Sticks and stones may break women’s bones. But use the wrong pronoun or threaten the militant new LGBTQ+ orthodoxy and watch as all hell is unleashed.

As we stand on the brink of a new year, a new decade, it’s impossible not to wonder if the nation has gone completely mad. While bizarre battles are being fought online – witness social media imploding into an orgy of venomous hatred aimed at JK Rowling over “trans rights” – in the real world, obscene tragedies are taking place behind closed doors. Domestic killings have reached a five-year high, with two women a week being murdered by their partners and ex-partners. Yet where is the outrage for those victims?

In Manchester, this week, a court heard how a cheating airline captain, Peter Chilvers abused and humiliated his fiancee Magda Lesicka, 33, to the point where she had a breakdown and stabbed their one-year-old son, James to death before attempting to kill herself.

Chilvers, also 33, raged at and intimidated his Polish-born partner, while openly carrying on an affair. The court heard how he called Lesicka his “sheep”, referred to himself as her “owner” and used or threatened physical violence, forcing her into degrading sexual acts, isolating her from her friends and restricting her finances.

On occasion he would assert his dominance by picking hairs from his face and forcing her to swallow them. Even though he was seeing another woman, he threatened to kill her if she left him. She eventually went to the police but Chilvers found out and his volcanic rage frightened Lesicka so much she tried to withdraw her complaint. The police told her it was too late and that he would have to be questioned.