Recently reading about Knighthoods, etc. I began to wonder why certain jobs seem to carry an automatic Knighthood, eg. Chief Costables of the Met and Northern ireland.
These are given irrespective of performance...as has been noted recently. Manchester has had 2 Knighted leaders in the past 20 yrs. I look forward with interest to see if the current incumbent ' makes it '
Just why are so many actors and actresses ' promoted ? It seems to be almost obligatory for orchestral conductors and opera singers,..and has been for many years. I suppose it's just to give the public a 'feel good ' factor. Serious honours for sportspersons have been very thin on the ground until recently.....Hutton, Matthews, Bradman, etc.
Of course, the majority of 'unknown ' honours are given for work largely out of the public eye.
I have helped thousands of people out over the years, but I'm just a ' grunt ' to the powers that be. I'm sure the same applies to all of us.
Any Viscounts or Earls amongst you lot ?
No sour grapes, just curiosity. I have a good friend who is an MBE, for charity work and there's a Lord living a dozen houses down the road...just a red brick semi and an ordinary car!
Ted
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It used to be accepted that by being a civil servant you got a lower salary than in the private sector, so you were compensated by:
1. The gold plated final salary pension scheme
2. Umpteen weeks holiday, plus priviledge days (for the Queens birthday, for instance)
3. The possibility of a Knighthood for long service, knowing the right person or being in the correct lodge.
However, as many top civil servant now make more than the prime minister and the pension scheme has been cut back (not much, but its a start) they only have the hols and honours left. Poor lambs.
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Alistair,
The number who get knighthoods is miniscule. It used to be near automatic for Perm Secs (ie departmental Chief Execs) but there are plenty now who are plain misters. A very few, perhaps a dozen in any one year in my department of 80,000, get honours such as OBE/CBE, usually on retirement, for officers or administrators. An equally small proportion of clerks and cleaners get the MBE.
Many, many more retire, even after 40 years, on a pension of less than £10,000.
Last edited by: Bromptonaut on Fri 3 Dec 10 at 00:04
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Official page is here tinyurl.com/ybc9guf.
IME 'automatic' honours are no longer necessarily awarded; Permanent Secretaries are no longer knighted more or less as a condition of service. But I agree it's very difficult to work out why some people get the OBE but others, whose acheivements seem no more worthwhile, get the CBE or become something like a CB.
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North Wales had a beknighted Chief Constable, guess that doesn't count though !
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Governors of Durham Prison seem to be in the auto category.
There was one a few years back who presided over the jail when it had one of the highest suicide rates in the country.
A few other calamities happened on his watch.
Still got his MBE when he retired.
It devalues the whole system.
An honour for managing to reach (early) retirement age without getting the sack is not an honour, it's a joke.
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Knighthoods are given to the top two ranks in our armed forces, as far as I know.
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All "honours" and given or hereditary lordships, knighthoods & monarchies, are completely anachronistic in the current century.
As a corollary of this, honours for jobs well (or badly) done are similarly outmoded.
Why should I defer to a person because of an accident of his/her birth?
No way - respect must be earned, not inherited and those who are the subjects of earned respect are not in anyway belittled by not being "ennobled"
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>> Why should I defer to a person because of an accident of his/her birth?
Ah, the lessons of history. That's exactly what the Athenians thought and look what happened to them.
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B-i-l was created a CBE on retirement from senior Civil Service position. Didn't change him much though.
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Honours - Alastairw
