The #MeToo campaign has unfolded with weary predictability, characterised by the cocktail of indignation and censoriousness that increasingly seems to dominate our public discourse. First, there is wounded outrage at something unspeakable that has happened, or not happened; then, recriminations abound, and ever-wider circles of participants and onlookers cultivate an affronted lament.

This is partly a feature of the media in which our public discussions are conducted, which function more like echo-chambers than fora of genuine conversation. But it also seems to me that the predominant register of indignation in our discourse reflects a moral sensibility gone very badly awry.