Busy times in the ever-complicated relationship between Poland and Germany.

Robert Kubica becomes the first Pole to win a Formula 1 Grand Prix race – driving a BMW in Montreal.

Then Germany beat Poland 2-0 in Euro 2008, with Polish-born Lukasz Podolski scoring twice – for Germany!

Before the match there was the usual noisy tabloid war, rising to excellent heights of "Give us their heads!" tastelessness, even though one of the noisiest Polish tabloids is owned by the German Springer group.

All this reminded me of the wonderful Malbork Castle in northern Poland, founded in 1274 by the Teutonic Knights:

The castle was expanded several time to host the growing number of Knights, and became the largest fortified Gothic building in Europe, featuring several sections and walls. It comprises three separate sections – the High, Middle and Low Castles, separated by multiple dry moats and towers. The castle once housed approximately 3,000 "brothers in arms", and the outermost castle walls enclose 52 acres (210,000 m²), four times larger than the enclosed space of Windsor Castle.

The Knights were Tough Eggs, rampaging to and fro against the then Poland and into the rest of Europe down the succeeding centuries. But they did have a keen sense of humour.

In one smart tower of the castle is a hole in the floor by way of de luxe mediaeval lavatory. If a guest had failed to meet the Knights’ exacting standards he would be offered the use of this facility, and in using it would be surprised whan a hidden lever was pulled, plunging him down on to the rocks far below.

The football tabloid war prompted the usual dreary calls from some windbags in Germany for the Polish government to ‘take action’ against such abusive media material.

Pathetic. The whole point of football is that it gives us all a marvellous and (usually)harmless outlet for atavistic, raw nationalism. Not to mention post-modern irony.

Which is definitely better than what we had previously.