“What I do find annoying, Mishal, is that you put these lines that are directly taken from the propaganda from the other side,” said Mick Lynch, the head of the RMT union, in an interview with the journalist Mishal Husain on Radio 4’s Today programme this morning. He continued: “You never show any admiration for the fight that working people are putting up for our country … you never seem to take an impartial view on the way that this society is balanced at the moment.” It was an extremely uncomfortable listen, particularly if you, like I, admire Husain.
Lynch has won widespread popularity across a genuinely broad political spectrum. I also write a column called Dining Across the Divide, in which people with opposing viewpoints meet, and it is incredible how many of them find their one point of unity is that they like Lynch. In part, this is because of his combative, confident stance with interviewers, the way he can run rings around everyone from Piers Morgan to Kay Burley. Husain, though, is a very thoughtful interviewer, and his words to her sounded personalised.
