One word has been on the mouths of the British media for the past 24 hours: Concrete.
Yes, this common, unavoidable, brutalist and dare-we-say essential building material (just watch Grand Designs) has been the talk of the internet all thanks to a car crash interview that took place on Tuesday on talkRadio.
The station’s breakfast host Mike Graham was all set to interview a spokesperson from the climate activist group Insulate Britain named Cameron Ford, who worked professionally as a carpenter.
The conversation got off to a bad start and only got worse from there as Graham tried to argue that carpentry wasn’t good for the environment because it involved cutting down trees.
As Ford correctly argued, timber is a much more sustainable material than something like concrete as you can grow more trees. In a moment that is likely to go down in British media history, Graham responded by claiming that “you can grow concrete.”
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This already legendary response was greeted with pure silence by Ford and the interview was swiftly brought to an end but it wasn’t the end of this story, which has since gone viral racking up more than 8 million views on Twitter.
Mike's interview with Insulate Britain spokesman Cameron lasts less than a minute. @Iromg | @InsulateLove https://t.co/yJS7DheACq— talkRADIO (@talkRADIO) 1635231463
As a result, the word concrete and everything associated with the building material has become the perfect topic for memes, with many people joking that their concrete seeds have shot up in the last few months and blossomed into beautiful big car parks and tower blocks.
I only planted this back in March! #concrete https://t.co/Ft254QqNbB— Danny Wallace (@Danny Wallace) 1635249324
https://t.co/204NJUtA7n https://t.co/RyD72S1WM4— Abby Tomlinson (@Abby Tomlinson) 1635259917
Got my new plant pot ready to sow the concrete crop. https://t.co/VuQRjVXEwN— David Noble 💙🏴 (@David Noble 💙🏴) 1635269409
"we've accidentally told people we can grow concrete" https://t.co/HwgCHmBIBR— Cants (@Cants) 1635260617
Found some concrete seeds, lads. https://t.co/FofaC8jrep— Acid Grandads (@Acid Grandads) 1635271183
Planted my concrete seeds last year and now I have this! https://t.co/eqowDCHvxS— 🌟Jordan🌟 (@🌟Jordan🌟) 1635248989
This year's harvest. Fresh organic concrete👌 DM me if interested. No time wasters. #BuyBritish https://t.co/lIA7THucu4— Eugene (@Eugene) 1635250851
Anyway last year’s concrete has come up really nice. https://t.co/QUdnMlb5sY— Katy Brand (@Katy Brand) 1635270282
“Edmund - can it be true? That I hold here, in my mortal hand, a nugget of purest concrete?” https://t.co/puxniltjaC— Paul Bloomfield (@Paul Bloomfield) 1635263213
I was almost injured when this concrete berry fell out of a concrete tree. https://t.co/pY0HtJW8E1— Richard Littler (@Richard Littler) 1635252087
Gardeners. Don't forget that autumn is the ideal time to heavily prune back your concrete, otherwise it will quickl… https://t.co/bII0lSdpPn— Mr Kwacky (@Mr Kwacky) 1635261430
📞"I'm outraged! I've bought a bag of concrete seeds. Are they growing? Are they heck!"😡😡 🎙️"Why did you think conc… https://t.co/SirQGHyhUF— The Exploding Heads (@The Exploding Heads) 1635261579
Oo check it out, my concrete plants have shot up over the summer! Trick is: plenty of sunlight, not too much water. https://t.co/ZLSp3prfqF— Sooz Kempner (@Sooz Kempner) 1635261145
These concrete trees are growing at an alarming rate. https://t.co/wojL6hsiLB— James “JP” Poulter @Vixen_Labs (@James “JP” Poulter @Vixen_Labs) 1635320660
Just amazing how nature does this 😍 https://t.co/Gm3Q764nrH— James Felton (@James Felton) 1635247953
In fairness, talkRadio and Graham appear to have embraced this absurd viral moment. Firstly they shared an article from New Scientist about an experimental type of concrete that is grown from bacteria.
Graham then doubled down on his claims by telling his colleague Jeremy Kyle that concrete does indeed ‘grow’ because it ‘expands.’
"Concrete grows." Mike Graham responds to the controversy surrounding his Insulate Britain interview this morning,… https://t.co/fso2JIqiX2— talkRADIO (@talkRADIO) 1635268504
They even have a poll running on their Twitter account asking if you can grow concrete. One of the options is ‘metaphorically, yes.’
What a time to be alive.