Towards the binary millennium

Midnight December 31, 1999, will be quite an occasion. It will start its journey round the world at the International Date Line somewhere out in the Pacific and then travel westwards, pulling the year 2000 behind it. As it scurries across the Northern and Southern Hemispheres, this point of time will be the trigger for a multitude of ceremonies and celebrations as the century and millennium draw to a close and the next thousand years begin. In Trafalgar, Times and maybe Tiananmen Square people will greet the year 2000 with excitement, hope and perhaps some trepidation as the clocks strike midnight to welcome in the New Year.