are allowed on honours list
SO RICHLY DESERVED:"I've been a loyal editor all
these years, ma'am, so
how much longer must I
wait for my gong?"
by Sue Davies
Britain’s so-called ‘honours’ system badly needs reform. Was there anyone in the latest so-called "queen's birthday honours" genuinely deserving of an accolade?
I suppose you could point to a handful, but if so their achievements were totally obscured by all the time-servers, "local heroes", failed politicians and other nonentities, celebs seemingly picked at random and captains of industry, whose donations to political parties virtually ensures them of some shiny bauble or other, perhaps even a touch of ermine.
What’s happening, of course, is a cynical exercise in monarchy advancement. As popularity of the royals continues to slip, so the establishment becomes more desperate – hence the adoption in recent years of the scatter-gun spraying out "honours" to play on the vanities and snobbery of as many people as possible.
Which is why only those who clearly express support for the monarchy are ever "honoured". Checks are made about a candidate’s "suitablility" and if their face doesn’t fit then no matter how deserving the honour it will go to someone else, usually someone far-less deserving.
We need a system that will dispense just genuine honours. and be open to everyone, not just monarchists. Ideally, Wales should have its own system.