A bizarre exchange on BBC Question Time saw a woman in Thursday’s audience compare the extinct dinosaurs to the striking rail workers – leaving people “howling” on Twitter.
Amid a fierce debate about whether the railway employees should be striking this week over their working conditions, job losses and pay, the unnamed audience member explained why she did not support the industrial action.
“Businesses have to change, they have to adapt, it’s a fundamental in business,” the audience member said. “You absolutely have to change with what you experience economically.”
“Do you think the RMT [Union] is taking the wrong approach?” Host Fiona Bruce asked.
“Yes! And look what happened to the dinosaurs,” the woman responded.
RMT’s general-secretary Mick Lynch replied: “Well, they were around for a very long time.”
There was a smattering of laughter, before the audience member hit back with: ″[But] they’re not with us now though, are they?”
Woman on question time says train drivers must adapt to technology because the dinosaurs didn’t and “look what happened to them”
I’m howling pic.twitter.com/KlVSIcxEXT
— Ava-Santina (@AvaSantina) June 23, 2022
While condemning the strike action, Network Rail has accused the RMT – the union leading the strikes – of pushing back against modernisation essential to the industry.
However, Lynch has denied these claims, saying: “We’re not resisting change. We negotiate change on a permanent basis with our employers…What we’ve got here is an unreasonable agenda of pay cuts and slashing terms and conditions.”
But, to return to the viral clip, it seems not many people were sure where this audience member was coming from…
does she think they should have negotiated with the meteor
— Ben Smoke (@bencsmoke) June 23, 2022
If only the dinosaurs hadn't unionised then they might have lasted longer than 165 million years https://t.co/K17So4InOR
— Liam Thorp (@LiamThorpECHO) June 24, 2022
those wanker unionised dinosaurs. https://t.co/m32Ob6Ir1d
— Alice Lowe (@alicelowe) June 24, 2022
Did… did she kill all the dinosaurs https://t.co/mYwQPitt9z
— Max Kashevsky (@MaxKashevsky) June 24, 2022
Source: Huff Post