Sir Wiggins

[HowMuchLonger]

I preferred it when the awards were given at the end of their career, not after one successful year/event.

[crankedup]

Wills2 said:

crankedup said:

These Honours have been devalued over the past years to the point of being simply baubles handed out.

Yes it was so much better in the old days, where Lloyd George set up a shop and sold the the bloody things....

To far back for me to care about that, what I do care about is the people who dedicate their lives to a good cause and are overlooked in favour of some bloke who rides a bike. Doesn't add up at all, simply comes back to baubles for personalities.

[turbobloke]

crankedup said:

simply comes back to baubles for personalities

[elster]

crankedup said:

Wills2 said:

crankedup said:

These Honours have been devalued over the past years to the point of being simply baubles handed out.

Yes it was so much better in the old days, where Lloyd George set up a shop and sold the the bloody things....

To far back for me to care about that, what I do care about is the people who dedicate their lives to a good cause and are overlooked in favour of some bloke who rides a bike. Doesn't add up at all, simply comes back to baubles for personalities.

Can you point out to the years when Sportsmen were not recognised?

I have always known it as it is, my parents are the same and my grand mother equally the same.

[Ozzie Osmond]

Wills2 said:

Yes it was so much better in the old days, where Lloyd George set up a shop and sold the the bloody things....

Yes it was so much better in the old days, where Tony Blair set up a shop and gave the the bloody things to his mates....

[loose cannon]

TFL bloke got knighted also,
Did bob crow get some input for that one pmsl

[FisiP1]

These honours lists get more and more uncomfortable every year. The tradition is a proud one, but in dire need of reform IMO.

Wiggins and co. have done a stellar job as sportspeople this year, and much of the country is proud of their efforts, but they don't need or deserve this kind of recognition.

Politicians and civil servants getting honours is very callous, and on the whole the system just promotes the celebrity obsessed society where you are not allowed to have achieved anything unless you are a household name or well connected with them.

If it were my choice knighthoods would be limited to one a year, CBE OBE MBE etc. to a handful, and they should be reserved for exceptional lifetime of achievement, not only a good year or decade.

[Ozzie Osmond]

FisiP1 said:

If it were my choice knighthoods would be limited to one a year, CBE OBE MBE etc. to a handful, and they should be reserved for exceptional lifetime of achievement, not only a good year or decade.

Come on then. Upon whom would you confer your special favours?

[bigandclever]

This MBE-recipient comparison annoys me more than it should:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jerry_Roberts

Captain Roberts was one of the three original senior linguist-cryptanalysts working on the daily breaking of Tunny... Enigma decrypts helped Britain not to lose the War in 1941. Tunny decrypts helped shorten the European War by at least 2 years.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicola_Benedetti

Nicola is a [25 year old] Scottish classical violinist.

[K12beano]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-208665...



Former London mayor Ken Livingstone 'turned down CBE'
Former mayor of London Ken Livingstone has revealed he turned down a CBE in the New Years Honours.
Mr Livingstone, 67, said the accolade would have been for services to the Olympics but he did not believe politicians should get honours.

Well, there's a turn up for the books - a politician you can agree with!!!

[IainW]

10 Pence Short said:

I think for managing that feat and being the first to do it, and probably pissing the French off, he deserves a gong of some sort. I would have thought an MBE or something would have sufficed, though.

The French love him as much as the British do, thanks to him riding for a French team in the past, being fluent in the language and making the effort to embrace their culture. I heard one of his interviews earlier, where he said they'll be going crazy about him being knighted.

[FisiP1]

Ozzie Osmond said:

FisiP1 said:

If it were my choice knighthoods would be limited to one a year, CBE OBE MBE etc. to a handful, and they should be reserved for exceptional lifetime of achievement, not only a good year or decade.

Come on then. Upon whom would you confer your special favours?

Academics, artists, charity workers?

There should be no guarantee that anything will be awarded at any specific point, but the tradition will be preserved and those who have made exceptional contributions over the course of a lifetime would continue to be recognised.

[DJRC]

Amusing. A thread whinging about someone being given an honour, others and the relative merits of the honours system and who should be deserving and how it should be about those of genuine merit, achievement.

Yet nobody refers to Prof Higgs and him being made CH.

Impressive, even for PH.

[Cheib]

mcelliott said:

Seems a bit OTT although he has had a fantastic year. Hopefully everything he's achieved has been legit - can't always tell with professional cyclists.

I don't think it's really just for this year in Wiggins case...he's actually got seven Olympic medals of which four are gold. Thinking about it they do generally try and give the Knighthood/Dame title to people that have achieved consistently over time. Well except Kelly Holmes.....

The Paralympians seem to have been short changed....

[Stu R]

Good for him, he's a high achiever that's done things most people can't, and is reaping the rewards, as are many others on that list.

I'm sure if I paw through the entire list I'll find no shortage of people I've never heard of, representing disciplines or backgrounds I've no interest in whatsoever. That doesn't make them any less deserving of it, even to be considered they must have done something right, surely?

I also don't think being 'of the time' is a problem either. For many people - olympic athletes in less popular sports, for example - it's probably nice to be honoured in a year that was great for sport, while there's still a chance that someone knows who you are and why you're being knighted. I wouldn't be surprised to hear a few undesirables have slipped through the net over the years, but people will always be people

[Wills2]

crankedup said:

Wills2 said:

crankedup said:

These Honours have been devalued over the past years to the point of being simply baubles handed out.

Yes it was so much better in the old days, where Lloyd George set up a shop and sold the the bloody things....

To far back for me to care about that, what I do care about is the people who dedicate their lives to a good cause and are overlooked in favour of some bloke who rides a bike. Doesn't add up at all, simply comes back to baubles for personalities.

Nearly 1000 honours were given out and the vast majority went to recognise normal people, do some research instead of venting your ill informed spleen.

[elster]

bigandclever said:

This MBE-recipient comparison annoys me more than it should:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jerry_Roberts

Captain Roberts was one of the three original senior linguist-cryptanalysts working on the daily breaking of Tunny... Enigma decrypts helped Britain not to lose the War in 1941. Tunny decrypts helped shorten the European War by at least 2 years.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicola_Benedetti

Nicola is a [25 year old] Scottish classical violinist.

Who did you recommend to be honoured this year?