Cameron shows terrible condescension towards council tenants. Not all want to move and buy

I wonder what went through David Cameron's mind in Birmingham when the woman living in overcrowded council housing asked him what he was going to do about it. Did she want him to kick out elderly couples with a spare bedroom so she wouldn't have to sleep on a blow-up bed? Or was she simply asking him what the coalition government planned to do about the fact that the long-propagated dream of a "property-owning democracy" has, directly or otherwise, put 4.5 million people on the waiting list for social housing?

His answer revealed that, after 30 years of deliberate marginalisation and residualisation of council housing and the people who live in it so it is rationed to those in the most desperate circumstances and treated like an embarrassment to the housing stock, he's going in for more of the same. Not only that, but that he regards housing security as being an impediment to social mobility, and that anyone with a decent job shouldn't want a council house in the first place.

Grant Shapps, the housing minister, has announced details of a National Affordable Home Swap Scheme in which all social housing tenants will be able to swap their home with another elsewhere: not a new policy at all, but a new way of putting it. Cameron put the coalition's plans to get people on their bikes more bluntly: "Maybe in five or 10 years you will be doing a different job and be better paid and you won't need that home, you will be able to go into the private sector," he told his audience, adding that social housing and lack of social mobility are inextricably linked.

This was his version of the comment commonly but mistakenly attributed to Margeret Thatcher that anyone who travels on a bus after the age of 26 should regard themselves as a failure. It's been a long while – since the introduction of the right to buy in 1980 – since social housing has been actively popular. However, the fact remains that millions of people, most of them low-paid because successive governments have endorsed a low-pay economy, choose to live in social housing because they do not relish the stress of taking out a mortgage they would struggle to afford, in a place where they don't know anyone.

These proposals are as ideological as any of the Thatcher-era policies designed to encourage a sense of shame at living in the north, or at feeling a deep attachment to places where there was no longer any work. Is Cameron really suggesting that anyone who gets a decent-paying job ought to give up their tenancy? If he believes that's the price of shunting lower-paid people around the country in order to fuel the "flexible workforce", then he must be.There is a clear link between the housing you grow up in and your chances of social mobility. To make that link in a vacuum, as Cameron did on Tuesday, is to make what ought to be a practical matter a moral one. No mention of the fact that most people who live on estates do work, but many earn wages too low either to raise a deposit or to even think about taking out a mortgage.

Look at what the Tories promise to tenants "with a record of five years' good behaviour": "a 10% equity share in their social rented property, which can be cashed in when they want to move up the housing ladder". Like the phrase "big society", this speaks of terrible condescension. Can you, you poor renting fool, behave yourself for five whole years? You can? Get a toe on the ladder.

I'm not blind to the awful, stomach-churning stress of living alongside tenants who believe in the right to do what they like and be protected from eviction. But transience is the enemy of community. A well-functioning community, in which people know each other and are used to getting together to solve problems, can contain the disruption caused by antisocial householders and prevent isolated incidents from turning into sustained campaigns.

Estates with high levels of social problems are the ones with the highest turnover of tenancies: they are situated in the areas of worst-quality housing, with the poorest reputations, and with the worst amenities. People are housed in them because they are desperate: they quickly realise it's not a good place to live and they move to better housing as soon as circumstances allow.

There's room to ask why we still need "affordable housing" in the first place. Why not make all housing more affordable by increasing supply? Why not make sure people get decent pay for the work they do? Once we were warned not to be ordinary, or to fall ill, or to get old, under Tory rule. To these warnings it looks as though we will have to add: never treat your house as a home.

In the fifth Guardian cartoonist's showcase, Nick Hayes recasts key government figures as the A-Team

The Vietnam War is famous for having dealt the United States its worst defeat in many years. Half a million US armed forces were sent and deployed to participate in the war. It is during this military conflict where 58,159 American armed forces lost their lives fighting for an uncertain cause. It also showed that a military superpower can be brought down after all and taught America numerous lessons to ponder up to this day.

