Emma Thompson is one of those rather rare people in the visual arts who has grown into her talent, rather than rehashing or reliving the triumphs of her youth over and over. She's a great actress, and even better screen writer - films she has written are always worth watching.
Kenny Dalglish is an even rarer creature - a football manager who doesn't waste words. Was it Noel Edmonds who had that little jingle "we all agree, Kenny Dalglish is magic"?
Congratulations to all the charity workers as well - a little recognition can go a long way for people who work so hard, very often as volunteers, for their communities
“It's still magic even if you know how it's done.”
Emma has also done a huge amount to support refugee communities in the UK, behind the scenes and unheralded. She is a friend of a doctor friend of mine - Emma has silently and greatly funded work torture victims. Emma is a star on many levels. A wonderful writer and very lovely to boot.
Showbiz and sports stars are lucky enough to be able to make a living (usually a very good one) doing something they enjoy. Isn't that reward enough? The people I honour are the majority who spend their lives doing s*** jobs, in s*** conditions, for s*** money, either in the service of a largely ungrateful public, or to make wealthy shareholders richer still. If that makes me sour, so be it.
@josusa47 I imagine most of us believe the purpose of the honours system these days should be to say thank you to the unsung heroes, and give them a nice day out at the Palace. Unfortunately, it doesn't make very interesting conversation to discuss people the rest of us have never heard of which is why we tend to focus on the 1% we have heard of.
There are in my view any number of questionable things about the system, three of which that leap to mind are:
(i) the continuing use of the Empire in the name.
(ii) if you're a civil servant you have a 1 in 2,000 chance of being honoured, if you're a nurse you have a 1 in 20,000 chance. Nice work Sir Humphrey.
(iii) the bit that really does concern me are the peerages, which have become a means for the political parties to cram the House of Lords with their cronies, who actually wield some power, and is not just a national thank you for your work.
“Success is the ability to go from one failure to another with no loss of enthusiasm.” Winston Churchill
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Kenny Dalglish is an even rarer creature - a football manager who doesn't waste words. Was it Noel Edmonds who had that little jingle "we all agree, Kenny Dalglish is magic"?
Congratulations to all the charity workers as well - a little recognition can go a long way for people who work so hard, very often as volunteers, for their communities
Can anyone tell me what Alan Sugar did to deserve to made a Knight, never mind a Lord.