The Cold War is over and Ned has been demoted to the training academy.
He asks himself: Did it do any good? What did it do to me? And w.
As they listen, Ned recalls his own painful triumphs and inglorious failures, in a career that took him from the Western Isles of Scotland to Hamburg and from Israel to Cambodia.
There are no laundered reminiscences
Smiley speaks the truth - perhaps the last the students will ever hear.
He asks his old mentor, George Smiley, to address his passing-out class.
The Cold War is over and Ned has been demoted to the training academy