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!).