The Colombian government and Farc rebels have agreed to resume peace talks, which were suspended last month over the abduction of an army general, mediators say.

Officials from Cuba and Norway, the two countries brokering the peace process, said a week of discussions would begin in Havana on 10 December.
Colombia's president stopped the talks after the rebels seized Gen Ruben Dario Alzate and two others on 16 November.
The captives were released on Sunday.
They were handed over to a humanitarian mission led by the International Red Cross and taken to a military base near the city of Medellin before travelling to be reunited with their families.
"We consider the crisis over and announce that we have agreed that the next cycle of conversations will take place between 10 and 17 December," Reuters quoted a joint statement read by a Cuban official as saying.
The negotiators said the next round of talks would focus on a de-escalation of the conflict, and on meeting the relatives of victims.
They also said the parties had agreed to establish a permanent system to deal with any future crises.
They will reconvene around mid-January, on a date not yet determined.
The negotiations have been under way in Havana since November 2012 and aim to bring an end to five decades of conflict, in which 220,000 people are estimated to have died.
The Red Cross and the Farc said that the handover on Sunday had taken place in a remote location in Choco province, an isolated jungle region on Colombia's Pacific Coast.
Gen Alzate, Cpl Jorge Rodriguez and lawyer Gloria Urrego had been kidnapped 14 days earlier while travelling along the Atrato river by boat. They had ventured into territory dominated by the Farc in civilian clothes and without a security detail.
The Farc said they kidnapped the general because they were unhappy that President Juan Manuel Santos had continued military operations against them during peace talks.
The left-wing rebel group has renewed calls for both sides to call a ceasefire while the peace negotiations proceed.
The government has rejected such calls, saying that a truce would only help the rebel group regroup and rearm.
Gen Alzate resigned from his post on Monday, saying he should have taken more security precautions.


Four men from Luton have been arrested on suspicion of terrorism offences, Scotland Yard has said.

The men - who are all in their 30s - were arrested on suspicion of being involved in the commission, preparation and instigation of acts of terrorism.
They have been taken into custody at a London police station and seven addresses and several vehicles are being searched in Luton, police said.
The arrests are not connected to last month's attacks in Paris, they added.
The men are also not believed to have been preparing to travel to Syria.
BBC home affairs correspondent Danny Shaw said the arrests were "quite significant" and followed a "long-standing covert police operation" in Luton.
He said no firearms officers were involved, which suggested there was no intelligence of any immediate threat.
"However, there has been heightened concern in the UK that extremist groups are encouraging and radicalising individuals; recruiting people to get involved in Islamist terrorism; and planning attacks," our correspondent added.
The arrests were carried out in a joint operation by the Metropolitan Police's Counter Terrorism Command and the Eastern Counter Terrorism and Intelligence Unit.


Rugby World Cup fans faced waits of up to three hours for trains following the Australia v Fiji match at Cardiff's Millennium Stadium.

Motorists also made slow progress after the game, with stop-start traffic on the M4 eastbound between J29 and 26 and on the A48 Eastern Avenue in Cardiff.
An overturned lorry on the A470 north of Cardiff also affected traffic on the M4 at J32, highways officials said.
Arriva Trains Wales issued live travel updates online as fans headed home.
Australia beat Fiji 28-13.
Supporters arriving by car before kick-off endured eight miles of stop-start traffic which was reported on the M4 from junctions 23a to 25a.
Welsh Secretary Stephen Crabb told rail bosses to "fix" overcrowding problems after issues at Saturday's Ireland-Canada game.
He said: "I think Cardiff has already got a reputation as the best city in Europe in which to watch rugby and we don't want any transport-related issues undermining the hard-earned reputation that we're acquiring as a great host city for international events... there are loads and loads of big pluses, but let's fix this."
Lynne Milligan, of Arriva Trains Wales, said: "Based on travel demand data and on Saturday evening's experience, we are predicting around 35,000 people wanting to travel back by train after the match.
"We can move on average 10,000 people per hour through our queuing system but unfortunately for some of the busier queues, this could mean up to a three hour wait."
But Dan Panes from Great Western Railway said it was not putting on additional seats, on top of the 10 extra services.
This is after it apologised for underestimating passenger numbers on Saturday calling the situation "embarrassing". The firm put on 8,000 extra seats for Ireland's match against Canada, but had to add 1,500 extra seats.
Check if this is affecting your journey


Light-up strips have been installed at a pedestrian crossing in Bodegraven, Netherlands, to help smartphone users cross the road safely.

16 February 2017 Last updated at 11:58 GMT
The Lightlines are embedded in the pavement to catch the eye of people looking down at their device, and change colour to match traffic signals.
Read more


Strong winds and heavy rain caused disruption to commuters across the South East.

The A249 Sheppey Crossing in Kent was shut for nine hours and some ferry services from the Port of Dover were cancelled.
DFDS Seaways said it was now operating to schedule, while other operators warned of delays.
Commuter trains were also affected by the weather during the morning.
Southeastern said services on some routes ran at reduced speed, but it worked closely with Network Rail to minimise the impact to travellers.
Check if this is affecting your journey
Passengers were also urged to check the Southeastern website before they started their journeys.
Southern planned to run a full service across its network but said the stormy weather could cause some delays.
The wintry conditions slowed traffic on the M25 in Kent and Surrey and M23 in Sussex, but there have were no reports of major problems.
Kent County Council's highways department said driving conditions were more difficult than usual and urged motorists to "drive with caution".
The Met Office said the gale force winds and outbreaks of rain would ease.
From the BBC:
Elsewhere:


Temporary wards are to be built at two hospitals in south Wales to help deal with pressures on beds.

The two wards, expected to cost more than £7m, will create up to 60 new beds at Morriston Hospital in Swansea and Bridgend's Princess of Wales Hospital.
Abertawe Bro Morgannwg University Health Board (ABMU) said the wards would be a "considerable help" to deal with winter pressures.
They will also be used to minimise disruption during improvement works.
Work is expected to begin later this year, with the temporary beds ready by 2018.
Sian Harrop-Griffiths, ABMU's director of strategy, said many of the wards at the two hospitals needed to be upgraded to "meet modern requirements", including better disabled access.
"It's difficult to do this work when the wards are in full use, so having an alternative ward for patients to go will be extremely helpful," she said.
"These new units will also be a considerable help at times of high pressure, as they will offer additional bed space when we need it most."
Plans for the unit at the Princess of Wales Hospital, which will see the demolition of the hospital's record building and loss of part of the car park, have been approved by Bridgend council.
Plans for the two-storey unit at Morriston and the creation of a 469-space temporary car park have been submitted to Swansea council.


Jamie Collins salvaged a draw for Sutton at Southport with a second-half penalty.

The visitors started well, with Ross Stearn heading just wide after 10 minutes, but it was the hosts who got the breakthrough with Andrai Jones profiting from Kevin Amankwaah's mistake to make it 1-0 after 37 minutes.
Magnus Norman kept the home team in front with a fine save low to his left from Nicky Bailey's spot-kick after 55 minutes.
But he was unable to repeat that feat two minutes later when Sutton were awarded a second penalty and Collins made no mistake to score his second of the season.
The point was enough to take Southport off rock bottom and above Guiseley, ending a three-match losing run, while Sutton remain 13th.
Report supplied by the Press Association
Match ends, Southport 1, Sutton United 1.
Second Half ends, Southport 1, Sutton United 1.
Substitution, Southport. Ashley Grimes replaces Jamie Allen.
Substitution, Southport. James Caton replaces Declan Weeks.
Substitution, Southport. Liam Hynes replaces Nathan Ferguson.
Substitution, Sutton United. Brandon Haunstrup replaces George McLennan.
Goal!  Southport 1, Sutton United 1. Jamie Collins (Sutton United) converts the penalty with a.
Second Half begins Southport 1, Sutton United 0.
Substitution, Sutton United. Chris Dickson replaces Maxime Biamou.
Substitution, Sutton United. Craig Dundas replaces Bradley Hudson-Odoi.
First Half ends, Southport 1, Sutton United 0.
Goal!  Southport 1, Sutton United 0. Andrai Jones (Southport).
First Half begins.
Lineups are announced and players are warming up.


Britain's Jo Pavey is set to receive a 2007 World Championships 10,000m bronze medal after Turkey's Elvan Abeylegesse had her result chalked off.

Athletics' governing body the IAAF said the silver medallist had been found guilty of an in-competition doping offence during the event in Japan.
Pavey, 43, was beaten to bronze by American Kara Goucher, who will now be upgraded to silver.
It is Pavey's first global medal having won Commonwealth and European medals.
The five-time Olympian is set to compete in this year's London Marathon with the aim of qualifying for the 2017 World Championships in London.
Ethiopia's Tirunesh Dibaba, who won gold in the 10,000m at the 2007 Worlds, will also line up against Pavey during April's marathon.
The saga surrounding Abeylegesse dates back to 2015 when the IAAF announced 28 athletes who competed at the 2005 and 2007 World Championships had returned "adverse findings" from retested samples.
The Turkish Athletics Federation subsequently revealed that Abeylegesse was one of those under investigation. The Ethiopian-born runner was withdrawn from the 2015 Worlds as a consequence.
Her results from 25 August 2007 to 25 August 2009 have been removed, and the 34-year-old is retrospectively banned from 29 September 2015 to 28 September 2017.


The Battle of Agincourt 600 years ago is one of the most famous English military successes - but should it really be remembered as a victory for Wales?

