Network Rail boss’s CBE is a ‘slap in face’ for commuters
THE man who runs Britain’s rail network has been made a CBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honours List, despite admitting his responsibility in a timetable overhaul that has caused misery for tens of thousands of commuters.
Mark Carne, the chief executive of Network Rail, is receiving an honour for services to the rail industry, days after Chris Grayling, the Transport Secretary, partly blamed Network Rail for the chaotic introduction of new routes.
MPS and commuter groups reacted with outrage, saying the award was a “slap in the face” for rail passengers.
More than one in 10 trains run by Northern and Govia Thameslink Railway over the past 14 days have been cancelled or more than 30 minutes late. A survey last year found that passenger satisfaction had fallen to 81 per cent – the lowest levels for a decade.
The honour for Mr Carne, who was paid £820,000 in 2017 and will step down later this year, would have been proposed by Department for Transport officials, signed off by the permanent secretary and cleared by the honours committee. It is understood Mr Grayling found out too late to delay the award.
A DFT spokesman acknowledged the timing was “unfortunate” but claimed recent events “should not detract” from Mr Carne’s service. Emily Yates, a spokesman for the Association of British Commuters, said: “At a time when the transport minister has just blamed Network Rail for the Rail Plan 2020 crisis, it is a slap in the face.”
MARY BEARD and Emma Thompson have received two of the country’s highest awards following previous criticism over the lack of such honours given to women.
Prof Beard, the Cambridge University historian and presenter of BBC’S Front Row Late and Civilisations, is being made a Dame for her services to the study of classical civilisation, along with Emma Thompson, the actress seen recently on television in King Lear.
Keira Knightley, her
Love Actually co-star, receives an OBE.
The proportion of women receiving the highest level of awards in the Queen’s Birthday Honours List has risen to 41 per cent this year, compared to 39 per cent in the most recent New Year’s Honours List. But the improvement is particularly pronounced when compared to 2015 when just seven Dames were created in the Birthday Honours, compared with 33 knighthoods. This year there are 11 Dames and 21 knights and the number of women receiving the higher awards of CBE and above has risen by 10 per cent in the past three years. The shift aims to reflect the increasingly prominent role of women in public life and comes on the 100th anniversary of the first women being given the vote. Prof Beard – who has described her onscreen appearance as “slightly creaky old lady with long grey hair” – has long used her broadcasting role to challenge the way women in the public eye are expected to be portrayed and has frequently been subjected to vicious comment on social media as a result.
She was also once described by AA Gill, the late TV critic, as “too ugly for television”, but she responded in characteristic style, accusing him of being part of “the blokeish culture that loves to decry clever women”.
Dame Mary said: “It is a smashing honour. I feel especially pleased that someone working on the ancient classical world gets honoured in this way.
“I have lived through a gender revolution in my lifetime but there is still a hell of a long way to go.”
Knightley receives an OBE for her services to drama and charity some 16 years after bursting on to the scene in Bend It Like Beckham.
Dame Kiri Te Kanawa, the soprano, becomes a Companion of Honour.
Margaret Casely-hayford, the businesswoman, is made a CBE for her work in pushing for more women to be represented in boardrooms.
Dr Frances Carolyn Saunders becomes a Dame after working to encourage more women and young people to go into science and engineering.
Kathleen Moore, who is made a MBE, became a carpenter after leaving school – only to find herself “the only woman on site” – and went on to set up Women Into Construction, to encourage women to go into the industry.
Among the men honoured, the former Liverpool footballer Kenny Dalglish receives a knighthood.
‘I have lived through a gender revolution in my lifetime but there is still a hell of a long way to go’