tag:theconversation.com,2011:/au/topics/knights-and-dames-9600/articlesKnights and dames – The Conversation2023-06-13T15:20:19Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2062552023-06-13T15:20:19Z2023-06-13T15:20:19ZWhy medieval manuscripts are full of doodles of snail fights<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/527819/original/file-20230523-12079-r4nxs8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=326%2C106%2C2504%2C1362&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Battle in the margins from the Gorleston Psalter (1310-1324).</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.bl.uk/manuscripts/FullDisplay.aspx?ref=Add_MS_49622">British Library </a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The doodles found in the <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-so-many-medieval-manuscripts-feature-doodles-and-what-they-reveal-190114">margins of very old manuscripts</a> are often just as interesting as the content of the manuscripts themselves. One such example is the frequently recurring – and extremely odd – image of knights warring against snails. </p>
<p>From the late 13th century through to the 15th century, images of knights fighting snails pop up in all sorts of unlikely places within the medieval literary world. And they reveal fascinating insights into what medieval people thought about the world around them.</p>
<p><a href="https://blogs.bl.uk/digitisedmanuscripts/2013/09/knight-v-snail.html">Images of knights fighting snails</a> first started to emerge in North French illuminated manuscripts (which are decorated with richly coloured illustrations) towards the end of the 13th century (around 1290). A few years on – although slightly less consistently – these same images started appearing in Flemish and English manuscripts.</p>
<p>Interestingly, in most cases these snail doodles appear to be unrelated to the adjoining illustrations of textual passages.</p>
<p>Often, the doodles depicted an armed knight confronting a snail whose horns were extended and pointing like arrows. In the manuscripts of the French folktale, <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Roman-de-Renart">Le Roman de Renart</a>, the weapons that the knights were depicted with varied between sticks, maces, flails, axes, swords and even forks. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A knight on horseback jousting with a snail." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/527821/original/file-20230523-4359-o9bdq0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/527821/original/file-20230523-4359-o9bdq0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=351&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527821/original/file-20230523-4359-o9bdq0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=351&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527821/original/file-20230523-4359-o9bdq0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=351&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527821/original/file-20230523-4359-o9bdq0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=442&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527821/original/file-20230523-4359-o9bdq0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=442&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527821/original/file-20230523-4359-o9bdq0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=442&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Extreme jousting from Brunetto Latini’s Li Livres dou Tresor, (c. 1315-1325).</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.bl.uk/catalogues/illuminatedmanuscripts/record.asp?MSID=8128&CollID=58&NStart=19">Courtesy of the British Library</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Snail assailants are almost always male knights. However, there is <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/2852357">one known instance of a woman opposing a snail</a> wielding a spear and shield. </p>
<p>As these snail combat doodles increased in popularity within manuscripts, they became an accepted element of medieval imagery. From here, they spread to other areas of medieval life.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A page from a manuscript showing a snail facing a monk in the footer. The monk is disarmed and on his knees." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/527827/original/file-20230523-28-6opxah.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/527827/original/file-20230523-28-6opxah.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=464&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527827/original/file-20230523-28-6opxah.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=464&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527827/original/file-20230523-28-6opxah.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=464&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527827/original/file-20230523-28-6opxah.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=584&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527827/original/file-20230523-28-6opxah.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=584&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527827/original/file-20230523-28-6opxah.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=584&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A disarmed monk faces a snail opponent, from The Book of Hours (c. 1320-1330).</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.bl.uk/catalogues/illuminatedmanuscripts/record.asp?MSID=8836&CollID=8&NStart=6563">Courtesy of the British Library</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Decorative panels <a href="https://www.mbs-brasses.co.uk/public/files/2006-transactions-volume-xvii-part-4-194995852.pdf">carved around 1310</a> on the main entrance of <a href="https://www.historyhit.com/locations/lyon-cathedral/">Lyon Cathedral</a> in France, for example, showcase a knight confronting a snail and another man threatening a dog-headed giant snail with an axe.</p>
<p>Despite travelling across the continent, the knights versus snails motif varied little from country to country, which suggests that it may have had a deeper meaning.</p>
<h2>Medieval satire</h2>
