Can't we just be friends?

OKAY, so we've had our differences. Britain and Germany have not always seen eye to eye, but these days we're friends. No, really, we are. Not that you'd notice.

We are still being beastly to the Germans 50 years after we became allies. As the rivalry intensifies in the build-up to another England-Germany football match, all the wartime imagery is back. We have yet to see a repeat of the Mirror's front page headline before the Euro 96 fixture: "Achtung, surrender - for you Fritz ze Euro 96 championship is over"; but the players, we are told, are ready to do battle against 'Hans' and his ilk.

Inge Duncan, a German who has lived in England for 40 years and in York for six, feels English attitudes towards her homeland have worsened recently.

"I don't understand why this is," she said. "There seems to be this sort of hostility to Germany, being boosted by the media."

This animosity is not reciprocated, Inge insists. "On the whole, Germans feel a great affinity with the British.

"When I was growing up in Germany after the war, the British were the most favoured of the Allied forces because people felt we were the same. The British had behaved a lot better than the other forces.

"Over the years the Germans have remained very interested in the English. The Royal Family gets more favourable mentions in the German newspapers than in the English papers."

Ah, the British Royal Family. We might as well begin our quest to improve Anglo-German relations at the very top.

English football fans will join the players in singing for God to save our gracious Queen before tomorrow night's fixture. She is, of course, the reigning monarch of the House of Windsor, once known as the House of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha.

That was the dynastic name of Queen Victoria's husband, German-born Prince Albert. It was swapped for Windsor by George V during the First World War. The Queen's children would normally have borne their father's surname, Mountbatten, but she decided they would retain the Windsor name (Mountbatten itself had been anglicised from Battenberg). In other words, there's a fair few German blood cells running through our royals' blue veins.

Inge, married to a retired English clergyman, believes there is more common ground between the Brits and the Germans than that, however. Just like Britain, she said, Germany boasts many strong regional identities.

"Northern Germans are much more stiff upper lip and reserved," she said. Sounds familiar. "While people down in Bavaria show their feelings very quickly and heatedly."

Inge is a member of the York & District German Circle, co-founded by Jennie Lunn. Jennie has been interested in Germany ever since taking part in a school exchange visit to Westphalia when she was 14.

Back in the Sixties, she said, when foreign travel was more difficult, Germany was a much more popular destination for Brits than it is today. Our subsequent lack of experience of this remarkable country has had a knock-on effect which she laments.

"It's not a popular place. German departments in universities are closing down because they don't have the interest any more. It's a really sad reflection that people don't travel to Germany: they go to the other side of the world but not to a country on their doorstep."

If people made the effort to get to know Germans and Germany they would be pleasantly surprised, she said. "I like the German culture. They maintain their old traditions so much more than us.

"It has a very strong regional identity. First and foremost they're Bavarians or Rheinlanders, they're very proud, like we are proud of being from Yorkshire.

"Berlin is a wonderful - one of the most exciting cities in the world. It's so vibrant. You can feel the enthusiasm in the air."

Germans are, in general, courteous and generous. "We have this stereotype of arrogance but they are very polite. If they visit your home they will always bring something."

And, contrary to another stereotype, most Germans like a laugh, said Jennie. "Their humour's different, we just don't appreciate it."

Inge said: "In Germany we like puns as well. Obviously it's a different style of punning."

The Ger-mans must have a sense of humour: they are about to commission their own version of Fawlty Towers, the classic British sitcom that starred John Cleese as a notoriously German-baiting Torquay hotel owner.

Then there's the undeniable physical beauty of Germany. Diverse and breathtaking scenery from the mountains to the Rhine valley to the Baltic coast is complemented by fantastic architecture. Awesome castles and cathedrals, and charming town squares - like that in York's twin town of Munster - are a treat on the eye.

We are all too familiar with German sporting achievements. As for culture - well, where do we start? Few countries can match the musical tradition of Germany. Brahms, Bach, Beethoven, Mandelssohn, Straus Schumann and Schubert: these guys can play.

In literature, too, Germany has some world-class performers. Goethe and Brecht were extraordinary dramatists; last year they were joined in the hall of fame by Gunter Grass, winner of the 1999 Nobel Prize for Literature.

And few can think quite as hard and as deeply as the Germans. Immanuel Kant, Hegel and Schopenhauer philosophised until their heads hurt.

German cuisine is not world class, it has to be said, and its wine is an acquired taste. But beer, well that's a different story. The word 'lager' is taken from the German word 'lagern' - to store - and no one holds a beer festival quite like the Germans. They have a wonderful proverb to prove it: "The brewery is the best drugstore".

All these factors should mean we admire, like or even love our Continental neighbours. Certainly Jennie Lunn would like to see British attitudes move on from the 1940s.

"We continually hark back to the war, and show black-and-white war films constantly on TV. No wonder people think the Germans all run around in tin helmets.

"We should look to all the positive things. Britain is friends with Germany now."

She wants people to get to know the Germans better. We have no excuse not to - around 50,000 come to York each year, a figure that's growing as city tourism chiefs target the German market.

Better still, she says, go to Germany. If you have never visited, you are in for a pleasant surprise. There's far more to Germany than footballers with a gift for taking penalties.

York & District German Circle meets on the first and third Wednesday of the month at the Priory Street Centre, York

PICTURE: Highlanders in the Bavarian Alps