Don’t get me wrong I think it is great when unsung heroes and local people get recognised for their commitment to others BUT should someone get a gong just because they’re good at cricket, can hold a tune or have worked as a civil servant for years? I am afraid the answer is no.
Of course, Ben Stokes deserves to be recognised but there has to be a better way than giving him a discredited gong.
Just because you have run OFCOM, OFWAT or the BBC should not be a reason for going down on one knee in front of a Royal. (Stop tittering at the back!)
Of course, I was delighted that John Bercow is the first speaker not to get a peerage in over 200 years but one has got to question why any speaker should pick up an honour just for doing their highly paid job. Bercow doesn’t deserve anything for the way he abused his position and tried to wreck our democratically voted for the desire to leave the EU.
And pray tell me, why the useless Alison Saunders, former director of public prosecutions was honoured when she was such a failure in her role?
If these past few years and the referendum vote, and the huge majority for Boris prove anything, it is to state just how out of touch the Establishment elite are with the masses. They no longer have any authority or respect in the eyes of millions and they need to heed these lessons and act on them swiftly.
The idea that Boris can just place Nikki Morgan in the House of Lords as a culture minister and that Jo Swinson could end up there too is wrong, just plain wrong.
If we do need a second chamber it must be democratically elected and if we are to have any form of honours system ordinary people should be more involved. I’m not suggesting an X Factor voting system but have you ever looked at how difficult it is to nominate someone or how the odds are stacked against any ordinary person picking up that gong?
I say scrap both of them now.
Bonfires of Sanity
If you want further evidence of just how much trust has been lost in the Establishment elite just look at this latest Comres poll about the BBC. ITV has now become the most trusted and reliable news outlet, and two-thirds of those surveyed said the BBC licence fee should be scrapped or reformed.
The former editor of the Daily Telegraph, Charles Moore was the guest editor of the BBC’s Today programme a couple of days ago and told Nick Robinson in no uncertain terms that the “The BBC is talking to itself,” and “It speaks for the minority and doesn’t understand what the majority is worried about”. He also accused them of politically correct “preaching” on Brussels, human rights and climate change.
He was bang on the money and it is not just me who thinks that as the ex-chairman of Ofcom and former head of the BBC Trust, Dame Patricia Hodgson, also jumped in and stated that “We should start to either freeze or reduce the licence fee to incentivise the BBC into using broadband technology for subscription top-ups.”
I said in this column only a few days ago that the BBC was cooking its own goose and it looks like I was absolutely correct (if you want the lottery numbers for Wednesday drop me an email!)
When Boris returns from his holiday, as well as taking the axe to the bloated civil service, he must also do the same with the BBC, the House of Lords and the Honours system. He has got the majority to make real effective change in our society and he must take that opportunity now.
David Cameron famously boasted that he would have “a bonfire of the Quangos” if he was elected but he hardly put a safety match to them in reality.
Boris must now have “the bonfires of sanity” because we are fed up with these establishment elites who seem to run roughshod over public opinion and the views of those who effectively pay them.
Get to Grips with Common Purpose
If we don’t get rid of the Honours system that clot, Richard Leafe who runs the National Parks will be honoured next year for his desire to concrete over the Lake District to make it more “diverse.”
Although Dick Leafe is taking most of the flak for this snowflake suggestion we all need to remember that a Government report this year said national parks were a “mainly white, middle-class club”.
The best response to this nonsense was on twitter where someone wrote “Awoken to the news that the Lake District is now racist. Give me f***ing strength.”
In just one tweet this sums up the disconnect between those who really run this country and the people.
Boris must get to grips with this Common Purpose, right-on thinking that infests most of our public services and Government departments.
No one, as I am fed up of stating, has ever voted for this snowflake view of the world. If Boris wants to retain the trust we put in him on December 12 he must root it out, ridicule it and get back to sensible policies and a public discourse based in reality and not in the Student Unions and pages of the Guardian.
Viva la Revolution Cultural!