<p>Nobody knows exactly why battles between snails and knights were so popular throughout the middle ages. One theory is that these doodles <a href="https://www.gotmedieval.com/2009/07/whats-so-funny-about-knights-and-snails.html">added humour</a> to texts which were otherwise quite dry and serious. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A knight praying for mercy from a large hovering snail." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/527823/original/file-20230523-19-muwv1h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/527823/original/file-20230523-19-muwv1h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=372&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527823/original/file-20230523-19-muwv1h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=372&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527823/original/file-20230523-19-muwv1h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=372&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527823/original/file-20230523-19-muwv1h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=467&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527823/original/file-20230523-19-muwv1h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=467&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527823/original/file-20230523-19-muwv1h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=467&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The gastropod conqueror from the Gorleston Psalter, 1310-1324.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.bl.uk/manuscripts/FullDisplay.aspx?ref=Add_MS_49622&index=0">Courtesy of the British Library</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>A reader could rest their eyes by taking a moment to laugh at the scene of snail combat before continuing with their reading.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/527829/original/file-20230523-18640-r4nxs8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A rabbit and a snail sit on top of a pair of monkey's shoulders, jousting." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/527829/original/file-20230523-18640-r4nxs8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/527829/original/file-20230523-18640-r4nxs8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=879&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527829/original/file-20230523-18640-r4nxs8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=879&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527829/original/file-20230523-18640-r4nxs8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=879&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527829/original/file-20230523-18640-r4nxs8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1105&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527829/original/file-20230523-18640-r4nxs8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1105&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527829/original/file-20230523-18640-r4nxs8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1105&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A rabbit, monkeys and snail jousting, from the Harley Froissart (c. 1470-1472).</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.bl.uk/manuscripts/FullDisplay.aspx?ref=Harley_MS_4379">Courtesy of the British Library</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Many of the doodles show a knight dropping their sword or kneeling submissively before their diminutive shelled foe, which accentuates its satirical implications. There are also several representations of women pleading with knights not to attack the formidable beasts. </p>
<p>Other similarly lighthearted imagery includes a cat stalking a snail with the head of a mouse, as well as dogs, monkeys, dragons and even rabbits in fierce opposition with the molluscs.</p>
<h2>The meaning of the snail motif</h2>
<p>Snails were recognised in medieval times for their unusual strength, given that they were able to carry their home on their back. Confrontation with a snail, therefore, could represent a test of personal strength as well as mental fortitude. </p>
<p>Once <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/2852357">a symbol of deceptive courage</a>, the snail became a creature to be hunted down and destroyed in a display of strength and bravery.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A knight approaches a large red snail, wielding a club." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/527825/original/file-20230523-19-miwckg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/527825/original/file-20230523-19-miwckg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=274&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527825/original/file-20230523-19-miwckg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=274&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527825/original/file-20230523-19-miwckg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=274&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527825/original/file-20230523-19-miwckg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=344&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527825/original/file-20230523-19-miwckg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=344&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527825/original/file-20230523-19-miwckg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=344&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A knight versus snail fight from the Smithfield Decretals ( c.1300-1340).</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.bl.uk/manuscripts/FullDisplay.aspx?ref=Royal_MS_10_e_iv&index=0">Courtesy of the British Library</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Like many other subjects popularised in marginal illuminations of the 1300s, the snail and knight duo gradually disappeared as time wore on. They experienced a brief revival, however, in medieval manuscripts towards the end of the 15th century. </p>
<p>And they haven’t completely disappeared from the common imagination. Today the pairing can still be enjoyed in the nursery rhyme, <a href="https://www.mamalisa.com/?t=es&p=1509">Four-and-Twenty Tailors Went To Kill a Snail</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Four-and-twenty tailors went to kill a snail,</p>
<p>The best man amongst them durst not touch her tail;</p>
<p>She put out her horns like a little Kyloe cow;</p>
<p>Run, tailors, run, or she’ll kill you all e’en now.</p>
</blockquote><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/206255/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Madeleine S. Killacky does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Snails were recognised in medieval times for their unusual strength, given that they were able to carry their home on their back.Madeleine S. Killacky, PhD Candidate, Medieval Literature, Bangor UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/501112015-11-03T14:15:42Z2015-11-03T14:15:42ZDear Sir: five reasons why Britain should keep knights and dames<p>Just a year after they were reinstated by his predecessor, Australian prime minister Malcolm Turnbull has announced that the system of appointing knights and dames <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-11-02/knights-and-dames-to-be-scrapped/6904474">will be abolished</a> in Australia, calling it “anachronistic and out of date”. It’s a familiar argument, often heard in the UK: that the titles have no place in a modern, democratic society. </p>
<p>To me, however, this seems a rather knee-jerk response – although the system of awarding knight and damehoods should be reformed, Britain should certainly keep the titles.</p>
<p>Few in the country appear to be arguing for the wholesale abolition of the honours system, after all. Most people support the general principle of rewarding those who have shown merit in a particular field, hence the huge number of nominations each year for OBEs and MBEs. And if you’re okay with letting people put letters after their name, why is it wrong to put words in front of them?</p>
