If the past is another country, and there is nothing so poignant as the innocence of recent history, then there is a third category of engagement with the era directly preceding our own, encapsulated by the line “that didn’t age well”.

I found myself thinking about this in relation to news of the seven male students accused of gang-raping a 20-year-old woman two years ago in their fraternity house at Cornell University, and now facing a civil suit brought by their alleged victim. Apparent failures by Cornell and the local district attorney to act appropriately at the time have triggered another round of commentary about the “death of #MeToo”, not least with the looming anniversary on 15 October, the date in 2017 when the hashtag first went viral. But the period I find myself thinking about predates even that, when it seemed as if these questions of consent had been largely resolved.

“Campus rape” – a category of sex crime historically taken even less seriously by the criminal justice system than regular rape – has always flushed out complacencies among those who otherwise consider themselves liberal.

So it was in 2015, when it seemed to many liberal observers as if, after almost eight solid years of President Barack Obama in the White House, a crucial line had been crossed; conservatism had lost, liberalism had won, and the biggest threat to female students on campus was the temptation to........

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