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why care about what
the udders think about you
when you are the
housewives’ favourite.
Put him in a rudderless boat
on the high seas
with Michael Jackson
and Judy Garland
it would be odds on
his small feet would be
the first and only ones
to moon dance ashore.
Why so ?
He made a makeshift rudder
out of the others uddersIt may be that the others on your list have declined honours,.
Yep, they all declined Honours, though I see David Hockney has accepted the OM, which along with FRS is the only one that hasn’t been corrupted into the meaningless
I believe George Bernard Shaw declined a knighthood, barony and the OM!
I’m touched to see that CR and maybe others think the Queen has anything to do with the honours list, apart from two very prestigious but numerically tiny categories which are her personal decisions (Order of the Garter, Order of Merit).
Perhaps I’m being naive, George, but the Queen still has formal approval, if the process as explained here http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Governmentc … /DG_067909 is anything to go by.
The most salient paragraph being…
"Once The Queen has given her informal approval, letters are then sent to each nominee asking them whether they would be willing to accept the proposed award. Once they have replied a final list is submitted to The Queen for formal approval"
.
CR
I’m afraid being naive is indeed the right word.
For example, the Queen has to sign off parliamentary bills before they become Acts and therefore law, but it is purely formal. The monarch nowadays has very, very little personal authority – bestowing the two honours I referred to in my earlier post being now virtually the only ones. Which is not, of course, to say that the monarch is without influence – depending on how much notice the PM takes of the views she expresses as their weekly meetings.
It is a triumph of British ingenuity really. As the hereditary principle has become less and less acceptable in a democratic age, authority has passed from the monarch to the elected government, but we retain an hereditary and politically impartial head of state and thus avoid making that role a matter of party dispute. And in doing so we benefit from (a) certainty as to who becomes head and state and (b) a degree of decency – ie the lack of the air of corruption, dishonesty and partisanship that surrounds so many politicians, including some of the most prominent ones.
Drone
Alan Bennett and Michael Oakeshott (so unlike in some ways) are probably the two British people of the twentieth century (AB still alive, of course in the 21st) I most admire. Not because they declined knighthoods, but that (which in each case I learnt about long after my admiration of their work had developed) certainly increased my respect for them.
Alan Bennett and Michael Oakeshott (so unlike in some ways) are probably the two British people of the twentieth century (AB still alive, of course in the 21st) I most admire. Not because they declined knighthoods, but that (which in each case I learnt about long after my admiration of their work had developed) certainly increased my respect for them.
Can’t say I know a great deal about Michael Oakeshott but I’m in agreement with you regarding Alan Bennett
His 1972 masterpiece ‘A Day Out’ remains one of my favourite 40 minutes of television
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