Today, the US is involved in yet another similar conflict. The War in Afghanistan is foreseen and predicted to be another US setback in the making. Recent figures show the increasing number of US servicemen casualties along with the Afghan insurgency also gaining power. The continuous attacks on US forces and bases in Afghanistan is a testament that the insurgency is very determined to repel the Americans and win back the country.

What makes Afghanistan similar to Vietnam are the policies and decisions done by the government. During the Vietnam War, the US intervened and favored the administration of then President Diem of South Vietnam going up against most of the Vietnam people. In relation to today’s situation, the US has also invaded Afghanistan and trying to impose a US-backed government. But just how sure is the US that the Afghans accept this government? There have been rumors that the Afghan government is corrupt and may have secretly aided the insurgency.

The US has now put a deeper commitment to Afghanistan much more what the US did in Vietnam. The government has pledged more troops for Afghanistan. The addition of 30,000 more troops put intense pressure on the US to generate more favorable outcomes and achieve its goals. But with the continuous increase in military death toll, it is now a big question if the US is still fighting a winnable and achievable situation. It is also good to note that the US has lost sight of its primary reason when it invaded Afghanistan during the year 2001.

Perhaps the most significant similarity between these two conflicts is the lack of political will and support. During the Vietnam War, the US gave up its support and aid to South Vietnam because they lack the will to pursue it and Congress has refused to fund the war. In the Afghan situation, we see more people trying to oppose and condemn the war. The Afghan war is like a ticking time bomb waiting to explode and create another humiliating defeat to the US.

So is Afghanistan militarily winnable? No. The US is again forgetting the lessons it has learned during its failures in the past. How many more US armed forces will risk and lose their lives on a war that is actually unwinnable at all? The government should realize that a military solution in Afghanistan is not viable and may only bring back the horrors of the Vietnam defeat.

The Vietnam War is famous for having dealt the United States its worst defeat in many years. Half a million US armed forces were sent and deployed to participate in the war. It is during this military conflict where 58,159 American armed forces lost their lives fighting for an uncertain cause. It also showed that a military superpower can be brought down after all and taught America numerous lessons to ponder up to this day.

Today, the US is involved in yet another similar conflict. The War in Afghanistan is foreseen and predicted to be another US setback in the making. Recent figures show the increasing number of US servicemen casualties along with the Afghan insurgency also gaining power. The continuous attacks on US forces and bases in Afghanistan is a testament that the insurgency is very determined to repel the Americans and win back the country.

What makes Afghanistan similar to Vietnam are the policies and decisions done by the government. During the Vietnam War, the US intervened and favored the administration of then President Diem of South Vietnam going up against most of the Vietnam people. In relation to today’s situation, the US has also invaded Afghanistan and trying to impose a US-backed government. But just how sure is the US that the Afghans accept this government? There have been rumors that the Afghan government is corrupt and may have secretly aided the insurgency.

The US has now put a deeper commitment to Afghanistan much more what the US did in Vietnam. The government has pledged more troops for Afghanistan. The addition of 30,000 more troops put intense pressure on the US to generate more favorable outcomes and achieve its goals. But with the continuous increase in military death toll, it is now a big question if the US is still fighting a winnable and achievable situation. It is also good to note that the US has lost sight of its primary reason when it invaded Afghanistan during the year 2001.

Perhaps the most significant similarity between these two conflicts is the lack of political will and support. During the Vietnam War, the US gave up its support and aid to South Vietnam because they lack the will to pursue it and Congress has refused to fund the war. In the Afghan situation, we see more people trying to oppose and condemn the war. The Afghan war is like a ticking time bomb waiting to explode and create another humiliating defeat to the US.

So is Afghanistan militarily winnable? No. The US is again forgetting the lessons it has learned during its failures in the past. How many more US armed forces will risk and lose their lives on a war that is actually unwinnable at all? The government should realize that a military solution in Afghanistan is not viable and may only bring back the horrors of the Vietnam defeat.

The government issued a license Wednesday enabling private lawyers to challenge the constitutionality of the CIA’s targeting of alleged terrorist Anwar al-Awlaki, a U.S. citizen hiding in Yemen….

