As EHJ went to press, the Christmas festivities were not yet upon us, and the celebrations for "new year" still seemed to be a good while away!

But a new year will have rolled in by the time the journal hits your desk and a good majority of the British population will have made some form of new year's resolution (although, personally, at the time of writing, I am resolving not to bother, as my habitual breaking of this tradition on 2 January sets the new year off to a rather disappointing start!)

However, one resolution that the Chartered Institute would like to see it's members make - and keep - is a commitment to becoming more constructively involved in the organisation and to participate more fully in what is, after all, a thriving profession.

With this in mind, Graham Jukes, CIEH chief executive, reiterates the reasons behind much of the change that has taken place within the organisation last year and confirms the future focus of the Chartered Institute for 2003 and beyond.

A new year also sees a new chairman, and the beginning of this month sees Clive Wadey retiring both as CIEH chairman and as a trustee. John Bryson, the man stepping into Clive's shoes as the new chairman is well known in the health and housing arena, but in case you are not familiar with him, EHJ explains a little more about his background and sets out some of his aspirations for the next 12 months.

Away from the workings of the CIEH, this month's cover feature takes the form of a statistical study to analyse the links between air pollution and mortality in the Bristol area. The University of Bristol has worked with Bristol City Council to analyse previously confounding issues, such as the way in which different pollutants correlate with each other and the effect of the weather with potential health outcomes. While the results are no great surprise, they make interesting reading.

Another organisation that has seen some internal change lately is the Food Standards Agency. In his regular column, David Statham outlines some of the recent staffing developments and future issues that the FSA hopes to tackle this year.

Meanwhile, we publish a long awaited piece of work from King's College London, which has been carrying out research for the FSA on evaluating enforcement approaches aimed at achieving compliance in small food businesses.

What are the barriers to compliance and how can they be broken down? And once they are, how can we motivate small businesses to want to comply? These are just some of the questions that the researchers set out to answer.

Finally, the recruitment crisis facing the environmental health profession, the lack of paid training placements, and the contentious issue of CPD, APC, the logbook and professional exams have all been discussed at length during the last year on the pages of this journal and in EHN. We look at the efforts of one charity to provide paid placement work for student members interested in all areas of sustainability - including environmental health. StudentForce for Sustainability has helped many under-graduates to secure that all-important placement, and it may be worth reading on to find out if it can help you.

And don't forget, if you would like to contribute to the features in EHJ over the coming year the editorial team can be contacted at Chadwick Court. This is your professional journal and I urge you to utilise it in an effort to share professional best practice with other environmental health practitioners. Best wishes for the coming year from all at EHJ.

Tracey Khanna Editor