As the saying goes, there is no honour among thieves. And that goes for Tory politicians, too
But there are plenty of honours, dished out for dubious services, bankrolling and sycophantic loyalty to liars who get to the top.
Rishi Sunak seems set to finally give in to Boris Johnson’s demand to reward his cronies with knighthoods and peerages. The discredited ex-premier’s resignation honours list of 50 pals and financial supporters of the Conservative Party has been held up for months.
It’s a sign of Sunak’s weakness that he’s ready to reluctantly nod through peerages for the likes of Nadine “Mad Nad” Dorries MP, even though he may trigger by-elections that he will lose.
If Bojo’s dishonours list is bad, how much worse will be the resignation honours of vain, dim Liz Truss? It’s a toss up if the list will be longer than the 49 days she spent in Number 10.
But it’s for certain that her catalogue of cronies will bring the honours system into even greater disrepute.
I feel sorry for King Charles, forced to lay his sword on the shoulders of these miscreants, when he really should be slicing their heads off, in the public interest.
Sir Keir Starmer, who earned his K for public service as Director of Public Prosecutions, should commit Labour to a total overhaul of the honours system. It isn’t fit for purpose – much like many of its beneficiaries. What’s more, a goodly number of those rewarded in the past should be stripped of their honours, in a Disgrace List voted on by the public.
What greater satisfaction than seeing the faces of those undeserving Tory grandees deprived of their pompous titles?
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Pacific perch and chips, please, plus a rockfish with scraps. This might be your order as fryers hit by rising prices turn to American fish cheaper than traditional cod.
The taste may be slightly different, but it should be “pretty close”, say chipper experts.
Which is more than you can say for the fish.
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Employers deride rail union leader Mick Lynch who is right for calling the year-long train strike campaign a success.
Walkouts have averted the worst of bosses’ plans to sack workers and impose changes.
They haven’t got a pay deal, yet, but the RMT and Aslef refuse to cave in to Tory politicians who see the rail unions as the reincarnation of Arthur Scargill’s National Union of Mineworkers: “the enemy within” – a foe to be feared, hated and destroyed.
That’s the stark reality behind new anti-union laws to compel would-be strikers to go to work or face the sack.
If that’s not a recipe for a total shutdown of the network, I don’t know what is.
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Tuberculosis was the great killer of last century. It took three of my uncles, and I had it as a toddler. Now, it’s back, overtaking Covid as the world’s deadliest infectious disease.
If you’ve symptoms – a persistent cough, weight loss, high temperatures, loss of appetite and serious tiredness – ring 111.
Health chiefs are pioneering new treatments, but they have to know where it’s happening.
This scourge can be beaten.
