So another one bites the dust. Last week it was Alastair Stewart's turn to get 'cancelled'. The veteran ITV broadcaster was one of the few journalists on social media who presented a fair and sensible view of the world. So of course he had to go.

He was found guilty in the great court of nowhere for the crime of tweeting something that isn't even a crime. Evidently a fan of Shakespeare – a dead white male who remains uncancelled (for now) – Stewart quoted the playwright in an argument online. Taken from Measure For Measure, they were lines he had used before: 'But man, proud man, Dress'd in a little brief authority, Most ignorant of what he's most assur'd, His glassy essence like an angry ape.'

Unfortunately for Stewart, a former Liberal Democrat council candidate called Martin Shapland was ready to take offence, claiming that by using this quotation, the newsreader was 'referring to me as an ape'. As if Stewart, who has no history of racism, had been scouring the Collected Works of Shakespeare for lines which he could apply to Shapland purely because he is black.

In fact, they are about ignorance, not race – and Shapland was in Stewart's view, both ignorant and self-important.

Last week it was Alastair Stewart's (pictured) turn to get 'cancelled'. The veteran ITV broadcaster was one of the few journalists on social media who presented a fair and sensible view of the world. So of course he had to go

The newsreader duly stepped down citing an error of judgment, but no one doubts that he was pushed – the latest victim in a gathering culture war.

In this case, the accusation against him happened to be racism, but pretty much anything that can be construed as offensive – whether transphobic, Islamophobic or sexist – is now fatal. The woke mobs want to control and dictate the terms on which we are allowed to conduct ourselves both online and in our conversations.

Prominent figures such as Alastair Stewart are not the only victims. Ordinary hard-working Britons in our shops, universities, schools and even our NHS are now vulnerable.

When, for instance, Asda worker Brian Leach posted a video of comedian Billy Connolly making fun of religion, somebody complained that the clip was Islamophobic. Then bang, Leach was gone. Sacked. Cancelled.

When, for instance, Asda worker Brian Leach (pictured) posted a video of comedian Billy Connolly making fun of religion, somebody complained that the clip was Islamophobic. Then bang, Leach was gone. Sacked. Cancelled

Today's Mail on Sunday reveals that the Royal College of Nursing has issued a bizarre style guide for letters and emails that outlaws such everyday terms as 'lady' and 'sufferer' for fear of causing offence.

Then there is the Orwellian case of businessman Harry Miller, who was accused of a hate crime for posting and retweeting 30 tweets that were alleged by police as being transphobic. During a call with the police, Mr Miller, a former policeman himself, was told by the officer that they wanted to 'check his thinking'. Fortunately, he is now taking the College of Policing – which issues teaching guidelines on 'hate crime' – to judicial review.

Reason and logic have gone out of the window. If someone shouts 'racism' – which is just about the most horrible claim that can be made about someone – then it is automatically accepted that racism is exactly what it must be, whatever the evidence.

There is no suggestion that Shapland was not sincere in his belief but, as we have seen time and time again, there are people who wield this powerful tool with cruelty as well as dishonesty.

It is especially jarring that in this new atmosphere of supposed care and concern, it is open season on those who happen to be white, middle-aged, often working-class, and needless to say, male. Increasingly, I hear reports from people around the country saying that they and their colleagues have to live in permanent fear of this strange, vengeful 'cancel-culture' coming for them.

How can this be turned around? Well, the remedy is in our own hands. This country is going through the most important transition in living memory and, with our exit from the EU, we have a duty and responsibility to ask ourselves what sort of country we want to be.

Do we want to live where unpleasant and dishonest people can wield career-ending accusations and everybody will simply buckle?

Should we live in a country where – like in the Soviet Union under Communism – everyone has to fear whether their neighbour or co-worker might 'inform' on them?

Or might we decide to breathe the air of freedom which includes controversy, disputation, argument and the possibility of solving problems rather than creating them?

Then there is the Orwellian case of businessman Harry Miller (pictured), who was accused of a hate crime for posting and retweeting 30 tweets that were alleged by police as being transphobic

We know what happens when people shut up or shut themselves down. History, not least the history of the Brexit years, shows it: you create a society filled with bubbling resentments where illegitimate fears end up bursting out.

This is why the treatment of Alastair Stewart – and the support he has received – should be taken as a key moment.

The woke totalitarians would not succeed if we all stood up for our friends when we know they have been wrongly accused. I am told by people inside ITN that there is serious unhappiness about the way in which Stewart has been pushed out.

Over the course of his career, he has worked with many people, of many different backgrounds.

Gradually, these people are coming out of the woodwork, both privately and publicly, saying what a gentleman he is, how kind he has been – and that, of course, he does not have a racist bone in his body.

So perhaps some proper pressure could be applied here. There is already a public petition under way to get Stewart reinstated. But how about a combination of public and private pressure? How about the people who gave Stewart the heave-ho start to fear for their jobs?

At present, bosses everywhere get a whiff of controversy and cut and run. There is no upside, they think, to standing by their man. Well there should be. Otherwise we will continue to live in a country based on the success of the most 'offended'.

Next time a similar case occurs, the bosses should weigh up the pros and cons and realise that disloyalty to people who have been loyal to you should incur a cost.

Let's see them explain why a long career can be destroyed in a second by bullies on social media.

That way, we might correct the balance in this country – a balance that is sorely needed and which will serve us well in the years ahead.