'Tis that silly time that comes twice a year in the UK when the great, the good and a good few of the bad - along with some ordinary folk who have gone about their business with extraordinary zeal - are awarded with "honours." These are the people the British Empire continues to evoke - Member of the British Empire, Officer of the British Empire and Commander of the British Empire - all titles that should have died decades ago.

Rightly, many this year have been health workers. But I will just select two from this year's long list. That Tony Blair, the Prime Minister who led Britain into the disastrous Iraq war, is not now merely Sir Tony but a member of the exclusive Order of the Garter (limited to the Queen, Prince Charles and 24 others) is a disgrace in my book.

On the other hand, the actress who is now Dame Joanna Lumley fully deserves her accolade. Most of us know her merely as an actor from her time playing Patsy in the Absolutely Fabulous TV series or even earlier in The New Avengers. But she has espoused a large number of charitable causes and fought bravely for them. Born in India, in 2008 she became the face of the campaign to provide all Nepalese Gurkha soldiers who had worked for the British army before 1997 the right to settle in Britain. Many thousands had worked for the army, quite a few in Hong Kong who had effectively been left stateless after Britain's exit. Her campaign took several years and suffered many official rebuffs. Eventually she got together a petition signed by 250,000 citizens. Her campaign was finally successful. She is patron of as many as 60 other charities and in 1996 endowed a research fellowship at Oxford University for "major environmental and wildlife issues". For all these, please rise, Dame Joanna.

10 hours ago, PeterRS said:

On the other hand, the actress who is now Dame Joanna Lumley fully deserves her accolade. Most of us know her merely as an actor from her time playing Patsy in the Absolutely Fabulous TV series

That was an outstanding show.