The Vietnam War is famous for having dealt the United States its worst defeat in many years. Half a million US armed forces were sent and deployed to participate in the war. It is during this military conflict where 58,159 American armed forces lost their lives fighting for an uncertain cause. It also showed that a military superpower can be brought down after all and taught America numerous lessons to ponder up to this day.

Today, the US is involved in yet another similar conflict. The War in Afghanistan is foreseen and predicted to be another US setback in the making. Recent figures show the increasing number of US servicemen casualties along with the Afghan insurgency also gaining power. The continuous attacks on US forces and bases in Afghanistan is a testament that the insurgency is very determined to repel the Americans and win back the country.

What makes Afghanistan similar to Vietnam are the policies and decisions done by the government. During the Vietnam War, the US intervened and favored the administration of then President Diem of South Vietnam going up against most of the Vietnam people. In relation to today’s situation, the US has also invaded Afghanistan and trying to impose a US-backed government. But just how sure is the US that the Afghans accept this government? There have been rumors that the Afghan government is corrupt and may have secretly aided the insurgency.

The US has now put a deeper commitment to Afghanistan much more what the US did in Vietnam. The government has pledged more troops for Afghanistan. The addition of 30,000 more troops put intense pressure on the US to generate more favorable outcomes and achieve its goals. But with the continuous increase in military death toll, it is now a big question if the US is still fighting a winnable and achievable situation. It is also good to note that the US has lost sight of its primary reason when it invaded Afghanistan during the year 2001.

Perhaps the most significant similarity between these two conflicts is the lack of political will and support. During the Vietnam War, the US gave up its support and aid to South Vietnam because they lack the will to pursue it and Congress has refused to fund the war. In the Afghan situation, we see more people trying to oppose and condemn the war. The Afghan war is like a ticking time bomb waiting to explode and create another humiliating defeat to the US.

So is Afghanistan militarily winnable? No. The US is again forgetting the lessons it has learned during its failures in the past. How many more US armed forces will risk and lose their lives on a war that is actually unwinnable at all? The government should realize that a military solution in Afghanistan is not viable and may only bring back the horrors of the Vietnam defeat.

The United States is rapidly drawing down troops in Iraq, and contractors are picking up the slack. DynCorp International, in particular, employs hundreds of ex-soldiers and cops to act as bodyguards and shepherds for State Department personnel across the country. The company also trains Iraqi police forces.

DynCorp is under intense pressure to perform without blemish. Private security companies and their employees are under scrutiny from both the U.S. and Iraqi governments more than ever before because of a string of incidents. Within the military, soldiers who quit to join these companies are derided as “mercs.” The culture among DynCorp’s ranks is similar to that of elite military units — what happens out there stays out there. It’s dangerous. Contractors get killed and injured with regularity. The pay is OK — it starts at $90,000 a year — and the working conditions — living in tents, eating MREs — are harsh. State Department officials have told me that the U.S. is generally pleased with DynCorp’s performance so far … but DynCorp is pretty much the only company that can do what State needs it to do.

But one member of an elite unit, a former Army Ranger who asked not to be identified, is concerned that DynCorp and the U.S. government are cutting corners unnecessarily.

The U.S. government is responsible for coordinating the vehicle credentialing and registration process with the Iraqis. Iraq’s new bureaucracy changed its rules, delaying the renewal efforts. DynCorp International’s team leaders are not supposed to leave their bases without valid credentials, period — no matter the reason.

The decals are important — they allow U.S. and Iraqi troops to see their vehicles as belonging to friendlies.

If the decals are out of date and the licenses are expired, DynCorp’s folks can find themselves arrested, or worse. In December, when decals expired, the company continued to operate until a DynCorp team member was arrested, according to this employee. (Update: DynCorp. International says that this is incorrect and no employee was arrested.)

Vehicle decals and licenses issued by the Iraqi government again expired on August 1.

And yet, according to the ex-Ranger, team leaders on Monday were instructed by the State Department to continue sending out teams. “Hopefully, no one gets hurt due to this,” the DynCorp employee said. The implicit message, according to the ex-Ranger, was that either the teams go out or they go home — fired, back to the United States.

I was not able to reach State Department officials in Iraq, and e-mails sent to the Multi-National Security Transition Command-Iraq were not returned. DynCorp, however, responded fairly quickly to my inquiry.

