Misplaced priorities on Honours choices
THE farce of awarding OBEs, CBEs and MBEs to very average sporting journeymen and women has excelled itself this year. The list of undeserving individuals in the New Year’s Honours is breathtaking. I am a cricket fan, but don’t believe that a roll call of players deserve to be recognised for a couple of exceptional performances in a sport they get paid to enjoy. Throw into the mix a lady footballer and a host of cooks. However, D-Day veteran Harry Billinge has had to wait until he is 94 to be awarded the MBE he richly deserves for fundraising for a national memorial to those who died in the battle for Normandy.
MIKE HOLMES, Sheringham, Norfolk.
WHEN are we going to have a New Year’s Honours list that rewards the real heroes, such as the farmers who feed us and doctors who cure us? Awards for sports players, actors and celebrities sadly confirm what a hedonistic society we have become.
TONY SHIELD, Bury, Gtr Manchester.
SPORTS stars should not get an honour until after they have retired. I don’t understand all the fuss about the England cricket team. They are only the one-day world champions, which is a bit like a penalty shoot-out. Winning a Test series is much more significant. Lewis Hamilton should surely receive a knighthood when he retires as he is the best racing driver this country has ever produced.
BARRY CHANDLER,
Exeter, Devon.
I’M angry Iain Duncan Smith has been knighted. This is the man who caused untold terror and heartbreak with his Universal Credit welfare reforms. I was able to fight for my disabled son to keep his benefits, but the toll on me and other carers was awful.
MRS M. J. BOUTELL, St Leonards-on-Sea, E. Sussex.
WHY on earth should someone who makes cakes be awarded an MBE? We seem to be losing the plot when it comes to giving out honours. Perhaps some time in the future Nadiya Hussain may have earned the right to an award for something more important than baking, but certainly not now. This surely makes a mockery of these awards and of the people who truly do deserve one.
STEVE CATTERALL, Blackburn, Lancs.
NO doubt the Whitehall Mandarin who oversaw the New Year Honours debacle will get a knighthood next year.
TERRY CALDON, Thanet, Kent