The CPH Post: 23 December 2011 - 5 January 2012

Iraqis sue Denmark over torture complicity

6

23 December 2011 - 5 January 2012 | Vol 14 Issue 51

Funen MP looks to cash in on all those gay rumours

6

Our guide to what’s on this New Year’s

G2

Denmark’s only English-language newspaper | cphpost.dk

NEWS

Food and agriculture minister’s plan to use public funds goes up in smoke after political backlash

3

NEWS

Baking the books In surprise raids, tax authorities uncover widespread fraud at the city’s bakeries

10

SPORT

What a year!

Wozniacki, Bjørn, Bendtner: Who were our top Danish sports personalities of 2011?

15 InOut

Entertainment highlights See the InOut team’s picks for 2011’s top events, performances, albums, films, and more

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A look back at the top stories of 2011

4-5

Guilty ‘Amager Attacker’ plotted rape from jail JENNIFER BULEY Worst known serial-rapist and murderer in modern Danish history was planning a new attack even before his trial’s closing arguments

F

RIENDS, family and neighbours described 46-year-old Marcel Lychau Hansen as a completely normal family man – a football coach for over 15 years, a father of two grown sons, a popular ladies’ man, a steady employee at Copenhagen Airport, and a good son.

But on Monday morning, following six weeks of testimony and evidence, six jury members and three judges at Copenhagen City Court concluded that

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His premonition failed, however, despite those portrayals, he is also – beyond a shadow of a doubt – the Amager to sow doubt into the jury’s decision.

Attacker, the serial rapist and murderer They pronounced him guilty as charged who spooked the Greater Copenhagen on seven counts of rape and two counts area for 23 years, carrying out sadistic of murder, emphasising that the DNA evidence that placed Hansen at several crimes against women.

During closing arguments in court of the rapes and one of the murders was last week, Hansen himself said that “the incontrovertible. The chances of the person who did these things must be DNA not being Hansen’s were a million sick in the head, a psychopath who hates to one.

A matching handprint and matchwomen.” Yet Hansen maintained his own innocence: that “psychopath” was ing shoe print found at other crime not him – he and the real Amager At- scenes, and the “believable” testimonies tacker just happened to share the exact of more than 50 witnesses, only confirmed Hansen’s guilt, the jury said. same genetic profile.

They acquitted him on just one “I am 100 percent innocent,” Hansen told the court. “The person who did these count: the sexual assault and nearthings will strike again, and if I’m sitting strangulation of a 47-year-old woman the north Copenhagen in jail when it happens, people will see ainpersonal Organise meetingneighborhood of Vangede in 2007. In that case, the that it wasn’t me,” he concluded weirdly.

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odds of the DNA evidence not being Hansen’s were merely 2,200 to one.

All the seats were removed from the courtroom on Monday to accommodate the standing-room-only crowd. Some of Hansen’s victims and their family members were among that crowd when the court read its decision. Many cried and hugged each other as the guilty verdicts were read out.

The verdicts appeared to put an end to one of Denmark’s most extraordinary criminal cases ever and the country’s worst known serial rapist and murderer.

But within hours of the decision, the case took an unexpected, stranger-thanfiction turn.

Police announced on Monday

Amager Attacker continues on page 7

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Leadership, Entrepreneurship, and Practical Business Skills.

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Copenhagen Business School

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Week in revieW

The Copenhagen posT CphposT.Dk

23 December 2011 - 5 January 2012 Scanpix

Influx of refugees

The Week’s MosT ReaD sToRIes aT CphposT.Dk Forget the crisis, Iceland survived 500 years of Danish rule Independent scotland may turn to the nordic nations Councils to challenge compulsory Danish lessons for immigrants Rail delays after continued DsB strike Foreign investors speculate on Danish bankruptcy

FRoM oUR aRChIVes Ten YeaRs ago. Bureaucracy dampens the Christmas spirit after fire code regulations keep churches from setting up extra seats for holiday services.