“At the direction of our customer, the U.S. Department of State, as of August 3, 2010, [Dyncorp] has suspended operations with vehicles that have expired stickers,” a company spokesperson said in a statement:

The safety and security of all DynCorp International (DI) personnel who have bravely chosen to work in remote and often hostile environments is a top priority for the Company. In Iraq, our teams have volunteered to operate in a warzone performing dangerous but vital tasks in support of a number of U.S. government programs. We provide the safest possible environment for our personnel by working closely with the Iraqi government to obtain all licensing and certifications that are required to operate in Iraq.

DynCorp says that its licenses with the Iraqi Ministry of the Interior, the Kurdish ministry of the interior, and various other organizations are “all in good standing”:

“Both the U.S. government and the Iraqi [government] have assured us that the administrative process to receive an additional written extension is underway.”

The government's point man on the oil spill response says engineers will still try to firm up the now-plugged Gulf leak through a relief well.

The Government simulates lowering the flat tax from 16 per cent to 10 per cent while maintaining the VAT at 24 per cent, government sources confirmed by Andreea Paul Vass, Premier Emil Bocs personal advisor, stated for Gandul daily.

Government appears to be working on a better way to inform drivers about high winds on the Trans Canada in the Wreckhouse area. A woman from central Newfoundland complained to government after being in a nasty accident.

The U.S. government is expected to announce Wednesday that three-quarters of the oil from the BP spill in the Gulf of Mexico has already evaporated, dispersed, or been captured or eliminated, the New York Times reported.

Government under attack over price riseGovernment under attack over price rise

The federal government has moved to distance itself from its controversial web snooping plans during the election campaign and the decision to hide details from the public.

Government: Ecuador’s New Oil Contracts To Be Ready This Week

Annie Linskey covers state politics and government for The Baltimore Sun . Previously, as a City Hall reporter, she wrote about the corruption trial of Mayor Sheila Dixon and kept a close eye on city spending.

FOIA experts think the SEC’s interpretation of the passage ought to be challenged, citing other recent attempts by government agencies to get around FOIA compliance which were not ultimately successful.

FOX Business Network’s revelation that the recent financial regulatory reform legislation holds a provision which exempts the Securities and Exchange Commission from complying with the Freedom of Information Act had advocates of FOIA and members of the legal community outraged on Wednesday.

The SEC cited a section of the legislation as exempting it from complying with FOIA requests posed by FOX Business, among others, when the requests are regarding information related to “surveillance, risk assessments, or other regulatory and oversight activities.”

“This is a scandal, a shock,” said Republican Rep. Spencer Bachus of Alabama. “This provision shuts the public out.”

FOIA experts think the SEC’s interpretation of the passage ought to be challenged, citing other recent attempts by government agencies to get around FOIA compliance that were not ultimately successful.

In the years following Sept. 11, after the passage of the Homeland Security Act, Congress debated adding provisions that would exempt private businesses from making FOIA disclosures on critical infrastructure vulnerabilities. Lawmakers hoped the private businesses would report those vulnerabilities to the Department of Homeland Security in an effort to better protect the country from terrorists, and didn’t want them to resist reporting due to FOIA requirements that would make that information public.

In another instance, a new bio-terrorism agency, called the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Agency, or BARDA, included a provision that would exempt the entire agency from FOIA.

“This is reminiscent of an exemption for a new bio-terrorism agency the drug industry tried to push through Congress after 9/11,” Ken Bunting, executive director for the National Freedom of Information Coalition at the University of Missouri, said in an e-mail. “This exemption for the SEC is almost as sweeping, just as bad an idea.”

Ultimately neither BARDA nor the corporate infrastructure HSA submissions were made explicitly exempt, and both Bunting and Schultz see that as a good thing.

“With all that has gone on in recent years, can anyone think that the regulators who oversee the financial industry should be shielded from public scrutiny?” Bunting said.

Indeed, advocates of FOIA note that the legislation was originally intended to grant the individual the information needed to hold government accountable.