<p>Here are five reasons why Britain should keep knights and dames.</p>
<h2>1) They’re old-fashioned. So what?</h2>
<p>Lots of traditions are archaic, but that isn’t necessarily a good reason to scrap them. If we got rid of things purely because they’d been around a long time we’d have removed the monarchy, the state opening of parliament and the Radio Times. </p>
<p>Almost every country has an honours system of one kind or another. The French, for example, have the <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/aug/24/legion-dhonneur-french-order-of-merit-napoleon">Legion of Honour</a>. The French system was put in place by Napoleon, and yet still is actively used. </p>
<p>Honours such as this are part of our common heritage, stretching back hundreds of years. Knight and damehoods have been held by people from Winston Churchill and Isaac Newton to Ernest Shackleton and Judi Dench. Why dump them now?</p>
<h2>2) A few bad eggs shouldn’t put you off</h2>
<p>Even the staunchest defender of the honours system would admit that they have, on occasion, been awarded to the undeserving. Certainly, too, there have been occasions where <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-16821650">it has proven politically embarrassing</a> – Fred Goodwin, the former RBS boss who presided over the stricken bank in 2008, springs to mind. </p>
<p>One of the chief arguments for getting rid of the Australian system was that a knighthood had been awarded to Prince Philip, a man not short on titles, but <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2015/feb/03/how-giving-prince-philip-a-knighthood-left-australias-pm-fighting-for-survival">arguably short on the merit</a> to justify them all. But the fact that an award has, at some point, been given to an unsuitable person does not justify its total abolishment. By that logic, the Nobel Peace Prize should also be abolished. Instead, we should be more careful about who we give them too.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/100622/original/image-20151103-16514-yn7q82.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/100622/original/image-20151103-16514-yn7q82.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=449&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/100622/original/image-20151103-16514-yn7q82.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=449&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/100622/original/image-20151103-16514-yn7q82.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=449&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/100622/original/image-20151103-16514-yn7q82.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=565&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/100622/original/image-20151103-16514-yn7q82.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=565&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/100622/original/image-20151103-16514-yn7q82.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=565&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Does one man really need so many medals?</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/15609463@N03/8688017344/sizes/l">Jamie McCaffrey</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Far too often, though, knighthoods have been handed out as a form of <a href="http://www.standard.co.uk/news/politics/david-cameron-honours-system-abuse-reshuffle-knighthoods-9609014.html">political patronage</a>. The honours should be awarded on merit, not for something incidental to your career or contacts book. Should civil servants and business people, for example, really be awarded the gongs just for doing their jobs? Surely they should be reserved for those who really have gone above and beyond the call of duty, those who have genuinely enriched the nation – and not just financially.</p>
<h2>3) Don’t like them? Don’t use them</h2>
<p>Calling someone by their title is not compulsory and in my experience, it’s generally only those undeserving of the award that insist that you use it. Perhaps that could be a useful litmus test for its removal? If you think titles are meaningless, just ignore them. </p>
<h2>4) What’s in a word?</h2>
<p>Critics of the honours system argue against the specific wording of the honours, specifically the fact that so many of them <a href="http://mentalfloss.com/article/29904/10-famous-people-who-turned-down-knighthood">include the words “British Empire”</a> (OBE and MBE are for the Order of the British Empire or Member of the Order of the British Empire, respectively) – a political entity that largely ceased to exist after 1945. It could be argued that this wording is outdated, but knight and damehoods avoid this baggage anyway, tending instead to be “of the Order of the Garter” or “of the Order of the Thistle”. </p>
<h2>5) Abolishing titles won’t make Britain better</h2>
<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/100625/original/image-20151103-16507-fs5t1f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/100625/original/image-20151103-16507-fs5t1f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=730&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/100625/original/image-20151103-16507-fs5t1f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=730&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/100625/original/image-20151103-16507-fs5t1f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=730&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/100625/original/image-20151103-16507-fs5t1f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=917&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/100625/original/image-20151103-16507-fs5t1f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=917&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/100625/original/image-20151103-16507-fs5t1f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=917&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">(His Excellency) George Washington.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b6/Gilbert_Stuart_Williamstown_Portrait_of_George_Washington.jpg">Clark Art Institute/Wikimedia commons</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>When the US declared independence, it famously rejected the idea that their new country would have titles (although George Washington was often referred to unofficially <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2004/11/07/books/review/his-excellency-the-human-washington.html?_r=0">as “his excellency”</a>). But few would argue that as a result of not having knights or dames the US has become a more equal or fairer society than the UK. Getting rid of titles will not close the gap between rich and poor, nor will it make anyone more empathetic towards their fellow citizens. That has to start with all of us.</p>
