The Muslims are coming: Revisiting the Trojan Horse Affair

Podcast review

"What impact did it have then?"

The question asked by a spokesperson of the British humanist society, a group that played a role in what is today known as the Trojan horse scandal, in respect of the repercussions of said scandal. His question really does epitomise the dehumanising sentiment of the entire affair. Of course he had no clue what impact the affair had, he’s not the Muslim "other". Why would he care that the actions of his organisation have contributed to the Orwellian surveillance Muslims are subjected to today, the expansion of counter terror
policy and the media demonization of an entire community as a daily occurrence.

The Trojan Horse Affair podcast investigates the events of 2013, which saw the claim of Birmingham schools being taken over by "Islamist" plots. This dominated headlines at the time. It all stemmed from one anonymous letter. And it is this letter, rather the unknown source of this letter, that the podcast tries to uncover.

This podcast is a master class in storytelling. The listener is shown the wider picture, stemming from the actual starting point of this story; the mysterious letter. It takes the listeners several steps back, allowing us to see with each step the structures of power that were…