Telegraph 26 Dec
"CBEs and above are problematic. While it is certainly the case that outstanding individuals do receive knighthoods, these deserving men and women are obliged to rub shoulders with a number of others who have carried out some disreputable act. A knighthood is far too often a sign that the recipient may have kept quiet about something he or she should have made public, done some illicit favour for the government of the day, paid a large sum of money into the bank account of a major political party or (in the case of civil servants) is being rewarded for not rocking the boat over an extended period of years. It goes without saying that peerages are even more dubious, as the wholly disreputable conduct of so many peers once they arrive in the House of Lords proves."
"is being rewarded for not rocking the boat over an extended period of years"
"the recipient may have kept quiet about something he or she should have made public"
Take your pick....