#Disability History Disability Studies Social History UK BROADCAST disabled people

[bluewatsons]

Liesbet Van Zoonen, From identity to identification: fixating the fragmented self, 34 Med Cult & Soc 44 (2013)

Cultural and social theories of identity have in common that they assume both individual and collective identities to be multiple rather than single, to be dynamic rather than static, and to be volatile rather than consistent. In addition, they propose that identity is something that we do, rather than something that we are. Most research in this area has been informed by these axioms, and as a result we know quite a bit about how different groups and individuals, in varying contexts, use different cultural means to perform their identities, both for themselves and for others. Recent innovations in these theories, particularly those coming from queer studies and addressing the notion of intersectionality, have further intensified the understanding of identity as a relatively flexible outcome of specific social and cultural acts. All of this work has been articulated with a wider acknowledgement of ‘diversity’ as a desirable goal for social and cultural policy, not only to improve the quality of public services like education, broadcasting or health care, but also as a necessary element of commercial innovation and organisational value.

While most identity theories have acknowledged the structural and discursive constraints that enclose diversity, there has been less attention for recent forces that actively work against multiplicity and towards the fixation of single identities. The current volume is meant to bring these forces out in the open, and make them part of our theories and research about identity.i I will first present three widely different examples to clarify tendencies towards such univocality. Then I will show how these cases are part of a new ‘field’ of identity management, which is usually understood as emerging from post 9/11 challenges, and from the growing economic weight of online transactions. However, identity management as it is currently evolving, guided, in first instance, by clear state and corporate interests, also needs to be seen as inevitably producing cultural tensions and conflicts around identity.

Three examples

In 1993 The New Yorker published a cartoon by Peter Steiner showing two friendly dogs in front of a computer, with the one saying to the other: ‘On the internet nobody knows you are a dog’. The cartoon captured the then current hopes about the internet as a space where the confines of individual and social identities could be left behind, and where new and creative modes of anonymous interaction would transgress off-line gender, ethnic and other divisions between people. Such sentiment was also expressed by serious academics, like Sherry Turkle of the MIT. Her book Life on the Screen (1995) offered an in-depth analysis of how (then still textual) online experiences enabled people to experiment and play with identities, and helped them ‘to develop models of psychological well-being that are in a meaningful sense postmodern: they admit multiplicity and flexibility’ (p.263). Nowadays, however, the anonymity of the internet and the construction of online personas that do not reflect offline identities have been reconstructed as ‘risk factors’ of internet use (cf. Van Zoonen, 2011). Governments, schools, parents and other concerned parties now standardly warn against online imposters, bullying and identity theft, and social network sites like Facebook or Google+ have policies requiring users to register with their real names and data, and prevent them from having more than one account. A version of The New Yorker cartoon that covers the 2013 situation, could still have the same caption, but would likely show more dangerous, even deadly dogs, evoking the meaning of ‘dog’ as the bad guy.

It is not only in the context of internet use that once celebrated discourses of multiplicity have been annihilated by constructions of duplicity. In the post 9/11 mindset that pervades Europe and the United States , the multiple identities of migrants, and of Muslims in particular have been reconstructed as possibly suspect. In the US this has taken the form of a revival of American patriotism, in Europe it has expressed itself in the proclamation of the death of multiculturalism. Governments across Europe are now exerting considerable pressure on their old and new citizens to identify more clearly with their ‘own’ nation’s history and values. The French, for instance, launched a controversial national debate in 2009 asking ‘what does it mean to be French’ resulting often in discussions about the possible ‘Frenchness’ of Muslims, and in proposals to fly the flag in French schools and to stage official rituals for the acknowledgement of French citizens. An Italian parliamentary committee proposed in early 2012 to make the national anthem compulsory in primary schools, therewith upsetting both the separatist North- and South Italians and the German- speaking inhabitants of Trentino. The previous Dutch government has proposed legislation that enforces singular Dutch citizenship: migrants to the Netherlands will no longer be allowed to keep the passport of their country of origin, Dutch expats requesting foreign citizenship will lose their Dutch passport.

Another example, this one of a more ‘popular’ (as in ‘by the people’) desire to fixate identities, can be found in the many genres of reality television. Audience research about the ‘mother’ of all reality TV, Big Brother, has shown that a key appeal of the program was to discuss whether candidates were ‘themselves’ or ‘fake’. In addition, BB-candidates across the globe would talk among each other about how they felt they could or could not ‘be themselves’ in the house (cf. Van Zoonen and Aslama, 2006), therewith assuming the existence of one real self that is rather than a constructed multiple self that does, as identity theory would say. The notion of such a real self that needs to be found and shown, is exaggerated, paradoxically, in make-over reality programs. In these programs, participants and their hosts invariably engage in conversations about doing the make-over for oneself and not for others, or as Heyes (2007: 21) says about the standard narrative in cosmetic surgery reality: ‘An authentic personality of great moral beauty must be brought out of the body that fails adequately to reflect it. Thus, in this context, cosmetic surgery is less about becoming beautiful, and more about becoming oneself’ (italics added-LvZ). The appearance of ‘authenticity’ as a key asset and value in contemporary western societies has been noted in other fields as well, for instance in tourism, commerce, politics and celebrity culture. A critical perspective on authenticity will include that it is an ascribed rather than an innate or essential quality. Authenticity is in the eye of the beholder and as the discussions among reality TV audiences testify, it is part of a negotiation and not an easily and objectively observable ‘fact’. The more important point in this context, however, is that the importance of the concept of authenticity points to a wider popular desire to identify ‘real selves’ that are true, single and consistent (see also Dubrofsky, 2007).

