Hansard gems: peanut butter, tooting trains and industrial relations

It’s May 1971 and the House of Lords is debating the weighty matter of industrial relations. Step forward Lord Mansfield:

The older among your Lordships may remember a ditty of our youth called “It ain’t gonna rain no mo'” which contained a number of rather amusing verses. One of them was: A peanut sitting on the railroad track, Its heart was all a flutter. The train came roaring round the bend— Toot, Toot! Peanut butter!

In case you’re wondering about the relevance of all this to industrial relations, fear not – he made it clear in the next sentence:

I am afraid that the individual worker will find himself “peanut butter” unless there is statutory provision.

Good to know that it is only the force of law which can keep us from turning in to peanut butter.

Here’s that song in full(-ish – as explained in the video not all 98 verses are sung this time round):

Liked this story? Find other gems from Hansard on my archive page for this series of posts.