Our man refers to a classic children’s book, Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel, written and illustrated by Virginia Lee Burton. Mike works with Mary Ann, his coal-fired steam shovel. They are hired to dig the cellar for the new town hall in Popperville, but there’s a catch: they’ll get paid only if they can dig the entire cellar in one day.
You can listen to Will Saris read the story in English here.
Hugh’s tweet this morning refers to the proposed “Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill” in England (policing is a devolved issue in Northern Ireland and Scotland, so much of the bill only relates to England and Wales). This bill was raised in light of recent protests in England and is dubbed ‘Police Crackdown Bill’ or ‘Anti-Protest Bill’ as it is feared that it will have far-reaching consequences for people’s right to peaceful protest. There are several Twitter threads about this issue, for example this one
- https://twitter.com/IanDunt/status/1370322183793295370 by Ian Dunt, political editor, columnist and author.The bill comes before Parliament today, Monday, and will be voted on by MPs on Tuesday.
Hugh’s tweet this morning refers to the proposed “Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill” in England (policing is a devolved issue in Northern Ireland and Scotland, so much of the bill only relates to England and Wales). This bill was raised in light of recent protests in England and is dubbed ‘Police Crackdown Bill’ or ‘Anti-Protest Bill’ as it is feared that it will have far-reaching consequences for people’s right to peaceful protest. There are several Twitter threads about this issue, for example this one
- https://twitter.com/IanDunt/status/1370322183793295370 by Ian Dunt, political editor, columnist and author.
The bill comes before Parliament today, Monday, and will be voted on by MPs on Tuesday.
This tweet is connected to Hugh’s tweet from the previous day which links to this Guardian article.
He uses sports metaphors to illustrate how simple this situation should be to resolve for Her Majesty’s Government (HMG).
A tap-in is an easy goal scored from a relatively short distance.
While shank is often used to describe a golf ball hit a certain way it’s more likely that Hugh is using it in football terms where it means a ball kicked into an unintended direction, here into the upper tiers of a stadium.
Our man is talking about the battle due to take place between Deontay Wilder and Tyson Fury at the MGM Grand arena in Las Vegas, Nevada on 22 February, 2020. Fury is looking to regain his heavyweight title from Wilder in this rematch. Hugh gives his opinion on this event with his usual obscure but entertaining sense of humor.
You can read more about the rematch here.
Hugh is most likely referring to the near-total ban on abortion passed into law by the Alabama state legislature on 14 May 2019. A wave of similar bills has been introduced to the majority of states in the US, with the intent to take the issue to the Supreme Court and overturn Roe v Wade.
Hugh is calling attention to the fact that last night, the last ever episode of ‘Veep’ aired in the US. The term ‘Last Post’ refers to a bugle call used at Commonwealth military funerals or commemorations for those killed in wars. You can listen to the Last Post for Remembrance here.
Our man is most likely replying to a series of tweets posted by Tim Montgomerie, a conservative political activist, blogger and columnist. Hugh’s examples are of failed ventures or a wrong outcome made right. ‘Peanuts in Tanzania’ refers to an effort more commonly known as ‘the groundnut scheme’, while Lance Armstrong, an international cycling athlete, was relieved of his titles after he admitted to using banned drugs to win the Tour de France. As for the Birmingham Six, they are men from Northern Ireland, then currently living in Birmingham, who were wrongly accused of the bombing of two pubs in 1974.
(Thanks to Stephen/@tweedy151 for letting us know Hugh was responding to Mr. Montgomerie.)
Our man is responding to a fan who would like to have Hugh’s song ‘Mystery’ added to online playlists. Hugh’s response is a reference to College Green in Westminster, a small public park behind Westminster Abbey and diagonally opposite the Houses of Parliament where reporters often interview members of Parliament, and members of the public there as well to protest or rally with placards (protest signs, for Americans).
The song referred to can be found here.
