The New Year Honours List prompts a look back at a mixed 2017

The best of Voices delivered to your inbox every week - from controversial columns to expert analysis Sign up for our free weekly Voices newsletter for expert opinion and columns Sign up to our free weekly Voices newsletter SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy The New Year Honours List always prompts a vigorous debate about the merits or otherwise of some of the individuals selected, and of the honours system itself. New Year Honours list: Ringo Starr and Barry Gibb awarded knighthoods When David Cameron and George Osborne were given free rein in the short-lived government of 2015-17, for example, they announced deep cuts in welfare spending. If we are prompted by the Honours List to look back over 2017, it is worth noting that the inconclusive result of the election in June had a similar restraining effect on the Conservative Party. Some controversy has also been generated, as we look back over 2017, by the failure to recognise in the Honours List the bravery of the emergency services in the terrorist attacks during the election campaign and in the Grenfell Tower fire after it.