The entrance is somewhere new and much bigger.
Tracey Emin's bronzes are best seen when the doors are closed.
It's only a bag search, not a full-on authoritarian slapdown.
It looks a bit empty to start with but it gets better.
The main hall is underportraited.
It's all still free other than two exhibitions, one of which is Beatly and the other Voguey.
If you want to do it chronologically start at the top and work down.
The mega escalator is megaunderstimulating.
Nothing really happened before the Tudors.
All the famous portraits are here, like the regal pasty one of Elizabeth I.
It's not always obvious which way the timeline continues.
Everything pre-1850 is on one floor, everything post-1850 on two.
The hang is a lot more genderbalanced and diverse than it used to be.
There didn't used to be displays called "Portraying Colonial Power and Expansion", "Empire and Resistance" and "Dismantling the British Empire after 1945".
The Chevalier d'Éon and Malala Yousafzai tick several boxes.
Yes there are a lot of old men in wigs but they don't count.
Things ramp up after photography gets invented.
War and politics are thoughtfully diluted by arts and sciences.
If you haven't heard of all the people before, maybe that's the point.
The old gentle staircase is the best staircase.
It's both rammed and extremely selective.
It's like a cultural history tour.
Victoria Wood hangs beside Princess Di and Margaret Thatcher beside Arthur Scargill.
Bananarama make the cut.
Shop/cafe/restaurant yeah all that.
For the 60 minute audio tour, download the sponsored app.
If you only have 30 minutes for a visit, the guide suggests looking at one display, having a drink and buying a souvenir.
Much better just to go for a circuitous arty wander.
I lost track of which bits were new, which suggests successful integration.
The 21st century just fades out by some lifts.
I don't think I saw everything despite the free map.
Come and mingle amongst the middle classes.
