Friday, 3 July 2020
Friday, 3 July 2020: Bring on the by-election; Ireland’s professional toilet flushers; Grand Prix is go!; and Katy Perry makes pop chart history.
LINKS:
What’s Up Fox:
Reading: http://www.andygriffiths.com.au/abook/?id=9780330421973
Listening: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6xYGm0jgBcg
Watching: https://www.world.rugby/u20/video/343805
EPISODE TRANSCRIPT
THE LOWDOWN
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You won’t be able to move today without hearing the words ‘by-election’ and ‘Eden Monaro’. So what does it mean and why should you care?
It all has to do with an election that is taking place tomorrow in a part of NSW to select a representative to go to Canberra and sit in Federal Parliament.
Eden Monaro is the name of the area in NSW where some 115,000 voters live. The outcome of tomorrow’s poll will be important for a couple of reasons. If the Labor Party candidate wins, the balance of power – which is to say the number of politicians on the government’s side compared to the number on the opposition’s side – will remain the same as it is now. If the Coalition wins – which is to say the Liberal or National party candidate – then Prime Minister Scott Morrison will have one more person on his team in Canberra.
By-elections are elections that happen in one particular area only as opposed to in a whole state or the whole country. Labor is going in as the slight favourite in tomorrow’s contest – but election experts are saying it will be a close run race.
SPIN THE GLOBE
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Each day we give the world globe a spin and find a news story from wherever it stops – and today we’ve landed in Ireland – the Emerald Isle – in the picturesque County Mayo … where a young couple have been in charge of looking after a huge, 800 year-old castle for the period of the coronavirus lockdown.
Ashford Castle was once the stately home of a super-rich Irish family – but has since been turned into an exclusive hotel with 83 rooms. But since the pandemic took hold, the place has been closed – with only a young English/Irish couple left on site to look after the place.
As well as dusting chandeliers and vacuuming rugs for days, the duo have to run the showers in every room every day – and flush the 160 toilets twice a day – just to make sure the pipes keep running.
At the end of most days, they end up in the castle’s 32-seat private cinema. Because all that flushing can really take it out of you.
SPORTS TIME!
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Get your motors running people! After a COVID-inspired hiatus – which is a fancy word for ‘break’ – the Formula 1 races are back – kicking off this weekend with the Austrian Grand Prix.
In keeping with these curious times in which we live, there’ll be no spectators allowed at the race course – but with a sports-starved TV watching public just hankering for any sort of televised competition – there’s expected to be an enormous global audience sitting in armchairs all over the world.
Sitting in the driver’s seat for the Renault team will be Australia’s own Daniel Riccardo – aiming to be first across the finish line past the famous chequered flag.
But he’s going to have his work cut out . Britain’s Lewis Hamilton, driving for Mercedes, is hotly tipped to win and take home his 85th Formula 1 race title.
POP CULTURE CORNER
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Katy Perry made a little bit of music history this week when her new single Daisies cracked the Billboard top ten in the United States – her 16th song to do so – an achievement which has only been matched by singer Kelly Clarkson, pop queen Taylor Swift, the indomitable P!nk, and supergroup, Maroon 5.
Meanwhile, One Direction fans were sent into a mini-frenzy again yesterday when Liam Payne posted to TikTok a FaceTime chat he’d recently had with Harry Styles, reigniting speculation the boy band was preparing to announce a reunion tour.
My tip – for what it’s worth – they’re just mucking around. And toying with the emotions of teenage fans everywhere …
WHAT’S UP FOX?
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Every Friday we check in with Squiz Kids ambassador, Flynn, known as The Fox to his friends – to see what he’s been reading, listening to and watching.
And this week’s book is the hilarious ‘Bumageddon: The Final Pongflict‘– it’s the third and final book in author Andy Griffiths’ Bum books – a series that started with ‘The Day My Bum Went Psycho’ – in which our hero Zac Freeman must go back in time to save the world from being wiped out by pong. Apparently it makes more sense to read than it does to say…
On the listening front, he’s been loving a bit of Guy Sebastian these past few days and has the single Standing With You on high rotation.
And as for watching: there’s been a lot of U20s Rugby World Cup replays on YouTube – mixed with episodes of The Voice. He’s all about Team Guy.
THE S’QUIZ
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This is the part of the podcast where you get to test how well you’ve been listening …
- How many toilets does Ashford Castle have?
- In which country in Europe is the Formula 1 Grand Prix happening this weekend?
- Which pop singer made a bit of history this week with her song ‘Daisies’?
SHOUT OUTS
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It’s July 3 … dum-dum-dum-dum- … it’s Mission Impossible star Tom Cruise’s birthday. It’s all 92 years to the day since the first colour television was invented.
It’s also a special day for these Squiz Kids celebrating a birthday today… Stella from Double Bay, Storme from Abbotsford, Rory from Brighton East, Grace from Mt Gravatt East, Imogen from Cammeray, Connor from Brisbane, Claudia from St Ives, Ashley from Broken Hill, Ben from Putney, Aurora from Subiaco, Olivia from Hughes, Jack from Crookwell, Kyle from Moora and Miranda from Trevallyn.
And some belated birthday shoutouts… Jalia from Ashmont, Shai from Tottenham and Mackie from Torquay.
And some weekend birthday shoutouts .. Euan from North Bridge, Ava from Valentine, John from Lysterfield, Quinn from Redlynch, Tilly from Ringwood East, Harry from Doncaster, Gabby from Toogoolawah, Aleeta from Gosford East, Holly from Inverell, Flynn from Melbourne, Miya from Inverell, Inayat from Oran Park and Griffyn from Coochiemudlo Island.
Happy birthday to you all.
The S’Quiz Answers:
- 160
- Austria
- Katy Perry
Don’t forget .. if you’ve got a birthday coming up and you want a shout out – or you’re after a classroom shout out – drop us a line at [email protected].
And while I love you all – and could sit here and talk at you until the cows came home – I’m following your lead and taking a school holiday week off next week. That means there’s no Squiz Kids for a whole week – woo-hoo! –
Thanks for listening to Squiz Kids today – we’ll be back again on Monday July 13.
In the meantime, get out there and have a most excellent ten days – I know I will. Over and out.
Squiz Kids is proudly supported by the Judith Nielson Institute for Journalism and Ideas