A journalist friend calls from Paris to leave a heartfelt message on my phone:
“My darling Roy, please tell your friends on the Guardian they should stop making Jihadi John into a catwalk star... everywhere it says that he was very fashion conscious and that picture of him with his leather holster, all in black, it’s turning him into a film star.
My god, this is a monster, and we don’t want young Muslim kids identifying with him. Please I beg of you”.
So, job done. I guess she hasn’t noticed that we have not previously referred to Mohammed Emwazi as Jihadi John. I take her point. But only up to a point.
Do people really believe that publishing photographs of a knife-wielding Isis murderer in a balaclava will turn him into some kind of role model?
