WHEN it comes to Brexit, it isn’t possible to make an omelette without breaking a few eggs. The word ‘egg’ is a good old-fashioned Saxon term derived from the northern dialect, while ‘omelette’ is a fancy French name for an age-old recipe cooked the world over.

The word ‘omelette’ first appeared in the Cuisine Bourgeoisie, published in the late 17th Century - a few decades before Napoleon Bonaparte reputedly insisted on serving an enormous omelette to his army, as they marched through the town of Bressieres in Southern France. According to legend, Napoleon so enjoyed the omelette concocted by the local innkeeper that, the following day, he commandeered every egg in the town for the soldiers’ lunch. Every year at Easter, the residents of Bressieres celebrate by cooking and eating the world’s largest omelette.

Of course the continental influence, that we’ve been trying so hard to distance ourselves from, extends further than just omelettes. Sir Walter Scott, who attended the local Grammar School in Kelso, observed the Norman conquest led to a natural division of language between the conquerors and the vanquished.

The land-based Saxons, tending their livestock in the fields and forests, referred to them using the old English terms: ‘swine’, ‘ox’, ‘cow’, and ‘sheep’. Once butchered and served at the feast, the same animals took on the Norman descriptions: ‘pork’, ‘beef’ and ‘mutton’. At a distance of almost 1,000 years, none of those refinements now seem particularly troublesome.

Having accepted that the greater part of British culture has been absorbed, over time, from foreign nations, it’s only natural that we might want to retain a sizeable proportion of the influences that we’ve adopted during our membership of the European Union. Our separation from the EU was always going to be a compromise – there are parts of the relationship we want to retain and parts that we want to throw into the sea. We want to access the Continent for trade, but we don’t want to be bound by the European rule-book.

Political events, following the publication of the Withdrawal Agreement, are moving so fast that by the time you’ve read this we could be in a completely new phase of Brexit altogether. You’ll find no special insight here – except to say that we really need to hold our politicians to account and ask the big questions. For example: What does the Irish ‘backstop’ mean for racehorse trainers? Will Irish horses be able to travel over as easily for the Grand National, on April 6, as for Kelso’s fixture on March 23 (six days before the intended date of Brexit)?

I’d also like to hear what the Cabinet decided to back at Cheltenham this weekend – there has to be a reason why their meeting took so long on Wednesday. Our selection today is King’s Socks in the BetVictor Gold Cup, the race which used to be known as the Mackeson Gold Cup when Britain first entered the EEC.