David Ingram's "Language Centres" (2001) offers a descriptive and analytical study of meta-centres, their constitution, operation and engagement with their constituencies. This article is a combination of a review and an appreciation of Ingram's study, and--benefiting from the latitude offered by the genre of the review article--a set of reflections about the changing circumstances in which meta-centres operate, and their related role in the managing of language and languages at a national level. (Contains 3 notes.)