WHATEVER happened to the stoic nature of the British, that famous stiff upper-lip, bring-it-on attitude that has always impressed other nations?

When once we rode into battle or went “over the top” against heavy artillery with no more than a “Goodbye, Bertie – it’s been an honour to have fought alongside you” we now appear to take genuine offence at the slightest thing. Worse, we insist on using the law and authority to fight our petty battles.

Take the case of the Polish woman who left a work voicemail for a customer who had defaulted on a payment calling him a “pussy.” Now it may be quite rude, certainly unprofessional when it comes to customer relations, but criminal? Hardly.

Yet, the case ended up in court where even presiding Judge Daniel Pearce-Higgins queried whether it was an offence. It was probably worthy of a complaint to the company, possibly a reprimand for the staff member concerned but certainly not a full-blown trial at Crown Court costing around £3,000.

Sensibly, the judge declined to grant a restraining order against the woman – a small victory for common sense. But, it does underline the point that we have become very sensitive little flowers when it comes to dealing with perceived slurs in all areas of life.

While I’m very much against racist, homophobic or other similar comments, surely most minor slurs can be treated with the contempt they deserve and ignored? After all, these often reveal more about the speaker than the spoken about.

What makes our relatively newly-acquired sensitivity stranger is that people are generally now far more prepared to speak their mind via social media without any sort of stop button at all. So it’s OK to dish it out but no-one is allowed to say anything vaguely derogatory to them.

And that is not even taking into account that remarkable modern phenomenon “not showing people respect.” This odd trait is usually the subject of complaint by those who actually deserve respect the least, who have done nothing to engender respect in others and who probably never will.

No. I really do think we need to start growing a thicker skin and learn to live with other people and their differing opinions. None of us can please everyone. There are always bound to be people who don’t like us and who may, shock horror, say so.

Just live with it, and move on.