'This green and pleasant': a short story

A short fictional story in response to the COBRA meeting held over the recent 'Calais crisis'. The UK government's emergency committee COBRA convened its first meeting on 25 June and has held subsequent meetings throughout July chaired by numerous senior politicians. In response, COBRA RES are inviting experimental fiction in the form of 'Flash Fiction' short stories to mimic the quick fire nature of media and government responses to a long term issue.Taking inspiration from the striking of ferry workers, the attempt by people in Calais to enter the UK 'illegally' and Operation Stack on the M20 in Kent, alongside the fluid media and political responses now stained into the very fabric of the 'event', writers were invited to explore the notion of 'fiction' in its broadest possible sense. Sharon Kivland's essay/story 'This green and pleasant' takes up the invasion of Britain by foreign tree species, which date back to Roman times. The words are assembled from a range of horticultural sources.