So, we are to have a Brexlection. The Brexit crescendo that had been building since last June's referendum was, we imagined, getting as loud as we thought possible for the human ear to bear. But with the prime minister's General Election announcement, it has moved up from a headache-prompting forte to a migraine-inducing fortissimo.

It is not for me to make political comment – ‘resting' though I am – but the significantly increased risk of other important agendas being crowded out needs to be understood. This is serious. But we must not succumb to fatalism or we will herald in a self-fulfilling prophesy.