Poor old Ed Sheeran, getting cancelled for literally saying nothing. Here’s why it could be Cliff Richard next

IT’S always difficult to ­predict who’s going to get cancelled next. No one saw JK Rowling ­coming, that’s for sure. Ed Sheeran literally said nothing at all and his fans are trying to offload tickets, his support acts have all walked and his band is ­refusing to play with him Credit: Getty Will Sir Cliff Richard be ostracised because he didn’t put a ­Palestine flag on his Christmas calendar? Credit: Redferns A penniless author writes a series of books that children adore and then, one day, she casually mentions that men shouldn’t be allowed to use women’s lavatories. And that was that. We were all instructed by a braying mob to burn her books — and even the actors and actresses she’d propelled to fame in the Harry Potter films were quick to denounce her. She was done. Finished. Cancelled. So who would be next? Moira Stuart? Judi Dench? Nicholas Lyndhurst? Nope. It turned out to be Ed Sheeran. Now, I met Ed once and he was almost unbelievably polite and likeable. We have a mutual friend who tells me he still is. I can’t pretend I know much about his music but, from what I can tell, it’s about as offensive as birdsong on a summer’s morning. So I’d have listed him as the person least likely to be cancelled. Apart from Sir David Attenborough, obviously. However, I’m afraid an army of people with jewellery in their noses has decided he’s got to go. His crime? Well, it’s a bit confusing but it seems it’s not something he said. It’s ­something he didn’t say. He literally said nothing at all and, for that, his fans are trying to offload tickets for his ­forthcoming tour, his support acts have all walked and, from what I hear, even his band is ­refusing to play with him. They want him to sound off on ­Palestine, and because he’s not really that sort of person, the keyboard warriors have sent him to ­Coventry. I met Ed once and he was almost unbelievably polite and likeable Credit: Getty US rapper, singer and dancer Macklemore Credit: AFP It’s bullying. There’s no other word for it. And the worst bully of them all is Roger Waters from Pink Floyd, who took to social media in a frothing rage, ­effing and blinding about Ed. Now, I have also met Roger, and he is a deeply unpleasant and cruel man. I don’t mind that he has views on Israel. I don’t even mind that he’s a stuck record on the ­subject. Protest in rock and roll is a good thing. It gave us tracks like Fortunate Son and What’s Going On and Another Brick In The Wall. But how can you protest about Ed when you don’t know what he thinks? Because he hasn’t told us. And who’s next? Will Sir Cliff Richard be ostracised because he didn’t put a ­Palestine flag on his Christmas calendar? In the current climate of absolute ­intolerance, that’s entirely possible. THERE have been suggestions that, soon, a feelgood movie will be made about the people of Piddington who, to protest about plans for an immigrant centre near their village, voted this week to leave the United Kingdom. You’ve seen Paddington. Now watch Piddington. Sounds great. But for it to work in this day and age, the asylum seekers would have to be substituted for far-right thugs. Because if they were actual immgrants, the people of Piddington would have to be portrayed as racist Nazis. F1 track is round the bend In the entire Grand Prix last weekend, there wasn’t a single ­passing manoeuvre Credit: Shutterstock Editorial AS soon as I saw a circuit map of the new Madring race track in Spain, I said to myself: “It’ll be impossible to overtake.” And so it turned out to be. In the entire Grand Prix last weekend, there wasn’t a single ­passing manoeuvre. And it makes me wonder. They had a blank canvas when they built that track. They could have looked at all the best overtaking corners in the world and built a track featuring all of them. But they did the exact opposite. And to think we are losing the always-exciting race at Spa so there’s space in the calendar for the dreary Madring. Grrrrr. IS THIS FACE OF KILLER? Some of the babies Lucy Letby is supposed to have killed would still be alive if the hospital had been run more professionally Credit: AP LUCY LETBY was back in the news this week as an inquiry found that some of the babies she is supposed to have killed would still be alive if the hospital had been run more professionally. I struggle with this case because for every report which says she is definitely guilty, there’s another which says she’s not. I know the jury at her murder trial was convinced, but here’s my problem . . . Whenever I see the mugshot of someone who’s been convicted of a heinous crime, I always think, “Yup, they look like a wrong ’un”. Harold Shipman. Peter Sutcliffe. Fred West. Ian Brady. Myra Hindley. All of them look like killers. But Lucy Letby? She just doesn’t. Donald Trump told us this week that he has a very high IQ Credit: Getty DONALD TRUMP told us this week that he has a very high IQ. Really? I only ask because if you do, Don, why do you pepper your social media posts with exclamation marks? Because in my experience, the only people who use those are morons. TREE’S A CROWD I KNOW plenty of people who live in Sussex and they seem reasonably normal and sane to me, but it’s very obvious that some of them are as mad as a chair. Because they have elected a Green-led council that decided this week that, like homosexuals and black people, trees have rights. Not just important trees that have preservation orders on them. All trees. I know it’s not as idiotic as the council in New Zealand that gave a local river “personhood”. But it’s up there. And it’s not just the madness of the decision – it’s the fact they had the time and the inclination to even discuss it . . . MORALE OF THE STORY K Boats tells the story of how the Royal Navy during World War One decided to build a fleet of enormous steam-powered submarines SCIENTISTS at Cambridge University said this week that reading makes you happier, cleverer and nicer. I’ll go with that. Last month I deleted TikTok from my phone and have been reading books instead. One was called The Accidental Soldier. It’s by a chap called Owain Mulligan – brother of the actress Carey – and it’s the true story of how one man found himself (quite near) the front line in Iraq. Honestly, it’s the funniest book I’ve ever read. A title it held until I found a yellowed paperback that was published in 1963. Called K Boats, it tells the story of how the Royal Navy during World War One decided to build a fleet of enormous steam-powered submarines. They were utterly useless – a point hammered home by the fact that when trying to go underwater, the captain, in the stern, telephoned a colleague who was at the front, and said: “I say, number one, my end’s diving. What the hell is your end doing?” Not sure this hilarious tome made me nicer but it certainly made me happier and cleverer. And that’s not something anyone can ever say after a 40-minute doomscroll on TikTok. ROMAN BLIND . . SOME boffins with far too much time on their hands have announced that in Roman times, all roads did not lead to Rome. Well, no. Some of them went to Leicester. But most, we’re told went to a place in Turkey called Antioch. Which is where the holy hand grenade is from (IYKYK). The boffins have also said that, contrary to popular belief, Roman roads weren’t straight. They say that when the Romans encountered a mountain or a lake, they went round it. These boffins, then, what is their specialist subject, I wonder? Stating the bleeding obvious?