>> good morning. it's 930 on new year's eve, live across the united kingdom. this is britain's newsroom with me, charlie peters and me. >> sophie reaper a gong for failure. fury erupts as sadiq khan, london mayor, is knighted despite presiding over spiralling crime rates in the caphal >> other famous names on the new year's honours list include gareth southgate, stephen fry and keely hodgkinson, and we'll be joined by a former subpostmaster turned campaigner who says he will fight on after being made an obe.

>> and elsewhere, edinburgh's famous new year's eve street party famous new year's eve street party has been axed as the country is set to be battered by snow, strong winds and heavy rain in an arctic blast which includes a rare danger to life. amber weather warning. >> and if you're holding a get together tonight, we'll be talking to a party planner for her top tips on how to be the hostess with the mostess. >> hello and welcome. very good morning to you. this is britain's newsroom, live across the uk on gb news with charlie peters and sophie reaper. >> now let's go on to our top story. because fury has erupted after the london mayor, sadiq khan. now sir sadiq, he's been knighted in the king's new year's honours list. >> now sir keir starmer has been accused of rewarding failure as knife crime has increased in the

capital by more than 50% since khan took to office in 2016. >> now among those joining sir sadiq on the honours list includes gareth southgate, stephen fry and the runner keely hodgkinson. well, joining us now is the royal historian alexander larman. alexander, thank you very much for joining larman. alexander, thank you very much forjoining us larman. alexander, thank you very much for joining us this morning. first and foremost, have all the people who are receiving honours today done so because they've been honourable. >> good morning. i think this is a fairly terrible bunch of honours, and i think that what's particularly striking about the honours is that it seems to be tokenism writ large. i mean, the one that's going to get most of the attention, and rightly so, is sir sadiq khan. and i don't know what he's been knighted for. i don't know what he's done to merit this honour because crime is going up in london. he's been a terrible mayor. the only reason why he's kept winning is because his conservative opponents have been so useless. so i think that we look at these honours and we

look at these honours and we look at these honours and we look at sir gareth southgate and i think on the one hand, with southgate, you can argue that he has done an honourable job. he has done an honourable job. he has brought decency and integrity back to football, so he deserves honour for that. but on the other hand, you could equally argue that, well, england hasn't actually won any of the tournaments that it's entered into. and so he could be judged to be a failure by that. and i just feel like there's a lot of awards this time round that feel as if somebody has said, this person's got their turn. this person deserves to be recognised. this person's number has come up, but there isn't a real sense of people deserving it. and i think, yes, for sir sadiq, one is going to stick in a lot of people's craws. i mean, the next time that you see an incident of knife crime, or the next time you're on a delayed tube, or the next time there's something in central london which is a direct responsibility of the mayors, and it's not working, you think, oh, well, he's been knighted now. so that's all right, isn't it.7 >> i think you're absolutely right that a lot of people will be quite critical of some of those top names, but do you

think that that detracts from other people who perhaps people may feel do really deserve those honours? >> well, i mean, just the other day, christopher nolan was knighted and his wife, emma thomas, was made a dame. and i thought those were absolutely fair enough, because what christopher nolan has done, not just for film, but also for the prestige of britain in that regard, is astonishing and unparalleled. so i think there is a place for the honours system, i think, especially knighthoods rather than peerages, because peerages, as we all know, are just basically the creation of party leaders who want to get their friends into the house of lords. whereas knighthoods can recognise significant achievement. and at this point, i would say that i'm continually surprised that david beckham has not been recognised, because probably no man has done more for british sport than david beckham. he clearly really wants a knighthood. i mean, he spends a lot of time with the royal family. he went to the state banquet with the emir of qatar the other day. he's done a huge amount as an ambassador for this country. and the knighthood is not coming. and you think, well, if sir sadiq and sir

stephen fry can step up, why not sir david beckham alexander? >> you often hear from commentators and critics that the honours only go to sportspeople, because politicians want to pinch a little bit of the glamour that they've achieved in their sporting prowess. what do you make of that? do you think there's space for sportspeople in the honours system? the state honours in that space? >> well, as i was just saying, i mean, i think beckham should be given a knighthood, but i think there is also a hurry to give sportspeople knighthoods because there's often a sense that they are recognised figures. and it's the old thing of bread and circuses, isn't it? it's a sense that if you give somebody like gareth southgate a knighthood, everyone's heard of gareth southgate, everyone has an opinion about gareth southgate andifs opinion about gareth southgate and it's usually quite favourable. so from that perspective it's quite a good thing for the honours system, but i don't know. i mean, what i feel is that i'd like to see fewer honours and honours given to people who really deserve them and have really had careers that are being recognised in this way. but also, perhaps the

most stylish thing is not to accept an honour. i mean, you look at, say, alan bennett, who i think most people would agree is a vastly greater writer than alan hollinghurst, who has been knighted. alan bennett has consistently turned down knighted all his life. i think that just proves, ultimately that just proves, ultimately that you don't have to have a knighthood to be recognised as being a great writer. >> you bring up gareth southgate there. i just want to go back to that because i think that's been quite a controversial one as well. i've seen a lot of people criticise that online because ultimately gareth southgate essentially never won any silverware with england as their manager. do you think that it's right that he's still recognised as a knight? >> well, as i was saying a moment ago, i think that he has done huge things for england's football in terms of prestige and in terms of the fact that he has made it once again something to be proud of. except, as you also say, england haven't won any tournaments. he hasn't brought anything home. i think he's been given a knighthood for being a decent bloke, and i think that's what it comes back to, the sense that gareth is a great bloke, you know, let's give him a knighthood, let's

recognise that he's a good bloke. >> is that good enough though? i mean it's not, it's, it's quite an honour isn't it. >> i mean i would, i would say that sadiq khan is a decent man, but i don't think he deserves a knighthood. i don't think that recognition of him being an essentially decent man means that he should be sir sadiq. and i think the honours system has it wrong. i think that ultimately you should recognise conspicuous achievement rather than just a sense of, oh, you're a nice bloke, it's time to make you a knight. >> olly alexander do you get the sense that all too often these honours are just handed out because you've done the certain amount of time in a certain job? for example, the network rail boss, he's been knighted despite delays, rising from 9.2 million minutes to 15.2 million minutes per year. if you're going to give state honours, there needs to be a reward attached to it for achievement, for performance, for doing something for great britain. >> i mean, that's absolutely appalling about the network rail boss. i didn't know that. i

mean, i think that should be sacked, not knighted. i mean, i think most people who travel on our trains should feel they should be sacked, not knighted. i think the trouble has been that i don't know who's in charge of handing out these honours. i don't know who's in charge of sitting down and deciding who should be knighted, but it just often deciding who should be knighted, but i