I’d never heard of the phrase “tenement Scot” before being accused of being one by John Cleese. He took objection to my last Telegraph column, defending press freedom. Why, he asked, “do we let half-educated tenement Scots run our English press? Because their craving for social status makes them obedient retainers?”

Mr Cleese was part of the phalanx of celebrities advocating state regulation of newspapers, so he disagreed with my argument. Fair enough. But he seemed to explain it as the whinging of a lowborn Jock seeking to ingratiate himself. He shared his verdict with his five million Twitter followers, some of whom virulently objected and the spat ended up on the news pages. I didn’t join in, but there was much I was tempted to say.