I have had an interest in conflict since the early days of my career in social work when it struck me just how much conflict there was around. Conflict between social workers and clients; between clients and other family members; between workers and managers; and conflict across the multidisciplinary network. Despite this significant presence of conflict in social work and social care, in my experience only a small proportion of practitioners have had the benefit of trainning in the subject. It seems to feature on few degree courses or other professional qualification programmes and is not widespread as a feature of in-service training provision. Is this apparent neglect of the need to learn how to manage conflict just the way things have developed - a historical accident? Or are there specific reasons why conflict - such a central feature of practice - seems to have received so little attention? I welcome your thoughts.