the writing is on the wall there are clear signs that something unpleasant or unwelcome is going to happen.

☞ This phrase comes from the biblical story of Belshazzar's feast, at which a disembodied hand appeared and wrote a message on the wall foretelling the fall of the Babylonian kingdom to the Medes and Persians (Daniel 5:5, 25–8). A North American variant is the handwriting is on the wall.

2014Daily Telegraph Church leaders fear the writing is on the wall for traditional church magazines after one of the oldest in the country closes after more than 100 years.