Marking a major turning point in the Hundred Years' War, the battle on 25 October 1415 was fought over the English kings' claim to the French throne.
However, legend has it that at Agincourt - like at the 1346 Battle of Crecy - Welsh longbowmen held the key to English success.
Henry V's army of around 8,000 was outnumbered by as much as five to one, yet 500 nimble-fingered Welsh archers were able to cut the heavily-armoured French knights to ribbons after cornering them in a narrow clearing.
Most of them came from Monmouthshire, the birthplace of Henry V, where their exploits are remembered in Monmouth's Agincourt Square - as well as a stained glass window in Brecon Cathedral.
To mark the 600th anniversary of the battle, throughout 2015 a group of enthusiasts from around Brecon and Monmouthshire have been staging a series of events to explain this unlikely medieval alliance.
Bryan Davies, the organiser of Agincourt 600 Wales - Cymru, has been fascinated with the competing folklores ever since he saw the Agincourt roll of honour at Brecon Cathedral as a boy.
"Even then I remember wondering why so many Welshmen from these small towns and villages strung out along what would eventually become the A40 went to fight in an English army; especially considering that this was all taking place at the same time as Owain Glyndwr's rebellion," he said.
"The biggest draw - then as now - was money.  A longbowman could earn sixpence a day while a ploughman made twopence.
"But also some owed loyalty to Norman Marcher lords, while others signed up to make amends for having backed the wrong side after Glyndwr's rebellion failed."
Yet Swansea University's Welsh historian, Dr Matthew Stevens, believes that perhaps the English and Welsh were not ever such strange bed-fellows after all.
"Glyndwr's rebellion really had its popular support in north Wales," he said.
"When he marched south he burnt-out as many Welshmen as he did Norman settlers.
"But even going back as far as Edward I's reign, Welsh archers were an integral part of English armies.  In 1298, just 16 years after Wales was conquered, they were present in numbers at the Battle of Falkirk.
"It's wrong really to think of a national Welsh identity at this time.
"People had much more of a sense of local loyalty, and whether it be a Welsh prince or a Marcher lord, men in south Wales were far more likely to stay loyal to the person on whom they depended for their own prosperity."
But if the reasons for why Welshmen fought for an English king are clear, it's harder to explain how they became so skilled with the longbow in the first place.
Although Dr Stevens thinks he might have an idea.
"As early as 1283 Gerald of Wales describes the men of Gwent as being highly skilled longbowmen, and to understand why perhaps you have to look at the natural resources available to them," he added.
"It seems strange considering the metal industries of the 19th and 20th centuries, but at the time of Agincourt there was actually a major shortage of iron in south Wales.
"Whilst a suit of armour and heavy swords would have to be forged at great expense, from iron imported from Spain, arrows and spears only required a tiny metal point."


An attack by suspected Islamist Boko Haram fighters in Niger has killed at least 38 people, officials say.

It took place late on Wednesday night, according to a security source quoted by the Reuters news agency.
Local MP Bulu Mammadu told the BBC that the victims included women and children who had been shot dead in two different villages.
Boko Haram is based in Nigeria but is being tackled by a multinational force, including soldiers from Niger.
On Monday, there was a suspected Boko Haram suicide attack in Chad, which is also supplying soldiers to the multinational force.
Chad responded to that attack with air strikes on suspected Boko Haram positions.
BBC Nigeria correspondent Will Ross says that by attacking Niger, Chad and Nigeria this week, Boko Haram appears to be hitting out at a region which is determined to unite and fight the jihadists.
In Niger, Mr Mammadu said that, as well as killing people, the militants had burnt down several houses in the two villages of Lamina and Ungumawo in the Diffa region, close to Nigeria's border.
Boko Haram first attacked Niger in February when the government said it repulsed an attack, killing more than 100 of the group's fighters.
Since being sworn in last month, Nigeria's new President Muahammadu Buhari has pushed ahead with plans to beef up the multinational force which will be made up of 7,500 troops.
The US has backed the force and offered $5m (Â£3.2m) to help get it established.
President Buhari promised in a message on his Twitter feed on Thursday that the "efforts to strengthen security cooperation with our neighbours and adjust our own response to Boko Haram will yield results very soon".
Boko Haram was founded in northern Nigeria in 2002 with the aim of creating an Islamic state, and has since caused havoc through a wave of bombings, assassinations and abductions.
Africa news updates


Glasgow's two main hospitals widely missed accident and emergency waiting time targets at the start of January.

In the week to 10 January only 75.9% of patients were treated within the four hours at the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital (QEUH), its worst ever figure.
The figure for Glasgow Royal Infirmary (GRI) was 76.3%, also well below the Scottish government's 95% target.
Across Scotland the average was 88.3%, with 85 patients waiting more than 12 hours in A&E.
It was the second week in a row that Scottish hospitals fell short of the target.
The period covered, just after the Christmas break, is a traditionally busy one for A&E departments.
There were 24,161 attendances at emergency departments. A total of 527 patients waited more than eight hours.
95%
Scottish Government target
75.9% Queen Elizabeth University Hospital
76.3% Glasgow Royal Infirmary
88.3% Scotland average
The Scottish government said it was likely to have been the most demanding week of the year for Scottish hospitals.
And it pointed out that the Scotland-wide figures represented a five percentage point improvement on the same week last year.
Health Secretary Shona Robison said: "This is a time of substantial increased pressure on our NHS.
"We know from previous experience that these weeks are always the period when the performance of our A&E departments are affected most significantly.
"This week's figures show just how much A&E performance can fluctuate, not only from week to week, but also from hospital to hospital, particularly at this time of year."
She added: "Our clear focus is now on supporting boards and hardworking staff to ease pressure across the system. We have already invested some Â£10.7m to help cope with extra winter demand and we have been providing expert support for boards where required."
Patients waiting more than 12 hours in A&E
University Hospital, Ayr  - 11
University Hospital, Crosshouse - 15
Victoria Hospital, Fife - 9
Glasgow Royal Infirmary - 12
Hairmyres Hospital - 14
Wishaw General Hospital - 21
Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh - 2
Queen Elizabeth University Hospital - 1
Source: ISD Scotland, week to 10 January
Scottish Labour said the figures showed that NHS staff were being overstretched "week in, week out".
Public services spokesperson Dr Richard Simpson said: "Now more than ever we need a health service based on patient need, not the ability to pay, with the resources it needs to deliver the care Scots deserve.
"We know that only a third of NHS staff think they have the support and the resources to do their jobs properly. This is the result of the SNP cutting the health budget.
"We need to move away from crisis management in our NHS to a plan for the long term."
The QEUH, a Â£842m "superhospital" which replaced four other hospitals, had previously enjoyed some success in cutting waiting times after repeatedly missing targets since opening in April 2015.
In June, the Scottish government announced that a team of experts would be sent in to help staff improve A&E waiting times at the site.
At the start of December it met the 95% target and only narrowly missed it during the Christmas fortnight.
NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde (GGC) said such figures were by their nature subject to wide fluctuations but were generally 10% better than they were a year ago.
A spokesperson said: "Whilst this latest published weekly data shows a dip in performance we are pleased that the current performance across GGC remains consistently better than the same period last year.
"Our position this week shows that 6,518 out of a total of 7,269 patients were seen, treated and either admitted or discharged within the four-hour target.
"We are confident that all of the steps being taken at our sites will continue to see sustained improvements."


A US couple are suing their town after it rejected their bid to demolish their home because they say they are being hounded by a stalker.

Derek and Maria Broaddus took action after their New Jersey town rejected their plan to raze the property and build two houses on the existing plot.
They say they received three anonymous letters signed by "The Watcher" since buying the Westfield house in 2014.
In one letter, the stalker asks whether they brought the "young blood".
The couple, who have young children, are refusing to move into the six-bedroom house, which they bought for $1.3m (Â£1m).
Their attempts to sell the property have so far failed.
In June 2015, the Broadduses sued the previous owners, claiming that they had also received a letter from "The Watcher", but never disclosed it.
However, that family counter-sued, alleging they were defamed through the amount of attention given by the Broadduses' legal action.
Westfield police have so far been unable to identify the author of the letters.


US parcels delivery firm FedEx is to buy its Dutch rival TNT Express for €4.4bn ($4.8bn; £3.2bn) as it looks to expand its European operations.

In a joint statement, the companies said both management boards had reached a "conditional agreement".
FedEx has offered shareholders €8 per share, a 33% premium on TNT's closing share price on 2 April.
It comes two years after United Parcel Service (UPS) pulled out of a €5.2bn bid for the Dutch firm.
UPS pulled out of the deal following opposition from EU competition authorities, saying it saw "no realistic prospect" of approval for its bid from the European Commission.
Since then TNT has undertaken a restructuring programme, cutting costs, selling operations and investing heavily in its road network to hold on to customers in what has been a weak European market for business package deliveries.
FedEx and TNT Express expect the deal to be completed in the first half of next year and say they are confident any European competition concerns can be overcome this time.
The European regional headquarters of the combined companies will remain in the Netherlands, while FedEx has promised to maintain the TNT Express brand "for an appropriate period".
Tex Gunning, chief executive of TNT Express, said: "This offer comes at a time of important transformations within TNT Express and we were fully geared to executing our stand-alone strategy.
"But while we did not solicit an acquisition, we truly believe that FedEx's proposal, both from a financial and a non-financial view, is good news for all stakeholders."
However, the terms of the takeover allow for a competitor to make an offer within the next eight weeks and for the current deal to be terminated if that offer exceeds the existing proposal by 8%.
TNT warned in February that it expected adverse trading conditions to continue in its main western European markets this year, as it reported a €196m annual loss on revenues which fell 3.2% to €6.6bn.


Danny Mullen's second-half goal was enough to give Livingston victory away to Greenock Morton in the Scottish Championship.

