‘But you’re doing it again right now,’ said Margaret.

‘Doing what?’

‘Causing offence.’

‘How?’

‘He’s not a chap. He’s a young woman.’

‘She’s a young woman,’ said Ben, correcting her.

‘Sorry, yes, that’s what I meant.’

‘Was that hate speech on your part?’ asked George. ‘Misgendering her?’

‘No, of course not,’ said Margaret. ‘It was simply a mistake.’

‘But so was mine. The thing is, I’ve always known him – her – as Aidan. And she didn’t have the courtesy to tell me that she was, you know, transitioning. From a caterpillar to a beautiful butterfly. Which, if memory serves, is what the serial killer thinks he’s doing in The Silence of the Lambs. Not that I’m drawing any connection between the two. Honestly, Margaret, you should have seen her. Really quite stunning. You’d be hard pushed to tell the difference. In some ways, you might say it was a compliment. If I’d, you know, screamed or something when I saw him—’

‘Her.’

‘If I’d screamed when I saw her, then that would have been tremendously impolite. But no, I naturally assumed that this was just a new receptionist, so I introduced myself and was making small talk, and honestly, it was like getting blood from a stone. You know, just because you’re going through some sort of personal rite of passage doesn’t give you the automatic right to be rude, does it?’

‘Be that as it may,’ said Margaret, ‘your words have caused offence.’

‘But that’s like complimenting someone on losing weight and then they complain that you’re suggesting they were fat before.’

Margaret frowned. ‘I’m not sure that’s quite the same thing,’ she said. ‘And I would steer clear of referring to women’s weight, if I was you. Especially in the workplace.’

‘I never mentioned women,’ he replied huffily. ‘It could have been a man I was talking about.’

‘Be that as it may,’ she repeated, ‘we live in strange times—’

‘You just assumed that it was a woman, which says more about your prejudices than it does about mine.’

‘When people are not only liable to take exception at any perceived slight but are actively looking for reasons to do so. You may have meant well, George, but intentions no longer matter. Social media has changed all that.’

‘Because, ironically, when it comes to social media, anything is acceptable and nothing is acceptable.’

‘Exactly.’

‘You agree with that?’

‘I agree with your interpretation of that. The patriarchy are—’

‘Oh, please,’ he said, rolling his eyes. ‘Just … let’s not. Also, the patriarchy is a single collective noun so whatever you were going to say, it should have been is, not are.’

‘The patriarchy are being held to account,’ she continued, speaking over him.

‘It is, is it?’ he asked.

‘It are.’

‘You see?’

‘Let’s not play semantics. You hold a position of responsibility here. The BBC itself holds a unique place in the life of this nation. People like you and I are held to a higher standard.’