It sounds like a description of a post-Brexit dystopian future: a little bit of bread and no cheese.

Food shortages in the shops; rationing of basic provisions; names like Brie, Camembert and Roquefort just distant memories, only now heard whispered in awed tones of nostalgic reverence: a little bit of bread and no cheese.

It is scarcely the optimistic vision of the future that Brexiteers promised in 2016.  This is England 2019: a little bit of bread and no cheese.

Blockades at the borders; empty shelves in the supermarket; high tariffs on imported foods: a little bit of bread and no cheese.

Lorries queueing at Dover (Dominic Raab take note); lorries queueing at Calais; an island nation taking back control: a little bit of bread and no cheese.

Or the sound of the English countryside; the symphony of the Green and Pleasant Land; the distinctive song of the beautiful Yellowhammer warbling in full voice from the field and hedgerow: “a little bit of bread and no cheese”.

Operation Yellowhammer is the name that the government has given to its No-Deal Brexit contingency plan.

Operation Cuckoo might have been a better name.

© The Mudskipper