<p>Good people with titles will continue to be good people, bad people with titles will continue to be bad people. This sums up the problem in a nutshell; if the honour system is to survive moving forward, we need more good knights and fewer bad ones.</p>
<h2>… but the system should be reformed</h2>
<p>There are several reforms that come instantly to mind. For instance making the process of awarding titles more open and transparent. Despite <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/9697216/Full-citations-for-new-knighthoods-and-damehoods-to-be-published-for-first-time.html">recent reforms</a>, it’s still a somewhat murky process. Equally, we need to make it easier to revoke honours when evidence of wrongdoing or massive incompetence emerges. </p>
<p>I’d also argue that no one should get a knight or damehood before the age of 60. They should be a reward for a lifetime’s achievement, not something handed out to the flavour of the month, or for a political favour.</p>
<p>But I would argue against making it too democratic. The last thing the system needs is titles delivered on the basis of a popular vote. Even those who argue that awards should be <a href="http://www.parliament.the-stationery-office.co.uk/pa/cm200304/cmselect/cmpubadm/212/212we08.htm">more democratic</a> normally stop short of asking for them to be voted for by the general public. Before he was officially knighted, an internet campaign to recognise Bruce Forsyth recieved <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/celebritynews/3966181/Bruce-Forsyth-knighthood-campaign-attracts-25000-votes-online.html">25,000 votes</a>. Voting might be fine for the National TV Awards, but not for state honours.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/50111/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Matthew Mokhefi-Ashton does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Why our honours system is a great thing to have.Matthew Mokhefi-Ashton, Lecturer in Politics and International Relations, Nottingham Trent UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/368922015-01-29T19:34:31Z2015-01-29T19:34:31ZGrattan on Friday: Tony Abbott faces battle to avoid self-destruction<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/70540/original/image-20150129-22317-1vkxq14.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Prime Minister Tony Abbott has become a national laughing stock after knighting Prince Philip.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">AAP/Wayne King</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>If Tony Abbott were risk-averse, he wouldn’t have scheduled a National Press Club appearance for Monday. Or perhaps it was just another Abbott blind spot.</p>
<p>Of course when Abbott signed up to turning up, he hadn’t become a national laughing stock via Prince Philip’s knighthood. But he did know he’d be appearing two days after an expected big anti-Liberal swing in Queensland.</p>
<p>Thanks to Abbott’s crazy self-indulgence, and the backlash from colleagues and community, Monday’s stakes have been raised dramatically. He’ll have to perform extremely well to get back to any sort of even keel before parliament starts – and that will take a minor miracle.</p>
<p>Abbott needs what the political trade calls an “announceable”, although it’s not likely it would change the conversation. He must give a convincing account of his 2015 plans. But while he can talk about jobs and families, he doesn’t yet have a detailed policy. He can’t guarantee to deliver his universities policy. And what can he say about the (next) budget, or tax?</p>
<p>Meanwhile, Abbott will be copping a blast from Queensland (where on Thursday Labor seemed confident of taking Premier Campbell Newman’s seat), and he’ll face tough questions. Such as: how much will he campaign in NSW? Liberal polling shows he’s a negative there but he can’t and won’t be banned, as he was in Queensland.</p>
<p>One seasoned Liberal observer predicts that on Monday Abbott will be “chewed up”. We’ll see.</p>
<p>Among those monitoring his performance will be some harsh judges at News Corp. Abbott this week received a massive bruising from his closest media allies in that organisation, which the Coalition regards as part of its “tribe”.</p>
<p>News Corp papers – The Daily Telegraph, The Sunday Telegraph and The Australian – have been constantly “fed” the news breaks by the government, briefed from the Prime Minister’s Office. Rupert Murdoch has been treated as a revered figure.</p>
<p>From the other side of the relationship, Abbott was a News Corp project, the leader to whom support was given and in whom high hopes were invested, the prime minister expected to prosecute a certain agenda.</p>
<p>But deep dismay has set in as the government flounders, Abbott struggles and becomes more unpopular, and the possibility looms that he could lose in 2016. Nor is there a prospect that he can or will deliver the desired, but politically impractical, agenda.</p>
<p>Abbott’s blunder over the knighthood has proved the last straw.</p>
<p>Murdoch this week called for Abbott’s chief of staff, Peta Credlin, to quit (one political observer suggested it would have been better if Rupert had “made her an offer she couldn’t refuse”).</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"560236375912742912"}"></div></p>
<p>News Corp’s most influential conservative columnists have been feral. Such attacks are especially harmful because they’re from within the tribe. When Andrew Bolt <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-01-29/ministers-back-pm-in-wake-of-andrew-bolts-knighthood-criticism/6053446">said</a> on Wednesday the Philip decision was “so damaging that it could be fatal”, his comments were treated by other media as a major news item.</p>
<p>Ministers have had to defend Abbott over the indefensible (while distancing themselves from the knighthood decision) as well as elevate the beleaguered Credlin to near political sainthood.</p>
<p>The week’s most innovative line <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/7.30/content/2015/s4170842.htm">came from Barnaby Joyce</a>, who declared that “sometimes it’s the mistakes that prove the authenticity of the person”. That’s a hell of a stretch to find a silver lining.</p>
<p>Education Minister Christopher Pyne <a href="http://www.skynews.com.au/news/top-stories/2015/01/28/abbott-opens-door-to-consult-more.html">insisted</a> the Coalition couldn’t have made it into government without Credlin, who “is absolutely intrinsic to our success” – which doesn’t say much for the efforts of the rest of them.</p>
<p>The fevered atmosphere makes it hard to know precisely where Abbott will be left when the story moves on. He’s lost an enormous amount of skin in a startling act of self-harm.</p>
<p>Talk is easy and there’s much of that. One Liberal MP says: “There’s a lot of undirected frustration and anger and disillusionment but it’s not heading in a particular direction.”</p>
<p>A party man observes: “No-one is out to knife him – there is no program to kill him,” adding that Abbott is “his own worst enemy”.</p>
