IT discredits the whole honours system, which is on shaky ground anyway, that someone like Jan Souness, who was installed as managing director for LiveWire in 2012 to save £1 million and was just doing her job, is awarded a BEM in the recent New Year’s Honours list.

She succeeded in systematically stripping our libraries of funding and was paid handsomely for it.

She set in motion the ‘modernisation’ which resulted in the current proposals and which will hopefully be thrown out.

Her nomination would have been some time ago and I would hope that if our councillors or any of our ‘great and good’ were involved in her nomination, they are now embarrassed to be associated with it.

I am embarrassed on behalf of all the passionate campaigners trying to save our libraries from becoming lockers.

Perhaps she will be shamed into giving it back.

JANET RAWSTHORN Fearnhead