Pass the Duchess

Hammering Hash #1

The Daily Mail, a British newspaper with many axes to grind, rarely misses an opportunity, however obscure, to hammer home its message. Page three of The Mail on Sunday issue of December 12th 2004 showed a picture of Prince Harry wearing a tee shirt with the slogan: 'this generation rules the nation'. The reporter found a 'thinly veiled reference to drugs' in this message.

Here's how he worked it out for us:
The words are the opening lines of Musical Youth's 1982 hit 'Pass the Dutchie'.
A 'Dutchie' is a cooking pot.
The Musical Youth song was a cover of an earlier song called 'Pass the Kouchie'.
A 'Kouchie' is a cannabis pipe.
(Musical Youth had changed the 'offending word' Kouchie to avoid controversy.)

Q: Is that a thinly veiled reference? How many people would have known this stuff if the reporter had not, so thoughtfully, explained it all? In publishing these details, have the Mail now made a controversial song of 'Pass the Dutchie' too? Is it news? - the song was a 1982 hit (also note: Harry was born in 1984).