Scott Pittman went close for the visitors when he got on the end of Mullen's cross but his diving header narrowly missed the target.
Morton's Bob McHugh forced a smart save from visiting goalkeeper Neil Alexander in the second half.
Mullen then poked the ball past Derek Gaston and Morton could not recover.
Match ends, Morton 0, Livingston 1.
Second Half ends, Morton 0, Livingston 1.
Foul by Michael Doyle (Morton).
Daniel Mullen (Livingston) wins a free kick in the defensive half.
Mark Russell (Morton) is shown the yellow card for a bad foul.
Foul by Mark Russell (Morton).
Josh Mullin (Livingston) wins a free kick on the right wing.
Substitution, Morton. Scott Tiffoney replaces Ross Forbes.
Daniel Mullen (Livingston) is shown the yellow card for a bad foul.
Michael Doyle (Morton) wins a free kick on the left wing.
Foul by Daniel Mullen (Livingston).
Substitution, Livingston. Raffaele De Vita replaces Nikolay Todorov.
Attempt missed. Jai Quitongo (Morton) right footed shot from the left side of the box is too high.
Substitution, Livingston. Joseph Thomson replaces Shaun Byrne because of an injury.
Foul by Gary Harkins (Morton).
Nikolay Todorov (Livingston) wins a free kick in the attacking half.
Shaun Byrne (Livingston) is shown the yellow card for a bad foul.
Jai Quitongo (Morton) wins a free kick in the defensive half.
Foul by Shaun Byrne (Livingston).
Corner,  Morton. Conceded by Alan Lithgow.
Attempt blocked. Gary Oliver (Morton) right footed shot from the right side of the box is blocked.
Corner,  Livingston. Conceded by Mark Russell.
Corner,  Morton. Conceded by Neil Alexander.
Attempt blocked. Daniel Mullen (Livingston) right footed shot from the right side of the box is blocked.
Substitution, Morton. Gary Oliver replaces Robert McHugh.
Substitution, Morton. Gary Harkins replaces Michael Tidser.
Shaun Byrne (Livingston) wins a free kick in the attacking half.
Foul by Ricki Lamie (Morton).
Corner,  Morton. Conceded by Declan Gallagher.
Attempt blocked. Josh Mullin (Livingston) right footed shot from outside the box is blocked.
Substitution, Livingston. Jackson Longridge replaces James Penrice.
Attempt missed. Ross Forbes (Morton) left footed shot from the right side of the box misses to the right.
Ricki Lamie (Morton) is shown the yellow card for a bad foul.
Goal!  Morton 0, Livingston 1. Daniel Mullen (Livingston) right footed shot from the centre of the box to the bottom right corner. Assisted by Nikolay Todorov following a fast break.
Corner,  Morton. Conceded by Nikolay Todorov.
Corner,  Morton. Conceded by Alan Lithgow.
Josh Mullin (Livingston) wins a free kick in the defensive half.
Foul by Ross Forbes (Morton).
Foul by Daniel Mullen (Livingston).
Andy Murdoch (Morton) wins a free kick in the defensive half.


Team Wiggins say they are "surprised" and "disappointed" after being excluded from next month's Tour de Yorkshire.

The team, founded by five-time Olympic champion Sir Bradley Wiggins to develop young British talent, was omitted from the race which runs from 28-30 April.
"It's very disappointing and it is very much a surprise," said the team's sports director Simon Cope.
Race organisers said the event was oversubscribed and "unfortunately someone had to miss out".
A total of 49 teams applied for 36 slots - 18 in the men's race and 18 in the women's.
The decision on who was included was made between Welcome to Yorkshire and cycling event organisers ASO, who jointly run the event.
A Welcome to Yorkshire spokesman said that Team Wiggins were welcome to apply for any future editions of the race.
But Cope told Cycling Weekly that he believed the team, who are the only British third-tier UCI Continental outfit not included, could have made an impact in the race.
"Good or bad press at the moment, there's a percentage of the UK population who will be going to the race who want to see (Team) Wiggins there," he said.
"You would have thought that we would have got in, but the organisers have made their selection and that's it, we can't do anything about it. We will have to go and find another bike race to do."
An investigation by UK Anti-Doping is currently ongoing into allegations of wrongdoing in cycling involving Wiggins - who retired in December - and Team Sky.
Cope, who used to work for Team Sky, was questioned by MPs earlier this month about the contents of a medical package he delivered to Wiggins when he was racing at the 2011 Criterium du Dauphine in France.
Team Sky have admitted "mistakes were made" around how medical records relating to the package were kept but deny breaking anti-doping rules.


As pressure to tackle London's housing crisis grows, a number of controversial views are being offered on how the problem should be addressed.

'House prices soar'. 'Fears of a housing bubble'. 'First-time buyers priced-out'. These are familiar headlines to Londoners. Each has appeared in the press in the past month, but similar headlines have become all-too recognisable over the past couple of years.
London's house prices are rising by more than 20% annually, according to latest Office for National Statistics figures.
The city needs 63,000 new homes each year, but only a third of these are being built while a "lost generation is being ruled out of ownership" due to "soaring rents, poor conditions and rising homelessness", it has been claimed.
But what alternative solutions are being put forward to tackle the issue?
One in four children in London live in overcrowded homes, according to English Housing Survey figures. At the same time, thousands of single elderly people live alone in multi-bedroomed suburban properties.
In 2012, Local Government Association president Lord Richard Best proposed a radical solution:  Building 100,000 homes designed especially for the needs of an ageing population.
By downsizing, older people could free up accommodation for families, helping a whole generation of first-time buyers who are priced out of the market.
"We free up lots of family housing, and we look after ourselves when we're older because, sooner or later, those three-bedroom, four-bedroom family houses are going to be too much for us," Lord Best said.
But how easy would it be to convince elderly people to move out of the home they may have lived in for most of their lives?
Peter Girling, chairman of Girlings Retirement Rentals, suggested the government should offer tax breaks to elderly people who give up their property.
"You can't force people to move but you could help them along the way," he said.
Perhaps we should just face the fact the golden age of home ownership might be over, and learn to rent like the Germans?
According to the 2011 German census, only 16% of Berliners owned their own place, compared with 50% in London.
"People in Germany or Paris live in rented accommodation for their entire lives and there's no stigma attached," said Patricia Brown, who chairs the London Festival of Architecture.
She said following the example of Germany and enabling people to rent better properties for longer could be a solution. For instance, in Germany tenants can only be evicted with a minimum of three months' notice.
London's mayor Boris Johnson launched a voluntary accreditation scheme aimed at improving rental standards in May.
In order to be approved for the London Rental Standard, landlords are required to meet a set of commitments including "transparent fees" and "improved response times for repairs".
But Labour's London Assembly housing spokesman Tom Copley thinks the scheme does not go far enough.
He suggested three-year tenancies "as standard with caps on annual rent increases" would make "renting in London more stable".
There is still plenty of green belt land within the M25 and Sam Bowman, a research director at pro free market think-tank The Adam Smith Institute, thinks maybe the time has come to build on it.
As of 2010, London had 484,173 hectares of green belt - 3.7% of England's total land area, according to the Campaign to Protect Rural England.
Mr Bowman said this would mean "bigger homes and cheaper homes for everybody in order to give people that space to live".
But Ann Goddard, of Elstree & Borehamwood Greenbelt Society, said: "Green belt is very important. You only have to look at the English countryside. It's so pretty."
Ms Goddard, who lives in the green belt in Hertsmere, Hertfordshire - 12 miles (19km) north-west of central London and within the M25 - added: "We need green spaces for recreation purposes and to make a demarcation between the settlements."
Mr Bowman suggested a compromise could be reached "if we stopped thinking of the greenbelt as one single unit and differentiate between the areas of beauty and the intensive farmland".
Perhaps there is not a shortage of homes for Londoners after all. More than 80,000 homes in the capital currently stand empty.
Last year, councils were empowered to use the Empty Homes Premium to charge home owners 50% more council tax if they left properties empty for two or more years.
But the results of a Freedom of Information request published by BBC London last week showed that just 4,399 of the 80,489 empty properties in the capital had been subjected to the Empty Homes Premium.
Responding to the revelations, Labour leader Ed Miliband said he was "deeply concerned".
But Daniel Astaire, Westminster Council's Conservative cabinet member for housing, said: "The way to build homes is not to tax existing homes and stop people investing and buying in our city."
Building on brownfield sites - land previously used for industrial or commercial purposes - is possibly the least controversial solution on this list.
In June, the Treasury announced 50,000 new London homes would be built on 20 such sites.
But Mr Johnson has said the scheme is a "just a fraction of what needs to be done".
The mayor has said 49,000 homes need to be built in the capital each year, while Labour puts this figure at 63,000.
But developers face problems. Brownfield land is often contaminated and expensive to clean, getting planning permission to build can be a lengthy and costly process and putting in new roads and train links can prove tricky.
But Lib Dem London Assembly member Stephen Knight said what was important was the type of homes that were built.
"We need changes to planning laws, so the government can determine certain plots of land should be used for affordable housing," he suggested.


The artistic director of Russia's Bolshoi ballet has described having acid thrown in his face during the trial of a dancer accused of ordering the attack.

Sergei Filin, who suffered severe burns to his face and damage to his sight, spoke of a "terrifying pain".
Pavel Dmitrichenko has denied arranging the assault in a case that revealed bitter infighting at the Bolshoi.
Two other men are being tried with him over the attack in January.
Mr Filin, 43, began his testimony on Wednesday by saying he was fair and transparent in distributing roles.
But he said that Mr Dmitrichenko, 29, kept trying to find compromising material on him.
He described the night of the assault, and how his attacker said "Here's a greeting for you" as he threw sulphuric acid in his face.
"Suddenly I felt liquid, I felt a sudden pain, I had never experienced such pain," he said.
"Terrifying pain, my eyes couldn't see."
Mr Filin's highly anticipated court appearance came despite doctors' orders for him to avoid stress, according to AFP news agency.
Prosecutors say Mr Dmitrichenko colluded with ex-convict Yuri Zarutsky, who has admitted throwing the acid at the ballet chief outside his home. Mr Zarutsky insists he acted alone.
A third defendant, Andrei Lipatov, who is accused of driving the car used to transport the alleged attacker, has denied any part in the attack.
If convicted, the three accused could be sentenced to up to 12 years in prison.
Mr Dmitrichenko has been in custody since his arrest in March.
Meanwhile, Mr Filin has undergone more than 20 operations on his eyes since the attack.
Doctors in Germany have managed to partially restore his sight, but he will reportedly need further treatment.
He was once star of Russia's renowned Bolshoi theatre, and in 2011 became the artistic director of the ballet troupe.
The acid attack exposed vicious internal rivalries which eventually caused the dismissal of Bolshoi director Anatoly Iksanov.


Peterborough United chairman Darragh MacAnthony says everyone's job is under scrutiny until the end of the season.