FIVe YeaRs ago. Christian group Fadehuset refuses a 13 million offer from Jagtvej 69 Foundation to buy Ungdomshuset. one YeaR ago. health minister Bertel haarder blows a gasket on live TV over a pudding.

nyhavn Christmas Market shoppers were greeted by the sight of 70 bronze sculptures rolling into the harbour. The unusual guests were the work of artist Jens Galschiøt, who is drawing attention to the 200 million refugees predicted to result from climate change over the next 40 years

songs, and a handful of schools have cancelled their trips to the local church. Educators said they did not want to risk offending anyone. But critics wondered where the political correctness would end. neither Christine Antorini (S), the minister for children and education, nor Santa Claus, was inclined to comment.

Denmark’s only english-language newspaper Since 1998, The Copenhagen post has been Denmark’s leading source for news in English. As the voice of the international community, we provide coverage for the thousands of foreigners making their home in Denmark.

Additionally, our English language medium helps to bring Denmark’s top stories to a global audience. in addition to publishing the only regularly printed English-language newspaper in the country, we provide up-to-date news on our website and deliver news to national and international organisations. The Copenhagen post is also a leading provider of non-news services to the private and public sectors, offering writing, translation, editing, production and delivery services.

Visit us online at www.cphpost.dk

Pricey

CopEnHAgEn is the fifth most expensive city in the world, according to price comparison site priceRunners. The city came in fifth behind oslo, Sao paolo, Stockholm and Sydney – up one spot from last year, but down from 2008 and 2009 in which it was ranked second most expensive. The tourist board wonder-

President and Publisher Ejvind Sandal Chief executive Jesper nymark editor-in-Chief Kevin Mcgwin Managing editor Ben Hamilton news editor Justin Cremer Journalists Jennifer Buley & peter Stanners

ful Copenhagen was not worried by the result, however. “Copenhagen cannot compete on price with cheaper destinations, but we can compete on quality,” spokesperson Aneh Hajdu said. “we know that tourists are attracted to our bicycle culture, relaxed lifestyle and high quality food and designer clothes.”

editorial offices: Slagtehusgade 4 – 6 DK 1715 Copenhagen V Telephone: 3336 3300 Fax: 3393 1313 www.cphpost.dk news Desk news@cphpost.dk 3336 4243 The CpH post welcomes outside articles and letters to the editor. letters and comments can be left on our website or at: comments@cphpost.dk

Scanpix

Following complaints from conservative Muslim parents, several grade schools in Zealand and Jutland have decided to cut Jesus and the church out of their annual Christmas activities. Verses such as “Here comes the little Jesus” and “A child is born in Bethlehem” have been whisked out of the traditional Danish Christmas

colourbox

colourbox

War on Xmas?

CoRReCTIon: In last week’s story about the Vesterbro expolosion, we reported that benzene was used. The correct substance was petrol.

Body found

AAlBoRg police have confirmed that the body found in the city’s harbour on Tuesday is that of nikolaj Broberg winther. The 20-year-old was reported missing last week on Saturday after failing to return home from a Christmas party. He had last been seen at about 4am on Saturday in the city’s bar district. police dogs and

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a helicopter searched for winther on Monday, but it wasn’t until the next day that a volunteer diver discovered the body in the harbour.

At the time of going to press, an autopsy had yet to be held. police however say winther’s phone and a wallet with cash were found on the body, leading them to all but rule out foul play.

Layout and design Justin Cremer Aviaja Bebe nielsen logo by Rasmus Koch

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NEWS

THE COPENHAGEN POST CPHPOST.DK

23 December 2011 - 5 January 2012

3

Eurozone crisis “central” to EU presidency Minister’s taxpayer-funded European affairs minister says government had to consult parliament before deciding on whether to join the new EU fiscal compact treaty

smoking box causes a stink

SCANPIX

PETER STANNERS

JUSTIN CREMER Metter Gjerskov alloted 34,000 kroner of public money to avoid having to smoke outside, but backtracked after criticism

T

WO WEEKS before Denmark takes over the rotating EU presidency, the European affairs minister, Nicolai Wammen, released the government’s four main priorities for the country’s six-month term.

While the official priorities were vague – a responsible, dynamic, green and safe Europe – Wammen told journalists at a press conference in Brussels last week on Friday that handling the Eurozone crisis will be the presidency’s main focus.

