Arrhythmias remain a frequent cause of morbidity and mortality in cardiovascular (CV) patients, and thus an important issue for practising cardiologists. Therefore, the European Society of Cardiology has published guidelines on cardiac pacing and resynchronization therapy1 and on atrial fibrillation,2 syncope,3 and ventricular arrhythmias,4 and, together with our US sister societies, on supraventricular arrhythmias,5 to help physicians in their daily work. Nevertheless, many unsolved issues remain. In this issue of the European Heart Journal , the editors selected four papers dealing with pacing and arrhythmias. The first paper, entitled ‘Long-term clinical effects of ventricular pacing reduction with a changeover mode to minimize ventricular pacing in a general pacemaker population’, by Martin Stockburger et al .6 reports the results of the ANSWER study which evaluated whether an AAI–DDD changeover mode to minimize ventricular pacing (SafeR) improves outcome compared with DDD in a general dual-chamber pacemaker population. Indeed, it has been suggested that right ventricular pacing would increase the risk in heart failure and atrial fibrillation. ANSWER was a randomized controlled multicentre trial assessing SafeR vs. standard DDD in sinus node disease or atrioventricular block patients. After a 1-month run-in period, 650 patients were …