Univocality and control

The three examples show how commercial, governmental and cultural forces actively work against multiple and performative experiences and practices of identity. The current requirements for passport pictures may be seen as the metonymical expression of such forces. The normal everyday expressive face, with its smiles, nods, and tilts, with its glasses, colouring and covering has to be brought back to its bare features: no smiles, mouth closed, head uncovered, eyes visible, head not tilted, shoulders straight. These are all presented primarily as technical requirements to enable the officers of border control and - more importantly - facial recognition software to authenticate the person carrying the passport. Yet, the implicit cultural message of such stripped faces is unmistakable: there is one true original self that can be recognized and objectively authenticated.

Most other forms of ‘identity management’, the en vogue term for a diversity of mechanisms to authenticate individuals in specific contexts, demonstrate a similar tendency towards single and stable identities. Magnet and Rodgers (2011), for instance, have shown how the full body scans used for border and other forms of security screening are rather insensitive to bodies not conforming to standard abilities, sizes and gender. Such technologies actively construct disabled, oversized or transgender bodies as deviant and suspect. In practical terms this leads to these individuals being selected more often for further screening, in cultural terms it implies a return to a discourse of normalized dichotomous identities, female or male, able or disabled and nothing in between. To paraphrase Magnet and Rodgers (2012: 111), full body scans mercilessly turn bodies inside out in a search to discover ‘the truth’ of an individual identity. Further evidence of how identity management technologies tend to undermine the gains of understanding identities as multiple, comes from other forms of authentication. A recent documentary series by UK Channel Four, about technological advances in the House of the Future, shows how the father in the family has difficulty using the computer-controlled thumb-print door entry system, because his thumb is worn by decades of manual labour. More generally, academic research has shown that the fingerprint recognition does not perform equally for, for instance rural and urban populations (Puri et al., 2010). Likewise, various research in the US has shown how the particular state requirements of voter-ID laws negatively affect the turnout of African-Americans and other minorities (Sobel and Smith, 2009).

Many of these issues have been heavily debated within a civil liberties and privacy framework, with George Orwell’s 1984 and Bentham’s Panopticon as the regularly evoked popular and metaphoric short cuts to the risks and problems of identity management. In these discussions, the classic concern is with governments violating their citizens’ privacy and human rights, through surveillance , registration or data base linking. However, as Lyon (2007) has covered extensively, the everyday life worlds of, among others, work, consumption, leisure and health are also pervaded by surveillance technologies and the infringement of privacy. As a result, the civil liberties agenda has expanded to these sectors but also to the increasing relations between these spheres of surveillance and the threats of ‘federated identity management’, i.e. the interlinkage of databases and authentication procedures across and within domains. Google’s recent change in privacy policy is a case in point: under the new regime Google says it will collect information from all its services (a.o. Gmail, YouTube, Google+) into a single account profile, in order ‘to provide better services to all of our users – from figuring out basic stuff like which language you speak, to more complex things like which ads you’ll find most useful or the people who matter most to you online’. Among the many people and groups raising privacy concerns, were – paradoxically – some 40 US state Attorneys General, representatives of a government that itself is regularly accused of breaching privacy and civil liberties.

Social sorting and consumption

Yet, while privacy and civil liberties issues dominate these controversies, there are authors who claim that such discourse offers a limited understanding of the risks of identity management. Lyon (2007: 115), for instance, argues that ‘the kinds of issues that are raised by urban data profiling, CRM [customer relationship management – LvZ] and security operations go far beyond the narrow confines of ‘privacy’ and ‘data protection’.’ He analyses in detail how various technologies and processes of identity management place people in social categories that are decisive for their everyday choices and opportunities: self-evident is the categorization of certain young men as likely offenders, but customer profiling may lead to price and perk advantages and disadvantages for specific customers, geographical profiling is of direct relevance to the maintenance or abolition of local stores and services, and health screening unevenly affects access to health services . Lyon concludes, therefore, that social sorting is as big a risk of identity management as the breach of privacy and the erosion of civil liberties is. It is in this context, in particular, that identity management also undermines the understanding of identity as multiple, not only because it puts people in certain fixed categories, but also because, of necessity, it needs to identify people as belonging either in one, or in the other category, but definitely not in more than one. It is telling that Google under its new privacy regime not only requests the usage of real names for registration but also allows itself to ‘replace past names associated with your Google Account so that you are represented consistently across all our services’.ii

The Google case is only the most brutal expression of a wider movement towards customer experience marketing (CEM). In a converged online/offline commercial environment such a process entails the ability to engage with a customer across a plethora of channels and ‘touch points’, and thus requires a continuous tracking of a uniquely defined consuming entity. If successful, this does deliver all kinds of consumer pleasures: Amazon is usually mentioned as the company that has indeed managed to offer its customers an enhanced positive experience because of its continuous registration of personal data and preferences.

