The estate I was commissioned to work on for a 12-month Neighbourhood Agreement project was aimed at vastly improving the health of a community that had been ravaged. Set in the heart of a northern town, identified by founder of the Institute of Community Cohesion, Ted Cantle, as one of the ‘parallel communities', the area is 97% white, indigenous and on the whole, deprived. Yet it has, like most, a beating heart. Again, not unusually, there is a matriarch doing her best to build confidence and spread optimism.

It so happens she is the landlady of a local pub. When we tried to set up a meeting to discuss what the estate needed to become aware of the health services available, the venue of the pub was rejected by the commissioners because ‘we don't want to encourage alcohol or alienate the Muslim community'. You can imagine the response.