It could have been the perfect seasonal story: an unemployed man at his wits' end bumps into a politician at a Christmas market, recounts his plight, and the powerful but kind-hearted man pulls eight job offers out of his pocket - a miracle.

This is how the unedifying tale of Henrico Frank began, but not how it ended. Now Germany's most famous work-dodger, Mr Frank has unwittingly cast light on the country's generous welfare state and the entitlement mentality it has fostered over decades.