Memorandum by J B Ogilvie, OBE TD DL (HON
72)
There is no public demand to change our honours system
except from misinformed people like Mr Benjamin Zephaniah and
a few republicans and B-grade celebrities. It is only part of
the continuing dumbing down of anything British and changes to
a well tried and respected system will be very unpopular at a
time when we should take pride in our Britishness.
Knighthoods are not only popular with recipients
but with the local community in which the recipient lives. It
is quite ridiculous to get rid of them because we are the only
country that has titles "Sir" and "Dame".
Do we all have to be uniform and grey just because of other countries
when surely a little colour and individuality is highly desirable
and expected of the British. Knighthoods have been awarded to
many people who have had to come up the hard way and there is
an increasing number of ethnic citizens who are receiving them,
which can only be a good thing. So let us continue to add a little
colour to life by retaining this honour which is very appropriate
for a monarchy and to our heritage.
Honours should however be awarded for specific
acts and not come up with the rations, as they say in the Army,
when one reaches certain rank in the services or civil service.
It is important that honours are not just given to the voluntary
section but should include all sections of society for their endeavours
and bringing honour to their community and country.
The different grades of awards should be retained,
as for example, however dedicated the school crossing attendant
has been, she cannot equate to the hard work and skill of a Brain
Surgeon or Headmaster. This is where our British system is much
better as the grades of endeavour have their own award in the
KBE, OBE, MBE and the old and still treasured BEM each respected
in its own right. Those of us who have had the honour of receiving
one of these awards do not regard the recipients of the others
as being inferior or superior as we have all received the awards
from the Queen. Other countries have a system where they have
an Order and then you get 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th Classes which
is rather a down-market way of doing it.
I see no reason why we should not still use
the word "Empire" despite Mr Zephaniah as he will find
that if he visits some of the countries, many retained our system
of government and law and our way of life. That is not to say
that we did not get some things wrong, but we were also the first
to ban slavery. Yes, the empire has gone but does it matter? Denmark
still has the Order of the Elephant but it is a long time since
Copenhagen saw an elephant roaming its streets!
If it has to be changed why not continue the
existing good system with adaptations and have the Order of British
Excellence or Order of the British Commonwealth and one could
be appointed Knight, Officer or Member of the Order.
There is another problem in changing, particularly
at the present time and that is that the existing system has been
with us so long and is respected any new system will take time
to establish its reputation. One could almost imagine people treating
it as a joke award and saying "I see you have got The Order
of Blair". So I make no apology for saying if the system
works why on earth change it.
What could do with a change is the way honours
are awarded as under all parties there have been some doubtful
recipients which has let the system down. It should be taken out
of the hands of the Government of the day and the recommendations
brought down to county level with the Lord Lieutenant chairing
a committee of carefully selected people who could nominate a
certain number of potential recipients. These would be passed
up to a central committee in London headed by a member of the
Royal Family or a senior judge who would make the final selection.
The Government and political parties would make their recommendations
direct to the central committee.
In regard to numbers, the suggested 10-100 is
far too small when there are so many in the community deserving
recognition and to witness the memorable investiture at Buckingham
Palace, so why rob future generations of that experience. The
present number of about 3000 seems about the right balance.
There have been many changes in our society
recently that have been made for the sake of change or "fashion"
without due thought, so please do not wreck our well-established
and respected Honours System. There is no need or public demand
so I respectfully suggest to the committee that they have no justification
to make drastic changes.
March 2004
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