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Full coverage: The (latest) launch of David Cameron's 'big society'

Cameron sets out vision of a great society

Video: Cameron sets out plan

Tim Bale: large community of U.S. imports

Voluntary groups wary after being hit by cuts

t Aditya Chakrabortty: more choice does not work

Today's top SocietyGuardian news and comment

Only one in 10 police officers on frontline, watchdog warns

'Locked-in' syndrome man demands right to die

Flu jab could be replaced by skin patch

Aids infection risk for women halved by gel

Mark Serwotka: defending civil service redundancy pay

Letters: restriction of methadone will encourage street drugs

All today's SocietyGuardian stories

Other news

?€? The Daily Mail once again worried about the people 's garbage. Today, he emphasizes how tips "secret" to rummage in families bunkers "a" waste audits " . And it reveals that the Tories may have to backtrack on an election pledge to end fortnightly bin collections.

Great Society: the reaction

Yesterday David Cameron (once again) outlined his vision for his "big society". The government might be only 11 weeks old but excuse us, David, if we feel like we've heard it all before. The Daily Mail certainly took that view, you might have expected it to get excited about the idea of a smaller state or locals doing it for themselves, yet the paper buried the launch at the foot of page 10 and didn't think it worthy of an editorial - preferring to fume about a man who was fined £1,500 for drowning a squirrel.

The Independent has taken a more forensic approach with its reporter Andy McSmith running through Cameron's announcement with a highlighter picking out what he really means:

David Cameron: The big society is about a huge culture change - where people, in their everyday lives, in their homes, in their neighbourhoods, in their workplace - don't always turn to officials…
Andy McSmith: There could be two reasons why you might not turn to officials for help in David Cameron's Britain. Either you have taken his exhortations to heart and become self-sufficient - or you cannot find the official you need, because so many of them have been sacked.

Cynicism and big society seem to go hand-in-hand, but ex-Blair adviser Matthew Taylor encourages us to give the idea a chance. He takes issue with Labour leadership hopeful Ed Miliband, who was rounding on the concept yesterday, accusing the coalition of "cynically attempting to dignify its cuts agenda by dressing up the withdrawal of support with the language of reinvigorating civic society". Taylor describes Miliband's comments as "Spartist":

"I'm sure this will go down well with the dwindling band of Labour activists and trade union paymasters. It may come across less well with a public which polls suggest is at least open minded about the big society…"

In addition, a blogger social affairs Julian Dobson warns against turning the large society in the "political football. He argues that the idea needs to "partisans" not politicians:

A large company can not do without the politicians, for all varieties. What is needed, because the guerrillas.
A partisan is a supporter or an enthusiast. In wartime, it's also a guerrilla fighter. Some of those skills - initiative, autonomy, risk-taking - will need to become the stuff of the big society if it is to be a voice of the people rather than of the powerful. The opportunity to pass real power and resources to local communities is too important to be lost in political skirmishing or the trench warfare of vested interests.

Finally, we can rely on Boris Johnson for an off-message wisecrack, as Paul Waugh reports:

Ever the joker, he couldn't resist diverting attention by airing a barbed gag that he's been making in private about David Cameron's idea for devolving power. Referring to the need to get obese 11-year-olds literally on their bikes, the mayor said: "We must tackle the scourge of obesity, or the 'big society' as it's sometimes known."

On the radar...

• Blogger and academic Tony Bovaird on the good news and bad news about public sector cuts, including this list of six top tips for surviving life in the age of austerity:

Don't get ill (just protecting NHS spend won't be enough to provide the likely number of future users with current service quality levels).
t Don 'to anyone you depend on the support of sick (or leave the neighborhood).
Be (very) good neighbors (perhaps those who need them much more in the future).
Start saving (if you need any public service in the future may not be able to obtain, or you may have to pay most of it, when you get it).
If you 're young, start learning a foreign language (probably have to go abroad, if you want the public works sector in the future - or the public service).
Take up 'easy access' leisure activities like walking and birdwatching â€" anything that requires public sector provision, like swimming or sports centres, may be too expensive for you or too far away from you in the future.

• David Clark, a Mercy on accountability and children services 's in the age of localism and deregulation:

"In my wilder moments I have thought that, under the banner of the government's transparency agenda, the job should be retitled: 'director of the council's children's services and of those other children's services that bother to turn up and tell me what is going on'".

Preview of tomorrow's SocietyGuardian supplement

• In Texas, reading courses are a new alternative to prison. But do they work?

• Disabled people want real jobs not special jobs

• Randeep Ramesh: Cameron's love affair with the third sector

• Ray Jones: NHS white paper creates opportunities for local councils

• Interview: Gail Cartmail on her bid to be the first woman leader of Unite

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