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You can find the current article at its original source at http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2012/dec/30/lions-donkeys-honours-a-racket
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| Lions or donkeys, the honours system is still a bit of a racket | Lions or donkeys, the honours system is still a bit of a racket |
| (25 days later) | |
| There is surely a valid place for an honours system in a society which upholds a spirit of public service and worthwhile achievement? The British system may be imperfect, but far the greater proportion of honours goes to people who do indeed deserve to be honoured and it's a shame the Guardian has chosen to withhold recognition from recipients by not printing the complete list and only reporting the honours awarded to celebrities. | There is surely a valid place for an honours system in a society which upholds a spirit of public service and worthwhile achievement? The British system may be imperfect, but far the greater proportion of honours goes to people who do indeed deserve to be honoured and it's a shame the Guardian has chosen to withhold recognition from recipients by not printing the complete list and only reporting the honours awarded to celebrities. |
| Presumably you have been motivated by something of the attitude of Tanya Gold (Comment, 29 December). In condemning the system as "an absurd hangover from feudal times" she overlooks the fact that it is a rather modern construct: the bulk of it being made up of the Order of the British Empire only invented in 1917 (and admittedly requiring renaming). Evidence-based arguments for constructive reform is what we want, rather than negative oppositionism. Edmund Gray Oxford | Presumably you have been motivated by something of the attitude of Tanya Gold (Comment, 29 December). In condemning the system as "an absurd hangover from feudal times" she overlooks the fact that it is a rather modern construct: the bulk of it being made up of the Order of the British Empire only invented in 1917 (and admittedly requiring renaming). Evidence-based arguments for constructive reform is what we want, rather than negative oppositionism. Edmund Gray Oxford |
| • Three cheers for Tanya Gold. The honours system together with the monarchy, aristocracy, House of Lords and public schools are the main pillars of the aristocratic embrace which continues to stifle the emergence of a common culture in England, without which all talk of economic progress, social mobility and social solidarity is only spitting in the wind. David Alfred Brighton | • Three cheers for Tanya Gold. The honours system together with the monarchy, aristocracy, House of Lords and public schools are the main pillars of the aristocratic embrace which continues to stifle the emergence of a common culture in England, without which all talk of economic progress, social mobility and social solidarity is only spitting in the wind. David Alfred Brighton |
| • Tanya Gold's contempt for the Companion of Honour award ("a donkey sanctuary for Tory peers") is ill judged. Recent recipients include Peter Higgs, David Attenborough, Judi Dench, Ian McKellen, David Hockney, Stephen Hawking and the late Harold Pinter. Lions rather than donkeys, surely? John Weston Richmond, Surrey | • Tanya Gold's contempt for the Companion of Honour award ("a donkey sanctuary for Tory peers") is ill judged. Recent recipients include Peter Higgs, David Attenborough, Judi Dench, Ian McKellen, David Hockney, Stephen Hawking and the late Harold Pinter. Lions rather than donkeys, surely? John Weston Richmond, Surrey |
| • Re Sir Hector Sants: so you can be knighted for being boss of the "light touch" financial regulator ahead of the biggest financial crisis in living memory? Am I missing something? Jim Ensom Manningtree, Essex | • Re Sir Hector Sants: so you can be knighted for being boss of the "light touch" financial regulator ahead of the biggest financial crisis in living memory? Am I missing something? Jim Ensom Manningtree, Essex |
| • Can someone tell me why Andy Murray with one gold medal gets a CBE while Mo Farah with two gold medals only gets a OBE? It couldn't be that tennis is a middle-class game, could it? [See footnote.] Roland White Bognor Regis, West Sussex | • Can someone tell me why Andy Murray with one gold medal gets a CBE while Mo Farah with two gold medals only gets a OBE? It couldn't be that tennis is a middle-class game, could it? [See footnote.] Roland White Bognor Regis, West Sussex |
| • This footnote was added on 2 January 2013 because a subsequent letter writer has pointed out that Mo Farah received a CBE, and Andy Murray received an OBE. | • This footnote was added on 2 January 2013 because a subsequent letter writer has pointed out that Mo Farah received a CBE, and Andy Murray received an OBE. |
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