"Mr" Goodwin but still "Lord" Hanningfield

Quite frankly I find it absurd that in the 21st century we still have a system that sees people being knighted and therefore we lesser mortals should be obliged to call them Sir or Dame and as far Peers here's some of the spoken addresses you are supposed to use with them.

Duke -Your Grave (formal Duke (social).

Marquess -My Lord (formal) Lord (social).

Earl-My Lord (formal) Lord Social.


And that's just when you speak to them it even more complex addressing an envelope.

As far as I know Fred Goodwin committed no crime and he wasn't individuality responsible for the financial crisis . But then he wasn't individually for the supposed success that led to his knighthood.

Still to deprive him of a his knighthood when there are still Members of the House of Lords who have been imprisoned seems petty and has the hallmark of a government trying to switch blame from them by finding a convenient scapegoat.

This when we consider in the House of Lords are peers who were awarded their ermine robes for financial or political services, who are as culpable as Mr Goodwin.The Tories used to hand out knighthoods to their MP's from the English Shires on a regular basis irrespective of any real contribution they made,


And there are handful of peers who have served time in jail, including Lord Archer, the millionaire author who was jailed for perjury in 2001. The Tory lord served half of his four-year sentence.

Two further Tory peers, Lords Hanningfield and Taylor, were both jailed for expenses fraud but have not lost their right to sit in the upper chamber.

If he hadn't Hanningford (Real Name Paul White) at on the Conservative side on Essex County Council stood down in May 2011 White imprisoned in July of that year would presumably have been expelled from the council..

Conrad Black, the former press baron currently in jail for fraud, also remains a peer.

These are life Peers and can in theory still turn up and vote in the Lords . Where a jailed MP would have almost immediately been expelled from the commons.

Furthermore although the majority of Hereditary Peers no longer sit in the Second Chamber . They will still be allowed their titles no matter what crimes they committed.

Lord Brocket, was convicted of insurance fraud in 1996 and sentenced to five years in prison, of which he served two and a half years




Apparently his his autobiography is entitled Call Me Charlie perhaps he at least got that right




Presumably if Lord Lucan British peer, who disappeared in the early hours of 8 November 1974, following the murder of Sandra Rivett, his children's nanny, the previous evening. had been found guilty and had served say 20 years of a life sentence and then released could have entered the second chamber a few weeks later and voted.




What we need to is abolish all Hereditary titles Mo Lords,Ladies Sirs or Dames . The very idea that we should carry on with this ridiculous system is ridiculous in a modern democracy of equals.