NINETEEN‐SEVENTY‐ONE is going to be a pretty tough year and the new Government will encounter plenty of hurdles seemingly designed to prevent it getting into full stride. Legacies of the Labour Party's administration, new storm clouds on the horizon—some not so embryonic—and an untried, suspect, machinery to drive the show along at home and abroad, compound a daunting future. On such a threshold there is no place for illusions and little time for self congratulation should the opportunity arise, it is the moment for a knifing self appraisal with all the necessary surgery to go with it—and if there isn't enough palliative or anaesthetic to go round then prepare for shock effect.