John Ryley (pictured), head of Sky News, reflects on the broadcast news industry 30 years on from the retirement of legendary anchor Sir Alastair Burnet.

It’s August and the world has been rocked by a sudden, unforeseen international event in a capital. The crisis threatens international stability – and gains hard won after decades of conflict. But in the summer of 1991 the city was Moscow, not Kabul. A coup against Mikhail Gorbachev transfixed the world, with its threat of a return to an era of nuclear standoff.

By the end of the month momentum had swung away from the old guard – to an enthusiasm for democracy. Thirty years ago, on 29 August 1991, Kazakhstan was deciding whether to leave the USSR and the Soviet Communist Party had been suspended.