When more than 200 ‘spy’ cameras were placed around two of the most densely populated Muslims areas in the city just a few years ago many of Birmingham’s Muslims felt – as my research with Dr Arshad Isakjee showed – the impact of the cameras had been less cohesion, more tension between different communities and, most worryingly, increased feelings of Islamophobia and anti-Muslim hatred across the city. Following the row over the Trojan Horse affair, there is little doubt some will argue ‘there is no smoke without fire’. For some, the sheer scale of the response from central government might offer a semblance of evidence to support such claims, not forgetting of course that investigations by West Midlands Police, Birmingham City Council and the Department for Education remain ongoing. Nonetheless, there will be more suspicion and mistrust being shown towards Muslims and their communities.