In 1993, when he was editor of Quadrant, Robert Manne published a short essay, which is collected in his recent book Left Right Left (2005), called ‘On Political Correctness’. The essay rehearsed some familiar right-wing arguments against this ‘highly intolerant’ doctrine and the threat it posed to academic freedom. Manne’s political opinions have, of course, undergone a considerable realignment in the intervening years, and so has the national political landscape. While the term ‘political correctness’ has proved far too convenient to disappear completely, these days it is heard less often and is generally invoked with less heat. This is partly because, over the past decade or so, it has done its job of denigrating any leftish sounding opinion so effectively.

‘Political correctness’ is, as Manne observed in 1993, a ‘pejorative label’. It is a rhetorical cudgel wielded in place of rational argument. It does precisely what it accuses the so-called politically correct of doing: it stigmatises an ideologically deviant opinion rather than engaging with it on a point of substance. It is little more than a received idea that is used as a reflex form of denunciation. For anyone interested in the power of words and the way they define public political debate, the potent example of political correctness is instructive. In no small part due to the endless reiteration of the concept in the media, the whole character of public discourse has changed. We have passed through the looking glass. As a nation, we are now so gloriously liberated from the tyranny of political correctness that even taking part in a race riot does not constitute evidence of racism.