<p>Just how bad an enemy to himself will Abbott prove to be? Before Christmas, he promised a better government this year. In the new year he’s been ringing around listening to backbenchers. But now once again he’s shown a lack of judgement and discipline, to say nothing of an instinct for self-preservation.</p>
<p>A Tuesday ReachTEL poll <a href="https://theconversation.com/abbotts-ratings-slump-following-knightmare-affair-36840">found</a> 72% opposed the knighting of Prince Philip, and showed a dive in Abbott’s approval. That’s likely to be just the start of a polling nightmare.</p>
<p>The risk for Abbott is that he is dragged into a downward spiral from which he can’t recover. Some Liberals are saying his leadership is terminal.</p>
<p>It would be a huge thing for the Liberals to replace him. There’d be a big question around process – would there be a knock-down Labor-style fight? Not many leaders depart in the gentlemanly style of Ted Baillieu. </p>
<p>And the party would have to be pretty confident it would get the successor who could deliver the goods. Funny things can happen in Liberal ballots if there are multiple contenders.</p>
<p>There is chatter about Malcolm Turnbull and Julie Bishop, who enjoy good polling support. They have grown closer recently. But if they teamed up, would it be Turnbull-Bishop or Bishop-Turnbull?</p>
<p>This week you have to wonder whether what’s happening in the government is real life or the plot for another Jessica Rudd novel.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/36892/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Michelle Grattan does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>If Tony Abbott were risk-averse, he wouldn’t have scheduled a National Press Club appearance for Monday. Or perhaps it was just another Abbott blind spot. Of course when Abbott signed up to turning up…Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of CanberraLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/368242015-01-28T02:08:43Z2015-01-28T02:08:43ZExplainer: how are Australia’s ‘knights and dames’ appointed?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/70218/original/image-20150128-12445-t0senz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">If Prince Philip’s knighthood was not an honorary appointment, it has taken the award away from an Australian.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">EPA/Karel Prinsloo</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Prime Minister Tony Abbott caused quite a stir when he <a href="http://www.smh.com.au/comment/prime-minister-tony-abbott-exercises-his-prerogative-over-knights-and-dames-20140401-zqpae.html">re-established</a> the appointment of knights and dames under the Order of Australia early in 2014. For this to occur, no law needed to be passed. Instead, Her Majesty The Queen, on the recommendation of the Prime Minister, amended the <a href="http://www.comlaw.gov.au/Details/C2014G00635">Letters Patent</a> for the Order of Australia awards.</p>
<p>In 2015, it was the <a href="http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/doubts-over-tony-abbotts-justification-for-prince-philip-knighthood-20150127-12yzc2.html">knighthood</a> given to the Duke of Edinburgh, Prince Philip, that proved for many to be the Australia Day barbecue stopper. But how is it that Prince Philip – someone who is not an Australian citizen – is awarded a knighthood? Can foreigners even be awarded honours under the Order of Australia? </p>
<p>To answer these questions, it is necessary to delve into the language of the Letters Patent.</p>
<h2>What are Letters Patent?</h2>
<p><a href="http://www.comlaw.gov.au/content/whatisit">Letters Patent</a> are a legal document signed by the Monarch (or the Governor-General) that grants some sort of right, status or title.</p>
<p>When a royal commission is established, the appointment of the royal commissioner is done so by Letters Patent. One <a href="http://www.attorneygeneral.gov.au/Mediareleases/Documents/TradeUnionGovernanceandCorruptionRoyalCommission-LettersPatent-SignedScanned.pdf">recent example</a> is the appointment of former High Court judge Dyson Heydon as the royal commissioner to investigate alleged corruption within trade unions. Some not-so-recent examples are the <a href="http://www.foundingdocs.gov.au/">letters patent</a> signed by the monarch establishing each of the Australian colonies during the 1800s.</p>
<p>The Order of Australia – our system for recognising the achievements of outstanding Australians – was established by Letters Patent in 1975. Letters Patent are unique in that the document is approved without reference to parliament. This is how knighthoods and damehoods were re-established without the involvement of parliament. Abbott simply instructed the Queen to amend the letters patent.</p>
<h2>How are knights and dames appointed?</h2>
<p>Knights and dames are essentially <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-01-26/abbott-defends-knighthood-for-prince-philip/6046380">“captain’s picks”</a> of the prime minister. Abbott said he “consulted with the chairman of the [Australia Day] Council for the Order of Australia and … with the Governor-General”. </p>
<p>Appointments <a href="http://www.gg.gov.au/sites/default/files/files/honours/Order%20of%20Australia%20Booklet%202014.pdf">are made</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>… with the approval of the Sovereign on the recommendation of the Prime Minister, by Instrument signed by the Governor-General. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>To understand the appointment process it is necessary to have a close look at the clauses in the current Letters Patent.</p>
<p>Clause 11 of the Letters Patent states that:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Australian citizens … are eligible to be appointed to the Order. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>It also allows non-citizens to be “appointed to the Order as honorary members”. In short, it establishes two categories of eligibility.</p>
<p>There are also important clauses that relate specifically to appointing knights and dames. Clause 11A(1) states that:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Appointments as Knights or Dames, or honorary Knights or Dames, in the General Division shall be made for extraordinary and pre-eminent achievement and merit in service to Australia or to humanity at large. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>The other important clause is 11A(2), which deals with non-citizens. It qualifies the previous clause by stating that: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>Notwithstanding subsection (1), a distinguished person who is not an Australian citizen may be appointed as an honorary Knight or Dame … where it is desirable that the person be honoured by Australia.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>What is unclear from the wording of these clauses is whether non-Australian citizens can only be given honorary knighthoods. On one reading of the clauses, non-citizens can only be given honorary knighthoods. An alternative view is that while this may be the sense of the clause, it is not mandatory: that is, non-citizens may also be awarded the “ordinary” knighthood or damehood.</p>
