Danny Boyle: class act

After Danny Boyle's astonishing triumph at the opening ceremony of the London Olympics, I blogged to the effect that he should immediately be knighted for his sterling service to the nation. Now it emerges that he has stated that he would turn down such an honour if offered it. His argument is that the message of the ceremony was that the British nation is composed of a community of equals, and that it would be wrong to artificially place himself above others by accepting a knighthood.

A few years ago Benjamin Zephaniah turned down an MBE with the comment that he felt uncomfortable about accepting any title that had the word "Empire" in it, for self-evident reasons. The islands of the Caribbean, let's face it, have more reason than most to regret there ever was such a thing as a British Empire. Later I read a piece by Yasmin Alabi Brown in which she admitted that on hearing these sentiments, she now had to think carefully whether she would continue to hold onto her own gong (an MBE I think) I wonder if, like the Beatles, she gave hers back in the event. I also admired Jon Snow enormously when he turned one down on the grounds that as a journalist he had to stay objective, and that accepting an honour from the State would place him firmly in their camp.

There are lots of things wrong with the honours system in this country, from the awarding of honours to civil service hacks who have done little other than do their jobs efficiently and avoid embarrassing the government in any way, to the awarding of honours to pop stars who have caught the public ear this year, but will be forgotten the next.

But is this sour grapes? Would I turn down an honour, in the extremely unlikely event I was offered one? As someone who has professed anarchic views since his teens, it would be a tad hypocritical to say the least.Tell you what. Arrange to give me one and we'll see if I'm as good as my principles.

Finally, back to Danny Boyle. OK, he won't be a knight of the realm, but I think we can agree on one thing: after what he's achieved, he can't get arrested any more.