Medals will lose all their meaning if everyone gets one
HAVING written extensively about the Second World War, I bow to no one in my awe for the courage of those who fought for our freedoms. But it is precisely this admiration that makes me uneasy about the introduction of a new “wider service” medal for defence personnel who took part in missions involving little physical risk or confrontation with the enemy.
Medallic recognition should be for exceptional service beyond the call of duty, not just for participation in routine duties.
There is a whiff of Alice in Wonderland’s “all must have prizes” about this development, which could devalue the whole system of military honours.
As one former serviceman put it this week, “the whole thing is laughable and those in service progressing it should be ashamed”.
■ THE GREAT Irish writer George Bernard Shaw once described the professions as “a conspiracy” against the public. He could have been referring to legal aid, which was originally devised to provide access to justice for ordinary citizens, but, in the hands of today’s judicial activists, has increasingly been turned into a tool of Left-wing politics and a prop for criminals who despise our country.
That is certainly true of the outrageous sum of £250,000 handed to the lawyers fighting for the return to jihadi bride Shamima Begum, right. It is sickening that taxpayers have to bankroll the campaign of this treacherous extremist.
Just one question: given that she has been stripped of British citizenship, how on earth is she allowed access to the British public purse?
■ MUNICIPAL worthies in Cambridge have agreed to pull down a statue of Prince Philip that has stood outside a commercial premises for a decade. But the move is not down to rampant, tradition-smashing cancel culture. On the contrary, the spectacularly ugly sculpture, a semi-abstract representation of the royal, was both a crime against aesthetics and an insult to the Crown.
It was also put up without any planning permission. It had to go.
Mind you, Cambridge planners went too far when they called the grotesque figure “the worst artwork ever seen”. Much of the tat that now fills achingly trendy galleries and taxpayer-funded museums is just as bad, yet instead of facing condemnation, is lavished with praise.