Memorandum by Michael J Marshall (HON
5)
If the major issue is to distance ourselves
from the word "Empire", I would suggest that you could
put in its place the word "Excellence" and thereby keep
the headline of the Awards undisturbed. This, in my view, would
cause minimum disruption and would keep intact a system that has
served the UK extraordinarily well. It would highlight the very
thing for which the Honours is being awarded, ie excellence of
one sort or another, and the OBE would, for example, become "The
Order of British Excellence".
I also feel that much of the value of the Honours
system is that it is conferred by Her Majesty The Queen at Buckingham
Palace, and I would suggest that if 2% of the recipients on current
lists turn down the offer of Honours, that percentage will increase
considerably if the Honours are conferred by Parliament rather
than by The Queen.
December 2003
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