Sir Brian Souter; For Services to Homophobia and Union Bashing

Sir Brian of Stagecoach

After the awards yesterday of the Queen’s Birthday Honours we have to proclaim “Arise Sir Brian Souter of Stagecoach in the County of Perthshire; For Services to Homophobia, predatory approach to competitors and Union Bashing! “ Indeed there is no truth to the rumour that Sir Brian earned his gong for services to the carrier bag industry as in the past he has been famous for turning up to meetings with stuffed shirt bankers open necked and with paperwork in a carrier bag. In fact the official citation on his being granted a Knighthood yesterday actually says:

“ Brian Souter. Chief executive, Stagecoach Group plc. For services to Transport and to the Voluntary Sector. (Perth, Perth and Kinross)”

Now I am (to say the least) not a fan of the British Honours System but even by the strange standards of such things Brian Souter’s Noble Elevation is what Mark Twain would have called a “bit of a stretcher.”

http://daithaic.blogspot.com/2011/01/new-year-dishonour.html

In 2000 Brian Souter spent £1 million bankrolling Keep The Clause, a campaign to stop the repeal of Section 28 in Scotland. So who fixed it for Mr Souter to get a gong this time round? Could it be connected to his recent £500,000 donation to the Scottish National Party?



Scotland has been subjected to a dirty gay-bashing campaign on a level not seen since the tabloid hysteria over so called 'loony left' councils in London in the late 1980s. Brian Souter, the multi-millionaire boss of the union-busting Stagecoach Transport Empire, and member of the deeply homophobic Christian fundamentalist sect the Church of the Nazarene, assembled a rag tag coalition of the religious right and other social reactionaries to oppose the repeal of anti-gay legislation by the Scottish Executive. The subsequent campaign of lies and misinformation by his Keep the Clause organisation has borne the hallmarks of the media frenzy which ushered in Margaret Thatcher's gay-basher's charter 12 years ago. Speakers appeared under banners declaring “protect our children.”



Section 28 of the 1988 Local Government Act (known as Section 2a in Scotland but commonly referred to as Section 28) was introduced by the Tories on the back of a series of lurid stories in the right wing tabloids about the supposedly 'politically correct' policies of London Labour councils. Council initiatives to address discrimination against lesbian and gay people, black people, and women were misrepresented and distorted out of all recognition. According to the tabloids, children were being force fed a diet of gay propaganda at school.



Stagecoach Group plc has operated buses, trains, trams, express coaches and ferries. The group was founded in 1980 by the current chairman, Brian Souter, his sister, Ann Gloag, and her now ex-husband Robin Gloag with two buses in Perth. The Group benefited from the rapid privatisation (and cutbacks) The group is based in Perth, Scotland and has operations in the United Kingdom and has had operations in North America and New Zealand. Stagecoach has often found itself 'on the wrong side of the Competition Commission and faced sharp media criticism over its predatory approach to smaller operators.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stagecoach_Group

'Bitter "bus wars" broke out in towns and cities throughout Britain as Stagecoach took on the local competition, often forcing the competitor to abandon traditional markets and sometimes causing the collapse of smaller operators. 'This was through aggressive pricing and timing, often running more buses on a route than necessary and just a few minutes ahead of the competition.'



I am not alone in feeling that a person who has benefited from the scandal of Bus Privatisation which saw publicly owned assets flogged off at knockdown prices, has bankrolled Homophobia, been a consistent Union Basher and engaged in abusive competition should not be awarded a Knighthood effectively (despite what the citation says) for a political donation. I am not alone and there is now an online petition against his award which you can sign. The petition says;

“We the undersigned are deeply offended that Brian Souter has been awarded a Knighthood in the Queen's Birthday Honours 2011.

Mr. Souter ran a campaign of fear and misinformation which was deeply hurtful to the LGBT community in Scotland.

The Keep The Clause Campaign increased hatred towards an already victimised group and saw a corresponding increase in violence against LGBT people.

We believe that it is wrong for such a person to be given such a high honour by Her Majesty The Queen and call on HM Government to withdraw this award.”

http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/notosoutersknighthood/

Here is the unintentionally hilarious press release from his hired PR help;

http://www.beattiegroup.com/prclients/pr-press-releases.aspx?news=31&id=10970

A Brucie Bonus at long last!

Brucie Bonus! Good game! Good game!

Today is Queen Elizabeth’s “Official Birthday.” She was 85 in April and her husband Prince Philip was 90 yesterday so between them they have clocked up some mileage and are not looking too bad on it. In the United Kingdom, the Queen's Official Birthday is now celebrated on the first, second, or third Saturday in June, although it is rarely the third. It is marked in London by the ceremony of Trooping the Colour, which is also known as the Queen's Birthday Parade. The Queen's Official Birthday does not coincide with when she was born. Edward VII, who reigned from 1901 to 1910, and whose birthday was on 9 November, in autumn, moved the ceremony to summer in the hope of good weather. The Queen celebrates her actual birthday on 21st April. The Trooping of the Colour is an impressive display of pageantry and is carried out by her personal troops, the Household Division, on Horse Guards Parade, with the Queen herself attending and taking the salute.


