Queen to knight Bill Gates, British broadsheet claims

TODAY'S SUNDAY Telegraph here claims that Her Brittanic Majesty Queen Elizabeth II is to bestow an honorary knighthood on avid Republican Bill Gates.

The paper claims that Gordon Brown has recommended that Gates become Sir Bill Gates for "services to global enterprise", and not for his charitable works.

But if the report is true, the move is likely to spark a deal of controversy, particularly as the British gong system is under close scrutiny here, with moves to make it more open and representative.

There's an inquiry currently going on into the small cadre of British functionaries who make the recommendations for, let's face it, a small cadre of recipients of such gongs.

Other computer "knights" include ex-IBM CEO Sir Lou "Boots" Gerstner and, with more legitimacy because he's British, BP CEO and Intel director Lord John Browne. More recently, Tim Berners-Lee, Mr WWW, became Sir Tim World-Wide-Web.

As part of the ceremony, if it takes place, Bill will have to kneel on one knee while the Queen "dubs" him Sir Bill Gates.

Many people believe our honours system is totally corrupt but British subjects - we're not citizens here -- can still be sent to the Tower of London for advocating the monarchy be dissolved.

The Telegraph, here, claims that the Chancellor has pulled a fast one on our real monarch, Tony Blair, who fears his job is under threat from the Scot.

This week, Blair faces a rigorous week as the result of an inquiry by a judge, Lord Hutton, into the death of scientist David Kelly, as well as a key vote that he wants to push through against the wishes of a number of Labour MPs. µ

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Sir Lou Gerstner: knighthood questioned