Knighthoods for Stanley, Charlotte and Alister
The question of whether Caligula actually made his favourite horse, Incitatus a senator is undecided. According to the historian Suetonius, the Roman emperor loved this horse so much that he gave the steed a marble stall, an ivory manger, a jeweled collar and even a house. According to historian Aloys Winterling, author of “Caligula: A Biography” (2011), his treatment of Incitatus, was designed to insult and humiliate senators and other elites. By bestowing public office on his horse Caligula aimed to show his underlings that their work was so meaningless an animal could do it.
If Caligula’s excess are known as a sort of totem for wild despotic madness, here in Merry Olde England our ex-Prime Minister has just put forward his dad for a knighthood. According to the Times,, Stanley Johnson is among up to 100 names put forward for honours by the former prime minister, who left office in September. As prime minister he had already made his brother, Jo Johnson, a peer. He also gave peerages to two close friends, the former Conservative MP Zac Goldsmith and the newspaper proprietor Evgeny Lebedev. It’s also rumoured that among those in line for peerages are the former culture secretary Nadine Dorries and the former Daily Mail editor Paul Dacre.
Apparently with a straight face the shadow health secretary, Wes Streeting, said Boris Johnson had “discredited the honours system”. I mean, sure he has.
Now we hear Alister Jack is also to be knighted. Jack was one of the last bodies standing as a protectorate of Boris Johnson’s bizarre regime, and its for that, presumably that he is being handed a peerage. In 2021 he was quoted saying that Boris Johnson is an “absolute asset” to the Union and the Scottish Conservative cause in the run-up to the May Holyrood elections. Back then Jack insisted that the UK Government was “not losing the argument on the Union”.
Back in July 2022 when Johnson’s Cabinet was resigning on a minute to minute basis, Jack stayed in the bunker along with stalwarts like Nadine Dorries, Jacob-Rees Mogg. Liz Truss and Therese Coffey.
If you need an indicator of where Jack’s political compass lies, here it is. If you want a snapshot of how rotten the British state is, here it is. What an embarrassment of a country mired in disgraceful cronyism to be tethered to.
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I expect BBC Scotland to give us gushing interviews with Mr Jack.
What kind of regime allows a former, discredited prime minister to propose as many as 100 of his former cronies and financiers to the House of Lords? I know he’s a comedian, but surely he’s having a laugh?
And how does parliament decide which of the candidates to elevate? What reasons are given (if any) regarding the candidates (again, if any) who are refused the honour?
Well the corruption and criminality are plain for all to see , how mass murder through negligence, embezzlement, fraud, racism,fascism, misogyny, intimidation, hatred, abuse , oppression and a flagrant disrespect of the law. Gets you a place of power ,wealth and privilege if your a Tory , but life in prison if your poor or Scottish . Now that’s levelling up the Tory way, in their “ Them and US “ ivory towers . In that Tory world where they make and break the rules , where depravity and corruption are badges of honour and a way to a future of riches and position. We know what the Tories are and have been , it’s those who vote for people of such depravity that’s are to blame . They hide behind the net curtains while spitting at those less fortunate and robbing the NHS and society of the funds needed to help . Their accountants fleecing the taxpayers at every turn .
Still waiting for Mr Small to get a knighthood…….or a whole life sentence for being nasty to Mr McHaw Haw.
I suppose it’s a boon to lazy revolutionaries who can’t be bothered traipsing from wall to wall.
After watching The Royals: A History of Scandals (All4) and reading histories of the Elizabethan and Jacobean eras, there seems to be never a time when these awards and honours weren’t abused, given to destabilising favourites, fawning courtiers, those who knew where the skeletons were buried (perhaps because they put them there), and all the time the public knew and loudly criticised their rulers for it (before being carted off, often enough).
I’ve just discovered that Tsar Nicolas II of Russia “was Colonel-in-Chief of the Royal Scots Greys from 1894 until his death.”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicholas_II_of_Russia
So honours for Russians are nothing new either. Well, royals must prerog. The honours system is an abuse, you cannot use it otherwise.
If Johnson following Caligula can take the piss, how about doing this from below. A mass petition for Lord Muffin the Mule (who also couldn’t claim the outrageous expenses).
Absolutely disgraceful. He single handedly has diminished the value of these awards. People aspire to be given these awards for the brilliant work or selfless service they have done or given to Great Britain. These awards are now a joke. Play your cards right and you are knighted. SHAME!! I would return my award in protest if I was fortunate enough to be awarded one.
Not always keeping up with what you write it was a delight to read so succinct an article. It hit the spot and made me punch the air. We need a great deal more this sort of stuff. The truth will out!
What a pathetic figure Jack is, the ultimate House Jock, desperately crawling for acceptance by the English Establishment. Is there anyone in Scotland more despised ?
BSA. Whit aboot. Baroness Davidson ,we’ve had a few others in the past such as Thatchers Scottish arse lickers,but “Jack and Davidson” richt pair o dummies ,how they can pit their heeds doon at nicht God knows
I think Boris Johnson should also hand a peerage to himself.