The arrest of suspects recently who were allegedly planning a coup in Germany is somewhat of surprise, The group, calling themselves Reichburger (which does not come mit pommes frites) is a little hard to pin down ideologically. But one might have thought that many years of stability in politics and sound economic growth in Germany would have headed off any return to the disasterous failed projects of the past. Apparently, you can't please everyone, especially budding right-wingers.

At least one section of the Reichsburger deny that the German Federal Republic exists and harken back romantically to the borders of the Second Reich in 1914, claiming that the Weimar Constitution of 1919 was illegal. That, of course, claws back territory now in the possession of France, Poland, the Czech Republic and even Russia. What are the chances?

While details of the coup are sketchy at this stage, it strikes me that this is likely to be an amateurish plot by a small group of deluded individuals that would make the 1923 Beer-Hall Putsch in Munich look like a full-on revolution. Of course the Nazis started very small but their dreadful cause was aided by a calamitous end to the Great War, a collapsing economy and loads of disgruntled demobilized soldiers. Oh, and a big communist a party too.

Still, best to keep an eye on things even if the game is up.