Let the people vote for honours

Cathy Benson Edinburgh

IT was while watching footage about the ennoblement of Lynton Crosby for his services to the Tory Party that I got thinking about our country’s honours system. Over and above, my view was reinforced by the recent newspaper stories about damehoods being bought for as much as £80,000.

If honours are to have genuine relevance today, they should be focused on those who have benefited the wellbeing and prosperity of the community in general. Both of the examples above do not meet the criteria laid out in my previous sentence.

Crosby was awarded his knighthood for his position as a paid partisan propagandist for a particular political party while the money offered to purchase a damehood was for the selfish purpose of enhancing the purchaser’s social standing.

This makes a mockery of the intent behind such honours. Eligibility for such awards should not be confined to the decisions of a secretive small committee but should be thrown open to the public at large to nominate suitable people from the following categories – entertainers, sportspeople, politicians, public servants, charity workers, and entrepreneurs.

Such a procedure would give the public the pleasure and privilege of proposing those they consider worthy of such awards and would eliminate the sleaze which operates behind closed doors under the camouflage of a so-called impartial committee.

Denis Bruce Bishopbriggs