A society is only ever truly united when it faces a threat from without. We've been a bit short of enemies lately, what with long detente with Russia and almost embarrassingly good relations with China. That old bogey. Communism, a Godsend to Capitalism in providing a threat to fight against, has, over the years, lost its appeal as an enemy and needs a revival.

We've had no wars since Vietnam, stirring stuff for a while but had limited appeal and lost its magic long before it finally came to an end. Communism is O.K. but difficult to come to grips with on its own what we need is something more concrete. China's out of the question at the moment for various reasons, but our old enemy Russia, big, power full, well armed and obviously imperialistic, fits the bill beautifully - so long as it doesn't get too serious of course.

I should at this point draw attention to the relative lack of reaction from Russia, or so it would appear, to the accusations pouring in from the West - not to mention China. Could it be that another cold war with the U.S. is just what the Soviet heads of state need to reignite the fire of the 'revolutionary spirit' that has perhaps been flagging of late? For similar reasons China might welcome an intensification of feelings amongst Chinese against their neighbour. Indeed the cynic may well wonder whether the three of them, Russia, America and China, with there respective dependents, didn't jack the whole thing up between them since they all stand to gain from the situation - disregarding, of course, the man in the street.

A bit far fetched, you may say, but the Kiwis were never so united as when they were fighting the forces of the Nazis and the Japanese. Not to mention being fully employed physically and mentally with little time to consider other problems.

War, or even the threat of war, is good for the economy, the Capitalist economy, at least. For reasons obvious to the economist, armament production is far more lucrative than building houses for the homeless or schools for their kids - a particularly salient point to consider when in the throes of a recession. Please note the National governments cuts in various areas of public spending, the one notable exception, perhaps, being the armed services who've been promised an increase in their allowance.

The greater the perceived threat from outside the less your 'man in the street' is likely to take much notice of what is, or is not, going on at home. Recent years in Western countries have been marked by strong pressure from groups in moral and social areas such as education, women's liberation, race relations, homosexual law reform - to name a few. The presence of an aggressor lends to effectively divert attention from these internal and continuing problems which our leaders often prefer to ignore.