<p>There is no mention that Prince Philip’s award is an honorary appointment. This raises the question of whether Prince Philip’s award should be viewed solely as “honorary”. However, the distinction is important.</p>
<h2>The distinction of “honorary” knights and dames</h2>
<p>Why does it matter whether Prince Philip’s award was “honorary” or not? Only four knights and dames can be appointed each year. However, this limitation of four per year does not include “honorary” knights and dames.</p>
<p>If Prince Philip’s award was not an honorary appointment, it has taken the award away from an Australian. If Prince Philip’s was an honorary appointment – and this fact was omitted from the <a href="http://www.gg.gov.au/sites/default/files/files/honours/ad/ad2015/1_%20O%20of%20A%20gazette.pdf">list released on Australia Day</a> – it highlights that while only four Australians can receive knighthoods or damehoods, there is no limit on the number of appointments that the prime minister could make to people who are not Australian citizens. The prime minister could start handing out honorary knighthoods or damehoods to foreign leaders left, right and centre.</p>
<p>The 2015 Australia Day honours may be remembered for many reasons. However, the show-stopper was the decision to add a knighthood to Prince Philip’s <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_titles_and_honours_of_Prince_Philip,_Duke_of_Edinburgh">long list of titles</a>. We can hardly wait for the Queen’s Birthday honours list.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/36824/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>John Williams receives funding from the Australian Research Council.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Adam Webster does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Prime Minister Tony Abbott caused quite a stir when he re-established the appointment of knights and dames under the Order of Australia early in 2014. For this to occur, no law needed to be passed. Instead…Adam Webster, Lecturer, Adelaide Law School, University of AdelaideJohn Williams, Dean of Law, Adelaide Law School, University of AdelaideLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/367102015-01-27T04:44:25Z2015-01-27T04:44:25ZThe central question this political year will be whether Abbott is up to the prime minister’s job<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/69978/original/image-20150126-24510-1od4dm5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Prime Minister Tony Abbott has started 2015 in a worse state than he ended 2014.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">AAP/Wayne King</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Tony Abbott’s “captain’s pick” of <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-01-26/abbott-defends-knighthood-for-prince-philip/6046380">Prince Philip for a knighthood</a> – on Australia Day, and when he says the government should consult more – suggests the prime minister’s head is in some very strange place.</p>
<p>There is no credible, rational explanation. If Abbott was travelling strongly, one might write it off as some monarchist/anglophile indulgence. But with his standing so low that he’s being asked in the media about the future of his leadership, and remembering the bollocking he received over his “knights and dames” initiative, why would he deliberately attract a beating and, worse, widespread ridicule?</p>
<p>Announcing the new honour last year, Abbott highlighted it being for “Australians of ‘extraordinary and pre-eminent achievement and merit’ in their service to Australia or to humanity at large”. How Philip fits is a mystery. One government man described the appointment as a “barbecue stopper on a day when everyone is having a barbecue”.</p>
<p>Abbott has started 2015 in a worse state than he ended 2014, when he was trying to remove the barnacles.</p>
<p>Abbott should, as much as possible, have kept out of the limelight over January. Instead, despite taking some holidays, he seemed to be much in the public eye and ear.</p>
<p>Yes, Abbott had to inspect the bushfire areas. But did he need to go to Iraq, a trip involving a stoush with media that had been left behind? And was it essential to do radio interviews that simply invited leadership questioning?</p>
<p>Among the government’s woes has been January’s backflip on December’s Medicare compromise. The December changes included slashing the rebate for very short consultations from mid-January. When it seemed clear this cut would be disallowed as soon as parliament resumed, and, under fire from doctors and backbenchers, Abbott abandoned the measure. He was further embarrassed by a leak that Treasurer Joe Hockey and then-Health Minister Peter Dutton had advised against the December changes.</p>
<p>In education, another compromise has been flagged this month to the universities deregulation package. It would further reduce the savings, but the detail and the package’s fate remain up in the air.</p>
<p>Over the summer backbenchers have become more agitated after copping their voters’ views.</p>
<p>No-one thinks Abbott’s leadership is in short-term danger. But memory of the Labor Rudd-Gillard-Rudd fiasco doesn’t provide him with automatic protection in the longer term. If his office thought that, it wouldn’t be so paranoid about Malcolm Turnbull.</p>
<p>There is some safety, perhaps, in the fact there is not a single alternative, if it came to that, but several who balance each other off. Apart from Turnbull, forced by his past to step carefully, there’s the indefatigable Julie Bishop; Joe Hockey, seriously down but he hopes not out forever; and the ambitious Scott Morrison, who this year in his new Social Services job – which covers families policy – will try to graft a more human face onto his hard-man persona.</p>
<p>Governments in trouble blame messaging and the Abbott office’s communications team has been revamped. Previous press office director Jane McMillan was chopped unceremoniously from that position just before Christmas. Andrew Hirst, Abbott’s main spokesman in opposition who has been deputy chief of staff in government, will again head the communications effort.</p>
<p>But Abbott’s problems run far deeper than poor and muddled spin. They are fundamentally about product, including policy and personnel. They embrace the past and the present, but have now become a serious constraint on what can be done in the future.</p>
<p>The budget proved an indigestible disaster, now privately regretted at senior levels as the bitter dregs linger. Looking ahead, the government does not have the political capital to take robust outcomes from its current reviews of taxation, industrial relations and federalism to the 2016 election. And Abbott, never popular personally, has become deeply distrusted in the electorate, with his broken promises adding mightily to the voter cynicism he fanned with his attacks on Julia Gillard.</p>