Posh's defeat against Rochdale last Saturday left them 14th in the League One table, after having hopes of a play-off place in February.
"It's been awful. It's been well and truly awful," MacAnthony told BBC Radio Cambridgeshire.
"For the money I put in, it's nowhere near good enough. People are going to feel that wrath very soon."
Posh's play-off ambitions were wrecked by a run of six defeats in seven games between February and March, and despite responding with three wins in a row, losses at Fleetwood and at home to Rochdale have left them 14 points outside the top six.
"It's nine years now I've been at the football club," MacAnthony continued. "I can't even remember last year's league position, that's how bad it was for me personally thinking about it, and obviously this year we're 14th or 15th.
"I didn't even look last time. It's not that I don't care, it's just I've got no intentions of looking at the table when we're not where we want to be, which is challenging for promotion."
Peterborough's season went into serious decline after losing to Premier League club West Brom on penalties in an FA Cup fourth-round replay on 10 February.
"The capitulation we've seen since doing well in the league and in the FA Cup, it's been horrific. It's been horrible for me and our fans - I'm an angry man and that anger is going to be felt in the coming months.
"It's easy to say we're not going to be in this position again. Some of the fans are losing faith when I say things like that, but I promise everybody wholeheartedly this isn't going to happen again.
"I'm done with capitulations. I'm done with the choking and the underperformances of the last two years."
MacAnthony is also concerned about a downturn in the numbers coming through the turnstiles.
"You cannot take what people say on social media seriously all the time, but you have to listen to your supporter base," he said.
"When we beat Crawley last year we had nearly 6,000 people. Our last home gates were around 4,500 people, so people are voting with their feet and wallets.
"We're feeling it now on the season tickets. It's hurting the club and it's hurting me."
Graham Westley is Peterborough's seventh boss since MacAnthony arrived - predecessor Darren Ferguson had two spells in charge - and knows his position could be under threat.
"I employ over 300 people at Peterborough United, not one of those employees right now has a job in the summer," the chairman said.
"Every single person who works for me at that football club from the tea lady to the youth players, I want to see that they mean business for next season, because if I don't see it, they're gone.
"I back every manager I have. I bring players into the club, I spend money on a stadium I don't own, I spend money on a training ground. I do nothing but good things for the city and Peterborough United.
"Do you know what? I want something in return. I want success and I want it next season. In fact, I demand it.
"When you put that kind of money in you do expect the people who work for you to do their jobs properly. It's not my first rodeo. I'm not wrong. I know what I'm talking about."


The family of a 13-year-old boy stabbed to death at school 30 years ago have said race relations have taken a post-Brexit "backwards step".

Ahmed Iqbal Ullah was killed at the hands of a fellow school pupil in the playground of Burnage High School, Manchester, on 17 September 1986.
An inquiry concluded race was a key factor in the Bangladeshi's murder.
His sister, Selina Ullah, said she was troubled by a reported rise in race crime following the EU referendum.
Greater Manchester Police recorded a 50% rise in the number of hate crimes reported to the force following the June 23 vote.
Speaking on the 30th anniversary of her brother's death, Ms Ullah said:  "I think we made a lot of progress; however, I think following Brexit we have taken a major step backwards.
"The level of overt racism. The level of overt intimidation. It's both visible and invisible.
"The number of people I've known who have been racially abused, including my own daughter, is staggering. To have that now, in 2016, is quite shocking."
A Manchester City Council-commissioned inquiry into Ahmed's death resulted in the 1988 publication of the Macdonald Report.
It was critical of Burnage High, concluded race had been a key factor in the murder of Ahmed and, as part of a wider inquiry into racism and violence in Manchester schools, suggested a murder could have happened elsewhere.
Ms Ullah said the family want Ahmed's legacy to be a force for good.
She said: "While we had a major loss within our family, we wanted something very positive to come out that would enable others to lead very enriching lives."
The Ahmed Iqbal Ullah Race Relations Resource Centre, opened in memory of the schoolboy, will launch a special exhibition on what would have been Ahmed's birthday on 14 October.


Tributes have been paid to the Northern Ireland snooker referee Len Ganley, who has died at the age of 68.

The former milkman and bus driver became the best-known referee during snooker's boom years in the 1980s.
Ganley, who suffered from diabetes, died at Craigavon Area Hospital on Sunday after his health deteriorated over recent weeks.
Former world champion Dennis Taylor said he was one of the game's great characters.
"It is such very sad news," he said. "We travelled all over the world together and with his lovely Northern Ireland accent he was always very popular with snooker fans."
Ganley officiated at world finals in 1983, 1987, 1990 and 1993 before retiring from refereeing in 1999.
During that time, Taylor said, there were occasions when he and Ganley crossed swords.
"We had a few words on the table but we were great friends throughout my professional career and Len was involved in most of that.
"He also did a terrific amount of work for charity - he was one of the good guys.
"During the world championships anyone that came anywhere near the Crucible Theatre and saw Len had to give him a tenner.
"He used to raise a lot of money for powered wheelchairs - he was right at the forefront of that."
Ganley was awarded the MBE for charity work and services to snooker in 1994.
He officiated at world finals in 1983, 1987, 1990 and 1993 before retiring from refereeing in 1999.
Six-times world champion Steve Davis, who included the 1983 and 1987 titles among his haul, paid tribute to Ganley.
Davis said: "Len did a very good job of being a referee and a personality at the same time.
"A referee is supposed to be unseen and he liked the limelight, but he still managed to do the job properly.
"He was a great character off the table, but in the arena he was an excellent referee.
"He knew the game as a player, having made century breaks himself, so when he was in charge of your match it was nice to know how well he understood the game."
Ganley's funeral will take place on Wednesday morning at St Paul's Church in Lurgan, with the family requesting donations to the Paul Hunter Foundation rather than flowers.


Tyrone Barnett scored twice as Southend comfortably beat Coventry City, despite playing almost 40 minutes with 10 men.

Coventry's Jim O'Brien had an effort tipped onto the bar before Jack Payne's low effort put the hosts ahead.
Barnett ran onto a Stephen Hendrie through ball to slot home a second.
Gary Deegan was then dismissed for a second yellow on 51 minutes, but Barnett ensured victory from the penalty spot, after City keeper Reice Charles-Cook had fouled Will Atkinson.
Coventry slip to fifth, six points off top spot in League One, after three games without a win, while Phil Brown's Southend climb to ninth, within two points of a play-off place.
Sky Blues boss Tony Mowbray told BBC Coventry & Warwickshire:
"Obviously we're disappointed. We struggled from the start really.
"We haven't got any excuses. We were beaten by a team who were very resilient. They dug in and didn't give us a minute on the ball.
"We came here with a very experienced team. They defended resiliently, put a lot of men behind the ball and made life difficult for us."


New Zealand scrum-half Aaron Smith has been dropped for one game for breaching the All Blacks' standards of behaviour.

He was seen entering a toilet cubicle with a woman at Christchurch Airport and will miss the Rugby Championship match against South Africa in Durban.
All Blacks head coach Steve Hansen said Smith is "bitterly disappointed in his behaviour".
Hansen added the 27-year-old scrum-half "feels he has let the team, his family and his partner down".
"He has asked to go home to deal with the personal matters that have come with this incident and we are happy to support him with that," continued Hansen.
The coach added Smith's punishment was decided by the leadership group made up of players within the team.
Smith has played 54 Tests for New Zealand since his debut in 2012, although later that year he was benched for a Test against South Africa after breaking a team curfew.
In 2014 he sent a naked picture of himself on Snapchat which was captured by other users and widely circulated.


The design for Europe's new Ariane 6 rocket has been settled and development will now move on apace, say officials.

The launcher is due to be introduced in 2020 and long-term will replace the Ariane 5 and Soyuz vehicles that currently operate out of French Guiana.
Airbus Safran Launchers, the company set up exactly one year ago to build the new rocket, is in the process of pulling together its subcontractors.
CEO Alain Charmeau said rapid progress was being made on the project.
"The basic design of Ariane 6 is now frozen to allow us to move into a more detailed design and production phase," he told BBC News.
"We have already signed some major contracts, and more will be signed in the coming days. And for those equipments not on the critical path, we will sign contracts in the coming months after running some competitions."
The company is a joint venture between the aerospace giant Airbus and the aero and rocket manufacturer Safran. The tie-up has yet to receive full and final sign-off from the French authorities because of corporate tax arrangements, but Mr Charmeau said this delay had made no impact yet on future Ariane developments.
"We were set up to manage Ariane 5 and 6 and we are doing that very efficiently, but it's true we can't maintain our current company configuration forever. But we will soon shift into a new configuration."
Ariane 6 will be a modular rocket that can be tailored to a wide range of satellite and mission types.
One version, known as Ariane 62, will loft medium-sized spacecraft into orbit - the kind of platforms that image and study the Earth.
The second version, known as Ariane 64, will put up the heavy telecoms spacecraft, which sit 36,000km above the equator.
Both variants will lean heavily on technologies already proven or under development for Ariane 5.
They will also borrow elements from Europe's small Vega launcher. The "2" and the "4" in the version names refer to the number of strap-on solid-fuelled boosters that do the initial lifting off the pad. These boosters will be the same as Vega's first firing stage.
The hope is that the commonalities between the different rocket types will help drive down costs.
Airbus Safran wants further economies by employing more modern methods of production and from streamlining assembly lines.
"We have chosen an optimised industrial organisation where we will try to maximise the rate of use of production tools. For example, there will be only one place for the machining of the big metallic structures. And we will of course be using additive layer manufacturing (3D printing) and processes like friction stir welding. We will be investing in new tools."
The question that is always asked concerning the future, is whether Ariane 6 will ever become a re-useable rocket.
The American company SpaceX already offers its Falcon vehicle for prices that significantly undercut the Ariane 5. And although Ariane 6 is expected to be 40-50% cheaper to produce than the existing model, SpaceX is promising to move the goalposts again by recovering and re-using its Falcons.
This same capability is also currently being demonstrated by another US company, Blue Origin, which has aspirations in the same markets as both Ariane and SpaceX.
For its part, Airbus Safran does not envisage making Ariane 6 recoverable, not in the short term.
Mr Charmeau believes that different market conditions apply in Europe and the US, which means there will not be a single, winner-takes-all approach.
He cites, for example, the restricted procurement that exists in all major political blocs, which essentially bars foreign rockets from launching home institutional and government satellites. Nowhere is this more true than in the US, but in Europe too there is an "unwritten rule" that European states should use European rockets.
Mr Charmeau added: "And we have other specificities in Europe, such as the technology of propulsion, which is much better than the US one, both in solid and cryogenic propulsion. This allows us to launch [two satellites at once], which is another factor for competitiveness, maybe much better than re-usability - we will see in the future. And one characteristic, for example, is that we have only one (main) engine on the Ariane 64, whereas our competitor is going for re-usability because he is using much more engines. (The Falcon 9 has nine engines on its first stage.)
Long term it is hard to envisage Ariane shunning re-usability, and Airbus is studying a concept called Adeline that would modify the 62 and 64 variants to allow their main engine to fly back to a runway after consuming its launch propellant.
Whether Adeline, or some other re-usability concept, ever sees the light of day - and it would not be before 2030 - will ultimately come down to the attitude of European Space Agency member states. They fund the R&D of the Ariane programme and they may feel the American competition demands a response.
But like Mr Charmeau, Esa's director general, Jan Woerner, is not rushing to judgement.
"There is no magic formula with one global validity," he told reporters earlier this month.
"So, don't say 'this is the one and only solution'. We have to find a way to the best launcher for Europe; and we are doing so.
"I could talk for two hours about the advantages or disadvantages of re-usability. Is it appropriate for the European situation? I don't say 'no'; I don't say 'yes'. I just say 'we're discussing it'; we're looking into it in detail.
"But just look to your daily life: you are buying returnable bottles or one-way bottles, and obviously for both there is a market."


