All of us should be heartened by the news that Tom Kelly, Tony Blair’s former official spokesman, has been awarded the Order of the Bath.

It was Kelly’s job to read aloud to journalists from pieces of paper handed to him by government spin doctors and to occasionally slip the metaphorical stiletto between the ribs of potential political threats. It was Kelly who memorably described Dr David Kelly as ‘a Walter Mitty‘ type. Kelly (Tom) found it in his heart to apologise for the remark after Kelly (David, Dr) was dead.

That such modest talents should be enough to earn a medal for chivalry (the temptation to use quotation marks around that last word was almost too much to resist) is a rallying call to the rest of us toiling away in obscurity.

The enobling of Kelly (Tom) demonstrates that fame and fortune are within the grasp of anyone with the reading skills of a seven year-old and the ability to administer a put down to people whose abilities dwarf your own. Tom Kelly was, in a final analysis, a blogger attaining greatness.

Fly my pretties, 2008 is ours for the taking.