A national disgrace

The latest list of those to be honoured by The Queen has been published today, and as usual there is a number of ‘celebrities’ and ‘sports stars’, some of whom deserve the award they are to receive while others are getting it for doing little more than being successful at their job.

In general I don’t have a problem with the honours list, which happens twice a year, at New Year and for the Queen’s birthday; I think it’s great that we have a system where deserving people are rewarded, but too often the awards go to people who don’t really deserve it – athletes who do well are the Olympics can virtually guarantee receiving an honour at the next opportunity, this is a big bugbear for me.

This post has been prompted by something similar but different. Over the years I have seen numerous people receive honours that I don’t feel they should have got – celebrities and sports stars should not be honoured until the twilight of their careers – but this time someone I truly believe is deserving is receive an honour, George “Johnny” Johnson, Britain’s last surviving member of the dambuster raid into Nazi Germany is to receive a knighthood.

I can’t believe it has taken 70 years and a petition with over 300,000 signatures (yes, there actually had to be a petition) before someone who was an integral part of a team that helped to reduce the length of WWII is honoured. The entirety of the team should have been honoured the moment the war was over.

It’s high time the system for deciding who receives an honour is overhauled.