Worried residents at four tower blocks in Swansea which failed safety tests following the Grenfell Tower fire have said they are "unable to sleep".

Cladding at the flats in the city did not pass the new tests despite meeting current regulations.
The results at four blocks in Clyne Court, Sketty, and another in Jefferys Court, Penlan, come after 149 high-rises in England also failed.
The council said it was keeping tenants informed.
However residents have raised concerns about "conflicting information".
Samples of the same type of cladding used on Grenfell Tower are being tested from seven social housing tower blocks in Wales at the request of the Welsh Government.
Claire Lane, who lives on the sixth floor at Clyne Court, said: "I'm unable to sleep, I'm nervous.
"I don't feel safe at the moment. It's heartbreaking since the Grenfell disaster. My nerves are gone living here."
Lynne Cleobury said letters from the council updating them on the fire safety checks had not been able to put her mind at ease.
She said: "[I'm] a little bit worried, I'm on the fourth floor. I have problems with mobility and find that if the lifts don't work I have a lot of difficulty coming down in the fire escape."
She also called for the council to hold a meeting with residents: "I think we need to be there to ask questions so they can actually tell us what's going on, whether the cladding does have to come off or whether it's going to stay up."
Other tenants at Jefferys Court have also raised concerns.
One 68-year-old resident, who lives on the first floor, said he didn't trust "conflicting information" from the council.
"They say one thing and say something else, so what do you believe? They say it's failed yet its safe," he added.
"I'm not concerned myself really, it's people living higher up because if there's a fire, would they be able to get out?
"If a panel is not safe it should be replaced with panels that are safe."
But another resident said safety checks being carried out by the council were "reassuring".
"I'm just glad they're doing all the tests they can and the council are keeping us up-to-date, trying to keep us calm. It's good," he said.
Swansea council said on Monday that extra fire safety checks were being carried out and tenants were being kept informed.
Communities Secretary Carl Sargeant stressed that tower blocks where cladding had failed safety tests remain "safe places to be".
He told the assembly on Tuesday that on the matter of further action, he would follow any recommendations made by the UK government's advisory panel.


The late rapper Tupac Shakur, 1960s protest singer Joan Baez and grunge legends Pearl Jam have all entered the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

They were inducted alongside the Electric Light Orchestra (ELO), Journey and Yes during a concert in New York.
However, it was not just a celebration: a number of artists chose to use the occasion to make impassioned pleas and remember lost friends.
Tupac's award was collected by his friend, fellow rapper Snoop Dogg.
Folk singer Baez - as known for her activism as her singing - made a rallying call for resistance in the face of "the new political cultural reality".
The 76-year-old, who admitted most younger people had never heard her work, made a return to the spotlight this week when her song Nasty Man went viral.
Baez - imitating Donald Trump's particular way of speaking - told the audience gathered at Brooklyn's Barclays Center: "Let us together repeal and replace brutality and make compassion a priority. Let us build a great bridge, a beautiful bridge, to welcome the tired and the poor."
Pearl Jam frontman Eddie Vedder tackled climate change, saying: "We cannot be the generation that history will look back upon and wonder, why didn't they do everything humanly possible to solve this biggest crisis of our time?"
Snoop Dogg was on hand to collect Tupac's trophy, more than two decades after he was shot dead in Las Vegas.
Calling Tupac "the greatest rapper of all time", he recalled how they were just "two black boys struggling to become men", adding: "To  be human is to be many things at once: strong and vulnerable, hard-headed and intellectual, courageous and afraid, loving and vengeful, revolutionary and, oh yeah... gangsta!"
Tributes were also paid to 1986 Hall of Fame inductee Chuck Berry. who died last month aged 90, with ELO playing one of his best known hits - Roll Over Beethoven.
Meanwhile, Nile Rodgers - lead guitarist of disco band Chic - was recognised for his contribution to production.


This year's Fort William Mountain Bike World Cup and Buff 4X Pro Tour weekend has been named the best downhill event in the world in 2016.

The accolade was awarded by cycling's international governing body, the UCI.
The Scottish event was held in June and drew a crowd of almost 20,000 people.
The competition forms the third stage of the UCI World Cup Downhill championships and was first held 14 years ago.
The competitions are held on a course at Nevis Range, near Fort William.
This year, British downhill rider Rachel Atherton won the women's final for the ninth consecutive time.
Salisbury-born Atherton finished 12 seconds ahead of second-placed Tracey Hannah, from Australia.
Manon Carpenter, from Caerphilly, South Wales, recovered from a crash to finish third.
South African Greg Minaar won the men's final. The USA's Aaron Gwin was second and Danny Hart, from Redcar, third.


A man whose entire family died in a tower block fire in south London has told an inquest "everything that I dreamed of was over in three hours".

Rafael Cervi was giving evidence at the "super inquest" into the deaths of six people who were killed in the blaze at Lakanal House, Camberwell in July 2009.
His wife Dayana Francisquini, 26, his step-daughter Thais, six, and his son Felipe, three, all died.
Jurors have heard that faulty electrical equipment started the blaze.
He told the inquest at Lambeth Town Hall he was working near London Bridge on the day of the fire and found out about the blaze when his wife rang him just before 16.30 BST.
He called her 10 times, and alerted her father who was closer to Camberwell at the time.
Mr Cervi said he tried to reassure his wife over the phone and dialled 999, but said he felt "useless" he could not help more.
"I lost my entire family, my wife and a couple of kids that I had," he said.
"Everything that I built, everything that I dreamed of was over in three hours."
Mr Cervi said he watched the fire with his father-in-law Fernando Francisquini and initially reassured his wife that the flames did not look as if they were spreading to their flat.
However, as things got worse he told a fireman that she said their son Felipe "was not OK", and that he thought he was dying.
Later, he struggled to find out what had happened to his family.
He told the jury: "I was expecting my daughter to be alive, at least one of them. But I couldn't find them."
The fire started on the ninth floor of the 14-storey block, which housed 98 maisonettes.
Designer Catherine Hickman, 31, Helen Udoaka, 34 and her three-week-old daughter Michelle also died in the fire.
Mrs Udoaka's husband Mbet told the hearing his wife was on maternity leave with Michelle when they died.
He told the inquest: "My life will never be the same again, I can never get over these deaths, over the death of my beautiful Helen and my lovely Michelle. I'm really hoping that one day I will get to see them again."
Counsel to the inquest James Maxwell-Scott read part of a statement made by Mr Udoaka after the fire.
Recalling the final conversation he had with his wife he said: "The last words she said to me were that the smoke was too much. She couldn't bear it any more, Michelle our daughter was going to heaven.
"She said if I didn't see her again she would be going to heaven."
In evidence it emerged a third family had been in the flat with Helen Udoaka and Dayana Francisquini but managed to escape.
The inquest heard the Nuhus family had been sheltering with the other families and had decided to try and find a way out.
They were seen on a 12th floor escape balcony shouting for help about 30 minutes before the last contact was made with the victims. The Nuhus eventually made it to safety.
Miss Hickman's boyfriend of six years revealed that after moving in with him in September she had asked where the fire exits where.
Mark Bailey, who was in New York at the time of the fire, said she had also asked why there were no diagrams showing the fire exits in the block.
He said: "I loved Catherine and we loved to talk about our future and what we wanted."
In the days after his girlfriend's death he said he was "overwhelmed by grief" and would wake up every night screaming and crying.
A statement by Miss Hickman's father Pip on behalf of her family, who are not attending the inquest, was read to the hearing by coroner Frances Kirkham.
Mr Hickman said his daughter had seen her work stocked by shops in New York, commissioned by the singer Bjork and worked for French Connection as well as boutiques in London.
He said: "Catherine lived a London life but was a country girl at heart. A life cruelly cut short when it was a life meant for living. All those who knew Catherine are heartbroken."
The inquest continues.


Newsround has all you need to know about the celebrities who'll be dancing it out with only one aim - to become winner of Strictly Come Dancing 2015.

