The danger of violent jihadism persists, but the growing menace is from racist extremists – even if some in the UK government can’t admit it
Perhaps it was the tweed jacket and cravat. Or maybe the medieval title: Heinrich XIII, Prince of Reuß. Either way, the man at the head of a suspected plot to overthrow the German government, exposed in a series of raids on Wednesday, was easy to dismiss as a joke. The country’s late night TV talkshows went right ahead, mocking the 71-year-old aristocrat and his deluded dreams, along with his wardrobe.
A week earlier, the sartorial derision was aimed at Ye, the rapper formerly known as Kanye West, his face entirely obscured by a ski mask, praising Hitler and the Nazis on the set of Infowars as a guest of the bankrupted conspiracy theorist Alex Jones.
Jonathan Freedland is a Guardian columnist
