The Press and the Establishment. Part Four.

Part Four of The Press and the Establishment.

I feel that the time has come for the whole question of the title before a person's name to be re-appraised. Several broad considerations need to be thought through initially, these will differentiate, for example, between civilian and defence services as well as along religious lines.

I suggest that the initials Dr should continue to be used in advance of a name for medical doctors only. For all other instances they should occur after the holder's name with a suitable and therefore recognised way of indicating what the doctorate relates to. Examples being: Mr, Mrs, Ms A N Other Dr [Eng] or A N Other Dr [Phy] for physics etc etc.

Similarly the prefixes Sir or Dame should be abolished and replaced by A N Other Kt [PS] where the PS indicates that the honour was awarded for Public Service, A N Other Dm [E] for Education, Kt [D] or Dm [D] for Defence, [S] for Sport, etc etc.

Members of the defence/security forces should continue to be referred to by their rank but this only applies while they are still serving members, the use of such ranking falls away on retirement, if their service was outstanding they could be honoured with, for example, Kt [D] or Dm [D] after their name.

The title Lord should be abolished completely and the word should only be used in its religious context in the particular religion to which it applies. Here is a suitable place to consider the pomp, ceremony and associated robes worn by members of the House of Lords. I feel that such a display, in the UK today, is truly ostentatious and archaic and serves to reinforce the position of "The Establishment".

It would be extremely interesting to study and debate what effect "The Establishment" has had on every facet of life in the UK through the centuries. How good has the "them and us" syndrome been for making us what we are? Of course the syndrome could well be "us and them". From whatever stand point it is viewed I feel that if the "us and them" or "them and us" fact and feeling is truly no longer a reality we should be able to reach our true potential as a nation, both in wealth and moral righteousness.

This blog will be continued in part five of "The Press and The Establishment".

Frederick W Gilling Monday 02 November 2009.