<p>On Saturday the Liberals will get a rebuff at the Queensland election, from which Abbott has been conspicuously absent. While state issues are dominating, Labor is seeking to capitalise on Abbott’s unpopularity. An expected big swing against the Newman government will be read as having some federal implications, whatever its cause. More to the point, some of Newman’s perceived faults – arrogance, seeming to be out of touch – are Abbott’s problems.</p>
<p>On Monday, Abbott faces the rigours of an address to the National Press Club. His MPs don’t return for the start of the parliamentary year until the following week, but his performance will be important for their mood. He needs something to say, and no missteps in what can be a testing forum.</p>
<p>The coming few weeks will be dominated by the struggle to get the university changes through the Senate; the continuing row about what’s left of the Medicare reforms; and Hockey’s release of the tax discussion paper and the latest intergenerational report. Hockey hopes the latter will help convince people of the case for budget and tax reforms. National security will also be in the early weeks’ mix, with reporting on the Sydney siege and security co-ordination arrangements, and the proposed metadata retention regime still a challenge.</p>
<p>Abbott said on Monday that “we probably need to be a more consultative and collegial government in the 12 months ahead” and “I think we need to be more conscious of the realities in the parliament”.</p>
<p>True but obvious. And this is not the first time Abbott has expressed such sentiments. There are a few other things needed. For starters: a saleable May budget; realism in the reform agenda; and a better performance by Abbott himself (and his office, which always gets down to a discussion about chief of staff Peta Credlin). Each is hard, maybe impossible, to achieve.</p>
<p>Given the numbers and last year’s legacy, how does the government produce an acceptable budget?</p>
<p>With inquiries underway, what can it say to reassure people on tax and industrial relations, especially when it is caught between a resistant electorate and a baying business sector?</p>
<p>And how can Abbott repair an image now as bad as that of Gillard when she was prime minister?</p>
<p>Despite the fashionability of the idea of “rebooting”, there is no one reset button. Abbott has had his ministerial reshuffle, which strengthened the team, but that can only bring limited benefit.</p>
<p>In the first half of the year Abbott’ll launch his families package, which will cut his planned paid parental leave scheme (his “signature policy” and lengthy farce) and recalibrate child care. In theory it’s a chance to do something positive, but can he get it right?</p>
<p>In politics lots can change very quickly, and everything is comparative. Bill Shorten has been doing well largely because Abbott has been looking bad.</p>
<p>Shorten will be under more scrutiny this year. Eventually voters will face the question of whether Labor is up to the task of governing again.</p>
<p>But it’s Abbott who is under the most intense and immediate pressure. As the 2015 political year gears up, the central question will be whether Abbott is up to the job of being prime minister. So far, he has not shown that he is.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/36710/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
Tony Abbott’s “captain’s pick” of Prince Philip for a knighthood – on Australia Day, and when he says the government should consult more – suggests the prime minister’s head is in some very strange place…Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of CanberraLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/248752014-03-27T00:34:16Z2014-03-27T00:34:16ZKnights, dames – be honest, Australia, you love it<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/44849/original/z7zznfwf-1395877719.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Sometimes satire loses the capacity to do its job.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/23508673@N08/7133893769/in/photolist-bSp55r-fGbqGa-fGt2mj-a3iPdP-bWSriR-bkSHEi-damwQf-bpHqyZ-7XGZJt-ajBqtb-a46utc-a9BRYA-a3mGqW-dxrXey-7X4gUw-fqPXqv-dkJkcJ-9qSYAq-h21DrH-damwr6-9Ucw5q-damxdT-damxDc-damzfb-fwXgAZ-danh5F-danhqc-damwrU-damuYD-damuDZ-9Rda6D-ddbhjS-8SXtjN-9gNwgy-awE53i-d7arEA-7zdRZH-ftzQ3b-ftzQi1-8aydvk-dankEQ-bD77pa-bD5YQB-bqm4EM-9Z5wxL-damvZp-cqs7G7-dn2TEm-ctPT2A-akZQdt-damy4s">Paul Garrett</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Say what you like about knights and dames – they know how to cause a stir. </p>
<p>This week we witnessed one of <a href="http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/t/tomlehrer473020.html">those moments</a> when satire loses the capacity to do its job. On Tuesday Prime Minister Tony Abbott <a href="http://www.pm.gov.au/media/2014-03-25/new-honour-pre-eminent-australians">announced</a> Australia will reinstate a provision for nominating dames and knights of the Order of Australia, and that it will be the prime minister who makes the nominations.</p>
<p>Laughter ensued. Fearing concerted ridicule from all the latté-sipping elites in the land, parliament’s speaker Bronwyn Bishop <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZnPCDQ5TYBQ">forbade laughter in the house</a>. Thousands of Twitter handles immediately incorporated aristocratic honorifics: “dame,” “sir” (or the prolific variant “ser”), “lady,” “lord,” et cetera.</p>
<p>Cue to the increasingly un-faceless Labor senator Sam Dastyari <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1scXc0rxzJg">gleefully lampooning</a> the whacky news on Tuesday evening. Cue to news editors everywhere dropping in grabs from Monty Python and the Holy Grail. Cue to Buzzfeed’s <a href="http://www.buzzfeed.com/jennaguillaume/hilarious-responses-to-dames-and-knights-in-australia">37 Hilarious Responses to Knighthoods Being Brought Back To [sic] Australia</a>.</p>
<p>Something about Australia’s political lens makes it easier for people to see conservatives as the funny team. Labor’s last genuinely laugh-friendly prime minister, Bob Hawke, discontinued the knighthoods in 1986. That was largely in response to the 1984 knighthood for Queensland’s late conservative premier <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/religion/stories/s1354728.htm">Joh Bjelke-Petersen</a>, who nominated himself. There is an enduring sense that dames and knights are part of a peculiar game of dressups adored by those on the right-side path to power.</p>
<p>Aside from the ridicule response, there have been three strong lines of criticism since Tuesday’s announcement. </p>
<p>First has been a widespread complaint about “retrograde” policy. Many non-government politicians – and quite a few Coalition backbenchers – have argued this move is taking Australia away from relying on its own ceremonial institutions.</p>
