We now live in a climate that demands transparency and a culture that dictates sometimes ludicrous levels of political correctness.

From Ba Ba Rainbow Sheep to Humpty Dumpty being ‘made happy again’ – although the revised version sounds even more dubious.

Whilst red tape maintains its stringent regulations, are these offence avoidance measures really mirrored in society?

On the train I overheard a conversation – “I found a model for you to book. She's white, but never mind.”

And later on, on the same train journey, whilst casually eavesdropping on another passenger, “We can't open our roza (fast) in that restaurant. It's full of P***s innit.”

Not that we need to implement a sanitised world or a Thought Police type enforcement. But come on, has common sense becoming such an antiquated notion?

Being overtly polite (and a tad stuffy) was always a quintessential part of being British. Or, so the foreigners think.

But has casual racism just become an accepted part of our daily culture?

After news broke a few days ago that weight loss surgery could be offered to over a million people on the NHS to counter obesity, there was a massive backlash against ‘fat’ people.

Because the £6,000 surgery is at the taxpayers cost, the ‘fat’ population have apparently become fair game for scathing vitriol.

Although size is not the only excuse for underlying prejudice to manifest.

A family friend was introducing her daughter for marriage purposes to another family and dutifully explained to them, “My daughter is well educated, she can cook very well, she is a solicitor. But the only thing is, she is quite dark.”

And then came the magnanimous response, “Never mind if she is dark. It’s not her fault.”

It appears that political correctness and diplomacy is indeed a far-fetched and spurious notion.