The brand new series returns to BBC One for its 13th series in September. Here's the full line-up:
TV presenter Kirsty Gallacher has already been made one of the favourites to win the glitterball trophy in 2015.
Kirsty is a regular face on Sky Sports News keeping viewers up to date on what's happening in the world of sport.
She admitted she's always been a big fan of the show.
"Sport and fitness have always been a big part of my life but dancing is an entirely new challenge for me. I can't wait to get started," she said.
Former 400 metre runner Iwan Thomas was pretty speedy round the track winning gold medals at the European and World Championships as well as the Commonwealth Games.
He says that he's "extremely excited and scared" about joining this year's Strictly.
"I love watching the show and I can't believe I'm swapping my running spikes for dancing shoes," he said.
"I used to be quick at running around the track and I'm just hoping my dance partner doesn't leave me behind."
Call The Midwife star Helen George is swapping babies for ballroom as she joins the Strictly Come Dancing line-up.
Viewers will have seen her recently on screen playing Nurse Trixie Franklin in the popular BBC One drama.
Helen said she's "really excited" about joining the show.
"I know it's going to be a challenge and if I'm honest I'm slightly terrified, but I can't wait to get my tan and sequins on," she said.
Currently known for appearing on ITV's Loose Women, Jamelia is also a singer and model.
During her 15-year-long career, she has notched up seven UK top ten singles.
Jamelia says she is competitive and would "like to go all the way" by winning.
However, her biggest competitors could be her two daughters: "My girls are amazing dancers. Maybe I'll be able to give them a run for their money, and end their mickey taking of me once and for all!"
Television and radio presenter Anita Rani has become the eleventh contestant to join Strictly Come Dancing.
Anita has presented a host of shows for broadcasters including BBC, Sky, Channel 4 and Channel 5.
"So many elements of Strictly terrify me but I shall try and think #BeyonceAlwaysOnBeat as I hit the dance floor," she said.
Jay McGuiness from The Wanted is the 10th celebrity to join this year's Strictly Coming Dancing.
"Before I was in the band I used to dance. I was basically like a contemporary boy.
"I did delve into the world of hip hop and that was a terrible mistake." He said.
Of all the judges it's Len Goodman he fears the most: "If he critiques your technique then that's scary - because he's like a pro."
Professional boxer Anthony Ogogo will be taking part in this year's Strictly.
He won a bronze medal at the London 2012 Olympic Games and has been boxing since he was 12 years old.
"My Mum is a massive fan of the show so I will be trying my hardest to make her proud", he said.
BBC Proms presenter Katie Derham has waltzed into the Strictly line-up.
Known for being the face of the BBC Proms and also presenter on Radio 3 programme Afternoon On 3.
Katie Said: "Strictly Come Dancing is a national treasure, and I'm extremely excited to be part of such a wonderful show."
Georgia May Foote, who plays Katy Armstrong in Coronation Street, is taking part this year.
The 24-year-old started her TV career on Channel 4's Brookside when she was just five years old.
She's also been in Grange Hill, Doctors, Casualty, Heartbeat and Emmerdale.
Georgia said: "I'm scared of getting brain freeze and messing up the dances.''
''But I'm determined not to let that happen because I hope to practise enough and be solid."
She has done a bit of dancing when she was a child ''but it was mostly hip hop. I wasn't allowed to go back to ballet because I had 'naughty toes', so I went to karate instead."
The BBC's Jeremy Vine who presents his own show on Radio 2 was one of the first contestants to be announced.
TV chef Ainsley Harriott is also excited about appearing on the show. He's best known for the series Ready Steady Cook.
He says his dancing experience is limited to "dancing around the kitchen," he says he can't wait to swap the oven gloves for a pair of dancing shoes.
"I'm most looking forward to the discipline and I admire the dedication it takes to be a good dancer."
Actress Kellie Bright is part of the new line-up.
Her performances on the BBC's EastEnders won her 'Best Actress' and 'Best Dramatic Performance' at The British Soap Awards 2015.
She said "It is a fantastic show and one that I've always had a desire to do."
The 13th season of BBC One's Strictly starts in September.
The announcement that BBC weather presenter Carol Kirkwood will be a contestant on Strictly Come Dancing 2015 was made live on BBC Breakfast.
Carol said: "I can't wait to learn to dance and hope my experience on Strictly will be a breeze. Whether it will be or not is one forecast I cannot predict!"
Nineties pop star Peter became the sixth highest selling artist in the world back then with his hit singles 'Mysterious Girl' and 'Flava'.
Peter says he is most looking forward to "learning new styles of dancing, being part of a big show and getting to dance to live music."
Irish singer Daniel O'Donnell, has been confirmed for this year's Strictly Come Dancing.
Daniel said that he is nervous, despite his many years in show-business.
He said: "I can put a few steps together, but can I dance to the level I need to dance? Well, that's a whole other ball game."


Canadian officials have expressed outrage over the case of a homeless woman who was jailed after being raped and kept in prison with her attacker.

The indigenous woman, who is not being named, was brutally attacked in an Edmonton apartment in 2014.
She went to police but was jailed for not answering questions, and forced to testify while wearing leg shackles.
Alberta Justice Minister Kathleen Ganley has apologised to the woman's family and ordered an investigation.
"The facts of this case are disturbing and tragic, and when you add in the treatment of the victim in the system, they are almost incomprehensible," said Mrs Ganley, adding that "both policies and people failed in this case".
The woman had been kept in a holding cell next to her attacker for five days and transported to court with him, in the same van, CBC News was the first to report.
"I'm the victim and look at me, I'm in shackles," she told Alberta court Judge Raymond Bodnarek in 2015.
"You're going to go back to remand tonight," he replied, "so that we can get you back here tomorrow."
"Shackles," the 28-year-old woman angrily responded, according to court records. "Aren't you supposed to commit a crime to go to jail?"
She was ordered to a cell under a federal criminal law that allows witnesses to be detained if they refuse to answer questions, after she had had been having trouble focusing, and was falling asleep during the first day of testimony.
The woman, who was a member of the Cree tribe, died in an unrelated shooting months after the attack.
Her attacker, Lance Blanchard, was convicted of aggravated sexual assault, kidnapping and unlawful confinement.
Justice Minister Ganley has set up a committee to recommend policies to prevent a similar situation.
"There weren't any policies in place to indicate she shouldn't have been shackled," Mrs Ganley said at a press conference after the CBC investigation.
"Now, that being said, I'm a little surprised that no one looked at the case and said that this isn't appropriate," she said, adding that the woman's race may have played a role in her treatment.
In addition to the committee, Mrs Ganley has also ordered an independent investigation.


Rotherham United have signed free-agent full-back Shaun Cummings on a one-year deal after a successful trial.

The 28-year-old, who helped Millwall win promotion to the Championship before his summer exit, will join subject to English Football League and Football Association ratification.
Cummings scored three goals in 55 appearances in two seasons at the New Den, with two in 23 coming last term.
He has also played for Chelsea, MK Dons, West Bromwich Albion and Reading.
The Millers lost their opening game of the League One season to Fleetwood Town but won their EFL Cup tie against Lincoln City on Tuesday.
Find all the latest football transfers on our dedicated page.


While Lawrence Jones and David Furness have much in common - they have each grown successful companies in the North West - their views on the UK's place in the European Union could not be further apart.

With less than a month to go to the referendum, the two entrepreneurs discuss whether being in the EU is good for business.
Manchester-based cloud computing provider UKFast started life 17 years ago and now employs 280 staff, many from across the EU.
The company provides 24-hour website hosting for organisations including the NHS and Chester Zoo. While it does little business directly in the European Union, many of its clients rely heavily on trade within the trading bloc.
Chief Executive Officer Lawrence Jones believes EU membership is good for business in Britain:
"We want stability - at least we know where we are at [by staying in the EU].
"The government has negotiated a better position for us within the European Union and the economy is beginning to boom.
"Among our employees quite a few are nationals of other EU states. I'm a big fan of the EU and the opportunities it provides for trade and free movement of workers across the continent."
When it was suggested by Mr Furness that the UK should seek to trade more with China and India, Mr Jones said he was sceptical.
"Look at China and look at steel - they're imposing levies so we can't compete," he said. "Whereas the EU has got dozens of member states all trading seamlessly.
"For small businesses the natural progression is to expand across Europe. Why would we want our hands tied behind our backs?
"When we're exporting back into Europe they'll just impose those levies back on to usâ€¦ we'll have our hands tied."
"I can't remember life without Europe."
Rapierstar, the UK's largest supplier of screws and fittings, was established more than 23 years ago in Macclesfield.
Its products are designed in the UK, manufactured in the Far East and then sold chiefly in the European Union.
Managing director David Furness believes European red tape and "stealth taxes" are preventing UK companies from competing in the world market:
"Rapierstar now has a multi-million pound turnover and has expanded into commercial property, but our core business is screws and fittings and we have more than a billion at our storage centre.
"I am prepared to have a little bit of volatility which is a risk with leaving the European Union. I am not anti-Europe but we should be looking globally. We should do more trade with China and with India.
"I would question whether the EU operates seamlessly and there is constant internal wrangling.
"I am more than sceptical about what the "European project" is and I am convinced the UK will be more prosperous if it's released from its shackles.
"The EU has put unnecessary barriers and regulation in place without raising standards.
"We should be trading more with successful, global economies whereas the EU is failing economically."


A 12-week trial scheme for some taxis to use bus lanes on Belfast Rapid Transit (BRT) routes has been announced by the Department for Infrastructure.

It will apply to lanes on east and west Belfast routes and 12-hour bus lanes in the city centre, which link them.
The trial relates to Class A taxis and any of the remaining taxis still licensed as private hire and public hire outside Belfast.
However, the trial, that begins on Monday, has come under criticism.
Sustrans, the sustainable transport charity, said it was disappointed by the move which it said was "a potential setback for cycling in the city".
It said it believed the decision was premature "as there are currently limited alternatives for cyclists given the lack of a segregated bike network in the city".
Sustrans added that in "the absence of segregated cycle lanes, bus and cycle lanes (their official title) have become safe havens for cyclists".
The trial includes bus lanes on the following routes:
The Department for Infrastructure has said its aim is to "balance and respect the needs of all road users".
It said it would assess the impact of the taxis on the operation of the bus lanes during the trial period.
"This will include the safety of bus lane users, as well as the impact on journey times, vehicle speeds and volumes," it added.
"The department will also invite stakeholders to provide their views before reaching a decision on the long term access arrangements for taxis in bus lanes."
Class B and Class D taxis are already permitted to use all bus lanes in Belfast.
Class C taxis (intended for specialist services such as weddings and funerals) have not been permitted access.
Further information on the 12-week bus lane trial is available via the Department for Infrastructure website.


The removal of foreign criminals and immigration offenders are cancelled in 40% of cases, a report has said.

