THE pantomime season is in full swing, now the New Year pantomime of the Honours List is disclosed.

Bradley Wiggins becomes a knight after winning The Tour De France, not an individual effort but a team event. No mention is made of his team mates who sacrificed their chance of winning and kept the pack of pursuing riders in Bradley’s wake.

Some athletes received minor awards because the allocation of their just rewards had been used up. Others, just out of the cradle, were showered with awards like confetti for a one-off success, not a lifetime achievement.

A person aged 92 gets an award for services during the Second World War – a little late, I think. A police chief receives a knighthood because it goes with the job.

We have two philanthropists, one receives a knighthood and the other a CBE for donations to worthy causes, in this case the Tory party.

Finally, we have a knighthood for a city regulator who was in charge in the run-up to the financial crisis.

The Honours List has become such a joke it is about time it was done away with.

AP Cox, Heath Close, Holgate, York.