Change is the new normal

by: Anne O'Connell (26 July 2017)

A poll published today reports that the nation's favourite work of art is no longer Constable's The Hay Wain. It has been trundled out of view in favour of street artist Banksy's Girl with Balloon (BBC: nation's favourite artwork). I expect traditionalists will have been mumbling into their kippers this morning, but I'm just pleased that people have a favourite work of art.

A change in opinion can bring about good. This week marks the fiftieth anniversary of The Sexual Offences Act 1967 which partially decriminalized homosexuality. Language changes along with society, from the words we use to describe people and things to their spelling and usage. Some might decry what are seen as Americanisms creeping into use in the UK, although they'd be wrong in the case of my use of -ized rather than -ised in this paragraph – it's been in use in English since the sixteenth century.

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