Its still cold here. I have decided I can�t get to Wuppertal next week - but at least I have been invited to a reception at the House of Commons next month. Actually it will be 3 weeks after the election which might be an interesting time to be there. We are wondering how much of a hiatus some publicly funded organizations will put in place during the campaign - in fact we are trying to discover the official line. I don�t think this has been thought through properly.

I see Kenilworth - near Leamington - is one of the most marginal constituencies in the UK. Its linked with Rugby. If you visited either you would be surprised that they are Labour.

Looks like I am going to Northampton on Thursday morning to plan Monday afternoon�s show. I haven�t been able to get in touch with Steve about this - I think maybe my phone is giving up. Keith gave me some feedback on the ACE project - I need to get up to Speke to look at some extra documentation.

Listening to my Cohen compilation - starts with Who By Fire? Read about Deleuze and suicide in the pub on the way home - a means of integrating intensities.

Fun to see the Amazonian Dolphins on BBC1 and to hear about the legends they have attracted.

The trip to Longbridge was interesting at first - the train went alongside the Worcester canal past the University and Bournville. Looking at the map I realized that the River Cole which goes past Coleshill and joins up with the Blythe rises much further to the south than I thought. The walk from the station to the factory was nasty with the wind and the rain and it destroyed my umbrella. The meeting was OK though - also the lunch. The strange thing is that the countryside near Longbridge is quite out of the ordinary and the factory faces onto the green wooded hills - the Lickey Hills with pre-Cambrian volcanic and metamorphic rock which doesn�t occur in many other places in England. The highest point is 975ft. Some people think that this belongs to the oldest traceable surface in the Midlands - a plain out of which everything else was eroded.

Today James is 21.