Outrageous appointments

[didds]

I think that's Labour Party policy to bring the numbers down.

And how do they propose to do that?

Firing squad?

Get them all in the HoL, lock the doors, and the last 100 standing remain ?

didds

[Mike4]

And how do they propose to do that?

Firing squad?

Get them all in the HoL, lock the doors, and the last 100 standing remain ?

didds

Another idea would be to change life peers from being members of the HoL for life, to being members just for the length of time the ennobling PM served as PM. So those created by Truss would get 49 days of privilege, those by Johnson would get three years, etc etc.

[Leothebear]

It's always been used as a reward for the PM's cronies. Why not simply do away with the PM's power that enables it?

In fact the whole honours business has been abused but it would be a shame if the genuine cases were to be swept away with the same brush.

[Spet0789]

What is an outrage is that so many non-entities have been honoured over the years and yet Nigel Farage, who has brought about the significant change, has not been rewarded.....?

Usually rewards follow a change for the good… in any case, Farage has been benefitting from the largesse of taxpayers for years and will continue to do so thanks to his pension.

[Arborbridge]

Which reminds me - books on employment practice often tell us that employees respond to being rewarded, but not just in moentary terms. i.e. you can encourage people by recognition. Isn't that what happens in the honours system, but on a more impressive scale? I'm sure you will come back with a "but"

Possible derail here ... In the past various "staff surveys" have had a question about how staff would like to be recognised. I always reply "pay me more" - that's the bottom line. Then I can spend the money on what I really want ... not some voucher for a national food chain I'd never ever eat in through choice and the nearest outlet of which is 30 miles away from where I live

I do rather agree with you. Encouragement has a place - indeed is essential - but it's salary and perceive fairness which are all important. Compliments and kind words that are not backed up by financial rewards are vacuous, in my view.
I don't actually agree, therefore, with the conventional wisdom which I mentioned. I have a feeling that is written by consultants or employers whose agenda is really to get people working and keep them deluded while paying as little as possible.

Arb.

[dealtn]

Get them all in the HoL, lock the doors, and the last 100 standing remain ?

didds

Another idea would be to change life peers from being members of the HoL for life, to being members just for the length of time the ennobling PM served as PM. So those created by Truss would get 49 days of privilege, those by Johnson would get three years, etc etc.

So you would be happy with only those appointments by Boris Johnson being in the current upper chamber?

[Mike4]

Another idea would be to change life peers from being members of the HoL for life, to being members just for the length of time the ennobling PM served as PM. So those created by Truss would get 49 days of privilege, those by Johnson would get three years, etc etc.

So you would be happy with only those appointments by Boris Johnson being in the current upper chamber?

Have we got rid of hereditary peers already then? I don't think that was a good idea.

[mc2fool]

So you would be happy with only those appointments by Boris Johnson being in the current upper chamber?

Have we got rid of hereditary peers already then? I don't think that was a good idea.

No, there's still over 800 hereditary peers, however only 92 of them are allowed to sit in the House of Lords at any time, and those 92 are elected by the sitting Lords. 75 of them by their affiliations (other Lords of the same party or the crossbenchers) and 15 by the whole House, plus two royal office-holders.

So when folks complain that the House of Lords is an unelected body, that's not quite true, the hereditary peers that sit in it are elected!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/House_of_Lords#Current_composition

[Leothebear]

A good piece on the back page of The ST's sport section. It notes the lack of a knighthood for Kevin Sinfield, someone who has devoted himself to fundraising and raising awareness of MND. In contrast Bill Beaumont's existing knighthood was supercharged to Knight of the Grand Cross. Bill Beaumont is Chairman of World Rugby. One is from a Rugby League background and the other from Union. You can guess which.

The honours system should be about recognising those that help others for the soul reward of the satisfaction that may bring. It is used far more often as a reward for favours done.

