The dark side of political correctness reared its ugly head this week with the release of the report into the sexual abuse, over a 16 year period, of at least 1,400 children, in Rotherham (a town of some 250,000 people) and the failure of officialdom to protect them due to the colour and racial origins of their tormentors.

Social workers, local politicians and the Police, in an appalling breach of trust, all turned a blind eye to the brutal beatings, torture, rape and gang rape of children (all said to be white or of mixed race and some as young as 11 years old) for fear of accusations of racism.

It was clearly felt preferable to allow the abuse to continue rather than bring the perpetrators to justice. The report confirmed that those perpetrators were gangs composed mainly of thugs and paedophiles of Pakistani origin. Similar gangs, incidentally, to those convicted of organised sexual abuse in other UK towns and cities such as Rochdale, Derby, Birmingham and Oxford – and those are just the places we actually know about.

What kind of country have we become where even the protection and welfare of our children is subjugated to the paranoia of political correctness? God help us. God help our children too, since it would appear that we are no longer capable.