Skip to main content
Gifts from The Morning Star
Mick Lynch has skelped the arse of the entire political and media establishment
The RMT leader has shown what is possible in terms of public support when class politics are explained plainly and unapologetically by working-class militants — we need more of this, writes JOHN WIGHT
RMT general secretary Mick Lynch on a picket line outside Euston station in London

Clarence Darrow: Trade unions have done more for humanity than any other organisation of men that ever existed.

 

Margaret Thatcher: I can’t help but spit nails when just thinking about trade unions.

RARELY does there come along an individual who captures the imagination of working-class people in the process of stripping away all of the accumulated verbal detritus and obfuscation that we have come to expect in our political discourse.

In the course of the current rail strikes, organised by the RMT Union, the union’s general secretary Mick Lynch has made verbal mincemeat of assorted Tory MPs, mainstream commentators and representatives of the rail companies with a combination of sarcasm, plain speaking, grasp of detail, intelligence, but most of all defiance.

The 95th Anniversary Appeal
Support the Morning Star
You have reached the free limit.
Subscribe to continue reading.
More from this author
British Heavyweight boxer Frank Bruno speaking at the first ever Annual Dinner of the Professional Boxers Association in London, watched by commentator Harry Carptenter, June 22, 1994
Men’s boxing / 29 August 2025
29 August 2025

Amid riots, strikes and Thatcher’s Britain, Frank Bruno fought not just for boxing glory, but for a nation desperate for heroes, writes JOHN WIGHT

American boxer Mike Tyson (left) throws a punch at Briton's Julius Francis, during their heavyweight fight at the MEN Arena, Manchester
Men’s Boxing / 16 August 2025
16 August 2025

In recently published book Baddest Man, Mark Kriegel revisits the Faustian pact at the heart of Mike Tyson’s rise and the emotional fallout that followed, writes JOHN WIGHT

The Atomic Bomb Dome is seen on July 10, 2025, in Hiroshima, western Japan
Features / 9 August 2025
9 August 2025

As we mark the anniversaries of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings, JOHN WIGHT reflects on the enormity of the US decision to drop the atom bombs

Josh Taylor, May 25, 2024
Men’s boxing / 1 August 2025
1 August 2025

From humble beginnings to becoming the undisputed super lightweight champion of the world, Josh Taylor’s career was marked by fire, ferocity, and national pride, writes JOHN WIGHT

Similar stories
misrepresenting
BenchMarx / 22 May 2025
22 May 2025

ANGUS REID calls for artists and curators to play their part with political and historical responsibility

(L to R) Nicholas Garland in The Telegraph; Frank Eccles Bro
Features / 28 February 2025
28 February 2025
PETER LAZENBY is fascinated by a book of cartoons that shows how newspaper cartoonists were employed to, on the one hand, denigrade and, on the other, to defend the miners’ strike of 1984-85
RMT general secretary Mick Lynch joins the picket line outsi
Britain / 10 January 2025
10 January 2025
Rail, Maritime and Transport union general secretary Mick Ly
Britain / 9 January 2025
9 January 2025