Evidently “Tom and Jerry”, the cartoon series adored by children of all ages and first shown some 70 years ago, now comes with a warning that some viewers may find it racist. Oh dear, I always loved that cartoon and still do, come to think of it. Never once did I ever think that it was racist or insulting to people of colour, however.

What I remember most is the comedy and the suffering of the poor old cat as he tried in vain to get one over on the spirited little mouse. The little human involvement in the cartoon seemed to be incidental and the human characters, of whatever colour, were all made to look stupid next to little Jerry.

The modern problem seems to be the depiction of the black maid, the house cook who was constantly frustrated and flummoxed by the battle between feline and rodent. I suppose by today’s precious standards it could be deemed – by some – to be racist but, then again, couldn’t it also be deemed sexist because the character was female rather than male?

And how about the blatant cruelty to animals as evidenced by Tom the cat splattered against brick walls, crushed by falling trees and blown to smithereens by sticks of dynamite?

You would have thought the censors had better things to do. Clearly not.