A KNIGHTHOOD for Andy Murray is an honour that we in Scotland can rally round. The British honours system has its detractors who might point, for example, at awards for services to celebrity and fashion. But we’re still far from a world in which all shall have prizes and, since Murray is both great and good, he deserves to join the highest ranks.
His knighthood is for services to tennis and charity. Taking the charity as good, what has made Murray great is his absolute dedication, backed by hard work, relentless practice, and a gritty determination that many see as stereotypically Scottish. In these respects, too, he follows in the footsteps of Sir Alex Ferguson.
These qualities make their bearers exemplars for the young and, while some question the whole idea of gongs for football or tennis, it might be said that putting oneself on the line probably applies more to sport than to pushing a pen in a civil service department. We congratulate also, in this respect, the rower Katherine Grainger, made a Dame, and the wheelchair tennis start Gordon Reid, who receives an MBE. Joining Murray as a knight, for achievements in farming and charitable service to entrepreneurship, is John Park Campbell of East Lothian, while West Lothian can be equally proud of lollipop lady Rhona Ritchie (BEM).
Cases like that of 94-year-old Janet Gillespie, who receives a BEM for 60 years of voluntary work with Poppy Scotland, show how honours are as merited by the selfless as the self-driven. They also balance out the dodgier awards of recent years to business figures or political donors who make the system look like honours among thieves or even, with apologies to Murray’s profession, a racket (more about the backhander than the backhand).
Murray does credit to the New Year’s honours list, and we are happy that in future he can serve as a Sir.
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