Re: Are Knighthoods now a joke ?
I am of the firm belief that almost all 'honours' are really quite meaningless these days.
Yes, some of them admit you to the country's most famous old people's home, but apart from that they don't indicate anything of any real value, quite simply because you don't really have to do anything of any real value
in order to obtain one.
Some are given for undisclosed services - i.e. giving some political party a generous financial contribution. Others are given for purely PC reasons: for being the right gender or colour as dictated by the leanings of the time. Some are given simply for being in the right place at the right time. For example, after the much reported Bradford football ground fire many years ago, some members of staff at the Bradford Royal Infirmary (where I worked at the time) were given gongs for simply doing their jobs, including an MBE for the Head Porter who received that because they felt it important to show that it is not only the most senior ones who they reward!
Then, of course, there are the medals given for kicking a football around a field!
Of the many honours, I believe very few actually mean anything. The Order of the Garter is the most senior: numbers are strictly limited and a new member can only be admitted when an existing member dies.