2012 New Year Honours

[Mr Pee]

Deserved, I am sure - but perhaps typical of the present government to reward an ex-Director of Music of Eton rather than one of his equivalents in a comprehensive school.

Valerie Moyes MBE Teacher, St Ambrose High School, North Lanarkshire.

Well done subcontrabass! Perhaps VodkaDilc should have checked the list a little more carefully before doing his Dave Spart impression.

Very pleased to see that Tony Pappano has been honoured- not just a fine musician but a great communicator as well. His series on Italian Opera earlier this year was excellent.

And it's good to see Adrian Newey getting an OBE.

[VodkaDilc]

Well done subcontrabass! Perhaps VodkaDilc should have checked the list a little more carefully before doing his Dave Spart impression.
.

See my previous comment about small print in newspapers! (Who is Dave Spart? Something to do with popular culture??)

[teamsaint]

tow the line, pay your dues, know the right people, and you get your precious gong.

(or do the requisite number of years in the civil service or reach the correct rank in the military).

We are our own worst enemies, if we put up with this nonsense.

[VodkaDilc]

We are our own worst enemies, if we put up with this nonsense.

I'm with you Mr Saint, but WHAT do we do??

[subcontrabass]

subcontrabass must have better eyesight than me. The print in my newspaper gets smaller with each category; by the time I reached the MBEs I gave up.

Try the BBC website (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/bsp/h...wyears2012.pdf) where they are all listed in the same font size.

[Lateralthinking1]

It looks like it was produced on a 1950s typewriter. I have to admit here that one of my many odd roles in the past was to set the ball rolling on honours for people in the water industry. It was bizarre cloak and dagger stuff and one of the few areas in which I received accolades all round, almost certainly because of its sheer peculiarity. I'd love to be able to say more but for once perhaps I shouldn't do. Nothing sinister to it. Just very British in the old fashioned sense. All the hours of it. The many very strange hours.

[teamsaint]

I'm with you Mr Saint, but WHAT do we do??

To be honest, we worry about/deal with the economic meltdown first, and get the whole system abolished when we have a new representative government in better times.
a little short on specifics I know, but hey, its NYE !!

[Mr Pee]

tow the line, pay your dues, know the right people, and you get your precious gong.

(or do the requisite number of years in the civil service or reach the correct rank in the military).

We are our own worst enemies, if we put up with this nonsense.

Every year, the same tired old cliches get wheeled out, and every year there are some people on the list who certain people think should not have been honoured.

But I don't see what's wrong with a system that gives some official recognition to those who have done good work for charity, or the arts, or in the community, or indeed risen to high rank in the Military or Civil Service. You're not affected by it, are you? Why not just ignore the whole thing if you find it that distasteful, and let those who have been honoured enjoy the fact.

Go and have a drink. It's New Year's Eve.

[amateur51]

I've already told them I'm only prepared to accept DBE, OM or CH - the rest can go hang!

Naturally, my achievements have been passed over unnoticed once again

[amateur51]

Every year, the same tired old cliches get wheeled out, and every year there are some people on the list who certain people think should not have been honoured.

But I don't see what's wrong with a system that gives some official recognition to those who have done good work for charity, or the arts, or in the community, or indeed risen to high rank in the Military or Civil Service. You're not affected by it, are you? Why not just ignore the whole thing if you find it that distasteful, and let those who have been honoured enjoy the fact.

Go and have a drink. It's New Year's Eve.

Are you on some form of medication resulting in advanced complacency, Mr Pee?

It's just if you are, I think we should be told.

In case Dr Snoddy tries to put us on it too

[MrGongGong]

I've already got two gongs so not sure why I would want a third ?
(though one can never have enough Tam Tams IMV )

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Am I to take it that all members (contributing or not) of this Forum have been overlooked AGAIN?

I made it very clear to her madge that I wouldn't be interested in anything other than a Damehood. (Very useful in the Panto season.) She was most understanding.

[mangerton]

Call me picky but it does upset me when the BBC spell "led" as "lead". See Preddie. It happens so many times.

No, you're quite right. It's a sad sign of the times, and of the nation's increasing illiteracy.

I saw "tow the line" today in one of today's (allegedly quality) newspapers. That solecism too is becoming more common.

Edit: I wrote this before reading msg #19. My remark stands, I'm afraid.

[mangerton]

Dame Joan Ruddock - sell out.

Gerald Ronson - hmmmmm.

Ruddock - absolutely. The latest in a long line.

Ronson - the Guinness scandal ex jailbird - well why not, in today's Cameron-led Government of crazy values.

On a related topic, I see Lin Homer, already a CB (though some might think Companion of the Unmitigated Shower would be more apt) is starting a new job in the new year. She's to head HMRC. Just the very lady to be in charge of the nation's tax affairs. No doubt she'll be up for a damehood very soon, though sadly it won't be in pantomime.

Read about her former career here:

http://www.iaindale.com/posts/lin-homers-dodgy-past

and here:

http://www.payrollworld.com/article/12193/magazine/new-hmrc-chief-executive-was-implicated-in-uks-worst-vote-rigging-scandal

Mr Pee will be along in a minute...............

[teamsaint]

Every year, the same tired old cliches get wheeled out, and every year there are some people on the list who certain people think should not have been honoured.

But I don't see what's wrong with a system that gives some official recognition to those who have done good work for charity, or the arts, or in the community, or indeed risen to high rank in the Military or Civil Service. You're not affected by it, are you? Why not just ignore the whole thing if you find it that distasteful, and let those who have been honoured enjoy the fact.

Go and have a drink. It's New Year's Eve.

if you can't see what is wrong with the system, then you are well beyond any help I can offer!!
Anyway, much more irritated today by bristol city's late winner last night against us.

Oh, and thanks for the advice, I might just go out and have that drink.

With a bit of luck i might bump into a discredited property speculator showing off their OBE. Nice.