Peter Rhodes on U-turns, growing old and the case for Reverse Honours

Rejoice. 27 days after the BT engineers converted my phone line from creaky old copper to high-speed full fibre Digital Voice, and the landline suddenly went dead, all is up and running perfectly. Only one tiny snag. People keep ringing us.

I was overtaken by events on Wednesday when in this column I praised Keir Starmer for resisting pressure to acknowledge the state of Palestine. Who could possibly have guessed that in the space of a few hours, Starmer would U-turn quite so dramatically? Thus, Sir Keir will officially recognise the Palestinian state in September. Unless, of course, he doesn't. History in the making.

Meanwhile, the Defence Secretary John Healey suggests that Britain is preparing to be “ready to fight” for Taiwan. Very noble. But are we absolutely sure that Taiwan is ready to fight for Taiwan?

Sense of proportion, please. England's triumph in the Euros was a national moment of joy and satisfaction. But demands by some politicians for every member of the squad to be rewarded with state honours are simply over the top. A lifetime as a dame for a few hours of clever kicking? Come off it.

There are also too many snags attached to awarding honours en masse to people so young. We have seen far too many sporting heroes lauded at the Palace and bedecked with medals, only for them to let themselves and their nation down in later years.

My cunning alternative is Reverse Honours. Under this process, every UK citizen is made either a Lord or a Lady at birth. Keep your nose clean and you will be a Lord/Lady from cradle to grave. But drift into crime or become an infamous sex pest and you will slide down the honours poll, stripped of a medal at every misdemeanour to become knight, CBE, OBE, MBE and finally plain, ignoble Mr, Mrs or Ms. Reverse Honours; you read it here first.