Another intriguing morsel of news revealed to PASC
The Queen has no role in the Honours except to stop them being awarded to dead people.
Part of the attraction of the distribution of roles of commanders and members of a non-existent empire is the idea that the Queen is responsible for the choice of those anointed. I ask the man who chairs the honours committee if the Queen has ever added or subtracted any names recommended. Denis Brennan, whose title is head of the Honours and Appointments Secretariat, answered with a clear 'No'. Later he amended his answer to point out the the Queen did intervened once to point out that someone who was about to be honoured had died. She clearly has firm ideas against knighting dead people.
Denis Brennan was the only member of the Honours Committee who appeared before PASC last week, who is not a Sir or a Dame. I asked him if, as a man of mature years, he felt bereft or unfulfilled because his name is unadorned. He does not. Nor do I.
My friend Gordon Prentice asked the panel what they thought of the honour given to banker Sir Fred Goodwin. They all said it would not happen now. Gordon has written to the Forfeiture Committee urging them to strip the banker with the sumptuous pension of his ill-gotten knighthood.
To those who lust for honours, gaining one is a life-changing event. But for every person overjoyed with a gong, there are hundreds of their peers who are dejected because they have been overlooked.
The witnesses confirmed and defended the major roles that Lords Lieutenants play is providing advice on the selections. 'They get around the counties and know people' they explained. But Lords Lieutenant hardly represent a cross section of society. There are not many waitresses or bus drivers in their ranks.
I once applied for the job and asked for the job description and qualifications required. I had noticed that then all successful candidates were rich enough to do a full-time job without pay, lived in large homes standing in their own grounds and were former pupils of top public schools. My application was not successful. Probably because I am so short the sword would drag along the ground. Shameless height-ism!
Tory PASC member Charles Walker emerged from the locker as a born again class warrior and demanded to know why school dinner ladies do not get their fair share of honours. He also condemned the awards to English rugby and cricket teams who won world acclaim. Even the players who were substitutes and never played were honoured.
The committee seem united in the view that sports people do not need to have additional honours to the medals and cup their sports awarded them. If spite of all the many promises to democratised the honours system, it still trundles on a class ridden lottery where the great and the good win most of the prizes..
Klor-con Drug Interaction http://www.chamisahillscc.com/ - buy alprazolam online That being said, generally one does not develop a full blown dependency on Xanax, but it is possible for the body to develop a physical dependency on the medication. http://www.chamisahillscc.com/ - buy xanax online no prescription
Posted by: neaxareda | October 04, 2011 at 07:07 PM