It’s also because the whole honours system is, to use Whitehall jargon, unfit for purpose. Put bluntly the honours system embodies much of what is wrong with modern Britain: corruption, abiding snobbery and obsession with status. It does what any decent honours system should do and that is reward ordinary people for extraordinary service. Recognition is the one justification for an honours system. There has scarcely been a Prime Minister in recent history who hasn’t been embroiled in an honours scandal.

Source: The Nation March 13, 2021 00:00 UTC