This chapter explores the evolution of the politics of public inquiries in the twenty-first century. It suggests that in this period, the public inquiry has been affected by the rise of anti-politics and the crisis of British democracy. This has stimulated demands for ever more public inquiries, but has also meant the legitimacy of inquiries themselves has become more contested. Official responses to this have involved legislative change, and inquiries themselves have sought to modernise their procedures to some extent. Yet these official efforts have not had transformative effects. Alternative models of inquiry, such as the independent panel, have emerged as a result of community campaigns for justice, but are rarely used. I conclude by discussing how inquiries themselves are sites of ever greater contestation by communities seeking truth and justice, and how this contestation holds the promise of change, truth and justice in the face of state strategies which aim to limit the scope of political change.