A Dishonourable System of Honours

The British Honours system is a Joke that we shouldn't be laughing at any more.


I see that a group of MP's, as reported in the Telegraph,  are now calling for Sir Fred Goodwin to have his knighthood taken away from him, not before time.  I also note that the last time this happened was in 2010 when American Robert Allen Stanford who is in prison awaiting trial on charges that his investment company was a massive Ponzi Scheme.  Prior to that Robert Mugabe, the leader of Zimbabwe had his knighthood removed in 2008!


Now while I think it is right and proper this is at last happening in regard to Goodwin for the misery his actions and poor management have inflicted on many lives touched by the banking scandal I again ask why there are no calls for members of the House of Lords to be similarly treated?


I see in a local rag today that Lord Hanningfield's lawyer says that he,'may return to public life' and he goes on to state that, "He has first hand experience of how people are treated in the criminal arena, and thinks he can make a significant contribution to debates on the issue".


This is the man you may recall was charged and convicted of fraud over his expenses and is still under investigation by Essex Police for expenses related to his time as leader of the County Council.  This is the man who, when convicted, was sentenced to 9 months, yes 9 months in prison and served 9 weeks yes NINE WEEKS and so, this makes him eminently qualified to resume his seat in the house of lords and to sit in and contribute and vote on laws that we, the ordinary people of the land,  must abide by!  I think not!


But it is by no means just this piece of human garbage who attained political status and position through the offices of the Prime Minister, Tony Blair (Labour), who nodded this through in 1998 from a list supplied by the Tories. 


Then there is Lord Taylor , he got 12 months and served 3 months.
Baroness Uddin never charges but told to repay £125k 
Lord Archer   Who can ever forget his list of criminal proclivities, and the list goes on and on, and apart from all being members of the house of lords and all being disgraced members of that body the other thing they have in common is that at some point, even those who become convicted criminals, can take their seats back in the house, claim their expenses and pronounce on laws that we have to abide by.


This is wrong and yet what do we get we get a committee of their chums saying that if they pay back the funds that they defrauded from us,(via The Huffington Post) the people, they can resume their seats and all will be well and they will be forgiven!  WRONG, WRONG, WRONG on so many levels.


If they are convicted, they should have these titles removed from them and thrown out on their ears, they should not be allowed to sit in judgement of laws that we have to adhere to, but will that happen, no it wont because the boys and girls club that is Parliament probably recognise that underneath many MP's and members of the Lords are just as dodgy as each other and it is a case of 'thank god I haven't been caught out, yet'.  Cynical, yes I am, and so too should you be....   




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