Long Form

Hillsborough, Grenfell Tower, the Post Office scandal, and the Didcot disaster: four tragedies spanning decades. Different circumstances, same outcome. Working-class lives lost, bereaved families ignored, or destroyed while justice lagged, blame shifted, and the powerful looked away. This article continues on Demolition Insider. Please use the link below to access this article FOR FREE.

I was introduced recently to a man I had never previously met. The person doing the introduction said: “This is Mark Anthony of DemolitionNews. He’s not well-liked in the demolition industry because he has a nasty habit of telling the truth.” I think he meant it as a compliment and that is certainly how I…Read moreRead more

There was another mass shooting in America this past weekend. This one took place at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Grand Blanc Township in Michigan on Sunday 28 September 2025. I wrote this yesterday. I need to make that clear because there is every possibility that there will have been another…Read moreRead more

Some years ago, a friend of mine told me about a twin boom excavator he had seen at a construction equipment exhibition in China. Having first established that this wasn’t a prank of some kind, I went in search of the machine and found that it did, in fact, exist. More than that, there were…Read moreRead more

When you’ve been on site long enough, you learn certain things: it’s tough, mistakes have consequences, and sometimes you’ve got to learn quickly. But what you also learn, often silently, is that being shouted at, called out, even humiliated are part of the trade. It’s woven into the day-to-day. And plenty reckon that this kind…Read moreRead more

Are we in a trust recession? A collapse, not of buildings, but of faith — in people, institutions, promises, the very glue that holds any society or industry together? I would argue that we are. Look around you: news headlines, social media outrage loops, political theatre. For many, the idea that you can believe what…Read moreRead more

The alarm clock doesn’t even need to ring anymore. Long before it sounds, the demolition worker is awake, staring at the ceiling, body heavy with exhaustion yet mind restless with yesterday’s problems and today’s challenges. At 3:45 am, the day begins in darkness. He dresses quietly, trying not to wake his partner or children, and…Read moreRead more

Ryanair’s Boeing 737 aircraft are equipped with three toilets: one at the front of the aircraft and two at the rear. In the past, Ryanair’s CEO, Michael O’Leary, proposed charging passengers to use them. On another occasion, he proposed removing the toilets entirely to make space for more seats and, therefore, more paying customers. These…Read moreRead more

According to both Google and ChatGPT, talking to yourself is not just normal, it is healthy. It can improve memory and motivation and help regulate emotions. It was very different when I was a child. Back in the day, we used to say that talking to yourself was the first sign of madness. The second…Read moreRead more

So this farmer was out mending a fence one day when he had a mishap, so he went to see the town doctor. As he was getting his hand stitched up, the doctor asked how he’d happened to slip so badly with fence wire. “I was startled by a Post Turtle,” the farmer said. Now…Read moreRead more