Iain Cameron's Diary
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2003-05-29 - 6:19 a.m.

I spent some time getting a bit of guitar down this morning � just a sketch for an outline idea � a version of Poor Boy � respecting its pic-a-resque nature. I had some unwanted noise � I eventually realised that it was because the guitar was too close to the computer. The noise made me self conscious and I realised how far I usually don�t suffer from that � possibly even going too far the other way? Anyway the thing will have to be redone � even though I got rid of the noise it doesn�t flow well enough � not like it has other times when I haven�t really been trying.

I am listening to last Sunday�s Mixing It � which is coming down the wire pretty clearly. At the moment Sarah Peebles is talking about how she processes the sound of snow � squeaky and crunchy etc. And now there is some improv involving her and a sax player � John Butcher who is not the one who was a junior minister at the DTI under the Conservatves. Sarah seems to have quite an ear for ambient noises. This stuff could drive you made � you would have to find ways of keeping it under control if that was your thing.

Colin Touchin will send me his new piece to try � I am going to let him have a think about Fifths. Maybe this is a sensible area to focus attention.

There is something about this time of year that is really not to my taste � maybe its because there is an annual milestone or millstone coming up. My gums are misbehaving � I had a haircut in the vague belief that there might be some beneficial impact. I am also trying mouthwash, redwine and Nurofen. Mixing the last two but not the first two.

James says he is reading Sons and Lovers � exactly what I suggested he shouldn�t do. I think he is doing it out of spite.

I spoke to Peter Chatterton on the phone about a wheeze we dreamed up involving the Commonwealth Partnership for Technology Management and a structured approach to setting up new style learning enterprises. Maybe we will get somewhere on this

I spent some time catching up on Skills Policy in the interests of a presentation which my boss wants me to make. It looks very logical on the surface � the national skills policy � but when you dig down into the detail it becomes terrifying and/or depressing. On the latter front I read a rather good paper by Ewart who I met yesterday who suggests that skills may not be very important at all within the Anglo Saxon model of capitalism. That�s the level of thinking I can relate to at the moment.

Maybe in the future we wont buy records but we will just tune our PCs into the radio station that interests us and play the programmes from its archives that we especially enjoy.

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