Honours & Honour

Should Honours be automatic or assumed due to a job or position an individual holds? Is it appropriate to give honours to celebrities? Or should there be more variety in the types of work rewarded?

6% of higher awards went to people in the north of England and only 4% to people from working-class backgrounds. 60% of beneficiaries of "higher" awards, such as Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) and knighthoods and damehoods, lived in London and south-east England. Prestigious awards seem to be concentrated on affluent people from affluent areas. Chief executives, professors and senior civil servants were common recipients. It is not based on merit; it's based on the top-down nature of our UK society.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cpdx91g00g2o 

Some people feel so strongly about this issue that they turn down an honour like Benjamin Zephaniah.

Rarely an honour is handed back, like Paula Vennells. Sometimes an honour is removed, like Rolf Harris.

Do we know who nominated recipients? If not why not? How many are nominated by community groups or the public? Do we really want the British Empire anywhere near an honours system - MBE CBE OBE? Should a Prime Minister automatically have the right to bestow honours regardless of how long they have held office or how good they have been at the job? (I won't name names, but I'm sure you can guess). I can see that it might be appropriate for someone like the monarch to present the honours, but why do they have the right to nominate recipients? How in touch with people deserving of honours are the Aristocracy, the Mandarins of the Civil Service or the Politicians?

There was a Select Committee report on reforming the honours system in 2004 which recommended "an end to further appointments to the Order of the British Empire, the Order of the Bath and the Order of St Michael and St George; the foundation of a new Order of British Excellence; a phasing out of titles and name-changing honours; reforms to increase the independence of the selection process through the establishment of an Honours Commission and the end of the ‘Prime Minister’s List’ and other ministerial honours lists; and proposals for increasing public awareness of the system".

https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200304/cmselect/cmpubadm/212/212.pdf  

Not a lot seems to have happened as a result. In 2006 -7 there was the "Cash for Honours" scandal. We still have a class & wealth ridden society. Successive governments continue to nominate people to the Lords to bolster their party representation & create political imbalance. But that is another Blog Post.