Sir Alec had been Britain's--the West's, really--point man at the Helsinki Conference (formally, the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe), and he had spoken strongly on the need for the Soviet Union to offer more than "pious declarations" on behalf of freedom and to take positive steps towards "freedom of movement of people and ideas." However, many observers felt that he had not demanded enough in the way of concrete actions. Was Sir Alec being overly cautious, or was he being reasonable?