<p>For Australian republicans, that sense of winding back the clock is especially palpable. Not only is Abbott refusing to advance Australia towards political self-reliance, he is actively retreating from it — <a href="http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/john-howard-disagrees-with-move-to-reintroduce-knights-and-dames-20140327-35jcu.html">to an extent that exceeds even his mentor John Howard</a>. Debates about historical advancement can be tricky, though, because people are wont to disagree which way is forwards, which backwards.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/44848/original/rtzgcyv9-1395877517.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/44848/original/rtzgcyv9-1395877517.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/44848/original/rtzgcyv9-1395877517.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/44848/original/rtzgcyv9-1395877517.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/44848/original/rtzgcyv9-1395877517.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/44848/original/rtzgcyv9-1395877517.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/44848/original/rtzgcyv9-1395877517.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/44848/original/rtzgcyv9-1395877517.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Kevin Rothermel</span></span>
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<p>A second complaint has been directed to process. Abbott has foreclosed the Bjelke-Petersen scenario by insisting that politicians will not be eligible, but he has done nothing to foreclose the impressions of patronage that may now haunt these honours. Nominations for knight and dame will be at the prime minister’s discretion, albeit made in consultation with the chairman of the Order of Australia Council.</p>
<p>What is more, Abbott has revived these honours entirely off his own bat as prime minister. This detail has infuriated several Coalition backbenchers, who insist such a decision should go before the government party room for ratification (but not the parliament, one notes — apparently the governing party is sovereign).</p>
<p>A third, more politically biting, critique focuses on the strangeness and suddenness. Abbott <a href="http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/federal-election-2013/tony-abbotts-campaign-launch-speech-full-transcript-20130825-2sjhc.html">promised</a> voters a government of “<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CX3Hkg_Q5bI">no surprises</a>,” as Labor MP Kelvin Thompson reminded radio listeners on Wednesday morning. </p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/44853/original/8h9mhb7p-1395878414.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/44853/original/8h9mhb7p-1395878414.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/44853/original/8h9mhb7p-1395878414.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/44853/original/8h9mhb7p-1395878414.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/44853/original/8h9mhb7p-1395878414.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/44853/original/8h9mhb7p-1395878414.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/44853/original/8h9mhb7p-1395878414.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/44853/original/8h9mhb7p-1395878414.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Eva Rinaldi</span></span>
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<p>This announcement has clearly surprised huge numbers of people, and the evidence from talkback radio at least is that they have noticed. Will the electorate indulge “Daggy Dad” Abbott in this conservative fantasy play, or will it resent an unnecessary shark-jump in his first year in office? </p>
<p>He is taking a gamble: aside from hardline monarchists, it is hard to see many who will welcome the prime minister’s calculus here.</p>
<p>Any partisan critique of Abbott’s announcement runs into severe limits, though, when we consider how the previous system of national honours has failed to engage public imagination. </p>
<p>Sure, the Australian of the Year means something to many, as <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-01-25/adam-goodes-named-australian-of-the-year-for-2014/5219118">Adam Goodes has reminded us</a> in 2014. On the other hand, how many strangers on the Northbourne Avenue bus would be able to explain just the difference between the categories <a href="http://www.itsanhonour.gov.au/publications/honours/factsheets/Companion_of_the_Order_of_Australia.pdf">Companion</a>, <a href="http://www.itsanhonour.gov.au/publications/honours/factsheets/officer_of_the_order_of_australia.pdf">Officer</a>, and <a href="https://www.itsanhonour.gov.au/honours/awards/medals/member_order_australia.cfm">Member of the Order of Australia</a>?</p>
<p>Nothing demonstrates this point more clearly than all the public ridicule. Who would even bother to make fun of the Order of Australia? (ABC TV’s <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/tv/thegames/">The Games</a> did obliquely, but are there any examples so far this century?) </p>
<p>In other words, it is clear that “dame” and “knight” resonate more deeply with contemporary Australian imaginations than the national honours some would claim we prefer.</p>
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<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Pahz</span></span>
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<p>What could be the attraction? “Knight” is the Middle English version of a European and Middle Eastern rank. Originally designating a class of soldiers who had the skills and wealth to use war-horses, its status evolved from primarily military to primarily honorific throughout medieval history. That evolution was essentially complete long before the onset of mobile artillery in the 15th Century AD spelled a doom for castle culture. We do not see many knights on horseback now.</p>
<p>“Dame” is also an old word, but the dame’s present station is essentially a late modern retrofit. As a government-bestowed title, it is a recently constructed feminine counterpart for the knight.</p>
<p>Perhaps the more important point here is that “dame” has worked: by contrast to the Order of Australia categories, people know the term well. Above all, they understand its implications of eminence. It is a clearly potent example of “<a href="http://www.cambridge.org/us/academic/subjects/history/regional-and-world-history-general-interest/invention-tradition-1">invented tradition</a>.”</p>
<p>Understanding terms is not the same as endorsing them, of course. There are good reasons to suspect that Abbott may encounter more negative traffic on this issue than he has allowed for. On the other hand, it does help to explain why there has been very little emotional urgency around the campaign to defend the existing system.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/24875/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Tom Clark does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Say what you like about knights and dames – they know how to cause a stir. This week we witnessed one of those moments when satire loses the capacity to do its job. On Tuesday Prime Minister Tony Abbott…Tom Clark, Senior Lecturer in Communication, Victoria UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.