I cannot go along with the idea of 'it's art because I say it is art'

It's never a case of that though, is it? Art is carefully reviewed and critically monitored as part of an unbroken tradition which is obvious from the most casual glance around The Tate - or even the giftshop. The bounds of that experience have been incrementally evolving in the academic hotbeds for centuries, and there's always been a reactionary element calling it degenerate. Boldly, Art endures, and challenges, and bewilders. Long may it continue to do so.   

Public Art is different in that you don't have a choice about it. The Angel of the North is an imposition, likewise all the ghastly folksy wooden things you see in pretty much every public woodland space these days when I'm of the opinion that there really is nothing lovelier than a tree. I don't like Gormley's rusty blokes on the beach either, though I must say Hirst's Verity is genuinely intriguing in that it really does look pretty amazing standing down by the harbour entrance at Ilfracombe. But then again, my trips to Ilfracombe are few and far between..

Talking of folksy wooden things, my favourite ever piece of public art was The Upper Room by Colin Wilbourn which stood on the banks of the River Wear in Durham from 1988. First time I saw it was by moonlight, very drunk, so the effect was even more stunning:

The Upper Room