New Year’s Honours 2012

So New Year’s Eve arrives and so too the usual honours.  Overall 43% this year have gone to women according to Direct Gov.  S0 what of the Brimmin?  Well a Dame, a CBE, OBE and 2 MBEs compared with 5 MBEs last year.  An OBE also went to a male teacher at Swanshurst School. Frankly anyone who can spend all their working days in a school of nearly 2,000 teenage girls and still deliver inspiration and education deserves a medal, so an honorary mention to him.

Meanwhile, 5 women working with, for and about people and communities; this is becoming a theme of the brimmin awardees:

Dame Julie Moore

Chief Executive, University Hospital Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust. For services to Healthcare.

Professor Karin BARBER CBE PHd FBA

Professor of African Cultural Anthropology, University of Birmingham. For services to African Studies.

Mrs June Guiness OBE

Head of Policy, Forensic Science Regulation Unit, Home Office

Ms Jane Hopkins MBE

Founder, MumsClub. For services to Entrepreneurship

Mrs Antonina Robinson MBE

Executive Officer, Jobcentre Plus, Department for Work and Pensions

Congratulations to you all, be proud and continue to inspire.

If I’ve missed any please let me know.  The full list is here.

PS – I’ve altered this on 5 January.  I read Karin’s award wrongly: she’s a commander not officer.  Unfortunately I also misread  Jane and Antonina, they are both members not officers.  Jeez, I really do struggle with the pdf released by the government – its not easy to use.  My apologies for the mistakes, I hope it didn’t cause any problems or embarrassment.