“THERE is nothin’ like a dame, nothin’ in the world,” or so they say.
In the British honours system, there is in fact something quite alike – a knight, the male equivalent of the Order of the British Empire’s top award.

So you might hail the damehood for Ann Gloag as a step forward for gender equality. After all, her brother Brian Souter, with whom she founded the transport giant Stagecoach, was controversially knighted in 2011.

Why the uproar back then? Souter is also known for having bankrolled the campaign to defend Section 28, the Tory law which prohibited the “promotion” of homosexuality in schools, from repeal by New Labour.

Gloag, believed to be Scotland’s richest woman, is less prone to political pronouncements. In Scotland, she has become fiercely protective of her home, Kinfauns Castle in Perth and Kinross. Her reclusiveness has proved no barrier to fighting the lowly underclass – whether they be ramblers on her estate, or those with the misfortune to have her as a boss.

There was uproar when Gloag erected a Berlin-wall style security fence, a mile long and seven feet high, around Kinfauns a decade ago. Walkers in Scotland have greater rights to roam than in any other part of Britain, enshrined in legislation brought in by the then Labour-led Scottish government in 2003.

But Gloag's lawyers obtained an injunction in 2007 barring walkers from woodlands near the castle, arguing she deserved more protection thanks to her wealth, her illustrious collections of jewellery and furniture, her public profile and the importance of the guests  she was likely to receive on the estate. Self-importance, you might say.

When the Ramblers’ Association said the sheriff court which made the ruling had “completely misunderstood” the law, Gloag threatened to go all the way to the European Court of Human Rights if they appealed. “The costs will not be a factor,” her spokesman said. Always an advantage when your human rights are at stake.

In 2013 she bought the troubled Kent International Airport for the bargain sum of £1. The following year it was announced that the airport would close, dumping 140 workers on the dole queue.
But you could say it was all in the family tradition, for the Stagecoach empire has never been renowned for looking after its workers or passengers. In 2001 600 jobs were lost at the transport giant’s US arm. In 2014 school kids were left in the lurch when the firm took its axe to bus routes in Kent. And earlier this year the firm announced it was cutting routes in Greater Manchester.

Stagecoach was also the majority owner of Virgin Trains East Coast, the company which was let off £2 billion in future franchise payments when the government terminated its contract to run the flagship London to Edinburgh route in June. Gloag’s brother Souter, who still leads Stagecoach, is fond of flouting his patriotism – having donated extensively to the SNP. But it would seem Stagecoach is just as fond of shafting Scottish passengers as it is the English.

Still, she has also been busy founding the Freedom From Fistula Foundation, which seeks to eradicate the debilitating condition in Sierra Leone, Kenya and Malawi. Her damehood is for services to both business and philanthropy.

It would be easy to say she is undeserving of this award, and that it flies in the face of everything that both business and the honours system should stand for.

But actually, it’s a fitting award indeed. Gloag’s activities are emblematic of the practices which underpin British business, and a world of work where those on the front line are considered a commodity for the maximum extraction of surplus value.

And her damehood is just the latest episode in a rotten honours system which rewards chancers and charlatans. Ann Gloag deserves to join their number.

There is, in modern Britain, nothin’ you can name that is anything like a dame.