“We are the Honored Citizens of the Modern Britain Who Say Ni”?
Just doesn’t have the same ring to it.
A parliamentary panel is recommending that the British government scrap the knighthood system.
Say it ain’t so, Joe!
Britain should scrap its arcane system of honouring citizens with knighthoods, a parliamentary committee says.
Racial diversity should be better reflected in the awards and the inflammatory word “Empire” should be dropped from honours such as Order of the British Empire (OBE), the Public Administration Committee said in a report published on Tuesday.
“The current system is terribly secretive … It’s over-complicated and it’s certainly out of date,” Labour committee member Anne Campbell, told BBC radio. “We need a system that really accords more with the modern day,” she added.
I mean, sure, it’s old-fashioned — but those aren’t necessarily bad things. Add more transparency into the process? Sure. Make it more egalitarian and make sure that more minorities are included? If warrented, okay.
But simply do away with honorary knighthoods — eliminate the titles that let us talk about Sir Laurence Olivier, Dame Judith Anderson, Sir Paul McCartney …
… well, the last one sounds a bit off, to be sure, but it’s the thought that counts. If you wanted things to be always up-to-date, you’d just send folks an e-mail that said, “Job well done, thanks,” and go on from there.
Obscure honours such as “Orders of the Bath” should be scrapped, and the OBE should become the Order of British Excellence, said the report.
Oh, come now. We’re talking about centuries of tradition here. If it’s “obscure,” then educate about it, don’t just get rid of it. I mean, what next, redoing military rankings to simple numbers?
And while I understand that some folks find “Empire” to be an “inflammatory” word, it, too, is part of history. And, frankly, “Order of British Excellence” sounds like something you get rewarded with for being a good cook, or scoring well on a national spelling test.
Harumph.