps Dame Joan should revert to a sturdy little morris minor. The best-selling model launched in 1948 when she was 15 and had a proper key to start the ignition.

Prolific playwright James Graham has dramatised rupert Murdoch and Dominic cummings on screen and stage but is shying away from writing anything about disgraced Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein — even though the pair collaborated on the Broadway musical finding Neverland. ‘it is not necessarily yet my story to contribute to,’ says Graham. ‘There are people who have more interesting and urgent perspectives on this than i do.’ What a spoilsport.