Trooping the Colour, Horseguards Parade, London

Each year in the UK the tedium of half empty newsrooms is relived by the tiresome bi- annual ritual of the Honours List where the Crown grants “honours” at New Year and on the Queen’s official birthday. The honours are a sundry lot of Knighthoods and various grades of medals. Heading it up are a list of celebs - Actors, public figures, community representatives and so forth who have received an “Honour from her Majesty the Queen” for some outstanding “service” or other. As always the list includes the great, the good, the deserving and the frankly baffling. The”Honours” list is always something of a dog's dinner, a mixture of Buggin's turn and the cheapest populism, and you don’t even see the lists of people who have quietly declined honours which might help you make sense of it all.


Mr and Mrs Queen at the Trooping of the colour

Two of the most notable omissions have been the popular entertainer Bruce Forsyth and a certain Ringo Starkey from Liverpool, better known as Ringo Starr, the oldest of the Beatles. Well some amends have been made this time as Brucie, our much loved veteran TV entertainer, has been rewarded with a knighthood, after a populist campaign launched last year. A collective sigh of relief was heard across Britain, quickly followed by a suitably awful pun: "Knight to see you, to see you knight." At 83 the evergreen entertainer Bruce Forsyth has finally got his long-predicted knighthood.


Knight to see you, to see you knight!

The nod comes in the Queen's 2011 birthday honours list – one of 965 people whose diverse services to society, including David Cameron's "big society", are recognised on Saturday. It’s ruffled Piers’ Morgan’s feathers who when he was overlooked in the New Year Honours and he said on Twitter: “Utterly ridiculous that Bruce Forsyth still hasn’t been knighted. What more must he do than be a multi-talented star for SEVEN decades?” Well maybe at 83 Bruce is expecting too much too soon?

Entertainer Bruce Forsyth says he is "very proud" after being knighted in the Queen's Birthday Honours. The recognition comes after years of campaigning by fans and a parliamentary Early Day Motion signed by 73 MPs. Sir Bruce's career has spanned almost 70 years, including presenting TV hits such as The Generation Game, Play Your Cards Right and, most recently, Strictly Come Dancing on BBC One. He is known for greeting audiences with his catchphrase, "Nice to see you, to see you nice."


Bang the drum for Ringo!

He was made an OBE in 1998 and a CBE in 2005 and since then there has been considerable speculation about when he might be knighted. A spokesman for the Cabinet Office, which manages the honours system, said: "Generally speaking, committees like to see another four or five years' further achievement or service before they start to consider a further award."

Sir Bruce said;

"I feel very proud that my career hasn't been in vain. I just love getting out there and performing and this is a reward that I never expected and hope I'm worthy of."

Who else has been overlooked? He is the man who has touched the lives of three generations of music fans with his genius, the man who was one quarter of the greatest band ever to walk the Earth? And, last but not least, the man who provided the voice for Thomas the Tank Engine. And if dodgy singles are the criteria for a knighthood? Well, then he has certainly had a few of those in his solo career. That man is, of course, Ringo Starr, who will once again not arise as “Sir Ringo.”


Don't arise, Sir Ringo!

http://daithaic.blogspot.com/2008/01/arise-sir-ringo.html

So there you have the 2011 “Birthday Honours List” - a lot of Establishment flotsam with some celeb froth on top and a leavening of token Proles. Now I’m not against Civilian Honours but this Bastard Child of Empire is well past its sell by date in terms of titles, relevance and honesty and badly needs an overhaul – taking the awards for flunkeys (the Royal Victoria awards which are for “personal service” to the Sovereign) and for time serving Police, Civil servants and Military out of it would be a good start. A second good start would be to make the whole process transparent and above board, they should be given in OUR name and not the Queen’s, Gawd Bless ya M’aam!


Arise, Sir Flunkey!

Lastly but not leastly let us abandon the whole Empire Brand. It is surely not relevant now that it is a collection of Rocks and Tax Havens maintained for Great Tory Supporting British Patriots to avoid contributing to the Common Weal. On a personal level it would spare those who have achieved Membership of the British Empire the embarrassment of realising that there is no longer an MBE / CBE/ OBE Clubhouse and they have to buy their celebratory drinks in Wetherspoons instead!

For the full Birthday Honours list see (if you must!);

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/birthday-honours--full-list-2295957.html

Trooping the Colour