Men and women of my age have lived through extraordinary events that were not predicted - from the collapse of the Soviet Union to the ending of apartheid in South Africa, events which gave a lift to the spirit and vent to an expression of undisguised national and international joy. The election of the first black president of the United States must surely be placed in the same category. Not that events in Russia are not still worrying and turmoil in South Africa still possible nor that a new president will necessarily be able to answer all America’s problems aggravated as they are by the world economic turmoil. The burden on his shoulders will be immense.

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