“Our most important job will be to build a bridge between Eurozone countries and countries outside the Eurozone,” Wammen said. “Denmark is taking over the presidency at one of the most difficult times, but is nevertheless looking forward to the challenge.”

Denmark will have a less visible role during this presidency than its last in 2002, in which it oversaw the expansion of the EU by ten new member states.

But with Danish representatives chairing vital EU meetings, Denmark’s role as mediator will be important.

“We will do our utmost to show that the EU can still make decisions and negotiate. There is no need for long discussions and institutional battles between countries. Europe needs action,” Wammen said. “Europe’s citizens are looking to us and expect us to find solutions to the problems that they are facing every day.”

On the question of Danish participation in the European fiscal compact

A Nicolai Wammen, the Danish minister for European affairs (left), with his Polish counterpart, Mikolaj Dowgielewicz

treaty, Wammen maintained the government line that they would not make a decision until all the facts were available and parliament had been consulted.

“We haven’t yet made a decision.

We will participate constructively and actively in the process and when we know the details of the deal the Danish government will assess the economic, legal and political consequences of the deal, and then after meeting the political parties in the Danish government, we will make our position known.”

Denmark’s euro opt-out may prove problematic if the government decides to introduce the tightened financial regulation and budgetary discipline that the fiscal compact treaty entails.

This is because the regulations may be deemed to remove sovereignty from Denmark, in which case the conditions of the opt-out stipulates that Denmark has to hold a referendum. Such a vote, however, would be unlikely to pass due to negative public sentiment about the euro.

“Denmark has opted out of the euro and we will of course respect that,” Wammen said.

The cabinet found itself at odds last weekend after Villy Søvndal, the foreign minister, appeared to contradict PM Helle Thorning-Schmidt by stating that Denmark might have trouble joining the treaty if it meant the country would be unable to run a deficit in order to stimulate its economy.

The treaty would prevent member countries from running deficits of more than 0.5 percent, with those exceeding three percent facing automatic penalties.

Denmark is one of nine non-Eurozone EU states that have agreed to join negotiations on the deal, which all of the Eurozone countries will have to agree to.

Next isue: The EU presidency Denmark will assume the rotating presidency of the EU in January. To mark the event, The Copenhagen Post is producing a special EU section to guide you through the important details, from explaining what the presidency entails, to breaking down the areas that Denmark hopes to focus on. Look for it in our next issue.

FTER receiving criticism from political foes and allies alike, the food, agriculture and fisheries minister, Mette Gjerskov, announced on Monday evening that she would pay for a smoking booth she had installed in her office using taxpayer funds.

When Gjerskov came under fire for her decision to install a smoking booth in her office, it was not the unhealthy habit that caused a rift, bur rather the fact that 33,744 kroner of taxpayers’ money went towards providing Gjerskov with her own private smoking area.

While criticism predictably came from S’s political opponents, it also came from within the government’s parties.

“When we have just introduced smoking bans in single-person offices, it seems peculiar that a minister must now have her own private smoking box,” said Jonas Dahl, the health spokesperson for the Socialistisk Folkeparti (SF), according to Berlingske newspaper.

Even Gjerskov’s own party spoke out against her decision, with S’s health spokesperson Sophie Hæstorp Andersen telling the newspaper that smoking rules for ministers should be tightened.

Explaining herself to JyllandsPosten newspaper, Gjerskov said that it would be too inconvenient to go outside each time she was craving a smoke.

“I have an office on the fourth floor,” she said. “It’s a hell of a long way down the hall, and it isn’t really practical to go down to the street and up again

between meetings.”

The newspaper asked Gjerskov how she could justify the smoking booth in light of the government’s decision to raise excise taxes on cigarettes and ban smoking in single offices in Christiansborg.

“It’s the same rules here,” she responded. “I can’t smoke in my office, but I can smoke in a smoking booth.”

When asked why taxpayers should foot the bill for her booth, Gjerskov responded only by saying that she pays the excise tax on her cigarettes like everyone else and that “smoking booths cost [money]”.

Her explanations didn’t satisfy the opposition party Venstre (V), whose health spokesperson Sophie Løhde said Gjerskov’s use of nearly 34,000 kroner of public money was a sign of “arrogance” and a “strange way to behave and use taxpayers’ money”.

