It’s late. You’re on your way home after a tough week. The motorway zooms past in a blur as headlights bounce off the rain-slicked tarmac, causing you to squint your eyes.

You’re concentrating on the road ahead, on getting yourself home safely. But there’s something else playing on your mind. You’re thinking about the hydraulic hose that went pop mid-morning. That cost you £98.00 because, yet again, your company doesn’t have an account.

The receipt is still in the glovebox. Your bank balance is in the red. Your mortgage is due in four days. And you know that you won’t be reimbursed immediately because it’s the weekend.

This isn’t about wages. This is about the money you spend to keep your company moving. The cash that leaves your hands, your debit cards, your overdrafts. Money you may never see again.

These are companies turning over millions. Multinationals. Firms with slick logos and websites full of waffle about sustainability. But behind the curtain? It’s lads like you buying the f**king milk.

Let’s talk about that, shall we?

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We squandered a once in a lifetime opportunity. We. Us. The British public, the world, society. We had a chance, and we threw it away.

The COVID-19 pandemic and more specifically, the ensuing lockdowns, should have served as a societal reset.

Kept apart from family and friends, that period reminded us all of the importance of community, and of social interaction. When the chips were down, many of us rallied to support vulnerable neighbours. We collectively gave thanks to the medical profession; the doctors and nurses risking their lives to save ours. That surreal time also afforded us a glimpse behind the political curtain. Politicians were no more prepared for a global pandemic than we were; they were making it up as they went along; and they had no intention of following the rules that they implemented.

Through it all, we were united. We were all in the same boat – leaky and rudderless – together. That was our opportunity. We could have clung on to that feeling of community and society; we could have maintained the Dunkirk Spirit that got us all through; and we could’ve demanded better, fairer and more transparent government.

But we didn’t. With the lockdown over, we quickly went back to “every man for himself”. Rather than bringing us together, it seems that we are now more divided than ever. People, society. We are all even more self-absorbed, self-centred, selfish and loathsome that we were before.

In place of a great reset, we now have the same as before. Only worse.

Sadly, the UK demolition industry has also squandered an opportunity to start over. In fact, it has done so not once, but twice.

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I’m not a Manchester United fan. Let’s get that out of the way up front. I support West Ham, and have done for more years than I care to count. And for most of those years, I dreaded our meetings with Manchester United. They didn’t just beat us. They dominated us. Humbled us. They humiliated us. You’d go into the game already resigned to the likely outcome. It wasn’t just the quality of their players or the brilliance of their manager; it was something more intangible. An aura. A sense of inevitability. Manchester United weren’t just a team; they were a force of nature. They were, quite simply, the gold standard.

Funny thing is, I used to feel the same way about the UK demolition industry. For a long time, it was feared and revered; respected, and admired. Not just here, but around the world. Our methods were studied. Our equipment was envied. Our expertise unmatched. Clients wanted a British firm not just because we were good, but because we were the best. Like Manchester United, we had built a legacy. And like Manchester United, we thought that legacy would last forever.

But that’s not how the world works.

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We live in an age of instant gratification. 280-character posts on Twitter or X, as we now call it. Short-form vertical videos that barely register as they flicker across our retinas. Global news reduced to political soundbites and clickbait headlines.

I read just such a headline yesterday. It came out of Australia and it stopped me in my tracks.

“BHP says the return of unions is the definition of unproductive.”

For those unfamiliar, BHP is a mining giant. In this instance, they’re talking about extracting iron ore in Western Australia. And they know a thing or two about productivity. Australian mines are finely tuned machines; extracting as much as possible, for as little as possible. Productivity is their middle name. It’s in their DNA.

So when the world’s biggest mining company starts publicly fretting about a potential loss of productivity, people pay attention.

But here’s the thing. There’s more to this story than a single line in a press release.

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