This – http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-37995606 – was a story with two parts, but I couldn’t fit Boris Johnson’s sally and the Italian minister Carlo Calenda’s response into one limerick, so I just went with the former.

But then, rather marvellously, @pseudomonas made up for the deficit with a finely crafted account of Calenda’s riposte. Both limericks follow:

https://twitter.com/pseudomonas/status/799296039304003584

The only thing still missing  was Calenda’s killer blow: “The difference is I’m going to lose [exports] to one country, you to 27.”