While I try not to oversubscribe to trendy dating cultures, the art of spotting a red flag seems to be a trend (or should I say talent) that isn’t going out of style anytime soon.

Do you take fright if a man confesses to FaceTiming his mum five times a day? Or would an obsession with collecting rare coins put you off? Red flags are specific to an individual’s dating palate. After all, one man’s trash is another man’s treasure.

Spotting a red flag doesn’t mean the person you’re dating isn’t a keeper though. The tricky thing is, when you’re crushing on someone you can overlook some really serious red flags.

Then, next time round, you’re over-cautious, and red flags go up for the smallest thing. We need balanced judgment to decide when the red flag becomes a dealbreaker, which is when we should bow out gracefully.

I always advise my clients to stay open-minded. They’ve signed up to a blind dating agency so they are halfway there. I conduct a call with all new clients, and I remind them fervently that everything they’ve written on their sign-up forms are just desired requests and I have free rein to match as I please.

We’ve all got a list — whether it’s floating in our minds or meticulously written down — of what we’re searching for in a partner.

And though diverting from that list is healthy and recommended, everyone has a non-negotiable or two. From my experience, those are easy to catch. If they are planning to move to Israel and you have absolutely no interest in making aliyah, then it is best to tap out of that dating voyage, and quickly.

Any type of unhinged behaviour on a date could be a prediction of multiple red flags that fall into different groupings.

A physical red flags could be body odour — which can be resolved — but then there is the contentious subject of height, which, unfortunately, unless they commit to wearing shoes with a hidden heel in for the rest of their lives, our hands (or should I say shoelaces) are tied.

Although is it really fair to judge someone on their lack of inches — or for being too tall? Good things can come in packages of all shapes and sizes.

Then there are habitual red flags so for, example, if they are part of the 5am club and you can’t bear the thought of waking up until the sun has risen, then it just might not align.

You need to find the balance of being alert on dates so you can spot red flags, but not to get lost down the road of unwillingness to compromise.

Relationships are all about co-existing and evaluating whether it is worth cutting things off with someone is crucial and the onus is on you.

Ask yourself the difficult questions. Is this an actual red flag or am I being a tad shallow?

The real red flags should go up when someone casually slips into conversation that they’re not sure if they are ready for a relationship. This is code for “I’m going to hurt you and waste your time”. So yes, if your next date mutters anything along those lines take the warning and stay well away.