DAVID STEWART: Get rid of resignation honours and have more for community campaigners
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I was delighted to learn that local community activist Anne McCreadie was awarded a British Empire Medal (BEM) for her commitment and dedication to the community of Merkinch, in the King’s Birthday Honours.
Many moons ago, I worked as the social work team manager for South Kessock and knew Anne well. She is hard-working, self-effacing and a tremendous ambassador for the Merkinch Community Centre and the wider area. Anne has been chair of the centre for over 30 years and a community councillor since 1977.
Is there not an Anne McCreadie in every hill and glen in the Highlands? The secretary of the local community council? The treasurer of the village book club? The coach of the amateur football team? I wish they could all be similarly honoured.
What a contrast with Boris Johnson’s Resignation Honours. Staunch loyalists, such as Jacob Rees-Mogg – one of the few MPs to stick by Johnson when the Common’s Privileges Committee voted as one to suspend him for 90 days – was awarded a knighthood. Former secretary of state for digital, culture, media and sport Nadine Dorries threw her toys out of the pram when her promised elevation to the Lords never materialised and threatened to resign as an MP (at time of writing, we’re still waiting!)
And that’s not even mentioning those who partied during Covid when the rest of us stuck to lockdown rules.
The resignation honours by Boris stank to high heaven of entitlement, privilege and snobbery. Is it not time to send resignation honours to the dustbin of history, and replace them with awards for genuine community campaigners like Anne McCreadie?
n I WAS sad to hear of the death of Glenda Jackson, the Oscar-winning actress and Labour politician.
Glenda came to the Highlands in 1996 to support my General Election campaign. I remember waiting at Inverness Airport with local Labour organiser Norman MacAskill feeling anxious and nervous about meeting the renowned star of Women in Love and Elizabeth R.
When she arrived, we headed to my car to drive to Nairn to visit Corsee Residential Home, which had been facing the axe. Glenda broke the ice by asking if she could smoke – “of course, no problem” I agreed – which led to laughter from my friend Norman, who knew my long-standing principle of banning smoking at home and in the car.
As we arrived at Corsee, Glenda asked me if she should be a politician or an actress? To be on the safe side, I asked if she could manage a bit of both! The residents were magnificent. They gave Glenda a standing ovation as she arrived, and she met every resident individually.
Glenda left the House of Commons in 2015 and returned to the acting world. She picked up a Bafta for best actress in 2019 for her role in Elizabeth is Missing, a story about a woman suffering from dementia.
Glenda won her second Oscar in 1973 for A Touch of Class, and in my view, ‘a touch of class’ would describe how she was viewed on and off the screen.
n THE clock is ticking, the sand is running down, and the panic is setting in – yes, that means my dissertation deadline is looming!
My social life is hermit-like, my dining room table groans under long-forgotten tomes, and I wake up during the night dreaming of the research topic – the Highlands and Islands Medical Service of 1913. I should start a support group for students worried they cannot achieve their essay deadlines...
Every day is fever pitch activity of completing more chapters – but there will be a new dawn and the work will be done. Now, about the book!
