The Guardian's Organgrinder gave us an interesting glimpse into German mentality this week, when the blog revealed that German journalists were gleeful to see Mecom shares plunge.

The blog asserted German hacks couldn't help but feel "a tiny bit of Schadenfreud" that this should happen to the investment vehicle of a man who love to tell German media "how to maximize their profits".

Schadenfreud or not: seeing that several of Mecom's newspapers serve as guarantors for the company's mortgages, it's a bit like biting the hand that feeds you. I don't remember exactly which Mecom papers serve in this capacity here and now, but still: I can understand wary, jittery, fearful of what impact the current market turbulence will have on a highly geared company such as Mecom, but Schadenfreud? Must be the remnants of Kant's influence on German thinking (a perfect example of his metaphysics, courtesy of Monty Python/YouTube, here, well worth the 3-4 min watch)

But then, in my part of the world we haven't heard Montgomery lecture on how businesses, and specifically media businesses, can or should maximize their profits yet. In fact, that is a lecture we'd love to hear, it would be a very welcome antidote to the wariness that reigns about how exactly the Mecom boss plans to reach the golden 15 per cent profit margin for all his newspapers. I know I have several German/German-based readers, so would be very grateful if any of you could enlighten me on this point (though I have a nagging suspicion I'd be better off talking to one of the Guardian sub-editors)....