It has long been common to use ideal magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) steady states as a zeroth approximation for confined plasmas, even when the behaviour of `resistive' instabilities was under discussion. Implicitly, the zeroth order resistive terms discarded are formally larger than the first order ones kept. Most of our normal mode vocabulary derives from these (ideal, zero-flow) MHD steady states and their perturbed behaviour. If the plasma is regarded as resistive, with both Ohm's law and Faraday's law being taken seriously along with the equation of motion and boundary conditions are included, then the situation becomes much more complex. It is far from clear which, if any, of the ideal zero-flow steady states are close to a realizable resistive one. We have been reconsidering this problem in the spirit of hydrodynamic shear flows, and have reached somewhat different conclusions than have been reached in previous decades. In a toroid, vortical flows seem to be a universal feature of the resistive steady states that are found. These flows involve both toroidal vorticity and (higher order) toroidal velocity and have characteristic patterns that are more or less unique for a given set of boundary conditions. Arbitrary `source' terms for the supply of mass and the maintenance of pressure gradients are unnecessary. No expansions in the inverse aspect ratio are involved. The numerical value of the kinematic viscosity and the correct form of the viscous stress tensor are important and reliable experimental information on these seems to be in short supply. A reconsideration of the fundamentals of confinement theory seems to be in order.