Sir David Cannadine: master of the Honours list

Congratulations to the great historian and TLS contributor, David Cannadine, on his knighthood in the New Year Honours list.

But it must be a long time since that title - or any title - went to a recipient with so much knowledge of the system's murkier past.

Sir David is a man of many 'special subjects'.

Lloyd George's  abuse of the honours system to finance his politics is famously one of them.

How British aristocrats first gained their coronets is another one.

Sir David has written extensively on the subtle symbolism of the monarchy - and how politicians and palace use one another in good times and bad.

And one of his main contributions to recent public debate has been his insistence that Prime Ministers - whether planning ID cards or Iraqi invasions - should pay a more knowing heed to the lessons of the past.

When the subject is 'cash for honours' or catstrophes in the Middle East, Sir David has a pointed way with precedent.

Gordon Brown has long been an admirer.

It is always good to see due recognition for scholarship - especially a TLS writer's scholarship.

But in this submission for a knighthood, our Prime Minister may be showing a little bit more than mere admiration for a fine scholar and man.

 

Comments

[ricardo moraes]

really a fine scholar. I am always rereading his superb The decline and fall of the British Aristocracy. Happy new year, Sir Peter!

[Clayton Burns]

Perhaps Sir David could turn his coat inside out for a short time to consider the most fascinating political story at the very end of 2009, the dishonours list of potential Bush pardons.

Degradation. Reversed shield. Pardon me, sir, for I have been complicit with the President of the United States in certain criminal matters. The most important writers in America on this melancholy subject are the best blogger of 2008--just barely ahead of our long term favorite Sir Peter Stothard--Scott Horton of "No Comment" at Harper's, the greatest investigative reporter Murray Waas in his blog "Crooks and Liars," and Dan Froomkin, who appears in The Washington Post.

Except for Jane Mayer's beautifully written and powerfully documented "The Dark Side," one of the most compelling political books of 2008 is "Angler" on Cheney. If there happens a Cheney pardon, as Scott Horton speculates, would not that be tantamount to Bush pardoning himself? A good foundation for that point of view is in Waas on Cheney in relation to Joseph Wilson. Anyway, I have just explained the factors at www.cjr.org.

It seems to me that this is a special subject made in heaven for Sir David.