People in the past were wrong. Not just incorrect, but morally wrong – and sometimes actually evil.

That’s the message we hear constantly today. It’s repeated relentlessly in history classes in schools, with their myopic focus on Britain’s colonial and racist past. It’s been the theme of explainers in art galleries for years, focussing on the wicked deeds of past artists or their sponsors. And it’s the motor behind the recent rewriting, censoring and censuring of old novels by the likes of Roald Dahl, Agatha Christie and Ian Fleming.

As is always the case, a monomaniacal impulse will veer to the extreme. As the Telegraph reported last weekend, all of the works of PG Wodehouse republished by Penguin will now come with a blanket warning. Something Fresh (1915) and Leave it to Psmith (1923) are due to be re-released, with the text exactly as it is in the original. But a trigger warning issued by the publisher will nonetheless read: ‘Please be aware that this book was published in the 1920s and may contain language, themes or characterisations which you may find outdated.’ The Telegraph understands that all of Wodehouse’s novels will contain similar warnings about the ‘outdated’ nature of their content.