I have started playing a new Bach movement � the slow movement from the A major flute sonata which is in the minor � a couple of mornings so far. Prior to that I had been playing some of the E minor and prior to that some of the A minor. There is an extra pleasure in playing a new to me segment of this stuff after reading the Dreyfus book in the summer which provides some extra handles to pick up the music with.

I have also started to use the Electric Elf mini Les Paul guitar � I read some reviews and it seems to be quite well appreciated. I played it directly into the mixer for a couple of things, adding effects to the recording. I have retrieved a Digitech BP200 which I don�t really know my way round but it has a lot of settings and a foot pedal � something that is quite new to me. It has a fretless option for example. The music is all around the same core harmonic idea but I keep thinking of new configurations � sufficient to maintain my interest. I am still turning over the possibility of the Behringer USB guitar � my guess is that they are only offering a limited number at the current ridiculous price. Amazon say they are about to run out.

Francis has asked me to a conference in the Leicester Space Centre on Thursday. It�s the final event for a programme that started about five years ago and which has proved more successful than anyone could have imagined. I have to get to the Leicester Hilton by 9-00am which should just about be possible. I will be on with Francis and Phil in the final session. I could wax quite pompous � always a risk but especially at this stage in the scheme and in the life of the department.

Leaks keep appearing that the DTI is going to be eliminated with bits flying off to various other departments, including the Treasury who have been plotting this outcome for years. Francis already has his next move worked out.

The programme behind the Leicester conference will come to an end and that will represent the end of an attempt to improve competitiveness by co-ordinated operational improvement. I came into this story about a third of the way through and helped look after the foundations and start this next stage on those foundations. Now its clear that the second stage was a good thing to establish � it really has worked well.

The paper I have written for the development agency is mostly about the next stage � trying to work out what that stage could be. I went to the agency at lunchtime to learn about some money which is available early in the new year for project development. The projects funding must be bid for competitively from European funding under the new regime which starts in January. This could well all be too ambitious. It looks as if we have an interested party in Poland and there might be a trip there early in 2007. I sent a draft of the paper off to the agency this afternoon � and a note about the current state of the industry in the region which is partly OK and partly could be better.

I have been looking at one of Eno�s art films from the 1980s � it feels quite familiar in the sense that I think I can sense how it came to be. I am wondering about getting a film from Australia � about a journey from the mouth to the source of the Danube and the ideas of Heidegger especially a lecture he gave on a German poet in 1942. It�s a kind of philosophical movie.