Opinion

Jake O'Kane: Mick Lynch is the hero we need in this post-Brexit era

Any doubt about Mick Lynch's genealogy evaporated when he was asked whether he had any heroes, to which he replied, "Yes, James Connolly"...

The straight-talking Mick Lynch, general secretary of the RMT union, is Jake's new hero. Picture by Yui Mok/PA Wire.
The straight-talking Mick Lynch, general secretary of the RMT union, is Jake's new hero. Picture by Yui Mok/PA Wire. The straight-talking Mick Lynch, general secretary of the RMT union, is Jake's new hero. Picture by Yui Mok/PA Wire.

SOMETIMES I get so angry that what I want to say isn't possible in a family paper. The following story is an example.

I learned this week that the Ulster Museum might end up in the High Court after it didn't reply promptly to a vexatious letter demanding the "empirical evidence and hard science used to support the museum's endorsement of the origins of the human species".

Seemingly, under Freedom of Information legislation, the museum must provide what's being demanded. I suspect if the enquiry had come from a genuinely inquisitive source, museum staff would have promptly provided the information asked; however, we all know this request hasn't originated with someone seeking knowledge, quite the opposite.

Whoever is demanding this proof - and for whom no proof will suffice - comes from that small section of society who've fought the idea of evolution since Charles Darwin published his book, On the Origin of Species, in 1859.

Impervious to the mountain of evidence proving Darwin was right, these philosophical Luddites choose religious fable over scientific fact.

No doubt the author of the letter would argue humanity is only 6,000 years old, in lockstep with biblical teaching, a belief shared by several prominent local politicians.

Such attacks on scientific facts by religious fanatics must be faced down. While everyone has a right to their beliefs, no equivalence should be drawn between what someone believes and what scientists have proven to be fact.

Even today, we see examples of what happens when religious orthodoxy triumphs, for instance, the treatment of Afghan women forced from education by the Taliban.

We also witnessed the sharp end of religious fanaticism a few weeks ago with the attempt on the life of author Salman Rushdie: his crime, writing the novel, The Satanic Verses in 1988.

If the Ulster Museum is forced to answer, I suggest they keep their response terse and recommend those questioning the theory of evolution consider reading more than one book.

****

I MISSED this year's Féile but have had the privilege of playing it in the past. I found it a warm and welcoming experience and was impressed with the management team responsible.

It's sad, therefore, that a few isolated incidents of idiocy were allowed to taint a festival covering dozens of shows and events.

Was anyone genuinely shocked to learn that a minority attending a Wolfe Tones performance chanted pro-IRA slogans? If you were, I'll break it to you gently, but bears poo in the woods and gingers burn in the sun.

I'm not for a moment condoning any of this behaviour; I am suggesting that we stop reacting like Pavlov's dogs to such annual nonsense.

Those involved are neither our brightest nor our best, so instead of giving them the attention they so desperately seek, why not ignore their tantrums as we would a spoilt child?

Local rap group, Kneecap, cleverly hijacked the predictable reaction of the perennially offended for publicity when they unveiled a supposedly contentious mural. As a result, they received a mountain of local media coverage and made it into the pages of the Guardian.

I may copy their example and unveil a similarly contentious mural in north Belfast. Maybe Sammy Wilson, chasing an escaped marsupial in a Tyrone field, wearing nothing but a smile - that should do it.

****

POST-BREXIT and post-Boris, was there ever a more appropriate image encapsulating the UK than its people swimming in their own excrement?

With record levels of untreated sewage being pumped into the seas and waterways by Tory-backed private water companies, 'something is rotten in the state of Denmark'...

The avalanche of industrial action across different sectors shows that British workers have finally decided to fight against decades of wage repression.

The big island faces a harsh winter with strikes by everyone from binmen to barristers. One positive amongst the mayhem has been the arrival of a new working-class hero in the shape of RMT general secretary Mick Lynch, whose name suggested to me an Irish connection.

Another giveaway was the ease with which he has dismantled every journalist and Tory politician in his path. Any doubt about Mick's genealogy evaporated when a journalist asked him whether he had any heroes, to which he replied, "Yes, James Connolly".

If the Labour party had Mick Lynch as its leader instead of the insipid Keir Starmer, they might win a general election. As it stands, a tiny section of the UK population is about to inflict another Tory Prime Minister on us.