“When graffiti appeared in Turin in the 1960s that claimed ‘Fiat=Auschwitz’ the Holocaust survivor Primo Levi was disgusted. It was ‘not true’ he said, for ‘there is no gas chamber at Fiat’ and you can go home at the end of the day.

It seems an obvious point, but Levi thought the necessity of making accurate distinctions and judging fairly were among the most important lessons he had learnt in Auschwitz. Yet, ironically, the very same camps had made us fear that any act of discernment could slip into mere prejudice and, perhaps, enormity. Best to leave well alone. That fear is still rife in our culture, and, it has to be said, is mostly a good and kindly impulse that has improved the position of minorities in the West.

But Levi thought the refusal to draw distinctions could also lead to terrible collapses of judgement and a politically dangerous tendency to moral equivalencing.”

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