I get the impression that quite a lot of the Major Public Awards, like Knighthoods, etc, are given out for the wrong reasons, quite often, which dilutes the meaning of them for the real Heroes of the UK.
We have Politicians who get sacked, getting Knighthoods, and, maybe, even Peerages!
They must be really meaningful, to the “Winners” as they can strut around Public Functions, brandishing their “Sir” Or “Madam” titles (which they rarely leave behind).
This has been discussed before, but is the award being handed out, more & more, as some sort of parting gesture?
I consider most so called ‘awards’ are a load of old gonads and should be scrapped. To my way of thinking, the only one worth having is The Order of The Garter as that is purely given to the person named by the monarch as a personal choice of the monarch.
How do they qualify for these titles in the first place?
What do they have to do to become a Lord, or a Sir?
If a man becomes a Lord something or other, is his wife automatically a ‘Lady’?
And what about the other way round - if a woman becomes a Dame, does her husband automatically get a title too?
That woman on the apprentice karen has my respect since she’s got a life peerage and a medal through her own hard work and talent but doesn’t want it to be mentioned on the show, unlike LORD sugar and the other bloke Tim?, MBE. Talk about toys for boys with small willies. Way you go Karen.
These awards and titles seem to matter very much to some people, but I would be quite happy to see them all done away with. At best it is unfair, and it is yet one more opportunity for corruption.
I don’t mind some of them as such and view them as something to put in a drawer or on the shelf a bit like a medal from coming top 3 in the local church fete egg and spoon race. self aggrandizement is a big no no though.
It seems that the real Heroes, often, don’t want a fuss, they want to be treated the same as everyone else.
But some (lesser people) expect to see it every time they get mentioned!
Titles are worrying, I used to think that Doctors always put the Word “Doctor”, next to their name, so that we could recognise them, and ask for help, if we were in trouble.
Most Doctors aren’t Doctors anyway. They’re MBChB (Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery).
The same initial qualification over the pond, however, is MD (Doctor of Medicine), but in this country MD is a postgraduate doctorate.
On one hand I agree they are a farce, the way they decide who gets one seems to blatantly unfair and biased.
The way both the major parties give them to their own party members is ridiculous and corrupt.
And even worse is the way party leaders dish them out to people who have funded or supported them politically. That’s corrupt and not what they’re for
On the other hand there’s something incredibly British about the honours tradition and I’d be sorry to see them go
And sometimes the delight of the people who deservedly get one is a joy to see. I like the idea of us as a nation acknowledging people who’ve done good, it’s a shame to get rid of all quirkiness
I feel they use dishing them out for their own ends and to favour their cronies but throw out a few genuine ones that will be popular to muddy the water as to what they’re really up to and to keep us happy
But I still like the idea of if honours and it’s good to see how thrilled some of the genuine people who receive them are
I don’t have a problem with national awards for people who really deserve them, i.e. not for long service in a job, not for bunging a lot of cash to the Tory Party, not for keeping one’s mouth shut so as not to embarrass the PM and so on.
But the awards need revamping. Most mention the British Empire, which does not exist anymore so what does the award really mean. It’s almost an insult to the recipient.
Plus there is a class aspect to the awards. An award should be an award, there should not be a hierarchy of deservingness, no opportunity for something like " I am more deserving than you because I got an OBE"
I would like one award and a number of categories with each one supported by a catalogue of achievements, something more than walking up and down your drive a lot to raise a lot of money for your descendants to maladminister.
I think the “Honours system” is anachronistic and scrapping it or having a complete overhaul is long overdue - I have lost count of the number of times that Select Committees have recommended overhauling the honours system - despite these many reviews, the recommendations seem to be largely ignored.
Titles mean nothing to me - I can think of some nasty bar stewards who have been given baronetcies in return for “scratching the right backs” and a few other decent folk who have been given one for going the extra mile in the service to their country or community.
Unfortunately, the high number of “undeserving” awards rather cheapens the value of it for everyone else - and the titles themselves are very outdated.
If we must have an awards system, let’s forget the “Sirs” and “Ladies” and all the old “Orders of the British Empire” and stick with “Orders for Excellent Service”
I recall a Commons Select Committee about 20 years ago recommending we scrap a lot of the old “Honours” titles and changing the names of CBE, MBE and OBE to remove the reference to the Empire
e.g. “Order of the British Empire” to become “Order of British Excellence”
I’m not a fan of them…like most things, its gone a bit rogue and would prefer it if they just stuck with ordinary people who do remarkable things for their community.
