THE HONOURS LIST (3)

It is nice to see that I am not the only one who dislikes the U.K. Honours List. The Government has just been forced (under the Freedom of Information Act) to list all of the names who declined an honour between 1951 and 1999, and who have since died. Apparently that information used to be so secretive that it was not even included in official papers released under the 30-year rule. Which just goes to show what a nonsense the system had become.

It is however surprising that the number is so few, just 277 over a period of almost 50 years. The Brits are a sucker for gongs.

Walter Blotscher