However, Berlingske reports that Løhde’s party leader, the former prime minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen, used public money to install a smoking booth in his office. Despite both politicians’ use of public money on the exact same thing, Løhde responded by saying she thought the situations were not the same.

Gjerskov had an apparent change of heart on Monday, when she announced that she would now foot the bill herself.

“It’s never been a question of whether I was trying to get out of paying for the smoking booth – it was strictly about solving a practical problem,” Gjerskov said in a statement. “It’s important for me not to expose others to second-hand smoke, and it goes without saying that I abide by smoking laws. But I’ve listened to the criticism and will pay for the smoking booth myself.”

ONLINE THIS WEEK Congestion zone move angers local politicians THE GOVERNMENT has collided with local and national politicians over where the border of the proposed congestion charging zone should be. The initial plan suggested that the limit should run along Ring Road 2 within Copenhagen’s city limits, but after pressure from within the City Council and government support party Enhedslisten, the zone might now share the same borders as

the city. The congestion charging zone has become a headache for Socialdemokraterne, which has faced criticism for retracting their promise of reduced public transport fees in the new year to encourage more use after the congestion charging zone is implemented. Several Socialdemokrat mayors of surrounding councils have expressed their dissatisfaction at the discussion to move the zone’s borders.

Nordhavn to become city’s newest ‘green’ district ONE OF Copenhagen’s more miserable districts is to have a facelift after the City Council last week passed a regeneration plan for the disused Nordhavn harbour area. The Århusgade development plan is hoped to create homes for 2,500 people and 7,000 jobs in a new state-of-theart and environmentally sound district. Copenhagen deputy mayor Ayfer Baykal said the idea was to create a green and energy-

efficient district with affordable housing solutions. “We have been given this unique opportunity to integrate environmental and social sustainability from the very beginning, and we have used that opportunity in every way,” Baykal said. The Århugade area of Nordhavn harbour is a mostly abandoned industrial site. Many of the old buildings will stand, however, and be integrated into the new development.

Clinton praises Denmark after meeting with Søvndal DENMARK reinforced its relationship with the US last week when the foreign minister, Villy Søndal, met with the secretary of state, Hillary Clinton, in Washington, DC. Emerging from the meeting, Søvndal may have been a little nervous when he accidentally referred to his host country as the ‘EU’. “Denmark’s relationship to the EU [sic] is of

great importance for the both of us,” Søvndal said. “It’s very important for us to have a friendly and honest dialogue between two closely allied countries.”

Clinton responded by saying that the friendship between the two countries went back more than 200 years and that they are bound by a fundamental pursuit of democracy and human rights.

READ THE FULL STORIES AT CPHPOST.DK

april

march

february

royal twins kick off eventful year

midlife crisis averted

running afoul of un convention

As the father of twins, I found myself taking more than just a dispassionate interest in the births of Prince Vincent and Princess Josephine on January 8. As it turns out, their arrival was an omen that 2011 was going to be so eventful that it needed two Baby New Years. The snowy winter meant the year got off to a sloppy start and the recession made a mess of the economy all year long. A torrential downpour in July left the city wading through muck, while plans to reinstate border controls soiled relations with our neighbours throughout the summer. The autumn election was brief, but that just made the mudslinging more intense. The congestion charge, meanwhile, continues to muddy the political waters. Still, there was plenty to smile at in 2011: popular global uprisings, their local offshoots and the election of a progressive government had many people looking forward to the future. Football fans are looking forward to seeing Denmark at Euro2012, while the popularity of Movember, on the other hand, left many a woman just looking forward to December.

To say that 2011 was a big year for Christiania would be an understatement. In early March, the fate of Copenhagen’s fabled commune was very much in the balance. The Supreme Court had just ruled that the state – and not Christiania’s nearly 900 residents – had the legal right to the area. Residents were given a choice: either accept the government’s ‘normalisation’ terms or purchase the property themselves. After temporarily shutting themselves in to debate their future, Christianites decided in early May to accept the state’s offer to buy the land. Through the sale of their innovative ‘Christiania Shares’, they’ve already hauled in 6 million kroner in public support. With the first 43 million kroner payment – of the total 76.2m purchase deal – due in April 2012, Christiania’s troubles may not yet be totally behind it, but by the time the freetown held a jubilant celebration for its 40th birthday in September, things were looking much brighter than they had at the beginning of the year.