Almost 34,000 airline tickets had to be cancelled in one 18-month period - with lack of staff to escort detainees one reason, the Independent Chief Inspector of Borders and Immigration report said.
A separate report suggests officials have lost track of thousands of foreign students whose visas have expired.
The Home Office said it was working to reduce cancelled and failed removals.
In some cases, the government argued cancellations were "out of [its] control", for example because of late legal challenges or disruptive behaviour of those scheduled for deportation.
However, the report said a lack of security staff to accompany detainees on their journey out of the UK was also a "major constraint".
The recorded loss on unused tickets was Â£1.4m - equivalent to 4% of the total amount spent on tickets
On average, the private company which is contracted to provide staff, Tascor, was only able to do so 15 days later than requested, inspectors said.
However, responding to the report, Tascor said it had no contractual requirement to complete removals within a specified timescale.
"The majority of the cancellations fall outside of Tascor's control, largely due to legal challenges or lack of emergency travel documents," the company added.
These two, rather dense, inspection reports merit close examination because they touch on a subject of public concern: Why is it that people who have no right to be in the UK cannot be removed?
The reasons are complex because the process is complex. If one link in the chain breaks down - a last-minute legal challenge, missing travel documents or no available security escorts - then the removal has to be cancelled.
However, the 15-day gap between the removal date requested by the Home Office and Tascor being able to provide staff suggests there are some serious recruitment problems that must be urgently addressed.
The worry is that the problems will not be fixed.
As the report on the student visa process points out, a recommendation by inspectors in 2012 for the removal of overseas students who are in the UK illegally to be made a priority has still not been acted upon.
Lucy Moreton, general secretary of ISU, which represents border agency and immigration staff, said recruiting more Tascor personnel could help the deportation process but "whether the Home Office would be prepared to pay for that is another matter".
Speaking on BBC Radio 4's Today programme, she said: "A large number of flights are missed because we simply can't move detainees from one place to another as we need to."
The report found that between October 2014 and March 2015, on average 2.5 flight tickets were issued for each individual successfully removed.
While some departments booked refundable tickets because of the high risk of cancellation, others simply chose the cheapest possible tickets which were normally not refundable, the report said.
The refund rate varied between 48% and 93% and there was "little obvious agreement" within the Home Office about how best to manage the problem, it said.
It recommended a regular review of the reasons for cancelled or failed removals, including those deemed "out of [Home Office] control", and develop guidance for caseworkers, for when to request refundable tickets.
A separate report suggests thousands of foreign students have fallen off the Home Office's radar - meaning the number who may have stayed in Britain illegally is unknown.
To get a visa, foreign students must produce a form from a licensed education establishment, which acts as their sponsor.
Under the terms of their licence, sponsors must notify the Home Office of any changes in a student's circumstances that would affect their sponsorship, such as failure to enrol on their course, a pattern of unauthorised absences, withdrawal or expulsion, or early completion of their studies.
Once notified, officials consider the case and decide whether to end the student's leave to remain in the UK.
The immigration watchdog said it found there was no process in place to monitor individuals in 71,601 cases in the two years to April 2015.
"Many of these individuals might have departed the UK, or might have been granted leave to remain on other grounds. However, the true position, including the number and whereabouts of those who have remained in the UK illegally was not known," the report said.
The Home Office said work was "already under way to address the recommendations relating to ticketing and escorting" and accepted all of the chief inspectors recommendations.


Brentford struck after just 21 seconds to set up their seventh Championship win in nine matches at Huddersfield.

Sergei Canos fired the Bees ahead, but Jamie Paterson slotted in an equaliser shortly after half-time.
Scott Hogan latched on to Konstantin Kerschbaumer's through ball to restore the lead before the pair combined again for the striker's second.
Substitute Lasse Vibe smashed in after replacing Hogan, and John Swift capped Town's misery with a late fifth.
Brentford's excellent late season run of seven wins from their final nine matches took them away from danger and up to a ninth-place finish.
The Terriers, who won just one of their final eight games, ended the campaign in 19th, three places above the relegation zone.
Huddersfield head coach David Wagner: "To be honest we struggled from the first second and the goals we conceded were too easy.
"We tried to work but we were just too tired. The tank was empty."
Brentford head coach Dean Smith: "It was a great performance but the scoreline was very flattering for us because Huddersfield aren't a bad team.
"To finish ninth is a fantastic achievement for the club."


Microsoft and Facebook have announced plans to build the highest capacity data link between the US and Europe.

The tech companies will help design the subsea cable which will run between Virginia in the US and Bilbao, Spain.
The project will be managed by Spanish telecommunications firm Telefonica, which will sell any unused capacity on the cable to other customers.
The cable will help the tech giants move data more quickly and cheaply between their global data centres.
Tech companies typically have to pay telecommunications firms to use their cables, which can be costly. And the large amounts of data moving across those lines can make them slower.
The project, called MAREA, will be the highest-capacity sub-sea cable across the Atlantic, with an expected capacity of some 160 terabits per second of data, the companies said.
It is not the first subsea cable to be sponsored by a tech company.
In 2014 Google paired up with five telecommunications firms to build a subsea cable across the Pacific Ocean.
Construction of the 6,600km (4,125 miles) long cable is due to start in August and is scheduled to be completed in October 2017.
Microsoft said MAREA will help boost the speed and reliability of its cloud services.
"This marks an important new step in building the next generation infrastructure of the internet," said Microsoft's director of global network acquisition, Frank Rey.
Microsoft has also been testing underwater data centres. These centres would be cheaper to maintain because they would not have the associated cooling costs of data centres on land and could be powered through marine energy.
Facebook and its 1.23 billion monthly active users are also heavily reliant of transferring data and chief executive Mark Zuckerberg has committed to expanding global internet access.


Germany is to restrict the number of entry points for migrants arriving via Austria, in a bid to control the flow as thousands cross into Bavaria daily.

It says it has reached agreement with Austria on five crossing points on their border.
Authorities in Bavaria have complained a lack of co-ordination with Austria is hampering efforts to aid new arrivals.
Many others continue to make their way via Greece, in freezing temperatures, hoping to get asylum in Germany.
Meanwhile, more than 20 migrants - many of them children - have drowned in more boat sinkings in Greek waters while they were trying to reach European Union countries via Turkey.
Greek officials said 19 people had died and 138 were rescued near the island of Kalymnos.
Three others died off Rhodes and three were missing. Six were rescued there.
And the Spanish coastguard called off the search for 35 migrants missing at sea the day after their boat was shipwrecked en route from Morocco.
Fifteen migrants were rescued alive from the vessel and the bodies of four others were found.
A spokeswoman for Germany's interior ministry told AFP news agency that the new rules on entry points would go into effect immediately.
"We would like to have a more orderly procedure," she said.
A senior Bavarian politician said that under the agreement, 50 migrants an hour could cross into the state at the five agreed points.
Earlier this week, German Interior Minister Thomas de Maziere accused Austria of transporting refugees to the German frontier at night, leaving them there unannounced.
Federal police spokesman Heinrich Onstein has said everything was being done to prevent the migrants from having to sleep outdoors.
He said the problem had been that  "we do not know how many people will arrive, and at which border post".
However an Austrian police spokesman dismissed such accusations as a "joke", given that Austria was receiving 11,000 people a day just at the Spielfeld crossing from Slovenia.
Germany expects at least 800,000 asylum seekers this year - some estimates put it as high as 1.5 million. That is at least four times the number who arrived last year.
Last Wednesday, more than 8,000 migrants arrived in Bavaria, German police said.
And last weekend authorities in Passau - a major transit hub for asylum seekers - said they had been overwhelmed by a new influx of some 15,000 people who arrived from Austria.
Several hundred spent a night out in the cold on the Austrian side of the border before reaching Germany, as the Austrian authorities said they had run out of beds for them.
The UN estimates that more than 700,000 migrants have crossed to Europe by boat so far this year - many of them refugees from war-torn Syria. The approach of winter has so far done little to slow the flow.
Migrant crisis explained in graphics


Soren Kjeldsen and Thorbjorn Olesen shot a six-under 66 in the fourballs to give Denmark a first World Cup of Golf victory by four strokes.

The Danes started the final day in Melbourne with a four-shot cushion, and seven birdies, combined with a single bogey, gave them the win on 20 under.
"It's difficult to describe my feelings," said Kjeldsen, before lifting the Hopkins Trophy.
France, China and the USA tied for second on 16 under.
"We both came into this week in good form and we just gelled so well," added Kjeldsen, who holed a 20-yard putt on the last.
"A friendship has been built as well, and I think that's the whole point of the World Cup of Golf."
Victory for Kjeldsen came at the sixth time of asking, while Olesen was playing in his third World Cup as Denmark beat their previous best finish of second in 2001.
French duo Victor Dubuisson and Romain Langasque led the chasing pack with a nine-birdie 63 to share second place with China's Wu Anshun and Li Haotong (65) as well as American pairing Rickie Fowler and Jimmy Walker (66).
Ireland's Shane Lowry and Graeme McDowell finished 11 under, level with defending champions Australia, who were represented by Adam Scott and Marc Leishman.
England's Chris Wood and Andy Sullivan closed with a 65, their best round of the tournament, to finish on nine under.
Russell Knox and Duncan Stewart of Scotland ended on six under while Wales' Bradley Dredge and Stuart Manley hit a final-round 63, moving them to five under.


Tom Watson was a relatively obscure figure, little known outside Westminster, until he took one of the starring roles in the interrogation of Rupert and James Murdoch in 2011, as a member of the Commons culture select committee.

