The debate about the fate of the hot gas that cools
rapidly in the cores of clusters, groups and elliptical galaxies
has raged for 2 decades. The turn of the last decade saw
a dramatic shift in the X-ray evidence for massive cooling flows
but the first general detection of cold molecular gas in them.
I will review the past, present and future of the cooling flow
and attempt to demonstrate that all parties in the debate
have been both right AND wrong (even myself!).