The BJO is giving a new look to its commentaries. There will be a number of styles of commentaries, either by invited authors or as submitted articles: all will be peer reviewed. They will deal with a wide variety of topics, not necessarily related directly to papers in the current or a recent issue. Although many will comment on the current science of our specialty, some will have a style reminiscent of a newspaper commentary, sometimes being about broadly ethical or political topics. They will be factual and topical, but may include opinion; most will be masterpieces of compression rather than being exhaustive and fully referenced. With luck, some will be amusing or witty, at least in parts, but they will all aim to be practical and helpful to ophthalmologists and visual scientists of diverse backgrounds. Although many of the commentaries will be by invited authors, we hope for submissions from anyone involved in vision science in the broadest sense, and at any stage in their career.