time-serving civil servants can miss out on a gong and I wouldn't worry.
partner is a civil servant. would like to think there is some perk later on in life (apart from good pension!)
Why? I don't get any perks in my job.
"'Order of British Excellence' sounds like a rather limp school prize"
- because, at heart, it all is really IMO Dr Alan Tupilaq.
I'd like to see some sort of recognition thingy but I'm afraid all that Royal stuff just leaves me cold and is faintly ridiculous to me.
The sooner we boot it away the sooner the new replacement settles in as our 'normal' and deosn't seem so strange.
given that so many of the "celebs" who get the OBE get it for trying rather than achieving perhaps the e should stand for effort
There are good things and bad things about the system. Folk get recognised for good work - that's good. Folk also get recognised for favours rendered to government or even donations to political parties, which in my opinion is wrong. They are pretty much all decided by No 10, not Her Majesty. That may be the problem.
Was it only coincidence that the "Doing The Honours" episode of Yes Minister was shown last night on BBC Two?
The main problem with our honours system is its overly complex structure: there are so many gradations that mostly reflect the occupation and social standing of the recipient rather than their actual merit.
Simplification along the lines of the Legion d'Honneur would be good.
Sometimes it's not so much an honour as putting someone in their place...
Here's a radical idea why not let OBE stand for OBE! Simple really! No expense incurred everybody can just carry on as normal.
If some inquisitve person asks what OBE stands for you could just say "It used to stand for Order of the British Empire"!
Seriously though why the f*** is this being discussed by the government? there are thousands of more important things to worry about!
OBE - a limp school prize - that was exactly my reaction when I heard it on the news.
"They are pretty much all decided by No 10, not Her Majesty. That may be the problem."
- You're kidding Tony B, surely? Bloody hell mate if you think the gov is out of touch and hasn't a clue what makes you think Her Maj is going to be?
Commenting by HaloScan
