Neurology has always been considered to be based on a sound knowledge of basic neuroscience with a ‘Sherlock Holmes’ approach to localization in the brain. At a recent meeting of the editorial board of this journal, we were told by our distributors that some of the Clinics in Developmental Medicine had too much emphasis on basic neuroscience. I have been described as belligerent because of my constant nagging at these meetings about the lack of good basic research papers in the field of paediatric neurology. However, looking at other paediatric journals and performing a mental geographical tour of known paediatric research units, there does seem to be a genuine paucity of fundamental research in this area.