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 pic.twitter.com/yJS7DheACq
— talkRADIO (@talkRADIO) October 26, 2021
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 pic.twitter.com/Ft254QqNbB
— Danny Wallace (@dannywallace) October 26, 2021
https://t.co/204NJUtA7n pic.twitter.com/RyD72S1WM4
— Abby Tomlinson (@twcuddleston) October 26, 2021
You can grow concrete. pic.twitter.com/vZmNvIqxko
— Rich Walters (@therichwalters) October 26, 2021
Got my new plant pot ready to sow the concrete crop. pic.twitter.com/VuQRjVXEwN
— David Noble 💙🏴 (@DavidPNoble63) October 26, 2021
"we've accidentally told people we can grow concrete" pic.twitter.com/HwgCHmBIBR
— Cants (@cantseyy) October 26, 2021
Found some concrete seeds, lads. pic.twitter.com/FofaC8jrep
— Acid Grandads (@AcidGrandads) October 26, 2021
This year's harvest. Fresh organic concrete👌 DM me if interested. No time wasters. #BuyBritish pic.twitter.com/lIA7THucu4
— Eugene (@eugeneh84) October 26, 2021
Anyway last year’s concrete has come up really nice. pic.twitter.com/QUdnMlb5sY
— Katy Brand (@KatyFBrand) October 26, 2021
“Edmund - can it be true? That I hold here, in my mortal hand, a nugget of purest concrete?” pic.twitter.com/puxniltjaC
— Paul Bloomfield (@AdolphusSpriggs) October 26, 2021
I was almost injured when this concrete berry fell out of a concrete tree. pic.twitter.com/pY0HtJW8E1
— Richard Littler (@richard_littler) October 26, 2021
Gardeners. Don't forget that autumn is the ideal time to heavily prune back your concrete, otherwise it will quickly take over your garden. pic.twitter.com/VzK1T7Ie35
— Mr Kwacky (@Mr_Kwacky) October 26, 2021
📞"I'm outraged! I've bought a bag of concrete seeds. Are they growing? Are they heck!"😡😡
— The Exploding Heads (@Exploding_Heads) October 26, 2021
🎙️"Why did you think concrete grew?"
📞"Well there's a phrase for it, isn't there! Concrete jungle. Why does concrete grow so fast in the Amazon rainforest but won't grow an inch here?" pic.twitter.com/GhBRF5aGM0
Oo check it out, my concrete plants have shot up over the summer! Trick is: plenty of sunlight, not too much water. pic.twitter.com/ZLSp3prfqF
— Sooz "Halloween" Kempner (@SoozUK) October 26, 2021
When you learn that you can grow concrete pic.twitter.com/lwOIUkum4P
— HK (@HKesvani) October 26, 2021
These concrete trees are growing at an alarming rate. pic.twitter.com/wojL6hsiLB
— James “JP” Poulter @Vixen_Labs (@jamespoulter) October 27, 2021
Just amazing how nature does this 😍 pic.twitter.com/Gm3Q764nrH
— James Felton (@JimMFelton) October 26, 2021
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."
— talkRADIO (@talkRADIO) October 26, 2021
Mike Graham responds to the controversy surrounding his Insulate Britain interview this morning, which has attracted over three million views.@Iromg pic.twitter.com/ctzUmZbM4o
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.
