Annoyingly up the arse of Gordon Brown as it currently is, The Guardian’s at least had the good sense to employ Zoe Williams.
Here she is on the removal of British Asian world champion boxer Prince Hamed Naseem’s MBE:
There is honour among (white) criminals
Zoe Williams
Friday January 5, 2007
The Guardian
Some reasons why Naseem Hamed might have been stripped of his MBE for speeding, where acknowledged wrong ‘uns Jeffrey Archer, Shirley Porter and Mark Thatcher kept their honours. First, he was speeding. This might encourage other titled Britons to speed. Conversely, most lords are unlikely to organise an African coup, or any Porteresque vote-rigging, on account of how their chamber is unelected, so votes hold no appeal for them. Two, Naseem is not a real prince, and awarded himself the title gratis. This irked many peers, who paid good money for their meaningless titles. Three, he is not white. Almost all interiors of public offices were designed to match white people. Four, non-respectable behaviour is only accepted from the respectable classes. You wouldn’t expect a boxer to understand.
Read more: UK Media, UK Politics, UK Honours system, UK+racism