title: Editorial.
abstract: As we go to press, the whole country waits with bated breath for the announcement about a general election, individual nurses around the country are going through a living hell. Living in the countryside, it has always seemed to me that farmers marry nurses in disproportionate numbers. There is a natural sympathy between them that makes it feel right. Both have learnt to deal with the realities of life and death in their respective roles. They both have to make decisions that have a direct impact on living creatures. Most of all, neither occupation produces practitioners that are squeamish or naïve. It seems a most appropriate pairing.