Happy New Year 
from all of us here at the VNJ, and welcome to the January edition of the journal. It is hard to believe that it is 2017 already but January is traditionally a time for New Year’s resolutions and new beginnings. Whilst I won’t share my personal resolutions with you I will share some of the professional ones relating to the Journal. I have resolved to find out more about what the readership would like to see in terms of content for the journal but to do this I need your help. If there is something that you particularly like or dislike about the current journal content or format then could you take the time to email me? Looking back over the last year I can truly see how far we have come and take this opportunity to thank our fabulous editorial board who have been vital to the introduction of the double-blinded peer review system. The journal is also now firmly an international one and we are very proud of the number of overseas institutions and individuals who subscribe and write for us and the international members of our editorial board. I also aim over the next year to can focus the journal further to enable the production of some dedicated editions for you on key topics and to provide a wider variety of clinical articles to expand your CPD portfolio.
You may have noticed that as an insert to this issue there is the BVNA congress 2017 programme and I always find that the start of the year is integral to my CPD planning. In many practices there may still be money in the budget at the beginning of the year and the early bird discount makes signing up now even more attractive. BVNA are honoured to have partnered with the Association of Veterinary Anaesthetists this year to provide you with an exciting anaesthesia stream and the focus for the congress symposium this year will be behaviour with two days of behaviour lectures and a further day of workshops. There is something available to suit everyone once again and to name a few areas it includes: exotics, education and teaching, management, surgical nursing, medical nursing and analgesia.
I have enjoyed reading and editing all of the articles for this edition but I was particularly struck by the ethical discussion by Stephanie Almond. This is a topic that features heavily when teaching ethics to student nurses and will resonate with many of you in practice. Whilst it is certainly an emotive topic I feel that the piece has done much to highlight the role of the Veterinary Professional in prevention and gives us all something to think on.
I hope you enjoy the January edition and once again Happy NewYear!
Editor-in-Chief