re: #148 Semper Gumbi

True that. But I thought that the Queen made offers of Knighthood, not the plebian government?

Not quite.
She has only a few honours in her personal gift - like the Knights of the Garter - the rest are always on the ‘advice’ of the current government.
Thats why we have these juicy scandals, the last one under Tony Blair, called ‘cash for Honours’, where multimillionaires gave cash gifts o the Labour Party and were given a Lordship in return.
Totally illegal, big stink, some were stricken form the list, others took themselves off voluntarily.

The Queen only gets to dub the recipients, or stick the medals on their lapels.