  I review, from an observational perspective, the interactions of accretion
discs with magnetic fields in cataclysmic variable stars. I start with systems
where the accretion flows via a stream, and discuss the circumstances in which
the stream forms into an accretion disc, pointing to stars which are close to
this transition. I then turn to disc-fed systems and discuss what we know about
how material threads on to field lines, as deduced from the pattern of
accretion footprints on the white dwarf. I discuss whether distortions of the
field lines are related to accretion torques and the changing spin periods of
the white dwarfs. I also review the effect on the disc-magnetosphere
interaction of disc-instability outbursts. Lastly, I discuss the temporary,
dynamo-driven magnetospheres thought to occur in dwarf-nova outbursts, and
whether slow-moving waves are excited at the inner edges of the disc.
