The new year game of awarding knighthoods and damehoods, as it relates to high-profile business people, has long felt like a nonsense. As the examples of the de-gonged Fred Goodwin at Royal Bank of Scotland and James Crosby at HBOS (who gave up his knighthood voluntarily) should have taught us, at least wait until these people’s careers are over before trying to judge their contributions. In any case, the boardroom brigade doesn’t need extra baubles. No harm would occur if they were excluded from the show.
But, within this imperfect system, let’s acknowledge that Sir Tim Martin, the founder and chair of JD Wetherspoon, is a deserving candidate for a gong via standard criteria. He was a controversial pick in the new year crop, presumably because so many people loathe his Brexit sermons and in-your-face “no deal” beermats, but, if we’re talking about services to the hospitality industry, Martin has put in a shift that is hard to match.
