Mick Lynch

[KangFang]

Anyone else here loving his work?

I don't think anyone believes that all 55+ and boomers are Daily Mail reading raging right wingers. However the statistics do seem to bear this age/ voting tendency assertion out. This is from yougov for last GE. I seem to recall a similar trend in the EU referendum.

It's true though. It's the older voters that see the Tories through at every election and got Brexit over the line.

I'm not saying all by any means (none of my elderly relatives would ever vote for them) just as a voting majority because it happens to be true for a food while now.

The core Tory voter is over 55.

It’s about education not age.

Less over 55’s went to university. Brexit was based on education levels. And l believe the higher you go in education the more likely you are to believe in social justice.

*good while

Yeah but the Boomers/over 55's, as a voting/polling majority, will always go for the Daily Mail position on absolutely anything.

Lazy, lazy, bullshit.

Loving Mick Lynch's work. Unflappable and sharp. But he's still defending Brexit so drops a few points there.

To be fair the PP was explicitly clear that she was talking as a voting/polling majority, which appears to be borne out by polling and actual election results.

No one is suggesting that it's an absolute statement about everyone in that demographic but saying that older demographics become more likely to vote conservative as they age compared to younger demographics when taken as a group is supported by quite a lot of evidence (though there is also evidence that the inflection point is getting older over time.)

Who was out campaigning against the Tories during the Thatcher years?

Just to add to this as well. Thatcher had a healthy majority among younger voters in the 80s. Those voters are now predominantly over 55.

The Tories weren't always kryptonite for the vast majority of people under 30 or 40. There is a big generational issue here which started with Thatcher.

It's the older voters that see the Tories through at every election and got Brexit over the line.

The oldest of the old (the ones who'd actually experienced the war rather than pretend they have) were majority pro-Remain.

The figures that Mick Lynch quoted for the rail profits were huge : if they are totally correct, it is a lot of money not going to the ones who work for it
I understand why they want a fairer pay award
I know that's a very simplistic view, but it made sense to me.
Many people around my age voted conservative in their 20s in the 1980s These make up a lot of the voters for them now. They don't tend to chop and change their voting patten either and are very loyal. It's going to take years before things change on that front.

(though there is also evidence that the inflection point is getting older over time.)

Yes, i've looked into this a lot in the last 10-15 years and noticed it at both ends of the scale. Labour would have a majority in the 18-20s age and then from about mid 30s it would flip to the Tories (this was around 2010-2015), 30 was about even. Particularly in the last couple of elections Labour had a majority up to late 30s/even into 40 and it was round about age 40 where it was even. But the majorities were massive in favour of Conservative from pension age. Part of that was Corbyn who had a huge image problem with older voters and also the Brexit issue (Get Brexit Done worked). if there was an election coming up I think it would narrow a lot from that extreme.

My late dad was 94 in 2016 and voted remain!
He made it to the voting booth on his own too!

Just checked and Rachel MacLean - the one who told people just "work more hours" if they needed more money - is the Tory MP 😀

It's true though. It's the older voters that see the Tories through at every election and got Brexit over the line

Possibly older voters mainly in the affluent South of one country out of four in the UK (not withstanding the Red Wall in 2019, but even the Tories know that tide will turn again).

Scotland and NI voted against Brexit.

@SwedishEdith

I can't wait for this 😁

I live in an affluent wealthy constituency with a lot of older people in it. Described as ‘Affluent Elders’

We have a Labour councillor and voted remain. Yet over 50’s vote Tory🫤

The difference is, I’m in the north. So it appears to be southerners who vote Conservative as mentioned above.

I've Wikipedia'd Scargill but am still none the wiser.Could you please summarise how the media portrayed him?

He was portrayed as basically evil by all the press.

We're northern and the over 55s in my family are mostly to the left, my parents support the strike and they are in their 60s. Most of them were/are in a union. But then families like mine aren't a particularly big percentage of the population. And, well, statistically people in poorer areas of the north like where I am die younger. The ones in the leafy shires stay alive and vote longer.

You keep referring to "above inflation pay demands", but I'm struggling to find evidence of them. All I've seen is asking for something that tries to keep up with inflation.

What I like about Mick Lynch is that he skewers the patronising theory (often espoused on this site) that everyone who voted Brexit is either a mouth-breathing cretin, or 85 years old and hoping to get the British Empire back.

It's a difference of opinion, not a difference of intelligence, as Mick Lynch demonstrates.

But there's something in his sneering, prickly responses that makes me think he might be a bit of a bully. I can't quite put my finger on it, but I wouldn't say I like him as such. But I do admire the way he is on top of his brief.

So disagree. We are spoonfed a diet of evasive lying Ministers, I don't think we are used to straight talking factual people. He knows the background, he knows his business, he states it clearly and he isn't rude. Unlike some of the no-mark interviewers who have really shown themselves up this week.

Also... in response to whoever generalised about over 55's.
I'm one. I loathe the DMail and I support the strike. I think it's an own goal for the Tories which I'm finding very amusing.

They just need a trouncing in Devon and Wakefield, and my week will be perfect!

Mick Lynch?

Legend!

I agree, @Roussette ! It's so good to have someone who actually has beliefs and acts on them. I'm sick of evasive, patronising politicians and arrogant tv presenters.
Oh, and am 62 people can stop with the ageist crap.

Oh, and am 62 people can stop with the ageist crap.

What. Ageist. Crap?

No one 'generalised'. No one is saying that all over 55s vote or think a certain way.

The PP pointed out the facts around how older demographics as a demographic group tend to vote. Not that all older people vote that way. Just how the votes tend to fall over the last few decades in terms of who casts them and how people respond to opinion polls, which broadly align. There's also quite a lot of academic research on the subject.

Seriously. This is about facts, not generalisations or stereotypes. Older demographic groups tend to be more conservative. It was true under Thatcher (though as PPs have pointed out, the inflection point between left and right voting was younger under Thatcher) and it seems to be holding true now.

Indeed. I hate voting demographic generalisations, and with regard to Brexit, in particular. The six reasons for the Union advising RMT members to vote leave are still available on their website. There were similar reasons in the (largely well educated) farming community. Also, two words, Tony Benn - of course he wasn’t alive in 2016 but obviously his opinions on the EEC and EU are well known. There were plenty of intelligent arguments for leave, that the negotiations and result of Brexit are not as they could have been is not the fault of the electorate, it’s wholly the fault of those who are at the helm and in charge of delivering it. And the divide and conquer rhetoric of it all is not in the interest of the people, it’s only in the interests of those who seek power but are singularly incapable of honourable leadership that could benefit every citizen.