In this hyper-sensitive age, we are all desperate to avoid giving offence, in case it gets us in trouble. But it isn’t easy. There seem to be so many rules to follow. Not only are these rules ferociously strict, but, without warning, they can change. And sometimes, the new rule will turn out to be the exact opposite of the old rule.

If, for example, you’re an author, you can get in trouble not just for what you write, but for what you write about. This problem was highlighted at the weekend by Anne Tyler. In an interview, the Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist, who turned 80 last year, suggested that the fear of cancel culture could restrict a writer’s artistic freedom.

“I’m astonished by the ‘appropriation’ issue,” she said. “It would be very foolish for me to write, let’s say, a novel from the viewpoint of a black man. But I think I should be allowed to do it.”

She would be wise not to. These days, a white woman writing from the viewpoint of a black man would almost certainly be frowned upon, if not outright condemned. She would be told that she has no “lived experience” of being a Person of Colour, and should therefore “stay in her lane”. In other words, she should stick to writing about white women like her.

It’s interesting how times change. Because not so very long ago, her critics would have said the opposite.

When his romcom Notting Hill came out in 1999, Richard Curtis found himself mocked and maligned by the progressive Left – because all the characters in the film were white and upper-middle-class, just like him. According to his critics, he should have included characters who were black and working-class.

The Guardian, for example, described the film as “whiter-than-white”, and ran an article about it by a Jamaican-born, London-raised writer called Ferdinand Dennis. He said it was “unfortunate and perhaps unpardonable that Notting Hill, the film, has chosen to ignore the area’s rich tapestry of cultures… It concentrated on characters who were too familiarly British, white and middle-class…”

It wasn’t a one-off. Over a decade later, Richard Curtis was still being denounced for writing about people who were like him. When another of his romcoms, About Time, was released in 2013, the hipster magazine Vice ran an article headlined: “Why Does Richard Curtis Think All British People Are Frigid, Posh and White?”

Looking back, I think that the progressive Left owes Richard Curtis an apology. If anything, in fact, it should be applauding him. After all, as a posh white person, he was writing about his lived experience, and staying firmly in his lane. Which, these days, is what writers are supposed to do.

According to the old rules, he was in the wrong. But according to the new rules, he was in the right. Like so many artists throughout history, it seems, he was simply ahead of his time.

Tory MPs learn the lesson of history

Andrew Bridgen, Douglas Ross and other senior Tory politicians have decided to withdraw their calls for Boris Johnson to resign, because of the war in Ukraine. Given the current circumstances, they say, a change of leadership would be rash and irresponsible.

Quite right, too. It would be simply unthinkable to oust a prime minister at a time of international conflict.

Just ask the man who led us to victory in the Second World War, Neville Chamberlain.

In the early part of that war, Chamberlain was the subject of widespread criticism. There was great pressure on him to resign and make way for a new prime minister. For example, an ambitious Tory rival named Winston Churchill.

Thankfully, however, MPs soon came to their senses. They realised that to unseat a prime minister during a geopolitical emergency would be a reckless indulgence. A change in leadership, they foresaw, would cause terrible disruption and instability, and should therefore be put on hold until the war was safely over.

As a result, they rallied around the embattled premier and kept him in office. As the Tory MP Leo Amery famously implored Chamberlain in May 1940: “In the name of God, stay!”

Of course, no one knows this story better than Boris Johnson himself. After all, Neville Chamberlain is his hero. He even wrote a bestselling biography of him, The Chamberlain Factor. Sources say he actively models himself on Chamberlain, and can often be seen waving a piece of paper, in imitation of his idol.

In my view, those calling for a new prime minister should try imagining what might have happened if Chamberlain had been forced to go. It doesn’t bear thinking about.

‘Way of the World’ is a twice-weekly satirical look at the headlines while aiming to mock the absurdities of the modern world. It is published at 7am every Tuesday and Saturday