I had just joined The Copenhagen Post when the Immigration Ministry’s ‘stateless scandals’ began to burble forth into the headlines. As a relative newcomer to Denmark – and a light-skinned, affluent one at that – I had never experienced anything other than upright treatment from the state authorities. The ‘stateless scandal’ was my wake-up call to the sordid flipside to Denmark’s vaunted equal rights. At first the scandal appeared to concern a cantankerous immigration minister, Birthe Rønn Hornbech (V), who took it upon herself to defy UN convention and deny hundreds of Danish-born children of stateless refugees their internationally recognised right to Danish citizenship. However, the more facts that came to light, the clearer it became that the unfair and unlawful practice was tolerated, if not encouraged, by the Venstre-led government and its ally, Dansk Folkeparti. It was also then that I first took notice of Enhedslisten’s very precocious political spokesperson, Johanna Schmidt-Nielsen, who was spearheading the opposition’s inquiry with well-informed and exceedingly well-formulated challenges to the government’s old guard.

issue 1402, january 14 - 20

issue 1408, feb 25 - march 3

issue 1409, march 4 - 10

justin creMer

Kevin McGwin

jennifer Buley

january

2011: the stories behind the stories on to 2012 Iraqis sue Denmark over torture complicity

4

23 December 2011 - 5 January 2012 | Vol 14 Issue 51

Funen MP looks to cash in on all those gay rumours

6

Our guide to what’s on this New Year’s

G2

Denmark’s only English-language newspaper | cphpost.dk

NEWS

Food and agriculture minister’s plan to use public funds goes up in smoke after political backlash

3

NEWS

Baking the books In surprise raids, tax authorities uncover widespread fraud at the city’s bakeries

9

SPORT

What a year!

G3, G7, G19

9 771398 100009

Price: 25 DKK

A look back at the top stories of 2011

4-5

Guilty ‘Amager Attacker’ plotted rape from jail JENNIFER BULEY Worst known serial-rapist and murderer in modern Danish history was planning a new attack even before his trial’s closing arguments

F

RIENDS, family and neighbours described 46-year-old Marcel Lychau Hansen as a completely normal family man – a football coach for over 15 years, a father of two grown sons, a popular ladies’ man, a steady employee at Copenhagen Airport, and a good son.

But on Monday morning, following six weeks of testimony and evidence, six jury members and three judges at Copenhagen City Court concluded that

Learn Danish!

XX

day and evening classes

XX

e-learning combined with classes

XX

focus on pronunciation

Ballerup Sprogcenter +45 4477 2626 www.ballerupsprogcenter.dk

His premonition failed, however, despite those portrayals, he is also – beyond a shadow of a doubt – the Amager to sow doubt into the jury’s decision.

Attacker, the serial rapist and murderer They pronounced him guilty as charged who spooked the Greater Copenhagen on seven counts of rape and two counts area for 23 years, carrying out sadistic of murder, emphasising that the DNA evidence that placed Hansen at several crimes against women.

During closing arguments in court of the rapes and one of the murders was last week, Hansen himself said that “the incontrovertible. The chances of the person who did these things must be DNA not being Hansen’s were a million sick in the head, a psychopath who hates to one.

A matching handprint and matchwomen.” Yet Hansen maintained his own innocence: that “psychopath” was ing shoe print found at other crime not him – he and the real Amager At- scenes, and the “believable” testimonies tacker just happened to share the exact of more than 50 witnesses, only confirmed Hansen’s guilt, the jury said. same genetic profile.

They acquitted him on just one “I am 100 percent innocent,” Hansen told the court. “The person who did these count: the sexual assault and nearthings will strike again, and if I’m sitting strangulation of a 47-year-old woman the north Copenhagen in jail when it happens, people will see ainpersonal Organise meetingneighborhood of Vangede in 2007. In that case, the that it wasn’t me,” he concluded weirdly.

FULL TIME MBA and sit in on a class.

odds of the DNA evidence not being Hansen’s were merely 2,200 to one.

