ABSTRACT
Throughout the summer and early autumn of 2014 two high-profile events seemed to justify local government’s critics. In Birmingham a so-called ‘Trojan Horse’ of Muslims was accused of creating an Islamist culture in a group of academies undermining ‘British values’. The local authority stood condemned for its inability to challenge this or support the schools and their pupils. More shocking was the Jay report into children’s services in Rotherham with its revelation that 1,400 young women had been victims of sexual abuse over several years. A central accusation was the failure of the local council and the police to provide proper care for vulnerable residents because a majority of the perpetrators were of Pakistani origin. In both cases the authorities seemed separate and distant from their communities. At the same time much of the commentary about the Scottish referendum vote and the success of the UK Independence Party in the Clacton by-election highlighted the inability of the British political system to respond creatively to changing views about identity and belonging ( Daily Telegraph, 2014).
