TOP 10: Who else should have their honours taken away?

Now that Sir Fred Goodwin is just plain Mr. Goodwin, I wondered who else should have their titles and baubles removed.

Here's my personal Top 10.

1: Lord Prescott - after all, it was his government who ignored the signs and failed to act to rein in the bankers that lead to the crisis that we're all now in.

2: Sir David Jason - I just find him irritating beyond belief. Perhaps two good performances in his career (Porterhouse Blue and Poridge) but countless identikit performances in unfunny sitcoms.

3: Sir Jimmy Savile - yes, yes, I know he's dead, but I think his title should be removed posthumously - an irritant with lots of unanswered questions.

4: David Beckham OBE - I have no problem with sportsmen and women receiving honours if it is to honour outstanding achievement like a world record, an Olympic or World winner, something like that. Beckham was over-hyped, over-paid and even managed to soil the Commonwealth Games by wearing a sponsorship logo in the ad free opening ceremony. Awful, awful, human being.

5: Gerald Ronson CBE - one of the Guiness Four. He was jailed in connection with the share-trading scandal but made a CBE in 2012.

6: Denise Coates CBE - founder and chief executive of the online gambling company bet365 - representative of an industry that causes so much hardship and devastation to families across the country off the back of gambling on animal abuse.

7: Lord Ashcroft - who personifies so much of what is wrong with British politics.

8: Sir Elton John - he may have had a long career, but he's had very few No. 1s and, well, let's be honest, his knighthood was a populist move to help the rehabilitation of the Windsors after the death of "that woman".

9: All soldiers, sailors, airmen and marines - should we really honour people who kill and maim civilians?

10: Christopher Preddie OBE - a former drug dealer and gang member.

And there are many, many more.... Ronnie Corbett, Bruce Forsyth, Kelly Holmes, etc.

Who would you remove honours fom?

OPINION: The BEM - why revive it?

David Cameron has announced that the British Empire Medal is to be revived.

The BEM had a short-lived history; having started to be awarded during the First World War it stopped being awarded in 1993 when, it was hoped, the MBE would take it's place but it is now thought to few receive an MBE. John Major, the Prime Minister at the time, thought that the distinction between the two honours had become "tenuous".

Now don't get me wrong - I'm not against honours per se. I think it's right that a nation commemorates the achievements of its citizens. I think those who go above and beyond the norm should receive recognition but the BEM? Really?

Why rescuerrect a failed honour and one which, by its very title, many will find offensive?

Do we really need these continual reminders of the past? And what has the British Empire got to do with some Lollipop Lady who did the job for 75 years or someone who devoted themselves to charity work?

What's wrong with having a new honour - let's just call it the "Good Citizen Award"?

This should be applied across the whole honours system - let's come to terms with the fact the British Empire has finished and give honours in the name of the country, not an historical evil, not a transitory monarch but the country.

If politicians want the honour system to mean something, and not merely be seen as a discredited system that's pointless, they must live in the present not the past.