What makes someone become a whistleblower? What makes someone come clean about what they know? What makes them turn their back on friends, colleagues, employers and even the very industry that once afforded them a decent living and kept a roof over their heads? There are many reasons; reasons that run the whole gamut from…Read moreRead more
Long Form
Anatomy of a whistleblower
A severe lack of vision
The demolition industry of today stands on the shoulders of giants; and those shoulders belonged to the industry’s forebears and founding fathers. These were great men that shaped the sector through vision, determination, and sheer force of will. All that the industry is today can be traced back to the foresight and wisdom of those…Read moreRead more
When the whistleblower stopped blowing
It was the LinkedIn profile that had kept the UK demolition and asbestos industry entertained, enthralled and uneasy for the past three weeks or so. And then suddenly, it was gone. At least temporarily. This is a Demolition Insider paid exclusive story. You can read the rest here.
Where’s our Elvis?
If you looked down the musical hit parade for 1955, it was comprised of bland, middle-of-the-road singers like Perry Como, Bing Crosby, Pat Boone, and Doris Day. But then 1956 arrived, and with it a young man by the name of Elvis Presley. Within the space of just a few, short months, he became a…Read moreRead more
An overdose of rules
I’d like to tell you a little story about my father-in-law. Back in the mid 1970s, he contracted tuberculosis. No-one was entirely sure, but the doctors suggested he might have picked it up from drinking raw milk when he lived on a farm as a child. Anyway, as a result of that TB, he initially…Read moreRead more
The silent surrender
It’s the snowball effect. That’s what it is. It starts as one small thing. Insignificant. But it grows. In size, in speed. And suddenly, it’s too big and moving too fast to stop. That’s why you’re sitting there, thinking the unthinkable. Contemplating. Replaying it in your head. Trying to make sense of something that stopped…Read moreRead more
Forgotten contribution
I’d like you to imagine that you are a football player. You are good. Very good, in fact. And that is why you’re playing in the English Premier League for a well-respected team. For the sake of this story, let’s say you are a midfield player with Nottingham Forest. As a player, you train four…Read moreRead more
Construction’s crimewave
A potential whistleblower on LinkedIn is apparently planning a tell-all book that will name names and expose the dark underbelly of the UK’s asbestos industry. If even half of what he is saying is true, the revelations contained within his book will cause a storm of unprecedented magnitude within the sector. Yet, in many ways,…Read moreRead more
I have a dream
I have a dream. I have a dream that one day, in every town and city, from the muddy trench to the tallest tower crane, no worker shall fear for their life just by turning up to work. That no mother shall receive a call saying her son isn’t coming home. That no child shall…Read moreRead more
House of Cards
The Great Pyramid of Giza is the only one of the original Seven Wonders of the Ancient World that is still standing. Although there is great speculation about how it was built and by whom, the pyramid stands as a testament to the skill of those that erected it. For millennia, that pyramid has stood…Read moreRead more