The DISHONOUR'S LIST by Christopher Draper

“Ye see yon birkie, c’ad a Lord,

Wha struts, and stares, and a’ that;

Though hundreds worship at his word,

He’s but a coof for a’ that”

His riband star and a’ that:

The man of independent mind,

He looks and laughs at a’ that!”

Robert Burns

OUR ABSURD SOCIETY is awash with champagne socialists courting popularity by railing against privilege and inequality whilst brown-nosing their way onto the Honours List…

1) Bea Campbell – Officer of the Order of the British Empire – Ms Campbell claimed that, 'The survival of an honours system clothed in royalism and imperialism is a reproach to New Labour' and insisted that 'every morsel, every cameo, scandal and chapter in the story of the Spencers, the Windsors, their servants, their scribes and us, confirms the case for a Republic'. Marking Queen Elizabeth II’s Golden Jubilee, in 2002 she wrote, 'My republican hope is that when she dies, she takes the monarchy with her.' As the daughter of communist parents Bea joined the CP as a teenager, married a party member and joined him as a journalist on The Morning Star. Subsequently divorced, in 2009 she described herself in the Guardian as 'republican with politics rooted in Marxism and feminism' and accepted an OBE from the Queen!

2) Clement Attlee – Companion of Honour 1945, Order of Merit 1951, Earl 1955, Knight of the Order of the Garter 1956, – When the iconic Labour Prime Minister Clement Attlee offered an Earldom to R H Tawney, the historian declined, expressing surprise “that Labour still valued such baubles” yet, pathetically, Attlee considered his bauble collection his career validation, boasting in a 1956 letter to his son;

'Few thought he was ever a starter –

There were many who thought themselves smarter –

But he ended PM

CH and OM

An Earl and a Knight of the Garter.'

3) Janet Street-Porter – Commander of the Order of the British Empire – Extravagantly vulgar and rebellious, JSP was born to unmarried working-class parents, had an illegal abortion as a schoolgirl and famously carved out a media career as the unbridled 'Voice of Yoof'. She famously described TV management as, 'male, middle-class, middle-aged and mediocre' and in 2015 called the BBC, 'a cosy middle-class' club prone to 'creeping fucking paralysis' yet having achieved fame upsetting establishment apple carts, in 2016 Janet Street Porter graciously accepted a CBE.

4) Paul Kenny – Knighthood – after spending most of his life employed as a full-time GMB union official in 2005 he was appointed acting General Secretary and elected unopposed the following year and again in 2010. At the 2012 GMB Conference he accused the Labour Party of elitism, 'Even good trade unionists don’t engage with the Labour Party. Everyone agrees it looks too much like a political elite'. In 2015 Paul Kenny knelt before the Queen and was Knighted.

5) Vanessa Redgrave – Commander of the Order of the British Empire – Acclaimed actor, from 1971 key member of the Troskyist Workers Revolutionary Party until expelled in the late 1980’s, has been a constant critic of British State policy from treatment of asylum seekers to 'the war on terror'. Curiously, this erstwhile revolutionary having accepted a CBE, declined being ennobled as a 'Dame' in 1999 although, 'I’m not agains't the royal family, they do many good things' but because she objected to being nominated by Tony Blair.

6) David Olusoga – Officer of the Order of the British Empire – brought up on a Gateshead council estate his family were forced to move after repeated racist attacks on their home. After studying the history of slavery at Liverpool University, Olusoga worked in television, first as a researcher and then a presenter. His authoritative, sustained criticism of British Imperialism has brought him fame and fortune; in 2019 he accepted appointment as an, 'Officer of the Order of the British Empire.'

7) Claire Fox – Peerage – Broadcaster and political panellist Fox joined the Revolutionary Communist Party in 1980 and for more than two decades was a key RCP activist, organiser and co-publisher of “Living Marxism”. She continued to work with former RCP associates after the Party, in the 2000’s, morphed into 'The Institute for Ideas'. Having called for abolition of the Lords and in 2015 tweeted congratulations to the Liberal Democrats for not taking up Peerages, in 2020 Claire Fox accepted the title 'Baroness' and membership of the House of Lords

.

