After the mumblings of SS-GB , we probably need a new “What if?” idea for a drama series. A vivid scenario that threatens a great retired newspaper editor – maybe Sir Harry Evans – with four years in prison for quoting what Jeremy Corbyn says about Theresa May. One that throws a fine columnist – say Nick Cohen or David Aaronovitch – into jail for months on end because they tweeted political dissent. One that locks up the correspondent of Le Monde or the New York Times for reporting Brexit divisions.

Too far-fetched for the Len Deighton treatment? Then look to Turkey where, last week, my friend and freedom-loving editor, Hasan Cemal, escaped the four years the prosecution wanted but still collected an 11-month suspended sentence (suspended, that is, unless he writes anything critical). Look, behind bars since October, for my friend, the columnist Kadri Gürsel, who tweeted defiance. Look at the incarcerated fate of the Die Welt’s Istanbul correspondent, a German national, who merely did his job courageously.

And the bottom line as President Erdoğan’s push to gather all power around him is clear enough. Turkey’s truth is becoming stranger than any what-if? fiction.