i Editor's Letter: What to call the 'new' honours?

The debate about whether or not to retain the word "empire" in honours such as the MBE and OBE is so quintessentially British. Depending on your point of view it is either another sign that civilisation as we know it is coming to an end, or it confirms that we are fiddling while Rome burns. That point of view will be either: a) the empire was one of the great civilising forces in history; or b) that it was the worst enslaver of peoples the world has seen.

The "issue" arose at the end of last year when David Cameron announced a vague plan to re-introduce the British Empire Medal (also known as "the working class gong"). Three of the Lords Lieutenants (who are they? They represent the Queen in their respective counties) subsequently told the Commons Public Accounts Committee about their unease at the idea of harking back to the empire for both the new and existing medals. It was the poet Benjamin Zephaniah, who famously refused an OBE, saying: "It reminds me of so many negative things; it reminds me of slavery."

So, what to call the "new" honours? The Lords suggested the Queen's Commonwealth Medal or Queen's Medal for Service. Cue angry emails, but I suspect that many people don't really care. It's always nice to get recognised – at i, we are very proud of our Newspaper of the Year award. However, if I am to understand the intention of the proposed new BEM for "ordinary people" who have performed the extraordinary, then I am reasonably sure they wouldn't care what the gong is called. As for the celebs who pick up the OBEs, MBEs and CBEs – in part at least for longevity – it is surely about the giving (back, to society) not the receiving? Ah well, bang goes the knighthood!

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