A small haul of honours for Crawley… OBEs for the Chairman of the driving instructors’ association who lives in Worth, and a couple of foster parents, for services to children and families.

That sounds like the sort of thing we should be recognising and promoting. That side of the honours system is something I like. I know there was a lot of piss-taking when honours first started going to ‘ordinary people’ doing a good job to the benefit of the wider community – derogatory comments about OBEs for lollipop ladies rings a bell, and suggestions that it devalued the honours – but aren’t they more worthy than someone receiving an honour for reaching a particular rank in the civil service?

If anything the honour for spending many years helping to nurture a string of children, many of them difficult to handle, is devalued by being shared with time-serving bean counters and the like.

Look at the full list and you will find lots of worthy people, with a short description of why they are being honoured: for services to disabled people, for services to early years learning, for services to science and so on. You will also find others where there is no description of why they are being honoured: just a job title like Head, Devolved Customer Relations, OGCbuying.solutions, HM Treasury or Human Resources Manager, HM Customs & Excise or Grade C2, Ministry of Defence or Finance Director General, Department for Work & Pensions. They couldn’t even find a decent excuse for giving it – its just the equivalent of a MacDonalds employee getting 5 stars on their badge.

So well done Joseph and Rita Lansdell of Crawley, thanks for all the children you have helped on the way, and don’t be upset by having to share the honour with a bunch of bureaucrats!