"Yes but"

There have always been allocations. My recommendation to MBE for a marvellous twilight years effort by an under-promoted and over-performing Met. man got a tick in every box as it went up the chain ....... I was told that it was successful: and then came the Falklands in the same year.
Result:: the MBE went to a Met man actively engaged in supporting the task force, and I was told it was all about quotas and rationing. "We cannot have two".

I always refused thereafter to put anyone up.

There is much to like about the principle of honours, and much to dislike about the application.

To declare an interest, the man who filled my pencilled-in post before me got an OBE. The man who actually succeeded him likewise. Meanwhile, having slithered away towards the sharp end, I had six years at the top of my career, and no OBE. No contest! Result!

Yet Michael Fish got an MBE and missed a Hurricane (Use of wrong word, very strong cyclonic depression) :E

Although Dido was appointed because she was 'good at games' (and married to a Conservative MP) she was amazingly resilient in her role and rolled out an amazing PCR, LFD and genomic sequence network, unrivalled elsewhere, except by Israel.

FACTS not FOAMING

Fish was awarded the MBE in 2004 for services to broadcasting. He was compulsorily retired by the Civil Service

Regarding the "Hurricane", it was an institutional failure, reflecting the state of the science at the time, compounded by ill-chosen presentation.
As far as I am aware, no other Met. service in Europe called it well enough.

Sustained winds of 75 MPH is I believe is one of minima on definations, usually only developing with the structure of a tropical cyclone. . Storm with Hurricane force gusts was the October 87 event, I was down at the entrance of the Solent last summer when Storm Ellen came through. 71 MPH gusts at the Needles and I was was at Milton. Word for the day was Anemometer. A good blow.

I was out in the middle of the N Sea during the day before - the forecast wasn't too bad at 09:00 that morning but by 15:00 it was getting breezy and we decided to fly back to the mainland - by 22:00 it was getting rough. It really did develop very fast

There was a lot of soul searching by Met. One weakness identified was PR. Some senior people interviewd did very badly and made a bad situation worse.
It was decided to create a core group of staff "licenced" to give interviews to media.
A short list was given training and testing by TV professionals, and a very short list were authorised.
I made the cut: "not a natural but will not let the side down. Trustworthy and professional!"
The remit included "expert witness" in court cases.
Not a part of the job spec that I enjoyed.