A lot of Olympic medal winners have been given honours in the New Year honours list. Which is probably as it should be. But I can’t help but think that a knighthood for Chris Hoy is a touch excessive – in my opinion, a CBE would have been more correct, with a knighthood following after his retirement.

If “normal” people – aka you and I – were to get an honour, we need to spend virtually our entire lives either working on the front line of public services or dedicated to charity work. But sportsmen, TV personalities, politicians, and civil servants seem to get them just for doing what they are paid [rather well] for for a few years.

I think that fewer honours should be given to people for short-term achievements and more for long-term activities; beyond a few M/O/CBEs should be given to people who are still doing that job, unless they have spent decades doing it, like Bruce Forsyth who has yet to receive the knighthood he deserves.