What are you supposed to do when you’re asked to trust a process… but deep down you believe that process is fundamentally flawed? This episode comes straight from Day 4 of the Socio-Economic section of the Public Inquiry into the proposed gold mine in the Sperrins. I left the Inquiry tired, frustrated, and questioning everything—then went for a walk on the mountain, one of the very places under threat. That walk brought me back to why I’m doing this at all. This is part reflection, part reality check, and part record of what’s actually happening inside that room. In this episode: Why we believe many of the 127 questions simply can’t be answered properly The ongoing issue of missing data and basic information What we mean by the “Phantom Feasibility Study” The continued use of reports already described as “obsolete” and “no longer valid” The sense that what’s unfolding feels more like performance than process The cost financial and otherwise of dragging this out What it feels like to sit through it as a member of the public The moment on the mountain that brought me back to my “why” Thinking ahead 20 years and who we’ll have to answer to

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“What did the council decide on item 42?” — answered with the speaker and the moment.

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