Chivalry is not Dead Down Under!

The Commonwealth of Australia is restoring knighthoods. I knew I could count on Tony Abbot!


Here are the details:  http://www.itsanhonour.gov.au/

It only changes the domestic honours, I hold out hope for a revival of the imperial honours as well.


To quote said fact sheet:

Reinstatement of Knights and Dames in the Order of Australia

When will the first appointments be made (and of whom)?

·         Governors-General become a Knight or Dame of the Order of Australia by virtue of their appointment as Governor-General. 

·         This means that, from 25 March 2014, Ms Bryce is Her Excellency the Honourable Dame Quentin Bryce AD CVO. From 28 March 2014, on retirement from the office of Governor-General, she will be styled the Honourable Dame Quentin Bryce AD CVO.

·         From 28 March 2014, on his swearing in as Governor-General, General Cosgrove becomes a Knight of the Order of Australia. He will be styled His Excellency General the Honourable Sir Peter Cosgrove AK MC (Retd).

How will people be nominated for appointment as Knights and Dames?

·         Recommendations for other awards in the Order are made by the Council for the Order of Australia to the Governor-General. However, for Knights and Dames the Prime Minister will make recommendations for appointments to Her Majesty The Queen for approval.

How many appointments will be made?

·         There will be a maximum of 4 appointments a year, excluding honorary appointments of non-Australian citizens.

Will people previously appointed as Companions in the Order (AC) have the opportunity to convert their title to Knight/Dame?

·         No. The titles of Knight and Dame are a level above Companion (AC) of the Order of Australia. The Order now consists of 5 levels:

AK/AD – Knight/Dame of the Order of Australia

AC – Companion of the Order of Australia

AO – Officer of the Order of Australia

AM – Member of the Order of Australia

OAM – Medal of the Order of Australia

Where does Knight/Dame in the Order of Australia come in the order of precedence?

·         Knight/Dame in the Order of Australia (AK/AD) is already included in the Order of Wearing Australian Honours and Awards.

·         Australia’s highest gallantry and bravery awards, the Victoria Cross for Australia (VC) and the Cross of Valour (CV), are the only Australian awards that take precedence over Knights and Dames in the Order of Australia.

·         Some honours that can be awarded to Australians by Her Majesty The Queen in Her personal gift also take precedence: Knight/Lady of the Garter (KG/LG), Knight/Lady of the Thistle (KT/LT) and Order of Merit (OM).

·         Some imperial awards no longer available to Australians are also listed higher than AK/AD: George Cross (GC) and Knight/Dame Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath (GCB).

What do you call the spouse of a Knight/Dame?

·         The general protocol is that the wife of a Knight is known as ‘Lady’ followed by the knight’s surname. There may be variations in particular circumstances. The husband of a Dame does not derive any style or title from his wife.

Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet

March 2014

Revival of Canadian Military Tradition

A little old but still I think fairly interesting: The Canadian Army is reviving various traditions including the Pips and Crown which are integral to our military heritage and our strengthening the British Connection. Stephen Leacock would be so pleased!

 It seems that there is a possibility of doing so for the Royal Canadian Air Force as well...
According to Peter MacKay: "We're looking at a number of ways in which we can continue to restore historic symbols, ranks, insignia that respect the history of the Canadian Forces," he said. "So specific to the Air Force ranks, we'll look at it. this is consistent in keeping with what was stripped away and taken from the Canadian Forces in 1968 by a previous government".
Link


For Guards Regiments they are even using the Order of the Garter insignia!
http://www.ducimus.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/New-Army-Insignia-1.pdf

Crisis in the Crimea

First I shall apologize to my non-existent followers for the long hiatus. I quite simply lost a few things and could not figure out how to log back in. From now on you may expect intermittent posting.


In regards to the recent issues in the Crimean peninsula I must say it has turned out far better than I expected, I was honestly anticipating more in the way of out and out war by this point.

Canada's Prime Minister Harper continues to loudly bang the drums  but considering the severe defence cuts he has presided over to a military which was never particularly well funded in the first place I don't think we can take him very seriously at all. That is the problem, Canadians love to pontificate but are unwilling to actually invest the money to ensure they have a serious military capability. Soft power shall always need hard power to back it up. I really do think Harper is just trying to appeal to the Ukrainian vote in the Prairies he is responsible for ensuring Canada does not have the capability to truly be an influence anyway.

Things essentially went the way I had anticipated them although I am a little surprised that the Russians chose to annex the Crimean Peninsula outright, I was somewhat anticipating the establishment of a nominally sovereign state, as the Turks and Armenians have done, or for that matter as the Russians have supported in Abkhazia and South Ossetia, but instead they have chosen to incorporate it all directly into the Russian Federation. I think we should remember that Putin is not some evil genius, he is really just reacting and attempting to salvage what he can of the Ukraine's attempt to pull out of Russia's sphere of influence.