Just an update to say thanks to everyone for the helpful advice. I did buy a paperwhite in the end (arrived this morning), £20 off at tesco direct and a bit of Topcashback on top of that, brought the price down to £77. Almost as cheap as Amazon.de but Amazon won't sell kindles cross border.
I think the 14 month thing is probably due to the fact that they tend to be transported all over. I sling mine into a bag for work and it does take q little punishment. I can't imagine a book surviving long in similar circumstances. I absolutely love books, and until I bought a kindle, I thought...
Just found Tesco are doing it for that price using an online voucher code. It's still pretty annoying as a few months ago there were deals aplenty with up to 50 quid knocked off the price.
Have you found the touchscreen irritating? Personally I love tech but when I tried my mother in law's kindle touch I realised I preferred the physical buttons. Do you get many 'false' page turns?
I'm considering upgrading from my 4th gen kindle (with buttons) to a paperwhite as it has a backlit screen for reading in darker conditions. Anyone done this, and is it really worth it as in my view the device is overpriced and there are few discounts around?