I think everyone agrees the ongoing ‘cash for honours’ charade is a national disgrace. My fear is that those guilty of minimalising the importance and status of the honours system will walk away scot free. As things stand, I can see Lord Levy ending up as the fall guy, yet I cannot imagine him offering entry to the House of Lords or a knighthood in return for a suitable contribution unless it had been suggested by a higher authority who had authorised him to do so.
The sad and annoying thing for me is, that certain persons have evidently been able to purchase their honour, whilst other more deserving persons have either been awarded minimal low ranking honours, or have been overlooked completely.
Example. On returning from his 25th mission in 1940, Sergeant Pilot Jimmy ‘Dixie’ Deans crash landed his stricken Whitley bomber on the Dutch-German border, all his crew were saved and along with Dixie they spent the rest of WWII as PoW’s.
It was as a PoW that Dixie really came into his own. At Stalag Luft III, camp of both the Wooden Horse and the Great Escape, Dixie was elected Man of Confidence and duly began his administrative duties which entailed, amongst other things, holding weekly meetings with the German commandant on behalf of both officers and other ranks. (more…)
