Let's get David a knighthood

[Melaszka]

Apologies if this has been mentioned elsewhere, but I've just discovered there's a petition on the Prime Minister's website to honour David in the next Honours List! I didn't start it, honestly!

It's open to UK citizens and residents only, I'm afraid, but if that's you, the link is here.

http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/sylvian/

Come on, let's all lobby Gordon. You know it makes sense.

[Burnsjed]

You think he would even accept it?

[Melaszka]

You think he would even accept it?

Possibly not, although you never know - far less likely people, who are just as anti-monarchist and anti-materialist as David, have accepted honours in the past (often to please their parents). And I would imagine he's more likely to accept an honour from Brown than Blair.

However, it would at least be nice to give him the platform to refuse it.

I've a sneaking feeling the petition could be rejected, though, on the grounds of inaccuracy - it talks about 40 years' contribution to British music, and, much as I love David, even I don't think he was contributing much to British music when he was 10. Also, what's his citizenship now? I think he's talked of wanting to renounce his American citizenship, but I'm not sure he actually has.

But, yes, you could have a point - I think he'd much rather we lobbied the government on Iraq, world poverty etc, rather than getting him a gong.

[Burnsjed]

Like me, I doubt very much DS is an American citizen, and just a legal alien (don't you just 'love' that term).
Apart from voting, don't see what benefit he would have in being an American citizen anyway.

[godisinthesilences]

funny how he seems to not like much about the usa or the uk.... he seemed to like living in New England here and he also seemed to enjoy living in Minnesota. In fact he said at one point that the years he lived there were some of the happiest of his life.

I think sometimes he needs to loosen up abit ...

[Melaszka]

funny how he seems to not like much about the usa or the uk.... he seemed to like living in New England here and he also seemed to enjoy living in Minnesota. In fact he said at one point that the years he lived there were some of the happiest of his life.

I think sometimes he needs to loosen up abit ...

I know. I was quite shocked by the vehemence of some of the lyrics on SBS and some of the comments he made about the US around the time it came out, because he'd always seemed so uber-positive about it previously, and it seemed like such a dramatic U-turn. I'm not sure how much he was influenced by what was going on in his personal life at the time and by the war in Iraq, or whether that really is how he's felt for some time.

I'm tempted to take it all with a pinch of salt - his comments about the UK over the years have been somewhat contradictory.

Anyway, is anyone else going to sign the petition, or is it me just doing the naff fangirl bit?

[krausy]

My question to this whole idea is.....................why.

[Sylvie]

let's save the man the trouble? I find it hard to believe he wants to be sir david..........and even if he wanted to, what are the chances? ok, I'm not to keen on royalty, living in Sweden.

[Sylvian's Beard]

I think sometimes he needs to loosen up abit ...

Understatement.

[Burnsjed]

I really don't think it is justified either to be honest.
When you look at the music industry currently, it is hard to say when DS has had a major influence, and he is certainly not going to get it through success is he.

[Sylvian's Beard]

Well, i don't know on what ground they give a knighthood but, it shouldn't be on success necessarily.

[Burnsjed]

Well it deffinately helps trust me.
When it comes to entertainment and sports, they are only handing it out for achievements, which are usually measured in success.

[Melaszka]

Eek. Sorry, didn't mean to p*** people off so much when I raised this. I had no idea people would feel so negatively about it.

The "knighthood" bit was a joke - realistically, if they paid any attention to this at all the most he'd be likely to end up with is an OBE.

For the record, I'm anti-monarchist and a bit cynical about the honours system myself - it does seem to be mostly millionaire businessmen and wealthy celebs who get honoured, and I feel they've got their reward already. But I don't see that non-hereditary honours are supporting royalty (they incidentally happen to be given out by the Queen, but they're not decided by her, and they don't give the recipients any power or privileges - to me they're no different from any other prize or award, liek the Mercury or the Oscars) and, while I'd rather honours got given to non-famous people who've done outstanding things for the community than to actors and musicians, if they're going to get given to those in the arts and entertainment industries anyway, I'd rather they got given to serious musicians of integrity than to the Spice Girls or whoever.

I just think David (and the rest of Japan) have been more influential than they normally get credit for and deserve more public recognition, which is why I signed the petition when I stumbled upon it. I know David doesn't particularly seem to want public recognition, but he could always turn it down.

[Sylvian's Beard]

There is a petition to make Kate Bush a 'dame', and I think ends in two days.

[Burnsjed]

That has more credence to it though then Sylvian's.
She was the first British female artist to have a No1 hit (both single and album I think) from her own material, and was the top female talent for at least a decade.