Thanks for all your questions and comments on the Webcameron forums. I've responded to five topics: Rwanda, 90 days detention, Zimbabwe, Headteachers and Holidays. You can read my replies here or as part of the forum threads by clicking on the titles below.

David in Rwanda
Author: tonymakara

Thanks for all the comments on this issue.

I understand the points of view of those who disagree, but having been committed for some time to speaking at the Parliament, and to visiting the 43 volunteers working on Project Umubano, I didn’t want to cancel at the last minute. Of course I was in my constituency, seeing for myself the flooded areas, on the Sunday before I went and again the day I returned (Wednesday), and was in constant touch while I was in Rwanda.

As I said in my blog and in my speech to the Rwandan Parliament, there is also a wider point. The problems of climate change, poverty, migration and terrorism are global, not local. We can’t compartmentalise these issues into “domestic” and “foreign” even if we want to.

As for those on this thread who say the problems of the developing world are so great that there is no point in our getting involved, I disagree. I am proud of the lasting legacy which the work of Project Umubano has left, however small it may look, for communities who have lost so much.

Tonymakara rightly highlights some of the things I personally will have learnt from the visit. I set some of these out on my blog – like seeing first hand the way British taxpayers’ money is being spent, and the difference it is making to people’s lives; learning about the progress the Rwandan economy is making, and the importance of free and fair trade as well as aid; and witnessing the horror of the genocide memorial – as well as the inspirational way in which reconciliation is now taking place. As I said in my speech, I believe anyone who aspires to political leadership anywhere in the world really should go and see that memorial.

As for future policy, I would encourage everyone to read – and then comment on - our policy group report on Global Poverty, which was launched during my visit. Its recommendations have the potential to make a huge difference to the effectiveness of development policy, and therefore to the standard of living of some of the poorest people on the planet. Whatever people’s points of view on the timing of my visit, I hope everyone will agree that that really isn’t a tangential issue.

Nobody wants to lock up people for 90 days just for fun!
Author: BasilBlogger

The question here is whether there is evidence that we need to go beyond 28 days. We have said all along that we will look at whatever evidence the Government produces. But at the moment there doesn’t seem to be anything which wasn’t available in December - when the then Home Secretary, Attorney General and Lord Chancellor all agreed that fresh evidence was needed before a further change in the law could be justified.

We have set out the alternatives to passing a new law. These include using, if necessary, the Civil Contingencies Act, which gives the Government the power to detain people for a total of 58 days in time of national emergency - two more than the Prime Minister has been talking about.

And we have once again pointed to the need for a proper, specialised border police force, and for a tough and hard-headed look at the Human Rights Act. That Act is frustrating our fight against terrorism. I have offered to work with the Prime Minister to draw up a proper Bill of Rights which protects our liberty and our security.

Should the world intervene in Zimbabwe?
Author: tonymakara

What has happened to the people of Zimbabwe is nothing short of a tragedy. On top of the political violence and state repression, there is low life expectancy, food shortages, chronic unemployment – an impending humanitarian catastrophe in fact - and what makes all these things worse is that they are all man-made problems which were so avoidable.

There are no easy answers, but what we mustn’t do is carry on conducting business as usual. There are some practical steps which can be taken by those such as the European Union, and countries like South Africa, which could make a real difference in alleviating this suffering. These have to involve isolating Mugabe’s despotic regime.

I asked Tony Blair in March about some of the actions that can be taken to extend targeted sanctions – like widening the scope of the freeze on assets, cancelling EU visas and residence permits for those on the EU sanctions list, and adding others to the list.

We also need to make sure that none of those people, including Mugabe, is invited to the EU-African Union summit later this year. To invite him would be a total disgrace given the plight of Zimbabwe’s citizens at his hands.

DC's charter for 'little Hitler' headteachers
Author: yorker

There is a fairly straightforward principle here: a headteacher must have control over the standards of behaviour in his or her school. It isn’t right that the vast majority of headteachers – who don’t behave in the way Yorker suggests – should suffer as a result of those like the ones Yorker has come across. There do need to be checks and balances on professional staff, from those such as school governors, but removing headteachers’ right to control discipline in the school is not the answer.

We know what works because we’ve all seen it. The best schools – in whatever sector they are in – have an independent ethos and clear rules on acceptable behaviour. Children need to know where the lines are. That means heads need to be able to impose real codes of behaviour and discipline.

What I have called for is for the home-school contracts to be enforceable, as requirements for admission and grounds for exclusion. And I want heads, as a last resort, to have the power to exclude those whose conduct is badly disrupting the education of others – and not to have that power undermined by some external appeals panel, which second guesses the head teacher’s decision and undermines his or her authority. These decisions should be taken in schools.

At the same time I have called for real effort and enterprise in dealing with the children who do get excluded.

The alternative is to carry on as we are – with far too many children being held back by indiscipline and bullying. That is simply not acceptable.

David Cameron - enjoy your 'retro' holiday!
Author: canvas

Thanks to canvas for the best wishes. In answer to Glynne, whether or not I take my laptop I promise I won’t be blogging under any pseudonyms.

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