On the other hand, there are many examples of the rapidly increasing cross-channel advertising going wrong. Avid Facebook users are continuously baffled by the bespoke advertising showing up in the sponsored frame of their profile page, leading mostly to one of two reactions: ‘how do they know I like this’ versus ‘why do they think I like this’? Both, however, cause consumer irritation and – predictably – Facebook users themselves have developed apps to remove such ads. Regardless of the success or failure of CEM procedures, and regardless of the fact that they become ever more detailed and reflective of our personal buying histories and preferences, as customers we are put into the all pervasive, but univocal identity of ‘consumer’. Our multiplicity is recognized only as far as we have bought products or services expressing it.

Counterforces

The field of identity management then, as it is currently emerging, is pervaded by structural tendencies towards control and single identities. However, as a ‘field’ in the sense that Bourdieu developed, as a set of social positions and actors sharing specific actions and activities, tensions and contradictions are inherent and inevitable. Bourdieu’s field theory connects, in that sense, to Giddens’ proposition about a ‘dialectic of control’, whereby all rules and regulations produce their own opposition. Control and univocality as dominant features of identity management thus will construct their own political and cultural resistance, as was already clear in the anti-ad Facebook apps mentioned above. Privacy and civil liberties activists have successfully built a political agenda and achieved considerable success, for instance, with the abolition of a UK identity card scheme and the rejection of a Dutch national electronic patient data, but also with mobilizing a support base that makes them a respected stakeholder for national and pan-national governmental consultations.

Such activism against the control dimension of identity management also has cultural counterparts. Urban surveillance systems across the world, for instance, have witnessed artists performing in front of their CCTV cameras, and facial recognition systems have been countered with makeup and hairstyles that prevent facial detection. The award winning design project CV Dazzle, in particular, was set up out of concern about surveillance and privacy, and a desire ‘to show how we could adapt to occularcentric, surveillance-societies without retreating into anonymity, and, in doing so, celebrate style and augment privacy.iii

There has been much less visible discussion of and opposition to the single identity that is assumed in most current technologies and practices of identity management. This may be because univocality is considered less of a problem in a cultural climate that prioritizes ‘authenticity’ and is obsessed with being oneself, which – indeed – assumes one instead of multiple selves. Apart from the cosmetic surgery make-over television programs mentioned earlier, there are many other popular trends that further suggest a hegemony of a single identity. The search for the inner self , for instance, has created an industry of spirituality that produces a wide variety of commodities and services to help this still growing group of seekers. Political, social and corporate elites are nowadays judged as much on their authenticity as on their competence: ‘authentic leadership’ is the latest buzzword in a host of management manuals, in which it is proclaimed that ‘knowing your authentic self’ is a prerequisite to good leadership. Parenting guides are full of good advice to parents to ‘be true to themselves’, but also to allow their children to be themselves. In the (popular) arts and culture domains, ‘authenticity’ is a key concept to mark artists that have remained ‘true to themselves’ or ‘sincere’ as opposed to those who have sold out to commercial interests and have become dupes of the culture industry. In his diverse writings about authenticity, the Italian philosopher Ferrara (1998) has analysed extensively how contemporary obsessions with authenticity are a response to the postmodern fragmentation of identities. While he suggests that philosophically it is entirely possible to articulate authenticity with fluid and multiple identities, he also acknowledges that the more popular deployment of the concept presupposes an essentialist understanding of the self as unified and stable.

In such a cultural climate, it may be unlikely that there will be strong forces opposing the construction of a single identity that is typical for the emerging technologies and practices of identity management. Yet, as Lyon (2007: 177) argues, ‘when there is pressure towards finding single unique identifiers (...), the existence of multiple identities (...) is a constant challenge to the would-be hegemonic system’. Indeed, there are some occurrences of such opposition, most notably the successful mobilization of support for a change in the Australian passport. Since 2011 Australian citizens can chose male, female or X as their gender on their passport ,with X the option for intersex people, and allowing transgender people to identify as male or female. The changes came about as a result of pressure from an Australian group advocating gender and human rights, claiming that the dichotomous male/female registration discriminates against transgender and intersex people.iv While the acknowledgement by the Australian government of a third sex seems a relatively straightforward change of policy, on a cultural level it also fundamentally undermines dichotomous gender discourse and works, therewith, in close alliance with the project of feminists and other progressive forces to undermine stable notions of gender and other essentialist categories (notwithstanding the inevitable follow-up question of why having to register gender on a passport at all).

The Australian case shows that - like privacy -, univocality needs to be recognized and constructed as a risk in current regimes of identity management, in order to develop more desirable alternatives. Such a recognition forms the main legitimation for the particular angle of this special issue of Media, Culture and Society. The articles invited all critically address the tendency towards univocality in different systems and contexts of identity management. Aaron Martin and Edgar Whitley deconstruct the popular belief that biometric technologies enable the unique identification and authentication of individuals. Miriam Lips looks at current e-government policies fixate identities in ways that are contradictory to traditional notions of citizenship. Moving the discussion to the body as a location of identity and identity management, both Shoshana Magnet and Katina Michael and MG Michael explore whether and how medical technologies function as quartermasters, as it were, for future rigid developments in identity management.

