The challenges of 2021 were inconceivable to all of us just twelve months before. Theatre faced its longest closure since Puritanism. Film and TV contended with chaotic changes to work and travel in Europe. Our variety members in particular saw continued exclusion from government schemes intended to protect against the pandemic. Equity started the year with a declining membership for the first time in over a decade; looming threats of increased austerity and the rise of the omicron variant in December should have made for grim reading.