I think I agree with you on much of that. It is also largely corrupted by politicians.
Arguably, the latter are also just doing their jobā¦
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It really is well overdue a name change from āmost excellent Order of the British Empireā to the āOrder of British Excellenceā. No need to change any of the abbreviations that way.
(Just as thereād have been no need to add Sās into abbreviations if weād used āaerospaceā in nomenclature rather than āair and spaceā.)
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Speaking of which, Sir Kier Starner got his for doing his job. Every DPP got one towards the end of their tenure.
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True can see your point. For me i guess its the usefulness of the job. Yes you could argue about the amount of money to economy professional sport brings in but on the flip side, they do an average thing such as football followed by broadcaster and become an OBE which I never quite understand. Be different if they were helping/coaching under privileged kids with a youth centre or something but they go from being paid Ā£100,000s a week to Ā£1millions a year plus sponsorship money and you donāt hear of many good news stories.
British Excellence Medal ?
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British Medal of Excellence?
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a CFAV friend of mine is on the list getting an MBE, i offered my congrats to which he replied āit is a honour to get recognised, but a complete surprise as its just doing the day jobā
which proves it isnāt just the ācelebritiesā who get awards for just following their career path.
I do agree with you though that those in the NHS should get better recognition when you consider Armed Forces officers seem to get MBE/OBE/CBE for just going through the motions of their role (see Aunty Dawn as an example)
I will happily be corrected, but the Police have a set of medals they are eligible for, as does the fire and rescue service, but i donāt know of any for the Drs and Nurses in the NHS (I believe paramedics have a long service medal though)
but so are āSenior Officersā in the Armed forces and it would seem my CFAV friend who is a civil servantā¦they are only doing their job, employed by Govt - so why not the NHS? Or teachers for that matter having achieved milestones or big accomplishments
You do get people in the NHS and the medical field receiving awards such as Johnathon van Tamm or Magdi Yacoub.
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ok fair - but they are right at the top of the treeā¦there are 1 star generals (Navy, Army and RAF) who are far from the top who do get recognitionā¦
I suppose the key distinction here is uniformed services vs non-uniformed services and their origins.
Makes a lot more sense to give a police officer a medal they might actually occasionally wear (not withstanding how rarely most officers would wear tunics) compared to a nurse or a doctor who would never wear it.
And then it comes back to organisational culture, one type of organisation might be more likely to put its staff forward for recognition than others.
Police and fire have almost always been public services since their organisation was formalised. Whereas until 1948 healthcare was privately organised and thereās still a strong element of private work undertaken by NHS staff.
The NHS tend to get them in similar proportions to the other civilian services, a smattering of BEMās and MBEās for the peasants with the seniors getting OBEās, CBEās and Knighthoods.
Police, Fire Brigade and Ambulance Service are all the same, a LSGC at 20 years and their is a āKings XXXX Medalā for each service which tends to go to bosses for doing their jobs (I donāt know about the others but in Policing you can get the KPM for bravery which is the same medal on a slightly different ribbon. Outside of that they are reliant on the same honours system as everyone else.
Did everyone get that or was it a trust thing?
I think the cadet forces need an equivalent e.g. Kings Cadet Forces Medal. Similar criteria and status to the Kings Volunteer Reserves Medal. I.e. only given to a small number each year who have already got the CFM for going above and beyond (like being an OC for 10 years)
Would recognise worthy individuals for cadet specific service without going up against regulars for MBE eyc
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So that would bar CIs and CWC members?
Trust by Trust basis I believe. Original idea was for a nation wide award but then PartyGate happened so politicians lost interest in pushing for it.
But just as unofficial as a primary school sports day medal, and therefore unlikely to mean anything down the line.
I thought the NHS got the George Cross for becoming a Covid only service?
They did, but that doesnāt mean every member of staff gets the GC