tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3881762807913180318.post6252030859012773330..comments2024-01-23T16:53:02.428+00:00Comments on Mark Thompson: Is the Cabinet Office mathematically illiterate?Mark Thompsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00744387583593537268noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3881762807913180318.post-29269058238617209982012-09-01T11:48:58.737+01:002012-09-01T11:48:58.737+01:00We honour the unsung, wrote Bob Kerslake, head of ...We honour the unsung, wrote Bob Kerslake, head of the civil service (knighted in 2006), in Comment is free this week, and only those civil servants who "go the extra mile" are honoured. No one gets them automatically; there are no quotas or privileges. "Nothing could be further from the truth" was his anguished denial.<br /><br />Hmm. Was the knighthood thrown at Jeremy Heywood the day before he was elevated to cabinet secretary some marvellous coincidence? Or the four honours given to the former cabinet secretary Gus O'Donnell during his career, such a pile of honours that to type his name correctly now takes days of research? (Far easier to call him by his official codename, which is GOD.) <br /><br /><br />http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/aug/31/honours-system-stroking-bruce-forsyth<br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3881762807913180318.post-89402485689064881392012-08-29T22:06:38.884+01:002012-08-29T22:06:38.884+01:00And of course the 'great and the good' get...And of course the 'great and the good' get the swanky honours, while the proles who have just cleaned toilets all their lives, or raised hundreds of thousands for charity get an MBE or some such. <br /><br />Perhaps it should be randomised, so possibly that Humphrey Appleby gets an MBE at the end of his career, and some dustman gets a knighthood.Jimnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3881762807913180318.post-81682712696369689162012-08-29T10:42:23.243+01:002012-08-29T10:42:23.243+01:00apologies - that should be of course "until r...apologies - that should be of course "until recently"Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3881762807913180318.post-80704587154893896872012-08-29T10:40:01.686+01:002012-08-29T10:40:01.686+01:00It was once far worse, because until (I think the ...It was once far worse, because until (I think the credit goes to the last Labour administration)there was a "long service" practice in force, so, if you had done 30 years or more and had "a clean record" then there was a good chance you would pick up an honour of some sort - with the actual honour being linked to your serving grade - so cleaner/messenger/porter etc.= British Empire Medal and Grade 7 = Order of the British Empire and so on. You are correct in asserting the Cabinet Office is dealing in "tosh" - someone should ask them to name a Permanent Sectretary from the last 2 decades who wasn't either given an honour when in office or on retirement or frequently, both.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com