Former footballer Howard Gayle made headlines for a second time this week for declining an MBE, this time suggesting that the name of the honour should be changed to remove the reference to the British Empire. It is important to remember that the “Most Excellent Order of the British Empire” is an order of chivalry, […]
In 1999, the House of Lords Act barred most hereditary peers from sitting in the upper house of Parliament, meaning a departure of members with such colourful titles: dukes, marquesses, earls and viscounts. Most members of the House of Lords are now appointed for life with the rank of baron, meaning they are referred to […]
It should have come as no surprise to the authorities that awarding Salman Rushdie a knighthood in the Queen’s Birthday Honours would cause protests from the Islamic world. Of course, this would be no reason not to reward a person deserving the honour. The United Kingdom is a country where free speech is valued. It […]
The most recent twist in the “cash for honours” saga currently afflicting the UK government has seen the the arrest of Des Smith, the man responsible for raising money for the City Academies scheme. Some people have asked why donors to the Labour party, or to the Academies, are so keen to buy themselves a […]
20th Century Fox 35mm film accident addiction address adverts aerial photo airport air travel alcohol America American English animation anniversary apostrophe app archive arts funding backup bank bank charges BBC Beijing benefits Big Ben Birmingham bitrate BNP bottle bridge broadcasting BT budget bus business calendar camera cannabis cartoon cash cash machine castle catchup TV cathedral Catholicism CD celebrity censorship CERN Channel Tunnel chart children China Chinese Chinese New Year Christianity Christmas church classical music Classic FM climate change clock code coin collaboration Colombia comedy commission Communism complaint composer computing concert concerto Conservatives contempt copyright corruption countryside courier court crash crime critics culture currency DAB date David Cameron debt demolition Didcot Didcot Power Station diet digital photography digital radio digital rights management digital television diplomacy direct debit discount Disney disrespect diversity domain Downton Abbey drink driving driving drugs earthquake eBay eclipse education election electricity electromagnetic fields email Empire employment energy engineering ethnicity etymology EU Europe Eurostar exams expenses Facebook fanfare feed fees file-sharing film music fire fitness flag Flickr flying football Formula One fraud Freedom of Information free speech Freeview fuel duty gambling game show gay George Gilbert Scott giant hogweed Google government Greenpeace guitar health Heathrow heraldry heroes holidays Hong Kong honours hotel human rights ID cards image use immigration independence inflation internet interview Iraq Islam Israel ITV Japan jazz Jazz FM jigsaw jingle job John Williams joke Jubilee jury justice Kidderminster Kodak Labour landscape law Leicester lens letter licence life expectancy litter loan local government logo London Lords lorry lottery mail Malaysia Mandarin mathematics mayor measurement megapixel military millionaire mistake mobile phone monarchy money monopoly moon motto mountain murder Murdoch Music names nationalism Nationwide newspaper New Year New Zealand Nick Clegg Nokia Northern Ireland nuclear obesity obituary Ofcom Olympics opening hours Open Rights Group open source opposition Oxfordshire parents parliament peerage petition photograph photographer physics Pinyin Plaid Cymru plant poem Poland police poll Pope post postcode post office power lines power station prayer prime minister prison privacy privatisation prize Proms pronunciation protest publication Queen quiz racism radio railway record recording referendum regeneration republicanism ringtone rip off river road royal royal mail RSS rubbish satellite savings school Scotland seatbelt shop sky skyline smoking SNP social networking song Spain spam sponsorship Star Wars station statistics STFC streaming street view sun supermarket swearing Switzerland symphony synchrotron tabloid tax taxonomy telecoms Telegraph television Tesco Thatcherism theatre The Simpsons time timezone Titanic title toll Tony Blair tourism trademark tradition transit travel trees tsunami Twitter unionism unit university vandalism Venus violence Virgin visa vote Wales war waste water web design website weddings weed weekend welfare state Wikipedia winter wireless Wordpress work writing Yahoo yob