With this collection of articles we feel we have contributed to constructing the single identity assumed in identity management as a social and cultural problem that needs to be solved. A further necessary step would be to search and select cases in which the multiplicity of identity is not only allowed at a discursive level, but also flexibly managed through technological institutional practices. The new Australian passport is one rare example thereof, and a further identification of other such ‘good practices’ would certainly help to break up the automatic univocality in current identity management. At present, the most likely sector where proposals and prototypes of such good practice will be found, is in the triangle of Technology, Entertainment and Design. The similarly called TED global network and the European PICNIC platform both offer talks, conferences, events and performances about innovations that are typified by user-centeredness, collaboration and openness. In fact, both bring together a wider movement of creative experimentation in which identity management issues also occur. At the PICNIC 2011 festival, for instance, UK hacktivist and artist Heath Bunting presented his ‘identity bureau’ in which he develops procedures for people to construct a new legal identity based on legal documents, that can be passed on to someone else after it is no longer of use.v To illustrate with a not so arbitrary example: an academic commuting from Amsterdam to Loughborough to teach and do research would not have to go through the almost insurmountable hassle of acquiring a national insurance number, tax code, health care, pension rights and a bank account for non-residents, but could simply buy the identity that allows for all of that off the shelf of an identity bureau. Needless to say that Buntings ‘expert system for identity mutation’vi could make him the object of UK and US governmental scrutiny because of the potential criminal and terrorist abuse they envision if Bunting’s multiple identities would catch on. Such a security reflex, while understandable, prevents a more extensive exploration of safe and trustworthy multiple identity management systems that would satisfy the practical quandaries of some people’s everyday lives, but – more importantly – acknowledge the cultural diversity and multiplicity that typify us.

References

Ferrara A. (1998) Reflective authenticity: rethinking the project of modernity. London: Routledge.

Heyes CJ (2007) Cosmetic Surgery And The Televisual Makeover. Feminist Media Studies, 7(1): 17-31.

Lyon D (2007) Surveillance studies: an overview. Cambridge: Polity Press.

Magnet S and Rodgers T (2012) Stripping for the State. Whole body imaging technologies and the surveillance of othered bodies. Feminist Media Studies, 12(1): 101-118.

Puri C, Narang K, Tiwari, A, Vatsa, M and Singh, R (2010) On Analysis of Rural and Urban Indian Fingerprint Images. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, 6005: 55-61.

Dubrofsky RE (2007) 'Therapeutics of the Self’: Surveillance in the Service of the Therapeutic. Television and New Media, 8(4): 263-284.

Sobel R and Smith J (2009). Voter-ID Laws Discourage Participation, Particularly among Minorities, and Trigger a Constitutional Remedy in Lost Representation. PS: Political Science & Politics, 42(1): 107-110.

Turkle S (1995). Life on the screen. Identity in the age of the internet. New York: Simon and Schuster.

Van Zoonen L (2011) The rise and fall of online feminism. In: Christensen M, Jansson A, and Christensen C (eds) Online territories: Globilization, Mediated Practice and Social Space. Peter Lang Publishers, 132-147.

Van Zoonen L and Aslama, M (2006). Understanding Big Brother: an analysis of current research. Javnost/The Public, 13(2): 85-96.

Footnotes

i This introducing article is part of a EPSRC ‘large’ grant on Identity Management, led by the author: IMPRINTS, EP/J005037/1.

ii http://www.google.com/policies/privacy/, Last accessed March 15, 2012

iii http://www.core77.com/blog/core77_design_awards/core77_design_award_2011_cv_dazzle_student_winner_for_speculative_objectsconcepts_20115.asp, last accessed August 28, 2012.

iv https://www.passports.gov.au/web/sexgenderapplicants.aspx

v http://www.picnicnetwork.org/heath-bunting-1, last accessed March 14, 2012.

vi http://irational.org/cgi-bin/cv2/temp.pl, last accessed March 16, 2012.

[livinglikebritishroyalty]

𝒫𝓇𝒾𝓃𝒸𝑒 𝐸𝒹𝓌𝒶𝓇𝒹

♕ 𝐹𝓊𝓁𝓁 𝒩𝒶𝓂𝑒: Edward George Nicholas Paul Patrick

♕ 𝐹𝓊𝓁𝓁 𝒯𝒾𝓉𝓁𝑒: His Royal Highness Prince Edward The Duke of Kent

♕ 𝐵𝓸𝓇𝓃: Wednesday, October 9th, 1935 at No. 3 Belgrave Square in London, England

♕ 𝒫𝒶𝓇𝑒𝓃𝓉𝓈: His Royal Highness Prince George The Duke of Kent (Father) & Her Royal Highness Princess Marina Duchess of Kent (Mother)

♕ 𝒮𝒾𝒷𝓁𝒾𝓃𝑔𝓈: Her Royal Highness Princess Alexandra The Honourable Lady Ogilvy (Sister) & His Royal Highness Prince Michael of Kent (Brother)

♕ 𝒮𝓅𝓸𝓊𝓈𝑒: Her Royal Highness Katherine The Duchess of Kent (M. 1961)

♕ 𝒞𝒽𝒾𝓁𝒹𝓇𝑒𝓃: George Windsor Earl of St Andrews (Son), Lady Helen Taylor (Daughter), Lord Nicholas Windsor (Son), & Lord Patrick Windsor (Son: Stillborn on Wednesday, October 5th, 1977)