All the seats were removed from the courtroom on Monday to accommodate the standing-room-only crowd. Some of Hansen’s victims and their family members were among that crowd when the court read its decision. Many cried and hugged each other as the guilty verdicts were read out.

The verdicts appeared to put an end to one of Denmark’s most extraordinary criminal cases ever and the country’s worst known serial rapist and murderer.

But within hours of the decision, the case took an unexpected, stranger-thanfiction turn.

Police announced on Monday

Amager Attacker continues on page 7

The one-year general management full-time MBA at CBS

focuses on leadership, entrepreneurship, and real-world experience.

FULL TIME MBA Organise a personal meeting and hear how the MBA can give

Join Scandinavia’s most internationally diverse program your career a new dimension.

Organise a personal meeting E-mail lm.mba@cbs.dk or call 3815 6022and sit in on a class The general management full-time MBA at CBS focuses on toone-year organise a personal meeting.

Leadership, Entrepreneurship, and Practical Business Skills.

E-mail lm.mba@cbs.dk or call 3815 6022 to organise a personal meeting

Copenhagen Business School

Copenhagen Business School Porcelænshaven 22, 2000 Frederiksberg Porcelænshaven 22, 2000 Frederiksberg www.cbs.dk/ftmba www.cbs.dk/ftmba

upcoming juggling act

all eyes on helle

racing to success

Just as 2011 opened on a symbolic note of hope for the year to come, we find ourselves closing the year looking forward to a better 2012, yet deeply uncertain about where we’ll find ourselves next December. In Europe, much of that uncertainty is due to the problems facing the euro. With Denmark at the head of the EU for the coming six months, it will be exciting to watch from the front row – and possibly even from behind the scenes – as the union fights its way through one of its darkest hours. While the EU tends not to grab headlines in the Danish media, one possible positive outcome of the crisis and the media’s intense coverage of the presidency could be to encourage people to take a greater interest in what happens in Brussels. For better or worse, decisions made there have a profound impact on domestic politics, and helping voters understand the complexities of the EU would be in the country’s best interest.

Covering the election was an exciting time for us. Staying on top of all the latest developments and trying to explain a political system with nine major parties – several of whom have similar and seemingly misleading names – was at times difficult, but I think we did a good job.

For me, the highlight was on election night, when I happened to be at a party near the home of the leader of Socialdemokraterne, Helle Thorning-Schmidt. As the results came in, it was clear she was going to be Denmark’s first female prime minister, so we ran down to her home to join a couple of hundred rose-bearing supporters. After a few hours in the cold, she eventually appeared and spoke briefly before being driven off to her victory party. It was a special experience, not only because of the electric feeling outside her home, but also because it made me realise how accessible and low-key Danish politicians can be.

When I had the opportunity to do the layout of the paper while Justin was away on paternity leave, it was a big task but I felt up to the challenge. Although I had only been at The Copenhagen Post since May, I was thrown into it. By the time I did the second issue on my own, I was able to get the flow down and minimise the mistakes. This cover photo from the Road World Cycling Championships – the largest sporting event Denmark has ever seen – brings to mind the same rush of speed I felt in that period. Like the race itself, which was a resounding success for the city but created headaches for commuters, my time at the helm was a personal victory, albeit with some bumps in the road. As a graphic designer you always strive for perfection, but sometimes you have to work with what you’ve got, and luckily I have an amazing team of co-workers who all contributed to me doing my best.

issue 1450, december 16 - 22

issue 1438, September 23 - 29

Kevin McGwin

issue 1437, august 16 - 22

Peter stanners

november

15 InOut

Entertainment highlights See the InOut team’s picks for 2011’s top events, performances, albums, films, and more

december

Wozniacki, Bjørn, Bendtner: Who were our top Danish sports personalities of 2011?

aviaja BeBe nielsen

JUNE

MAY

Pindprick: New minister comes out swinging

King Kong Gaddafi

Bad neighbours

The story had absolutely mushroom-clouded. Søren Pind, the immigration minister, had been quoted as saying that integrating wasn’t enough for immigrants; no, they needed to assimilate. Our readers were outraged – how dare he!

