Mick Lynch thrashes Britain’s rubbish posho TV interviewers so often you’d think they’d give up. But they haven’t. So, he’s had to do it again. The Rail, Maritime and Transport (RMT) Union leader spent another morning making the reality-detached sneering hacks look like fools over current strikes. And as always, we’re here for it.
First up, Lynch took on two morning TV hacks who seemed to be trying to argue that it was somehow the RMT’s fault that railway operators had been gouging money out of taxpayer subsidies:
Why doesn't our money go to improving the railways, instead of private shareholders? pic.twitter.com/juWwO89DKq
— Trades Union Congress (@The_TUC) June 7, 2023
Needless to say, Lynch ran rings around him. So, the presenter handed over to a colleague who made a nebulous point about how badly British Rail had been nationalised. She said:
…the last time that the train companies were nationalised they were appalling, absolutely appalling.
Lynch was taking no prisoners, accusing the commentator of repeating a cliché she’d picked up somewhere. And then he explained the nuances and details of British Rail funding:
Under British Rail the last year of British Rail operations it was subsidised for £1bn. Under the private sector, as you’ve just pointed out, it’s now subsidised for £16bn.
Cliché-riddled presenters 0, Mick Lynch 1. This is the enduring pattern of his interactions with this sort of chancer.
‘Dimwitted journalists’
Lynch continues to be a hugely popular figure. Partly this is because he is a great debater, and a rare one on mainstream media in that he isn’t a smug posh git. But there’s a strong sense that what normal people really enjoy is seeing him put the boot into pompous presenters:
These dimwitted journalists can challenge or be disrespectful to Mick Lynch as much as they like, but he'll always have an answer to their every question or insult. Such an excellent communicator, a very genuine man, and knows how to deal with wankers dressed up as journalists!
— Matthew Payne (@Matthew82069336) June 8, 2023
There is virtually nobody like Lynch in the media these days. And that is another reason he garners such support for RMT workers:
https://twitter.com/pete3291/status/1666744092900970496
Another Twitter user said he took particular joy from Lynch’s pugilistic performances. And he’s right, there’s nothing quite like seeing a cocky right-wing presenter reduced to a quivering wreck by the RMT general secretary:
I particularly liked the downturned mouths which edged silently ever downwards as Mick Lynch delivered right hook after right hook.
— Tony Henderson (@Hendrover) June 8, 2023
Meanwhile, someone else made an entire video of Mick Lynch as the Thunderbirds villain The Hood – during an earlier wave of strikes, Piers Morgan made a bizarre argument about Mick Lynch having the fictional character as his profile picture:
https://twitter.com/TSting18/status/1666708839838695424
Confidence and power
It must be very hard for privileged presenters to understand why the tough-looking Londoner can run rings around them. These people are used to sneering at, and lording over, normal people.
But many working class people get it. Lynch is a figure who gives confidence to his workers. And what he tells us is important. There’s nothing that rich presenters and smug Tories can do that we can’t do better. It’s almost like we don’t need them at all – and that’s what really rattles them.
Featured image via Wikimedia Commons/Steve Eason, cropped to 1910 x 1000, licenced under CC BY 2.0.