♕ 𝐸𝒹𝓊𝒸𝒶𝓉𝒾𝓸𝓃: Ludgrove (In Berkshire, England), Eton College (In Berkshire, England), Institut Le Rosey (In Rolle, Switzerland), The Royal Military Academy Sandhurst (In Berkshire, England)

♕ 𝐼𝓃𝓉𝑒𝓇𝑒𝓈𝓉𝓈 𝒶𝓃𝒹 𝒲𝓸𝓇𝓀: Interests: Armed Forces (Air Force, Allied Code-Breaking, Arms, Armour, Army, Artillery, Aviation, Blues and Royals, Children of Deployed Parents, Defense Studies, Fallen Soldiers, Lifeboat Services, Life Guards, Navigators, Navy, Pilots, Retired Service People, Security Studies, World War 1 & 2), Business (Business Leaders, Community Leaders, Investments, & Trade), Education (Electronics, Engineering, Chemistry, Global Aerospace, Heritage of Counties, Informational Technology, Science, & Vocational Training), Health (Apothecaries, Burn Treatment, Chest Illness, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, Dentists, Doctors, Environmental Medicine, Heart Illness, Hospitals, Leukemia, Myalgic Encephalopathy, Occupational Medicine, Pharmacists, Plastic Surgery Treatment, Post Viral Fatigue Syndrome, Strokes, Surgical Research, & Veterinarians), Other (Agriculture, Conservation, Geography, & Railways/Trains), People (Boy Scouts, Civil Servants, Freemasons, Joint Cultures, Motor Safety, Polish People, Social Clubs, The Disabled, & Young People), Sports (Alpine Ski Racing, Bobsled, Cricket, Croquet, Falconry, Fishing, Golf, Hunting, Lawn Tennis, Race Car Driving, & Skiing), & The Arts (Art History, Broadcasters, Cloth-making, Dance, Journalism, Literature, Music, Opera Music, Photography, & Writers). Work: Associate Member of The International Lawn Tennis Club of Great Britain, Chancellor of The University of Surrey, Fellow of The Royal Society, Founding Member of The International Baccalaureate School, Freeman of The City of London, Freeman/Liveryman of The Honourable Company of Air Pilots, Freeman/Liveryman of The Worshipful Company of Mercers, Gold Card Life Member of The The Children’s Charity Variety, Grand Master of The Most Distinguished Order of St. Michael and St. George, Grand Master of The United Grand Lodge of England, Grand President of The Masonic Charitable Foundation, Honorary Chair of Gilwell Fellows, Honorary Doctor of Law of The University of Leeds, Honorary Doctor of Philosophy of London Metropolitan University, Honorary Fellow of The Charted Management Institute, Honorary Fellow of The Institution of Engineering and Technology, Honorary Fellow of The The Institution of Mechanical Engineers, Honorary Fellow of The Royal Aeronautical Society, Honorary Fellow of The Royal College of Surgeons of England, Honorary Fellow of The Royal Society of Literature of the United Kingdom, Honorary Fellow of The Royal Society of Medicine, Honorary Freeman of The Worshipful Society of Apothecaries of London, Honorary Life Member of The Band of Brothers, Honorary Liveryman of The Worshipful Company of Clothworkers, Honorary Liveryman/Assistant Emeritus of The Worshipful Company of Engineers, Honorary Member of Cambridge University’s Scientific Society, Honorary Member of The Guild of Motoring Writers Limited, Honorary Member of The Household Division Yacht Club, Honorary Member of The Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St. Andrews, Honorary Member of The Royal Automobile Club, Honorary Member of The Royal Photographic Society, Honorary Member of The Work Foundation, Honorary Membership of The Old Wellingtonian Lodge, Honorary Preses of The Royal Caledonian Hunt, Honorary President of The Airlander Club, Honorary President of The Royal Geographical Society, Honorary President of The Royal United Services Institute International, High Steward of The Borough Council of King’s Lynn and West Norfolk, Joint Associate Member of The Lawn Tennis Association, Joint Patron of The Anglo-Jordanian Society, Liveryman of The Worshipful Company of Salters, Master of The Lodge of Antiquity, Member of The Blue Seal Club, Member of The Countryside Alliance, Member of The Honourable Artillery Company, Member of The Mountbatten Medal Advisory Panel, Patron of Bal Polski, Patron of Bloodwise, Patron of Boundless by CSMA, Patron of Buck’s Club, Patron of The Canterbury Cathedral Trust, Patron of The Catalogue Raisonne of Works by Philip de Laszlo M.V.O. P.R.B.A. 1969-1937, Patron of Combined Cavalry Old Comrades, Patron of Endeavor National Youth Organization, Patron of Everyone Can!, Patron of St. Mungo’s, Patron of The Army Winter Sports Association, Patron of The Bartok Festival, Patron of The Bletchley Park Trust, Patron of The British Computer Society, Patron of The Charles Douglas-Home Memorial Trust, Patron of The Devonshire and Dorset Regimental Association, Patron of The Edge Foundation, Patron of The Freemasons’ Fund for Surgical Research, Patron of The Gallantry Medallists’ League, Patron of The Hanover Band, Patron of The Institute of Advanced Motorists, Patron of The Institute of Export, Patron of The Institute of Occupational and Environmental Medicine at Birmingham University, Patron of International Musicians Seminar Prussia Cove, Patron of The Kandahar Ski Club, Patron of The Keighley & Worth Valley Railway Preservation Society, Patron of The Kent County Agricultural Society, Patron of The Kent County Cricket Club, Patron of The Lifeboat Fund, Patron of The London Philharmonic Orchestra, Patron of The Myalgic Encephalomyelitis Association, Patron of The National Army Museum, Patron of The Newbury Spring Festival, Patron of Opera North, Patron of The P.G. Wodehouse Society, Patron of The Polish Hearth Club (Ognisko Polskie), Patron of The Restore Burns and Wounds Research, Patron of The Royal Air Force Charitable Trust, Patron of The Royal Armored Corps War Memorial Benevolent Fund, Patron of The Royal Institution of Australia, Patron of The Royal West Norfolk Golf Club, Patron of The Scots Guard Association, Patron of The Ski Club of Great Britain, Patron of The Society for Army Historical Research, Patron of The Staff College Club, Patron of The Supreme Council 33°, Patron of The Tank Museum, Patron of The Tree Council, Patron of Trinity College London, Patron of The Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance, Patron of The UK Friends of the Felix-Mendelssohn-Bartholdy-Stiftung Foundation, Patron of The University of Surrey’s Postgraduate Medical School, Patron of The Watlington Hospital Charitable Trust, Patron of The Wimbledon Lawn Tennis Museum, Patron of Wigmore Hall, President In Chief of The British Racing Drivers’ Club, President of The All England Lawn Tennis & Croquet Club, President of The Anmer Club, President of The Army and Navy Club, President of The Association of Men of Kent and Kentish Men, President of The Cavalry and Guards Club, President of The Chest/Heart/Stroke Medical Research Funds of Scotland, President of The Commonwealth War Graves Commission, President of The Duke of York’s Royal Military School, President of The Engineering Council, President of The Football Association, President of The Henley Society, President of The King Edward’s VII’s Hospital (Sister Agnes), President of The King’s Lynn Festival Limited, President of The Noel Coward Society, President of The Royal Air Force Benevolent Fund, President of The Royal Armories Development Trust, President of The Royal Choral Society, President of The Royal Institution of Great Britain, President of The Royal Nation Lifeboat Institution (RNLI), President of The Royal United Services Institute for Defense and Security Studies, President of The Scout Association, President of The Stroke Association, President of The Board of Trustees of The Imperial War Museum, President of The UK Trustees of The His Royal Highness The Duke of Edinburgh’s Commonwealth Study Conference Leaders, President of Wellington College, Royal Bencher of The Honourable Society of Lincoln’s Inn, Royal Fellow of The Royal Academy of Engineering, Royal Member of The Royal Society Club, Royal Patron of The Admiral Ramsay Museum, Royal Patron of The American Air Museum in Britain, Royal Patron of The British-German Association, Royal Patron of The Dresden Trust, Royal Patron of The Honourable Society of Lincoln’s Inn, Royal Patron of The Last Night of the Proms in Crakow, Special Representative (Formerly a Vice-Chairman) for The United Kingdom’s International Trade & Investment, Vice-Chairman of The British Overseas Trade Board, Visitor of Cranfield University, & Visitor of The Centenary World Scout Jamboree.

