I remember something Clive Robertson once said on-air regarding a complaint about music choice on ABC Classic Breakfast – every radio was equipped with an off switch, and you were free to use it. It’s good advice as we move into the ‘Age of Offence’ when a lot of people seem very quick to criticise things that don’t fit their world view, whether it be a piece of Brahms or some joke told on a stage. You simply can’t please everyone all the time, and chances are while you are getting out your phone to type an angry complaint, someone else is loving every minute of the thing you don’t like.

Guy Noble's Soapbox

Being moderately offensive is the lifeblood of humour. I was conducting a concert with the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra and introduced José Carbó who was singing an aria from Korngold’s opera Die Tote Stadt, which translates as The Dead City. “Well”, I said to the audience, “you know that – you live in Adelaide.” It just popped out. It’s the only time that I’ve ever been comprehensively booed on stage. But they laughed as well. Strangely...