On that basis, why not give a knighthood to Bin Laden?

One incensed Scots reader has objected to my comparing The Great Toad to an excellent dish - the Haggis - which has unlike the the Toad brought pleasure to millions.

So I will say nothing about haggis.

But The Bloated Toad has decided to confer a knighthood on Teddy Kennedy. This is the man who will chiefly be remembered - if anything - for leaving a young girl to drown at Chappaquiddick and getting away with it.

And also the man who for decades consistently, enthusiastically supported groups whose sole objective was to slaughter as many people as it takes to to change the status quo in Northern Ireland.

Whether the good people there should be allowed to decide their own fate or be driven to decide on the basis of which set of bestial thugs kills most innocents is another matter. And whether the Unionists or the IRA are more obnoxious is also another matter.

But one thing is clear. Accessories to murder should not be honoured. On that basis, why not knight Osama Bin Laden? Or give Adolf Hitler some sort of posthumous recognition?

But then again, when you've been party to policies that sent so many - British soldiers and Iraqi civilians - to their deaths on the basis of false evidence and inadequate equipment, I doubt if such considerations count.