[itsnelkabelka]

Press release: The New Year's Honours list 2018

The list covers every nation in the UK. In Kirkwall, Orkney, Margaret Jamieson receives a BEM (British Empire Medal) for her support of local community projects through the Blue Door charity shop. In Falmouth, Cornwall, Geoffrey Evans receives an MBE for his wide-ranging contribution to the community, including over 40 years’ service as a local councillor.

The list includes people who have given their lifetimes to supporting others. Among a wealth of people who have given sustained service to others, two recipients stand out for the length of their contribution. Both are 101 years old: Lt Col. Mordaunt Cohen receives an MBE for his services to Second World War education and Helena Jones receives a BEM for her services to young people and the community in Brecon, Powys. At 18 years old, Lucia Mee is the youngest person on the list. She receives a BEM for services to promoting public awareness about organ donation.

Awards include a knighthood for author Michael Morpurgo, a damehood for businesswoman Vivian Hunt, a knighthood for musician Richard Starkey aka Ringo Starr, a knighthood for singer-songwriter Barry Gibb, a damehood for dancer Darcey Bussell, a damehood for Cathy Warwick, outgoing Chief Executive of the Royal College of Midwives, a damehood for microscopist Professor Pratibha Gai, a damehood for theatre producer Rosemary Squire, a CMG for former astronaut Helen Sharman, a CBE for author Jilly Cooper, a CBE for Head of Women’s Cricket Clare Connor, a CBE for DeepMind founder Demis Hassabis, a CBE for actor Hugh Laurie, a CBE for ex-British Vogue editor Alexandra Shulman, an OBE for PR consultant Lynne Franks, an OBE for England’s Women’s Cricket Team captain Heather Knight, an MBE for hip hop artist Richard Cowie aka Wiley, and an MBE for Paralympian athlete Stefanie Reid.

