Ascorbic, may we start again? You are our main public source of down-to-earth unfiltered information for which I'm grateful to you and indignant about in equal measure.
My take on it is:
This project has been 7 years in the planning.
Any information is both interesting and a matter for gratitude but in total it has been very sparing, by any measure.
The blokes at the coal face are overworked, can clearly do without the extra burden of being information officers and appear to be in a position that deserves sympathy particularly since its not of their making.
All sorts of shenanigans have been going on, as you hinted, and the project may well be behind schedule.
My personal primary concern, as everyone's should be, is the degree of collapse that has happened. I have been asking EH at regular intervals for five years how many, if any, and to what extent these have happened beyond the last one reported in 2002. They have never provided an answer. They have now been inside the hill for seven weeks and I still don't know.
Anything you can let us know would be very greatfully received.
