Iain Cameron's Diary
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2002-11-13 - 11:37 a.m.

There was some interesting post this morning. A couple of leads from the AIDS news network that I belong to about 2nd wave countries � they are up on www.kwase-kwaza.org now. One concerns a decision by the Bill Gates foundation to give $100m to India for AIDS work amongst the gay community. The other was a piece about some right wing thinktank work in the USA on rates of diffusion outside Africa. There is a dispute with the Indian Government over what the current level of prevalence is � the Government has the lower figure. You don�t have to know much about Africa to know how dangerous this is . I come back to a point I have made before � how strange it was that in the UK there was such effective precautionary action in the 1980s � and the contast with BSE-CJD and Foot and Mouth. Maybe I will ask Chris who is Professor of Indian Anthroplogy at the LSE what he makes of the Indian situation. One of the more chilling aspects of KK is that it is amongst the world pioneers of a social mechanism that may be needed much more widely. The right wing study does a cruel calculation of the likely cost trajectory for antiretroviral drugs and concludes that it is unlikely that the costs will fall so far that it becomes an economic proposition from a national government point of view to treat most of the people who are going to catch the disease in coming decades. They are already so poor that they are not worth saving. Who says that Doomsday arithmetic went out when the Cold War came to an end. I wrote a piece about Cleveland�s recital which I put up following on these two reports on the KK site.

First thing this morning I got up and started a new one of Gilbert�s short stories � an abstract piece which I did fast � some Arabian percussion, a classic low brass synth patch and the debut for my new U2 on a Marshall Plexi simulation with added temolo.

When I got into the office there was mail from Robin and Gilbert. Robin explained that she had got the wrong track number in the para she wrote about the tracks I had sent. This helped me make sense of her kind remarks � the track in question is one which is overtly Minimalist with additions. In fact it is partly an attempt to use some ideas of Jaspar Johns in a rhythmic context � and then put Gilbert�s guitar on top. This voice is part of a second group of music which is more jazzy and free in its philosophy.

Gilbert mailed about the tracks from the latest CD that I sent him � he has chosen pieces to work that I am very keen to get his input on. One of this is a track that already has contributions from Robin, Mark and myself � and another is a kind offshoot from that. I replied with two tracks from the Short Stories enterprise � two mixes of yesterdays and todays. My thought was that the abstract piece was good take at a gestural pace rather than worrying too much about the rights and wrongs of it. I also passed on Robin�s thoughts on the Minimalist piece to him.

I booked a hotel in Manchester for the Conference. In line with my long established practice the hotel is convenient for the Lowry and the new amazing new Imperial War Museum building. Maybe I will take some sketching materials.

I had a brief conversation with my boss about a technique of demonstrating competence in a professional domain. I have a portfolio related to my work in personnel and management development which is structured to fit a professional template � I have been examined on the portfolio and it has passed. There is just an annoying glitch in the bureaucratic process which keeps me from the goal of being able to put the letters after my name � I need to talk to one of the associates here about sorting this out. Anyway this appealed to Graham - the validation technique that is � and he was able to relate it to part of the process he went through as an apprentice. I also showed him my conclusions about the weaknesses in the UK engineering competence standards framework which I think he endorses. I started to look at the ODETTE standards which European in origin and about a set of business processes. On the one hand they look ultimately boring and inconsequential � label standards for deliveries for example. On the other hand if you can standardise this stuff it is a foundation on which you can build the kind of business operations that are visualised in the Foresight Vehicle Technology Route Map as being the key to the future over the next 20 years in automotive.

I am working on a wheeze to deliver some funds to the organisation � at least enough to cover my salary.

My old boss was on the news tonight � as the Deputy Director General of Fair Trading announcing an enquiry into doorstep selling. She was the first boss I had who was younger than me � not by much � she went to the school which is just across the road from my house in Guildford. (My daughter goes to the other school � the one with honourable place in the history of blues guitar playing in the UK.) Anyway my animus against the DDFT is now much greater than at the time I was actually working for her � I see her as the symptom of a much wider malaise. Apparently she had a reputation as a progressive in her younger days � but she married a musicologist who the last I heard is professor at Trinity in London � the place where Andrew Keeling�s Nekyia was premiered by Evelyn Glennie. Didn�t see her in the audience for this spectacular event � well I never.

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