“FOIA creates a presumption that all of the documents held by the government are public documents, and it puts the burden on federal agencies to justify withholding information,” said David Schulz, who is a partner at media-law firm Levine Sullivan Koch & Schulz, and a lecturer on the topic at Columbia University.

FOIA was enacted in 1966 by President Lyndon Johnson, and then strengthened in 1974 in the wake of Watergate, and is designed to shine light on the inner workings of government, requiring federal agencies to provide government documents upon receiving a written request, Schulz said. There have been numerous amendments to the legislation, but the basic fundamental philosophy — that the public has a right to know what government is up to — has held.

Under the law there are nine official exemptions to FOIA requests, including: documents related to matters of national defense or foreign policy, information which would violate an individual’s right to privacy, records compiled for law enforcement purposes and trade secrets, commercial or financial information, among others. The third written exemption to FOIA requests includes information exempted by other statutes, and it is this exemption which the SEC’s recent attempt to avoid disclosure would probably fall under.

But Schulz can’t believe that Congress would have intended it that way.

“The notion that you could construe this new provision and the use of the word ‘regulatory’ as a broad grant of authority to exempt the SEC from disclosure laws — I can’t imagine Congress intended in its wildest dreams to grant that kind of authority without any significant public debate,” Schulz said.

Schulz went on to say that since the United States government’s passage of FOIA, there’s been a widespread trend of other governments and international governing bodies to adopt similar provisions, recognizing access to government information as a fundamental human right.

“It’s vitally important to the functioning of democratic governments,” Schulz said.

Michael Gove's Academies Act was rushed through parliament last week and now Goddard Park is working through the summer to become one of the first new primary academies

Goddard Park primary doesn't sit in a leafy suburb of Swindon; its catchment comprises a swathe of modest housing estates where many families manage on low incomes or on benefits. It is a medium-sized primary of 420 pupils in the 11th poorest ward in the south-west; a significant proportion – 38% – of children currently enrolled are eligible for free school meals.

Those facts don't scream "outstanding school", observes its headteacher, Mike Welsh, who is also president of the National Association of Headteachers.

But Goddard Park was top-rated at its recent Ofsted inspection, and it is capitalising on that in a bid to become one of the first – perhaps the first – primary school to become an academy in September under Michael Gove's Academies Act, which was rushed through parliament last week.

Welsh has only just received final confirmation that his application has been approved: the pressure is now on to get every last bit of administrative nitty-gritty sorted over the summer holiday so the school can fully opt out of local authority control and be launched as an academy on 1 September.

It's no small task. Business manager Fiona Godrey shows me a "to-do" list that runs to several close-typed A4 pages.

Although there is a list of frequently asked questions on the Department for Education website, she says: "It's a bit all over the place." There has been no comprehensive guidance to help her out, and apart from a "ready reckoner" on the website that provides a rough estimate of the extra money the school will get (essentially, the 10% of its budget allocation that currently goes straight to the local authority pooled pot to pay for special educational needs and educational welfare services), no confirmation yet of its final budget for next year.

So for schools wanting to fast-track their change of status by September, thinking through every last detail of how the new academies will manage their learning support, human resources, legal affairs and financial status as devolved bodies appears to rely on having extremely experienced, competent and on-the-ball administrators. Perhaps that is why, according to figures released last week, so far only 150 or so schools have made an application for academy status – far removed from the 1,907 which the government had claimed were interested.

Welsh's view of local authority service provision is that it doesn't do a good enough job often enough for him to be able to rely on it, and this is why he wants to opt out. "I think we can get better services by going to our local community, and to the market, and to the local authority in some cases," he says plainly, offering an example of how the extra financial independence could benefit pupils.

"Take the education welfare service. Currently we have a service-level agreement with the local authority. If we have a child with attendance issues, the local authority will usually send a letter. Often there's no response or, in rare cases, parents may not even be able to read it.

"With the money that is coming back to us, we'll have the ability to give our learning support mentor, for example, a couple of extra hours to go round to see that family, have a cup of tea and find out the situation in person. That's where we would see an improved and more responsive service."

