Presenter doubles down on baffling ‘concrete grows’ claim
The TalkRadio presenter who became the laughing stock of Twitter for saying you can ‘grow concrete’ is now trying to insist ‘it’s actually fact’.
Mike Graham was dubbed ‘Mr Concrete’ after blurting out his incredible claim during an excruciating interview with Insulate Britain’s spokesperson.
The brief moment of radio gold saw Mr Graham question eco-activist, Cameron Ford, who is also a carpenter, on whether timber is a sustainable building material.
Cameron said timber is ‘regenerative’, adding: ‘You can grow trees. You can’t grow concrete.’
To which the presenter hilariously replied ‘yeah, you can’ before abruptly ending the interview.
After causing a minor furore online, Mr Graham addressed the drama with fellow TalkRadio presenter Jeremy Kyle.
Despite his claim being ridiculed as a ‘hilarious self-own’ Mr Graham is sticking to his ‘facts’.
Mr Graham said: ‘You say it’s just an opinion, it’s actually fact.
‘The thing about what I do, and what you do Jeremy is, words are something we use as an everyday currency… so therefore I’m very careful about what words I use and what I say.
‘If you were to say to me, what do you call something that gets bigger, what would you say? It would be something that grows, it expands, it grows.’
At which point, Jeremy suggests ‘foam things expand’.
Mr Graham agreed, adding: ‘If you were to describe the economy growing, would that be something you would say had to be planted?’
‘It would expand and grow because you have growth in the economy. You don’t actually plant the economy to make it grow.’
He then took aim at the ‘lefties’ for ridiculing him, saying: ‘They’re all going “he’s so stupid, he doesn’t know that concrete doesn’t grow”. I mean, do they really think that, they actually think that?’
He also explained how you make concrete in a mixer, which is where he strangely suggests ‘you can make it grow.’
He said: ‘If you have ever seen somebody making concrete in a concrete mixer… it expands and it grows, so you can actually make it grow.’
To back up Mr Graham’s wild claim, TalkRadio shared a link to a 2020 New Scientist article about a study where scientists had experimented with a type of ‘living concrete’ made from bacteria.
The researchers used a type of bacteria to create building blocks they ‘likened to concrete’ but it was ‘more similar to mortar.’
In response to TalkRadio using their article, Jacob Aron, deputy editor of the New Scientist, told Metro.co.uk: ‘This was a story about a small lab experiment to produce a concrete-like material from bacteria and other substances, but as far as I’m aware, it isn’t possible to grow concrete itself.
‘Finding a replacement for concrete is essential, though, because it is responsible for around 8% of global carbon emissions.’
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