“The Honours are bestowed as a result of their Charitable Works, their work for Great Britain or their Bravery.”
Not quite so, methyl, as a random glance from the top of the 2015 list will confirm:
Knighthoods:
Theodore Agnew, DL. For services to education (i.e doing what he’s paid to do)
David Anthony Andrew Amess, MP. Member of parliament for Southend West. For political and public service. (ditto)
Matthew David Baggott, CBE, QPM. Formerly chief constable, Police Service of Northern Ireland. For services to Policing in the United Kingdom. (ditto)
Professor Richard Robert Barnett. Vice-Chancellor University of Ulster. For services to Higher Education and Business in Northern Ireland.(ditto)
Professor Andrew Jonathan Bate, CBE, FBA. Literary Scholar and Provost, Worcester College, University of Oxford. For services to Literary Scholarship and Higher Education. (ditto)
Dr Simon Fraser Campbell, CBE, FRS. Drug Discoverer and Scientific Adviser. For services to Chemistry. (ditto))
Dr Anthony Herbert Everington, OBE. Chair, NHS Tower Hamlets Clinical Commissioning Group. For services to Primary Care.(ditto)
Professor Julian Ernest Michael Le Grand, FBA. Richard Titmuss Professor of Social Policy, London School of Economics. For services to Social Science and public service. (ditto)
John Vincent Hurt, CBE. Actor. For services to Drama. (ditto)
Peter Ashley Kendall. For services to the Agricultural Industry in England and Wales. (ditto)
I could go on, but I think you get the gist. In fact it is not until you get down to this entry:
Dickson ***, CBE. For services to Business and to charity particularly Higher Education. (London)
That any mention of charity is made. Then it’s back to normal business:
David Edward John Ramsden, CBE. Head, Government Economic Service. For services to Economic Policy Making
Professor Nilesh Jayantilal Samani, DL. Professor of Cardiology, University of Leicester. For services to Medicine and Medical Research.
I suppose anybody working for a public body (as most of the above appear to do) could be seen to be working for “Great Britain”. But it could equally be argued that so is everybody else.
The honours system is an antiquated out-of-date system which doles out gongs to recipients as a matter of course. Senior Civil servants from each division of public services make their nominations secure in the knowledge that one day it will be “Buggin’s Turn” to get their bit of silver. A way needs to be devised to bestow genuine honours on those who have been genuinely generous with their time and skills and not on those who are simply doing their (usually well paid) jobs.