John Potts

Henry Cooper never lacked courage in the ring; Britain's best-loved boxer fought the best, and never shirked the task.

So it is no surprise that he shows the same courage in doing the unthinkable, saying the unsayable --- actually daring to criticise one of the awards in the New Year's Honours List.

It is not unusual for people to grumble at worthy contenders who are missed out: most of us could draw up a list of people, famous and not-so famous, who should be included.

But openly saying someone should not be rewarded is normally not done.

For one thing, you could be accused of sour grapes.

For another you might be thought to be questioning the judgement of the Queen, if it were not for the fact that she dishes out the honours which the Prime Minister of the day tells her to.

Neither of these inhibitions troubled Henry Cooper when he criticised the award of the MBE to boxer "Prince" Naseem Hamed.

He is just 24, says Cooper, and has not done enough yet for his sport.

Worst of all, his conduct, while brilliant in the ring, is unworthy out of it.

His swaggering arrogance may be part of the boxing scene, but his talk about sending opponents to the graveyard or injuring them so badly that they will never fight again "cross the line of decent behaviour", in Cooper's words.

I think he is right.

Sportsmen today are rewarded financially as never before.

So the nation's honours must be for more than sporting prowess.

Those who receive the ultimate accolade (a knighthood) have all been more than great players - they have been great gentlemen.

In cricket, Don Bradman, Jack Hobbs, Len Hutton and Garfield Sobers performed with grace and dignity on and off the pitch.

The same goes for soccer's Stanley Matthews, Bobby Charlton, Tom Finney and Geoff Hurst.

If "Prince" Naseem wants to receive the same kind of respect he needs to earn it, with less bombastic and offensive behaviour with words.

We owe Henry Cooper a word of thanks for saying so.

As for the rest of the honours list, it will, as ever include some dubious rewards for political and financial favours, along with many people who serve their community in a host of unspectacular ways.

It may be imperfect but it is the best we have.

It will remain so if the Prime Minister and his advisers think more about the example recipients set to the rest of us.

Before leaving the honours list, my thoughts turn to someone who deserves all the accolades that anyone could bestow upon her --- that remarkable veteran actress Thora Hird.

She has made us laugh and cry so many times over the years that we almost take her brilliance for granted.

On Sunday evening we saw her again, along with that fine actor Pete Postlethwaite, in the funny, and yet sad, play Lost For Words, about an old lady full of spirit, who suffers the tragic effects of a succession of strokes.

It could have been morbid, but was, in fact, funny and uplifting.

To show our debt to this much-loved actress could I suggest a new honour, to be awarded very rarely indeed --- National Treasure.

Do as I say, not as I do.

Nobody dished out this instruction with a straighter face than you average Government Minister.

John Prescott tells us to leave our cars and use public transport, yet he uses two gas-guzzling Jaguars.

There was the famous occasion when he boarded a train at Scarborough for the journey home to Hull, but got off at Seamer to continue the trip in his Jag.

Now we read of MPs claiming up to £230 a week (at 50p a mile) in car expenses, when they could use the train instead.

Welsh minister Peter Hain claimed £190 for an average trip to his Welsh constituency when he could have gone by train for £100.

He is not the only one ignoring Mr Prescott's call. Still, for the rest of us it's "Do as I say, not as I do."

05/01/99

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.