With key personnel away for a week, I was overseeing production of the front page, and a picture of his mug wasn’t going to cut it. I needed a simple but effective image that would sum up the frustration and anger being vented at the minister – was this the sort of claim that might make foreigners rethink living here? I slept on it and was taken back to the British general election of 1992. On that day, the country’s best-read newspaper published the face of election favourite Neil Kinnock (the PM’s father-in-law) in a lightbulb with the headline: “Will the last person to leave Britain please turn out the lights.” After swapping the light-bulb for a balloon, the concept was in place, and with the aid of a risqué headline (if you’re going to write ‘Last one out, don’t forget the Pindprick’, you better make sure the double meaning’s strong), the page was complete.

If somebody enters the office looking like an extra from the ‘Mad Max’ films, they’re invariably there to see me. I’ve always worked under the principle that you can’t be too picky – the weird and the wonderful very often inhabit the same world, and it’s a magic moment when something vindicates the perseverance. One such occasion was our Gadaffi/King Kong cover. The name Joe Maerzke might be familiar to some of you as the man who went undercover in Christiania’s sauna (we apologise to a certain reader who said it put him off his breakfast), and over the last year he has provided us with hundreds of unused stories – most of them with the promise that they’re “front page”. So maybe it was just fate that he happened to be in the office when we were discussing our Danish involvement in Libya cover. Justin had a concept, and Joe knew an artist (thanks Heiko!): he could do it no problem – just like that, it happened. Nine months later, the Libyan dictator was gone but our King Kong homage lives on, adorning our office wall.

Months before the downfall of the euro, the big story was the downfall of the Schengen Agreement. It was summer 2011 and little Denmark (acting even smaller than its size) was at the root of the controversy. The Venstre-Konservative (VK) government and the Dansk Folkeparti (DF) colluded to roll back the Schengen Agreement and erect ‘permanent border controls’ to slow cross-border traffic, record cars on video, increase random checks for contraband, and crack down on “eastern European criminal gangs”. Germans balked at the un-European gesture and cancelled summer holidays at Danish beach towns, while DF lobbed WWII-related insults at German politicians. Business leaders moaned lost revenue and the European Commission called it illegal. Meanwhile commentators as far afield as New York noted that Denmark – and the EU – had apparently been hijacked by a cynical right-wing initiative.

However, one foreign group praised the plan: France’s racist party Front National. The September election that ousted VK and DF from power put an end to Denmark’s border control circus. Now we can all worry about the euro.

Issue 1411, March 18 - 24

Issue 1412, March 25 - 31

BEN HAMILTON

Issue 1424, June 17 - 23

BEN HAMILTON

JULY

JENNIFER BULEY

2011 was an active year in both Denmark and around the world, and a good time to be in the news business.

Here, The Copenhagen Post team takes a look back at some of the year’s most memorable moments and gives our readers a glimpse into the weekly chaos of producing a newspaper with a small but dedicated team.

A new era

Moving to the city

Mad skills

Since joining The Copenhagen Post in October 2010, I had harboured a not-so-secret desire to change the look of the paper. I felt the old design – which hadn’t changed much since the paper’s first issue in February 1998 – was in desperate need of refreshment. After working on the new design in the background for a few months, it felt great to come out with the first issue of the redesigned look. Featuring larger, bolder images and a more airy and less boxy design, I feel like the new format provides the perfect vehicle for our increased focus on in-depth, original reporting and opinion. Readers’ feedback to the redesign was largely positive, with several thanking us for no longer needing a magnifying glass to read the InOut section. Now, with our newly-revamped website, The Copenhagen Post is becoming the kind of paper we’ve always wanted it to be.

A hub for design and fashion, an enviable cycling infrastructure, and the setting of ‘The Killing’, Copenhagen’s profile in the international media is rising, making the city an increasingly attractive place to live – not only to foreigners but also to Danes stuck in the sticks. In this issue I spoke to young Danes who had moved to Copenhagen in pursuit of adventure, opportunity and acceptance. Rural flight is not new, but the story proved a good opportunity to illustrate how Denmark is more than just Copenhagen, and that while the city seems to be on the cutting edge, life outside the capital still moves at a gentler pace. With 19 people a day moving to Copenhagen, the division between rural and urban Denmark is getting ever more pronounced, placing enormous pressure on the city’s infrastructure while also calling into question what the future of ‘udkantsdanmark’ holds.

