From JK Rowling to ‘Fawlty Towers’, the thought police are spiralling out of control

It started with no-platforming speakers at colleges and universities, Janet Street-Porter writes. Now, it’s a crime to enjoy anything that might be considered remotely offensive

UKTV has removed an episode of the classic sitcom (BFI)

Does it bring you to despair if a famous author wants to be called – a woman? Or if you turn on the telly and John Cleese is goose-stepping across the foyer of Fawlty Towers? There’s a moral witch hunt afoot, which has seen JK Rowling toppled from saintliness to being demonised in 48 hours, forced to write a lengthy essay justifying her position on the transgender community. Her crime? A feeble joke about the new political correctness which requires us to use terms like “people who menstruate”. She’s a brave woman to stand up to the new army of moralists. Other feminists, like Suzanne Moore and Germaine Greer, have already been attacked for not conforming to the new “normal”.

Now, skin colour is proving as potent a minefield as sexuality and genetics. The Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement has laudable aims – few could disagree that everyone in society deserves to be treated equally. But you won’t achieve that by eliminating the past. It’s important the next generation understands how society evolves, how opinions change and why.