8) John Prescott – Peerage – Trade union official and Labour Minister who played the role of pantomime 'working class hero'. In 2009 he boasted to the BBC, 'I’ve always felt very proud of Wales and being Welsh…I was born in Wales, went to school in Wales and my mother was Welsh. I’m Welsh. It’s my place of birth, my country' despite leaving Wales in 1942, aged four! Having previously described members of the House of Lords as 'The vermin in ermine' in 2010 he was delighted to join them as 'Baron Prescott of Kingston-Upon-Hull” insisting, “I need a peerage to save the planet!'

9) Shami Chakrabarti – Commander of the Order of the British Empire, Peerage – The daughter of Bengali parents, a human-rights lawyer with a long and honourable record of opposing the State’s excessive use of anti-terror legislation, its control orders and attempted imposition of identity cards. Committed to social equality, against privilege and the expansion of grammar schools she sent her own son to Dulwich College (annual fees £18,000) and in 2007 accepted a CBE followed in 2016 by a peerage when Baroness Chakrabarti joined the House of Lords.

10) Neil Kinnock – Peerage – after working for just three years as a WEA tutor in 1970 Kinnock began his long career as a professional, nominally left-wing, politician. On 19th November 1977 he wrote in Tribune, 'The House of Lords must go. Not to be replaced, not to be reformed in some life-after-death patronage paradise, just closed down, abolished, finished' In 2005 Kinnock accepted a peerage, becoming a 'Baron' and entered the House of Lords, where in 2009 he was joined by his equally 'left-wing' wife, who similarly accepted a Peerage and the title, Baroness!

Fortunately, amidst all the flotsam and jetsom of washed up politicians and media luvvies there are still people with integrity who refuse to bend the knee. Next time on NV I’ll unveil the REAL HONOURS LIST and identify honourable individuals who spurned these tawdry titles…

**************************************************************

Don't Short Circuit Justice!

 Harvey Weinstein & Natural Justice

by Les May

ON Thursday morning as we sat sipping our coffee on Todmorden Inside Market my wife commented ‘It seems to be open season on Harvey Weinstein’.  As I had never heard of him I could only say ‘Who’s he’?

My ignorance was short lived.   Bang on the front page of my paper was a picture of a somewhat unprepossessing chap, with a younger woman on each arm, which raised in my mind the question of whether they had first been attracted to him for his good looks.

My wife was right.  After several actresses had accused him of making unwanted sexual advances to them it seemed the journalistic equivalent of the butcher, the baker and the candlestick maker, plus uncle Tom Cobley and all, immediately decided the women must be telling the truth and decided to ‘give him a good kicking’.   To add an element of farce Harvey decided to check into ‘rehab’ for treatment for sex addiction.

It wasn’t just the journalists. ‘Our Treeza’ decided to get in on the act too.   There was talk of him losing his British CBE and the Oscar board have convened an ‘emergency meeting’.   Phew!

But it’s not all bad news for Harvey.  He got lucky; the police in Britain and the USA have said they will investigate.    That means his accusers will have to make formal statements.  If they are telling porkies they’ll be found out.  He’ll know exactly what he is accused of.  He’ll be innocent until proven guilty. The women will have to interrupt their ‘busy schedules’ to turn up in court.  The legal process will take its course.   (Actually I don’t believe that last sentence; it will end up with a plea bargain.   Followed by a lot of articles about how ‘the system’ let down women yet again.)

Unfortunately it’s not just where ‘celebs’ are involved that there is an eagerness to short circuit the protection the law affords both to the accuser and the accused in interpersonal disputes where ultimately it boils down to nothing more than ‘his word against hers’.

It is becoming the norm that in universities, larger companies, trades unions and the like, these kinds of dispute are dealt with internally in what can most charitably be described as the most amateurish way, by people who have little grasp of the rules of evidence or much concern for natural justice.

Natural justice really boils down to common sense.  Here are some ground rules.
Everyone is innocent until proven guilty.  In other words no-one has to ‘prove’ their innocence.
The accused person should be informed of the specific charges against them and the name of their accuser.
The accused person should have the opportunity to cross-examine the accuser and vice versa.
The same goes for any witnesses, be they for the accuser or for theaccused. If an organisation uses a panel of people to investigate an incident, then a different panel of people should be involved in assessing that evidence and coming to a judgement, and the evidence collected should be available to both parties.

As I observed earlier natural justice is common sense.  It’s about being fair and being seen to be fair. Anything that fails the test of fairness, isn’t justice.