Then there is his account of attending the House of Commons in 1944 and discovering: “It is just a collection of mediocre-looking men in dingy, dark suits, nearly all speaking in the same accent and all laughing at the same jokes.” Even the Russian Question has re-emerged to remind us that an issue once thought settled is far from over. Orwell condemned unthinking subservience to the latest Moscow line, not least since it was craven as well as morally reprehensible. Still, it was justified on the grounds that “the Russians are powerful in Eastern Europe, we are not: therefore we must not oppose them”. The world changes less than we like to think.