My readers are all great admirers of Alliance Party Leader, David Ford. Will he be awarded a peerage …presumably “for services to the DUP and Sinn Féin” before standing down from the Assembly?

A peerage would be richly deserved. Ford is a man who seems to believe…like so many of his Party colleagues…that he is morally superior to the likes of me….so it would be fitting if his social superiority is recognised with a peerage.

We are lucky in Norn Iron. There are so many suitable candidates for recognition of their value to Society and yet not all can be honoured.

How is it possible to judge and prioritise the claims of Stephen Nolan, Quintin Oliver, Anna Lo, Patrick Corrigan, Robin Wilson, Felicity Huston, William Cawley,Fr Tim Bartlett, Dawn Purves, Paul Clark, Ian Parsley, Paula Bradshaw, Nuala McKeever, Dan Gordon and Jake O’Kane?…some but not all of the contributors to “The View”….to name just a few.

This is what makes the build-up to the New Years Honours so exciting.