Following the centenary year of the Order of the British Empire and the Order of the Companions of Honour, this honours list continues to demonstrate the breadth of service given by people from all backgrounds and ethnicities.

In total 1,123 people have received an award:

981 candidates have been selected at BEM, MBE and OBE level: 318 at BEM, 452 at MBE and 211 at OBE

70% of the recipients are people who have undertaken outstanding work in their communities either in a voluntary or paid capacity

551 women are recognised in the List, representing 49% of the total

9.2% of the successful candidates come from a BAME background

5% of the successful candidates consider themselves to have a disability (under the Equality Act 2010)

The centenary year of the Order of the Companions of Honour

2017 has marked the centenary of the Order of the Companion of Honour (CH). Following nine appointments in the Birthday Honours List 2017, the independent committees have now recommended author and historian Lady Antonia Fraser and broadcaster Melvyn, Lord Bragg of Wigton to join the Order. Together with historian and Warder of St. Antony’s College Oxford, Margaret Mcmillan, who is recognised with a CH on the Diplomatic Service and Overseas List, the Order now has its full 65 members for the first time since its institution in 1917.

Women

At the highest levels (CBE and above), awards include a damehood for Rosemary Squire, co-founder of the Ambassador Theatre Group, one of the UK’s foremost theatre producers as well as making a wider voluntary contribution to promotion of the Arts. A CBE goes to Chairman of the Black Cultural Archives, Dawn Hill for her pivotal contribution to recording and celebrating Black history and heritage in the UK. There is an OBE for PR consultant Lynne Franks, whose professional expertise has been put to use promoting causes including social responsibility, women in business and tackling violence against women.

Philanthropy

Philanthropy recommendations include a CBE for Jane Hamlyn, Chairman of the Paul Hamlyn Foundation, which gives grants to help people overcome disadvantage. An OBE goes to Richard Mintz, who has supported a range of causes over the last 50 years. And at MBE, Rosemary Cadbury is recognised for her philanthropic support of a wide variety of community and charitable activities in the West Midlands.

Local communities

In total, 70% of awards in the New Year Honours List will go to people who have undertaken outstanding work in or for their local community, following the Prime Minister’s strategic steer that she would like more honours to go to people contributing to society and their communities. Awards include:

an OBE for Aina Khan, for the protection of women and children in unregistered marriages

an MBE for community volunteer Afrasiab Anwar, for services to building community cohesion in Burnley, Lancashire

an MBE for Susan Coates, who took her first leadership role in the Girlguides aged 18 and who has now spent five decades supporting girls and young women across south west England

an MBE for Sara Fitzsimmons, who co-founded and now directs SiMBA (Simpsons Memory Box Appeal) to support bereaved families at the Simpsons Maternity Ward at the Royal Infirmary in Edinburgh

a BEM for Thomas Allen, whose support of the community in Donemana, Co. Tyrone has been widespread and unstinting over 50 years

a BEM for Alyson Williams, Child and Youth Officer at Swansea Community Farm, who also participates in restorative justice programmes to reduce youth reoffending

a BEM for Henry Arnold, tailor to the Royal Navy and Royal Marines who in his spare time volunteers to support the Royal Marines Cadet Corps in Plymouth

a BEM for Scott Watkin from Ryde, Isle of Wight, who teaches people with learning disabilities about eye care

a BEM goes to Christine Pratt, who has been Director of Blurton Community Hub in Stoke-on-Trent since 2010, working to create a stronger and safer community for residents

The Prime Minister provided a strategic steer to the Main Honours Committee that the honours system should support children and young people to achieve their potential, enhance life opportunities, remove barriers to success and work to tackle discrimination. Among the awards that reflect these priorities are:

a knighthood for Alan Wood, lately Corporate Director of Children and Young People’s Services at Hackney Council

a CBE for Nick Whitfield, Chief Executive of Achieving for Children who has acted as Children Services Commissioner in Sunderland and Reading

an OBE for David Canning, a teacher who is Northern Ireland Coordinator of Project Children, a cross-community project which has facilitated 23,000 young people from opposing sides of the community developing team building skills

an OBE for Naomi Marek, Chief Executive of Sky Badger, whose innovative work has provided online support to over 695,000 families who have children with disabilities or special educational needs

an OBE for John Shallcross, whose voluntary service over 30 years to fundraise for youth clubs in disadvantaged areas has benefited young people across north east England

an OBE for Bartholomew Smith, who founded the Amber Foundation to support young homeless and unemployed people

an MBE for Tunji Akintokun, founder and co-director of Your Future, Your Ambition which aims to inspire children and young adults from ethnically diverse backgrounds to study science, technology, enterprise and maths (STEM) subjects

Education

Around 11% of honours are for work in education. The Education Committee has recommended a damehood for Vice-Chancellor of the University of Liverpool, Professor Janet Beer and a knighthood for Timothy Melville-Ross, Chairman of the Higher Education Funding Council for England. Other senior awards in education include a CBE for Vice-Chancellor of the University of Winchester Joy Carter, a CBE for Principal of Gateshead College Judith Doyle, and a CBE for Pro-Vice-Chancellor of Queen’s University Belfast, Professor Richard English. An MBE goes to Paul Berman, Chair of Trustees at Wargrave House School in Merseyside, which supports development of life skills in children on the autistic spectrum.