Suddenly an MP who had seemed destined to be remembered as a foot soldier, a loyal lieutenant of Gordon Brown, who had served as a junior minister in the Labour government and played a minor role in the toppling of Tony Blair, was a hot property.
He was drafted into Labour leader Ed Miliband's top team as the man charged with organising the troops to secure an overall majority at the next general election.
He had an image makeover, co-wrote a pacy account of his hacking adventure - Dial M for Murdoch - and became a familiar figure on the rolling news channels.
His record as campaign chief was mixed - the party famously lost safe Bradford West to a resurgent George Galloway but scored other by-election victories along the way. He had just launched a grassroots campaign aimed at securing victory for Mr Miliband in 2015.
His downfall came in the wake of a row over trade union influence over Labour candidate selection.
A former trade union official himself, who once shared a flat with Unite leader Len McCluskey, he entered Parliament in 2001 as MP for West Bromwich.
After an initial stint in the whips office, he was sent to the Ministry of Defence, where he was credited with helping secure pardons for soldiers shot for cowardice during the First World War.
But in 2006, he resigned as a defence minister, calling for Tony Blair to quit in the interest of the Labour Party and the country - a move that hastened the then prime minister's departure from office.
He was accused of conspiring against Mr Blair with Gordon Brown when it emerged he had visited the then chancellor at his home in North Queensferry, Fife, shortly before stepping down.
Both men denied any plot, but many - inside and outside Labour - did not believe them.
Mr Watson maintains his decision to take a stand against Mr Blair put him in the media firing line, and the then editor of the Sun - and former News of the World chief - Rebekah Brooks, a friend and supporter of Mr Blair, was one of those with their fingers on the trigger.
When Gordon Brown took over as leader and prime minister in 2007, Mr Watson was brought back into government as a whip, and in 2008 was appointed minister for digital engagement.
In that role, he found a niche.
Known as an early adopter of social media, he was the first MP to have a blog and has described himself as "an apprentice nerd" for his love of all things technological.
But during this period Mr Watson also had another run-in with the media - including News International - when he was accused of being involved in the scandal surrounding a plot by Gordon Brown's spin doctor Damian McBride to spread smears about senior Tories.
The Mail on Sunday accused him of "encouraging" Mr McBride while the Sun published a cartoon of him under the headline "Mad dog was trained to maul".
Mr Watson subsequently won "substantial" libel damages from both newspapers in the High Court, which ruled the stories linking him to the plot were not true.
He resigned from his ministerial role in the wake of the McBride row for family reasons, he insisted - he wanted to take a step back from front-line politics and concentrate on his wife and children.
Hoping for what he called "a productive life as a backbencher", he decided to join the culture select committee to pursue his interests in sport and the arts.
But just two days after joining, the Guardian newspaper put phone hacking back on the agenda and the committee decided to investigate it - once again thrusting Mr Watson into the spotlight.
Unlike some of his Parliamentary colleagues, Mr Watson does not claim that his mobile phone was ever targeted - but he says the issue is still personal for him.
"The first thing News International did was try to have me removed from the committee," he claimed in 2011.
"I realised then that these people were never going away. Something had clearly gone wrong with newspapers and somebody had to get to the truth.
"There weren't many MPs who were prepared to do that for fear of being targeted, so I decided I had to do it.
By Nick RobinsonPolitical editor
"People then started coming to me - whistle-blowers and victims - and I felt I had a responsibility towards them. I couldn't walk away."
A prolific Tweeter about politics, as well as his latest discoveries in music, film and video games, he has recently been plugging a little-known blues-rock band, Drenge, even managing to squeeze in a mention of them and the Glastonbury music festival in his resignation letter.
His Twitter profile says: "According to the Sun newspaper, Watson is a fundamentalist zealot who denounces any deviation from socialism. MP and author of a book on corruption by NewsCorp."
Ed Miliband - another former Gordon Brown ally - drafted Mr Watson into his inner circle in the aftermath of his 2011 culture committee grilling of Rupert Murdoch.
In his resignation letter, Mr Watson, the son of a union official and a social worker, who has two children with estranged wife Siobhan, said it was better for the "future unity" of the Labour Party that he went,
The Falkirk row broke out over the seat being vacated by Labour's Eric Joyce - the Unite union has been accused of hijacking the process to select a new candidate to replace him, and Mr Watson's office manager was the union's preferred candidate.
In his letter to Mr Miliband, Mr Watson said he was not quitting because of "unattributed shadow cabinet briefings around the mess in Falkirk... though they don't help".
He said some within the party had still not forgiven him for resigning as defence minister in 2006, but adds: "I fully accept the consequences of that decision and genuinely hope my departure allows the party to move on."
Not for the first time in his career, he said he wanted to speak out from the back benches on issues of personal interest.


All four schools run by a Telford academy trust have been put in special measures within a week.

Inspectors criticised teaching and leadership at the Phoenix Academy and Lakeside Academy following visits in February, rating both schools inadequate in all areas.
Wrockwardine Wood and Sutherland academies, also run by the Telford Co-operative Multi-Academy Trust, were put in special measures earlier this week.
The trust has not commented.
Ofsted criticised the trust's lack of support to the schools and said each was now considering an alternative sponsor.
Inspectors said pupils' achievement at the Phoenix Academy had dropped since it became an academy in 2013 and their latest report rated it inadequate in all areas.
A report in 2013, before it converted, rated the secondary school as "requiring improvement", while Lakeside was rated "good" in 2012 under its former name the Lord Silkin School.
In the latest report, inspectors said the curriculum at Phoenix Academy was "inadequate", while "weak teaching" meant pupils were not sufficiently challenged and were often "disengaged and disruptive".
There was particular criticism of standards in English and maths which the watchdog said were limiting pupils' achievements in other areas.
Ofsted's report said governors, managers and teachers had developed a "culture of low expectations", while leaders had failed to act decisively to halt the decline in pupils' achievement.
There was, however, some praise for the acting head teacher. Inspectors said he had introduced a number of improvement measures and some were "beginning to have an impact".
A report on Lakeside School highlighted similar concerns, criticising teachers for not sufficiently challenging pupils and for having "over generous" predictions of their achievement.
Inspectors said many pupils, whether high achievers or those with special educational needs, were "not making the progress they should" and achievements at GCSE were well below the national average.
Governors were also criticised for not holding leaders to account, while the report said management had failed to effectively monitor either pupils or teachers.
Inspectors, did however highlight new initiatives to improve literacy which they said were "beginning to have a positive impact".


Black people are three times more likely than white people to be involved in Taser incidents, Home Office figures disclosed to the BBC suggest.

The numbers show the electric stun gun was drawn, aimed or fired 38,000 times in England and Wales over five years.
In more than 12% of cases Tasers were used against black people, who make up about 4% of the population.
Officers were accountable to the law each time their weapon was drawn, the National Police Chiefs Council said.
The figures, covering the years 2010 to 2015, were compiled by the Home Office from all 43 police forces in England and Wales following a Freedom of Information Act request to the Home Office.
The figures also show a rise in Taser incidents against children.
Tasers were used by police 38,135 times, though in most incidents - 80% last year - the weapons were not discharged.
The ethnicity of the person against whom the Taser was used was recorded on 36,038 occasions.
In 4,582 of those cases they involved a black person of African-Caribbean origin or of mixed white and African-Caribbean origin - representing 12.7%.
In contrast, proportionately fewer people of Asian descent were involved in Taser incidents.
Although it has been well documented that black people are more likely to be stopped and searched, arrested and sent to prison than those who are white, this is the first time figures have been produced showing that across England and Wales black people are more likely to have Tasers used against them.
The difference in how often ethnic groups encounter Taser use is dramatic.
For Asians the chance of involvement in a Taser incident in 2010-14 in England and Wales was only three in 10,000, whereas for white people it was six and for black people it was 18 in 10,000.
Some 12.7% of incidents in 2010-14 involved Black people, who constitute only 4.4% of the population. But only 4% involved Asians, who form 8.1% of the population.
This pattern is repeated in all age groups. Tasers are mainly used on men in their twenties and thirties, but the discrepancy is not caused by different ethnic age distributions.
It is also reflected across England and Wales, including those local forces with enough incidents to assess separately (West Midlands, West Yorkshire, Greater Manchester and the Metropolitan Police).
The ethnic discrepancy also occurs across the various levels of Taser deployment, from being drawn to fired.
Matilda MacAttram, from the campaign group Black Mental Health UK, said the statistics were "deeply disturbing" and pointed to emerging evidence that police were using Tasers against people with mental health problems, particularly those from African-Caribbean communities.
"There's an increasing amount of data, both anecdotal and also concrete, which show this supposedly "non-lethal" weapon is being used against people who are in a very vulnerable state.
"That's actually a violation of their human rights and it should not be happening," she said.
The National Police Chiefs Council (NPCC), which co-ordinates national operational policing, said specialist Taser officers acted fairly regardless of race.
A NPCC spokesman said: "Every use of Taser is reported and scrutinised by a supervisor and officers are personally accountable to the law each time their Taser is drawn.
"Officers receive specialist training that helps them to determine the best course of action in resolving a violent or potentially violent situation.  Taser is one of many tactical options a police officer can use.
"In 80 per cent of Taser uses in the UK, the mere presence of the device is enough to resolve the violent or  potentially violent situation without any force being used."
Rick Muir, director of the Police Foundation, an independent think-tank, described the figures as "extremely worrying".
He said: "We do not know whether this is due to discrimination by officers or whether this reflects wider social inequalities which means some groups are disproportionately likely to come into contact with the police in situations where a Taser might be deployed."
Last year, there were also 522 cases involving people under the age of 18, but there were only 349 such cases in 2010. Of last year's cases, 158 involved children under 16.
In Hampshire a police officer took his Taser out of his holster, but did not use it, in an incident with a nine-year-old boy in an attempt to calm a situation down after there was an allegation of a knife being used, the force said.
The data released by the Home Office showed that a Taser had been drawn during an incident involving a 91-year-old man in Suffolk, but Suffolk Police said it could find no record of it.


Barnsley manager Paul Heckingbottom says Sheffield Wednesday striker Sam Winnall's goal celebration at Oakwell angered his daughter.

Winnall ran to the halfway line to celebrate in front of Tykes fans after scoring against his former club in the 1-1 draw on Saturday.
"I didn't see it, but it upset my little girl, she was fuming with him.
"If she ever sees him, I'll unleash her on him," 39-year-old Heckingbottom told BBC Radio Sheffield,
Winnall, 26, scored 48 goals in 116 appearances for Barnsley, before joining south Yorkshire rivals Wednesday for an undisclosed fee in the January transfer window.
He received a frosty reception from some Barnsley supporters, who disrupted the start of the game by throwing a Peppa Pig soft toy at the striker.
However, it looked like he would have the last laugh after opening the scoring after 50 minutes, only for a late Angus MacDonald equaliser to earn the home side a 1-1 draw.
"I'm guessing if he's done it, he's done it to get back at the fans who were booing him", added Heckingbottom.
"I noticed when Angus [MacDonald] scored, he made sure he jogged past Sam and gave him a little tap.
"I've got no problem with it.  It's all part of the game".