I often read about the easily offended being easily offended. The recent story of Greggs replacing the baby Jesus with a sausage roll is one such newsbyte that ‘caused offence’ to many uber sensitive souls. I know worshippers of all faiths including Jewish friends. They are, according to the press, ‘extremely offended’ by a baker garnering some cheap widespread publicity by replacing the messiah with a processed pork pastry product. Are Jewish people really offended? Not that I am aware. At worst, they give it a wry smile and congratulate Greggs on the publicity gained from a stunt that was, in reality, a cheap and uninspiring advert.

‘We’ take offence at the slightest thing, even though I don’t know who ‘we’ are. It’s as if there’s an invisible moral guardian angel with shredded nerves poised to pounce on anyone who dares utter a word that could be deemed offensive.

A teacher was recently disciplined after a child who suffered gender identity issues was, on a day he wished to be identified as a girl, referred to as a ‘he’. The BBC has dropped the terms BC and AD and rewritten the textbook by renaming it before and after common era (BCE).

In the US, manholes have been renamed as ‘person holes’. I wonder if this trend will traverse the seas and we will soon be visiting Personchester and Personsfield on the next trip up north. Noddy no longer has Big Ears as a confidant, and Dennis the Menace has lost his catapult, pea shooter and water pistol. He now has no armoury with which to taunt Walter and no doubt Gnasher is soon to be rebranded as a well-heeled Pekinese about town.

Bradford city council bosses banned Christmas decorations in 2016. Flintshire council, in that hotbed of political correctness, North Wales, outlawed calling spotted dick by its given name. It was ordered that it now be known as a spotted Richard.

Councils have also banished the term ‘brainstorm’ as it may offend epileptics, renaming it a ‘thought shower’. Job centres are at it too. One recently knocked back a recruiter’s advert describing desirable candidates as ‘hard working and reliable’ as it may offend those who are ‘unreliable and lazy’. Ironically, I wonder how an unreliable, lazy person would stumble across the job advert in the first place unless actively seeking employment.

The final outpost of the discarding of working class frustration has also suffered. I recall being at Underhill some years ago to watch the mighty Barnet take on some other lower league also rans. Throughout the first half numerous home fans were forcibly escorted out of the Stadium of Blight for ‘causing offence’. One called a player ‘fat’ and another was labelled as ‘freaking useless’. The footballers weren’t complaining, yet we stood in silence concerned that the modern-day righteousness police were going to throw us out for shouting anything more sinister than ‘jolly poor show old chap’. Actually, that would probably be offensive to the more mature person, along with ‘the poor’.

My main concern with the current environment is that there seems to be no end point. This is why, despite him being an oik, I adore tykes like Liam Gallagher. He says the first thought that pops into his head, usually somewhat inappropriate. He is unapologetic and, because he is quite open about not caring who he offends, rarely gets challenged on his utterances. We should be more Liam and less Spotted Richard. Last word goes to our kid. Not bothered about the sensibilities of fans of the Libertines, he said, when asked about Pete Doherty: "What does the word Libertine mean? Freedom! He’s in the corner doing smack with a helmet on his head. There’s nothing free about that. It’s nasty."

Sensible? Arguably, yes. Mild offence caused? Maybe, but I for one am mad for it.

- Brett Ellis is a teacher who lives in London Colney