This week the very excellent Christoph Driessen wrote an article for dpa which was syndicated to news sites all over Germany, including Bild, Welt Online, T-Online, Web.de, Focus Online… to name but a few.

His article looks at the unusual portrayal of Germans by various travel guides and other books – including Planet Germany. Of course for a gripping article it was essential to pick up on some of the quirky or even downright insulting descriptions of teutonic habits and characteristics which are picked up by the authors – myself included. The parts praising teutonic qualities and virtues don’t make good news copy.

But what really struck me was how the different headline writers have had a field day. There seems to have been a competition to see who can sensationalise this story most.

This got me into thinking what I would expect each of these articles to be about if I’d only read the headline, not the article…

Britische Reiseführer warnen vor Deutschland

announces T-Online… conjuring images of the imminent collapse of a German tourist industry, dependent on beer swilling Brits to keep the Oktoberfest in business.