How on earth do they decide to whom to give 'honours' ?
The release of the list of recipients in the latest 'Queen's Birthday Honours' has the usual knighthoods and dame-hoods to an assortment of celebrities and personalities, while those who should really be honoured are lucky if they receive an MBE.
This time around, we have a knighthood for Billy Connolly, an admittedly funny but unavowedly foul-mouthed actor and comedian; what he has done to deserve such an honour escapes me. Then we have a dame-hood for the American actress, Olivia de Havilland, seemingly not for her acting prowess in the distant past but for the fact that she's reached the age of 100. Paul McCartney, J K Rowling, Delia Smith and Terence Conran are to be made members of the Order of Companions of Honour, a highly prestigious order and an honour which surely requires rather more than to have written a few songs or books, cooked some cakes or designed some faddish furniture.
Many civil servants get their virtually automatic entitlements, ignoring the fact of their often well-paid and secure jobs, generous and protected pensions and generally plush working environments, not at all like the working conditions of the school dinner or crossing patrol lady, postman, and many others who provide real services.
The truly deserving are only found at the bottom of the list. George 'Johnny' Johnson, the last survivor of the perilous 'Dambusters' Raid' of 1944 is given an MBE, having served his country and risked his life flying deep into enemy territory in a rickety aeroplane which would find no favour amongst modern-day health and safety 'experts'. Which is more deserving - Connolly or Johnson ? The senior civil servant or the dinner lady ?
Assorted others who have served their communities for many years, often unpaid, are lucky if they receive anything at all; a 'British Empire Medal', the absolute bottom of the pile, is the best they can hope for.
What a farce.
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