All of our readers, from varying backgrounds and at different career stages, should take time to read the editorials in this issue and the related clinical and Current Controversy papers. Professor Iredale and Dr Salman point out the value of peer reviewing and recommend that this activity should be recognised for continuous professional development. Dr Macfadyen argues, powerfully, that our patients expect to be examined carefully and that timely, complete, physical examination is the best basis for specialist referral or for the selection of further investigations. A phrase from our Current Controversies duet emphasises this, quoting the sombre view that we are observing ‘the demise of bedside medicine’. Surely not! However, if trained doctors do not use their own clinical skills, and just rely on colleagues or on high tech investigation, medical practice is weakened.We also have update papers on rheumatology and on the sensitive issue of evaluating and managing patients who are frail. As always, the History section gives us new insights, for example the details of the life of Sir George Young orientates us very early in the Scottish Enlightenment; a seventeenth-century Italian medicine chest illustrates medical fashion of the time; and we learn how the foundations of geriatric medicine were established in the time of Hippocrates.All of the editorial team wish you a happy festive period and a healthy and productive New Year.Sandy Raeburn, Editor