As an academy, much of the school's running, Welsh insists, will stay the same, with only minor tweaks to its focus. The make-up of the governing body will, however, change: two of the three existing local authority representatives will switch to being community reps, giving five seats in total to people from the locality.

Staff terms and conditions will be transferred over to the new trust exactly as they are and national payscales will be respected. The only enhancement Welsh intends to make is to protect the salaries of seven of his support staff, who have recently lost out through Swindon's single status payscale re-evaluation. "That sort of decision, which is right to show our staff we value them, is an indication of how we'd use our freedom," he says.

But what about the disadvantages to other schools of one school taking that 10% out of the common pot?

"Remember, we see becoming an academy as being open to all schools [ultimately], and my view is that the government must do this," he says, pointing out that the Department for Education has stated that the new academies programme is only beginning with outstanding schools; it's envisaged that the opportunity should later be extended to others.

The Association of Directors of Children's Services is also advocating that all schools should become academies, he observes.

A world in which every school can do its own thing may be Welsh's wish, but he can't make it happen. On the other hand, his observation that "under austerity, those local authority services are going to be compromised anyway", is very likely to become a matter of fact.

His staff clearly trust his judgment and are excited about the change, particularly with regard to their release from national curriculum constraints (though as an outstanding school, Goddard Park already has considerable freedom). Some misgivings are nonetheless expressed.

"The worry is, what it'll be like in practice," says assistant head Jo Harding. "Will there be enough money to fill the holes left by the local authority?"

"It's not often you ring up the local authority for advice, but if you do, will they be there?" adds her colleague, assistant head Sue Chilvers.

"And if things go wrong, is there any sort of safety blanket?" wonders year 5 teacher Alison Westlake-Webb.

All three feel strongly that private businesses must not come in waving chequebooks and wanting to dictate terms. "I wouldn't want some random investor that doesn't know anything about education telling us what to do. And I'd like to have some way for the staff to oppose things like that," says Harding with real feeling.

Welsh later tells me that while private money might be welcomed under certain conditions, buying up bits of the curriculum – or indeed any other powers – will simply not be countenanced.

He also says there has been full community and in-school consultation about the decision to become an academy, and is adamant that had any significant concerns been raised, he would have held off. But there has been real concern that in the rush to get schools to apply for a September start, there is little time for staff and parents to absorb and consider the full implications of the move.

Jamie Francis, a parent who volunteers at Goddard Park, is enthusiastic about the change to academy status because it will mean the school can tailor the curriculum and services to pupils' particular needs. Her five-year-old son needs speech therapy, and his class teacher has explained that the school may now simply be able to buy that in for him quickly, rather than having to put him on a long waiting list for local authority provision.

Francis hadn't, however, considered that the local authority's ability to buy in specialist help for other school's pupils might be negatively affected because of Goddard Park reclaiming its 10% of the local authority education services pot. She sounds stricken. "No, I hadn't thought of the funds not being there for other schools," she says quietly. "But that is a good point. It has happened so quickly, and when something happens quite quickly, you don't have time to consider everything."

Welsh, however, says he doesn't see disadvantages to other schools; instead, being at the forefront of the new academies "is about having the chance to show other schools how to make their own way and develop the confidence and skills to get best value.

"If we're going to work with other schools, as we're already doing very closely in our geographic cluster and in other parts of the country, we see that as being a necessary part of what education is all about. The local authority will still provide and, I would hope, become commissioners of services, but increasingly they will be services that people actually value."

The Guardian will return to Goddard Park in September to follow its progress

Find out which green government funding or bodies Guardian website readers think should be spared from the coalition’s spending cuts

Immigration Minister Chris Evans has reportedly said the immigration debate is 'killing' the government.

The Government is to spend in excess of 36 million to repatriate 250,000 tonnes of Irish household and commercial waste illegally dumped in Northern Ireland.

THE Government is set to spend in excess of 20 million to repatriate waste which was illegally dumped in the North over the past decade.

Matthew Falconer, a commercial real-estate developer, says he wants to save small businesses from the crushing weight of government waste.

The Government is to spend around 36m to dispose 250,000 tonnes of waste, which was illegally dumped in Northern Ireland.

Irish government to pay for clean up in NI