S2 Ep2: S1 Ep2: The Establishment Blues

But while they're still around, we just have to grudgingly accept that people who were once regarded, rightly or wrongly, as having at least some degree of integrity, will one day let us down by trooping up to Buckingham Palace to receive a pat on the head.

Why does this bother us? These honours are, after all, essentially meaningless.

And there's an almost arbitrary double standard at play here.

We're fully aware of that.

It stands to reason, for example, that David Attenborough has received a knighthood for his services to broadcasting and conservationism.

If we accept that honours are a thing, and they are, then fair play, Sir Dave.

You deserve yours.

But Sir Mick Jagger? That erstwhile symbol of the counterculture, a man who once caused outrage with his lewd and lascivious rock and roll ways.

Has he tarnished his legacy by becoming a fully paid-up member of the establishment? Or is it just stupid of us to care about such things? After all, Jagger's shtick was an act, a pose, a studied persona.

And really, we knew all along that he was a nice middle class boy with plums in his mouth.

However, there is no denying that we admire, even more so than we already did, those public figures who turned down honours.

People like Alan Bennett, David Bowie and Malcolm McDowell, to name but three.

They did not accept endorsements from the man.

They never bowed before the ruling classes.

And at the risk of sounding like a 90s teenager who's just discovered Bill Hicks for the first time, that's kind of cool.

This whole argument is complicated, nuanced and probably quite pointless.

But hey, that's never stopped us in the past.

So let's get into it.