title: A message of support.
abstract: There was a certain inevitability about the Gulf crisis. The Middle East has been no stranger to warfare during the past decade and following Iraq's seizure of Kuwait, the conflict was certain to touch all of our lives here in the United Kingdom. Up until now there was no real reason for the average citizen to become overly concerned with Middle East problems. The unreality of warfare in countries that appear geographically and culturally far away from us here in the UK rarely hits home. However, in the past weeks virtually all of us have anxiously watched news bulletins, digesting and analysing every move in this war of nerves. But the fear and sudden realisation that the conflict could escalate raises serious issues for medical and nursing staff.