On Wed, 5 Aug 2020 10:25:32 +0000 (UTC), RJH
wrote:

This is the sort of job I really don't enjoy, but hey.

It's paint on an external brick wall, a skin of emulsion like paint on top of
rock hard masonry paint. It scratches off with a finger nail, but is
annoyingly hard to remove from this large area (about 60m2). It's just this
skin of paint I want to remove - I'll take my chances on what's underneath
when I come to repaint the walls.

I've tried most abrasive sander type options - they all work, but it's going
to be slow and dusty. Might chemicals be a better idea? Any/all ideas welcome
. .

Tried brick cleaner from your local builder's merchants? You can get
5L of the stuff quite cheaply.