[UncleEbenezer]

A good piece on the back page of The ST's sport section. It notes the lack of a knighthood for Kevin Sinfield, someone who has devoted himself to fundraising and raising awareness of MND. In contrast Bill Beaumont's existing knighthood was supercharged to Knight of the Grand Cross. Bill Beaumont is Chairman of World Rugby. One is from a Rugby League background and the other from Union. You can guess which.

The honours system should be about recognising those that help others for the soul reward of the satisfaction that may bring. It is used far more often as a reward for favours done.

I'd say, to a first order approximation, these people had a healthy attitude to the badge of shame that is the "honours system".

[Lootman]

It's always been used as a reward for the PM's cronies. Why not simply do away with the PM's power that enables it?

Out of my class at university, two of my fellow students got a knighthood, decades later. (Another got an OBE but declined it, to his credit).

One is a household name in the arts, so I suppose it was deserved, at least on one level. The other was the administrator of a college that you have probably never heard of, which hardly ranks highly in my view anyway. There are a few of my fellow students who I would have ranked more highly than either of them.

If you want an honour, work in the public sector, and wait. But at least there is no money in it.

[Jam2Day]

My first wife's father was at some time on the Civil Service committee for dishing out honours. I remember him telling me that the way to get an honour was to be the chairman of whatever. When I asked why not the secretary or treasurer, he said they do all the hard work, whereas the chairman doesn't and gets all the credit.

Indeed. Reminds me of an old joke. A man goes into a pet shop to buy a parrot (no, it's not a Monty Python sketch). He sees a rather fetching green parrot in a cage and asks how much. '£750' replies the shopkeeper. '£750' says the man while raising an eyebrow. 'Yes, but this is no ordinary parrot.' says the shopkeeper. It can type 150 words a minute and speaks several languages'. The man notices a red parrot on the other side of the shop. 'What about that red one' he asks. The shopkeeper looks across the shop and smiles. '£1500, sir'. '£1500 for a parrot' he splutters. 'Yes, indeed sir, but this is no ordinary parrot'. It's a qualified accountant with experience in all fields of international business'. The man's eyes then rest on a blue parrot in the cage next to it. 'And that one' he asks. The shopkeeper grits his teeth and says quietly, '£3,000, sir, but it's a qualified lawyer with experience in all fields of corporate law.' The man shrugs his shoulders and is about to leave the shop when he notices an ageing yellow parrot with a slightly balding head sitting in a rather magnificent cage in the centre of the shop. 'What about that one' he asks. 'That's £5000, sir.' The man laughs out loud. 'So what does that one do?' The shopkeeper pauses for a minute and scratches his head in thought. 'That's a very good question. To be honest, no one is really quite sure, but all the others call it the Chairman'....

[scotia]

]
Out of my class at university, two of my fellow students got a knighthood, decades later. (Another got an OBE but declined it, to his credit).

One of my class got a Nobel Prize and a CH. So also did a young lecturer who was set loose on us in first year.

[SimonS]

I'm inclined to think that the Lords should be capped in headcount, not to exceed the Commons.
It has become a bloated sinecure, not at all the repository of intelligence and experience that it should be.

V8

I think that's Labour Party policy to bring the numbers down.

Hmmm, wasn't it Blair who was the first one to have been egregious free in the handing out of honours, so as to try to change the conservative (small c) nature of the HoL, only to find that people sent there , once free of party influence tended to behave conservatively. But each leader threafter has felt it necessary to send increasing numbers to redress a perceived imbalance.

[servodude]

I think that's Labour Party policy to bring the numbers down.

Hmmm, wasn't it Blair who was the first one to have been egregious free in the handing out of honours, so as to try to change the conservative (small c) nature of the HoL, only to find that people sent there , once free of party influence tended to behave conservatively. But each leader threafter has felt it necessary to send increasing numbers to redress a perceived imbalance.

That's a very weird interpretation of what happened
Next review should move the job along a bit further, and I think this Truss stuff will help. Get rid of the hereditary mob and bishops
- then DNA test suspected hidden offspring of former PMs