WHEN The Sun newspaper ran cruel and misleading headlines about Liverpool supporters in 1989, it sparked a backlash that lasts to this day – and rightly so.

When I was young, a number of newspapers ran cartoons depicting the Irish as ape-like, violent and stupid. It led to a reaction that ensured that kind of crassness is now beyond the pale.

Social discourse when I was younger was casually full of racism, sexism, homophobia and any number of slurs you might care to mention.

It led to the fightback that was labelled first "political correctness" and then "woke". Loud voices now tell us this has oppressed free speech, but what is it they feel they can no longer say about Irish people, black people, women or gay people?

Do we really want to hear it? Is it better that certain people now think twice before saying crude, bigoted things?

So why does it feel as though things have become worse?

The reaction online to the deaths of five young Irish teenagers was beyond shocking. It was........

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