Let's get one thing straight right from the start. I'm pretty sure none of my regular readers would make this mistake, but there might be others who drift by and I wouldn't want them to go away with the wrong idea.
Despite what various online dictionaries claim, in my opinion a mayoress is NOT a lady mayor. A lady who is a mayor is just that - a mayor. She should be addressed as "Madam Mayor".
A man who is a mayor is also just that - a mayor and should be addressed as "Mister Mayor". But his lady consort is a mayoress. A lady mayor doesn't have a mayoress, she has a consort. And that, it has been announced, is what future Mayors of the City of Brighton & Hove will have be they male or female.
I haven't the foggiest idea how long the term mayoress has been in use but I would be willing to bet it goes back at least a couple of centuries. And now - in Brighton at least - it is to be cast aside as if so much history and tradition counts for nothing. It is that history and tradition that make we English (British, is you must) what we are. History and tradition cast aside, no doubt, on the altar of political correctness.
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