Amid all the toxic social media exchanges and the heated discussion over the EU referendum, there have been a couple of calls into the newsroom where people have trotted out the line that "you can't talk about immigration".

This has been the great myth of British political life going back decades and part and parcel of the whole 'political correctness gone mad' mantra.

Incidently, in most cases, railing against political correctness was simply a sorry excuse for bad manners.

The idea that immigration is off the debating table, if it were ever true, has only existed among the upper echelons of the Labour Party and a few oddballs who were so afraid of clumsily offending someone or sounding racist they thought the whole topic was best avoided.

Certainly, it has been a regular issue of debate and concern, as well as an outlet for rabid nonsense, since the World Trade Center terror attack in 2001.

Immigration has been an issue during the riots in the North West, during the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.

It also accelerated after former communist states like Poland joined the EU in 2004.

You only had to listen to a radio phone in to hear someone complain they were not allowed to talk about it, even though they were, on air, in front of an audience of thousands.

Of course, as recession took hold and public services were slashed, the issue has risen even higher up the agenda and reached fever pitch on the day that Nigel Farage unveiled his distasteful 'Breaking Point' poster.

Sadly, despite this overwhelming weight of evidence, the myth - like the one that Christmas is banned in Birmingham (even though it hosts one of the world's largest Christmas markets) - seems to persist.

Now, can we finally nail this, you can talk about immigration and a great many have.

And, being asked to stop banging on about it at every opportunity, is not the same thing as being banned.

Good old-fashioned Knowledge

Neil Elkes does "The Knowledge"
Neil Elkes does "The Knowledge"

It was disappointing to see that the council's licensing committee, in its infinite wisdom, has decided that minicab drivers no longer need to do 'The Knowledge' to be allowed to drive paying passengers around Birmingham.

Apparently, the arrival of the satnav has made this requirement unnecessary. While Brummie drivers complained that their colleagues based in neighbouring boroughs do not have to sit the test in order to collect passengers on Broad Street.

Apparently, some drivers were actually applying for licenses elsewhere to avoid the test knowing full well they would do most of their work in Birmingham.

When the Birmingham knowledge was introduced about decade ago, I sat the test for a feature. As a roving reporter, I spent several years dashing around the city and was confident that, with perhaps a little revision, the test would be a doddle.

It was nothing of the sort. Not only did you have to know how to get from, say, Winson Green to Tile Cross, but you had to do it by the shortest route - going along the main arterial roads, as I suggested to the examiner, would add a couple of pounds to a fare.

Suffice to say I finished way short of the 90 per cent pass rate and failed. Bang went the moonlighting gig that had been lined up.

Instead of the test, would-be private hire drivers need only show they can read a map. New drivers may be celebrating the lowering of standards. But there's no substitute for old-fashioned 'knowledge'.

How to stop more political craziness

And finally a warm welcome to the proposal of a 2016 Referendum Act as follows:

1. The holding of a referendum is hereby prohibited. 2. This Act can only be repealed by a referendum.

That should do it.