This, the first edition of Volume 20 of Ageing and Society, coincides with the start of a new decade, a new century and a new millennium. It is fascinating to observe how different organisations, groups and societies are reacting to the passing of this symbolic benchmark. The urge to reminisce and reflect is apparent on many fronts: centenarians reviewing the century; survivors of the great wars dwelling on their troubled memories; a series of generations each swopping stories about their particular cultural revolutions; and, of course, gerontologists and colleagues in the ageing enterprise, faced with the evident needs of later life set in the wider context of an ongoing demographic panic.

For our part, we, the editorial team, are – as ever – engaged in the continuing tasks of receiving, reviewing and editing a stream of stimulating articles from all parts of the world and from a wide range of disciplines and perspectives. This is a highly rewarding occupation: from our privileged position we know that social gerontology is the focus of many exciting theoretical and empirical developments.

The routines of editing the journal are dominated by a two-monthly rolling production cycle that is lodged within the more leisurely annual cycle. Fixed-length temporal cycles, of course, characterise many aspects of the experience of ageing. Occasionally things change, however, and this also applies to the journal. Regular readers will notice that, with this issue, the review section has changed in content with the appearance of ‘Ageing Updates’. This section will bring together the best features of the Abstracts, Progress Reports, Symposia and Review Articles of past volumes. Ageing Updates will review particular themes, areas of interest and current issues, and may include contrasting perspectives from different contributors. Each Ageing Update will be up to 2,000 words in length. Submissions should be sent to the Review Editors who will referee them in the first instance. If you would like to contribute please contact the Review Editors.

The first Ageing Update – to start the new millennium – is written by Sarah Harper. She reviews the current gerontological scene in Britain. Based on her work for the Nuffield Foundation, Sarah reviews the themes of the last decade, discusses the changing research agendas, and identifies issues for future research.

We would like to take this opportunity to thank all those who have contributed to the Abstracts section, producing high quality reviews over the first 19 volumes of the journal.