Health

Health sector recipients make up 10% of all honours. There is a rich breadth of vocations recognised. There is a Knight Grand Cross for medical scientist Sir Keith Peters; a damehood for Chief Executive of the University Hospitals of Morecambe Bay NHS Foundation Trust, Jackie Daniel, a damehood for the outgoing President of the Royal College of Surgeons, Clare Marx and a damehood of the outgoing Chief Executive of the Devon Success Regime and Sustainability and Transformation Plan, Angela Pedder. A CBE goes to Chair of the Welsh Ambulance Services NHS Trust Michael Giannasi and an MBE to Neelam Farzana, who in 2007 set up The Listening Service to address a gap in provision of mental health support for the BAME community.

Industry and the economy

Industry and the economy make up 11% of this honours list. The Economy Committee recommended a damehood for Scottish businesswoman Susan Rice and a knighthood for Northern Irish businessman and founder of WrightBus William Wright. A CBE goes to Chief Executive of the Wesley Clover Corporation in South Wales, Professor Simon Gibson and to Timothy Rix, Managing Director of family-run Hull-based J R Rix and Sons Ltd.

A number of entrepreneurs and those supporting entrepreneurship are also recognised, including a knighthood for tech investor and philanthropist Ken Olisa and a CBE for co-founder of The Lakes Distillery Nigel Mills. An MBE is awarded to Elizabeth Tappenden, founder of In to Biz Ltd., which supports small business start-ups on the Isle of Wight through training programmes. In the technology sector, awards include a CBE for President of techUK Jacqueline de Rojas and a CBE for Dana Tobak, Chief Executive Officer of Hyperoptic.

Married couple Chrissie Rucker, founder of The White Company, and Nicholas Wheeler, founder of Charles Tyrwhitt Shirts, receive OBEs for their respective services to retail.

Science and technology

Science and technology recipients make up 3% of the List. There is a knighthood for volcanologist Professor Robert Sparks, a knighthood for psephologist Professor John Curtice, a CBE for Deputy Director of the Cancer Research UK Manchester Institute, Professor Caroline Dive, a CBE for statistical epidemiologist Christl Donnelly, and an OBE for Suranga Chandratillake, General Partner at Balderton Capital.

Sport

Awards for sport make up 4% of the total recipients. A number of awards celebrate the success of women’s cricket. There is a CBE for Director of Women’s Cricket Clare Connor, an OBE for the Captain of the World Cup winning England Cricket Team, Heather Knight, an OBE for Head Coach Mark Robinson, an MBE for World Cup 2017 Player of the Tournament Tammy Beaumont and an MBE for World Cup 2017 Player of the Final Anya Shrubsole. Elsewhere there is an OBE for Sarah Lewis, Secretary General of the International Ski Federation. Sue Anstiss, founding director of the Women’s Sport Trust and co-founder of the Women’s Sport Trust charity, receives an MBE for her support of women’s and grassroots sport. Awards for grassroots sport include a BEM for David Woodward, whose voluntary service to youth sport includes being the driving force in establishing a youth hockey coaching network in Rotherham and Sheffield.

The arts, music and dance

In the arts, there is a CBE for co-founder and Director of the Hay Literary Festival, Peter Florence and an OBE for Hay Festival Chair, Revel Guest Albert. In music there is a CBE for President of the Royal College of Music, Professor Jonathan Freeman-Attwood, an OBE for Sarah Alexander, Chief Executive of the National Youth Orchestra and an OBE for singer-songwriter Marc Almond. There are CBEs for actresses Julia McKenzie and Susan Hampshire, as well as for playwright Peter Nichols. An MBE goes to Lucille Briance, founder of the London Children’s Ballet.

And there are awards to recognise the success of Hull City of Culture 2017, including a CBE for Chief Executive and Director Martin Green and OBEs to Chair Rosie Millard and Executive Director Francesca Heygi.

Law and order

In Law and order, the awards include a knighthood to Craig Mackey, Deputy Commission of the Metropolitan Police Service and an OBE to Jackie Hewitt-Main, CEO of The Cascade Foundation, which supports prisoners with learning needs to develop the skills they need for their future lives. A BEM is awarded to Violet Atkinson, who volunteers with Northumbria Police to educate young people about road safety and the consequences of dangerous driving.

Parliamentary

The Parliamentary and Political Service Committee has recommended a damehood for Cheryl Gillan, MP for Chesham and Amersham, and a CBE for Jo Swinson, MP for East Dunbartonshire. An OBE goes to Ealing Councillor Ranjit Dheer.

Finally, there is an MBE recommended for Deborah Brownson, who has spent the last ten years raising awareness about autism. She wrote the innovative book ‘He’s not Naughty! A Children’s Guide to Autism’ which has helped children, families, schools, medical professionals and businesses all over the world.

The honours system continues to recognise those doing extraordinary things to support their community and reinforce civic life across the UK. It is built on/relies on nominations put forward by members of the public and we urge everybody to nominate the person in their lives that they think deserves an honour. We continue to see inspirational action by people up and down the country - and not least in response to significant events such as the Grenfell Tower fire, or recent terrorist attacks.

Read the full New Year’s Honours list and find out more about how to nominate someone for an award.

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