A friend clued me in to some very cool neighbourhood renewal projects in the old working-class Nordvest area. At the heart of the renaissance is a gorgeous new library and community centre called Biblioteket, designed around the skeleton of an old soap factory. And the heart of Biblioteket is Café Glad, a cosy, Nordic gourmet café that is both a cooking school and a workplace for an awesome team of disabled and non-disabled chefs and waiters. Writing this feature reminded me of something, I believe, Denmark excels at: namely, providing each of us (no matter what our abilities or background) with opportunities for self-development, a high quality of life, self-respect, community involvement, and some hedonistic pleasure to boot. Interviewing the talented and high-energy people working on these community projects in Nordvest convinced me that it will be the neighbourhood to watch over the next few years.

Issue 1429, July 22 - 28

OCTOBER

JUSTIN CREMER

Issue 1427, July 8 - 14

PETER STANNERS

JENNIFER BULEY

SEPTEMBER

Issue 1433, August 19 - 25

AUGUST

6 news iraqis suing Denmark for complicity in torture The Copenhagen posT CphposT.Dk

new evidence implicates Danish army in the handing over of civilians to iraqi army forces who mistreated them while in custody

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GrOUP of iraqi civilians are suing the state for damages, claiming they were arrested by army forces and handed over to iraqi authorities and tortured, reports Politiken newspaper.

The 36 arrests occurred on 24 November 2004 when Danish, British and iraqi troops raided a location south of Basra.

But while the former leader of the Danish battalion, Colonel John Dalby, insists only the Brits and iraqi police arrested the civilians, a previously undisclosed report written by him and dated 29 November 2004 documents that Danish forces were involved in an operation south of Basra that involved a

series of raids and arrests. five iraqis will file a lawsuit in the coming weeks against the Defence Ministry seeking compensation for being tortured as a result of being handed over by Danish forces to the iraqi forces. interviews carried out by Politiken with two of the arrested iraqi civilians supported these events. “everyone in town was used to seeing soldiers,” one of the iraqis said. “and the soldiers who arrested me had Danish flags on the shoulders of their uniforms, and on their vehicles it stated they were from Denmark.”

The iraqi civilians explained that after they were arrested they were handed over to the iraqi police, who beat them, hung them from hooks and electrocuted them.

The 1949 Geneva Convention states that it is the responsibility of the country making an arrest to ensure the prisoners are fairly treated. if Danish forces arrested civilians and handed them over to the iraqi po-

help hans come out, ducky emily mclean funen Mp suggests island should hold a gay week in honour of hC andersen

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eMeMBer the saying ‘any publicity is good publicity’? Well, one Danish politician has decided to apply the phrase to Denmark’s most beloved writer. hans Christian andersen, best known for enriching the imaginations of children the world over, may soon be in the public eye for something far more wild than his books – namely his sexuality. it’s no secret that andersen’s affections have been a source of much debate over the last century. some believe he was gay, while others prefer to think he was bisexual. trine Bramsen, a socialdemokrat MP from funen, has decided to cash in on the controversial subject by suggesting that Denmark hold a “gay week” tourism event in andersen’s hometown of Odense.

“There is so much palaver about hans Christian andersen’s sexuality, and i think we should use it” Bramsen told Britain’s The Daily telegraph.

Bramsen believes her idea would be a prolific money maker for the sleepy island and she aims to target “highspending gay couples”. she added “it should be a week where gays from all over the world can come to the island

of funen”.

The suggestion follows the government’s announcement that come february next year, gay couples will be allowed to have full wedding ceremonies. another prime opportunity to make the most of funen’s historical churches, according to Bramsen.

While the idea of dressing up as a transsexual duckling and parading around Odense’s streets does hold a certain appeal for some, opponent MPs are calling the idea ridiculous.

“Bramsen should not be coming out with silly suggestions at this time,” a Liberal alliance MP, Merete riisager, told UK-based gay news site Pink Paper, adding that it detracts from the country’s current economic concerns.

More than 100 years after his death, andersen’s sexuality remains a hot topic. The writer, who some believe died without ever having a sexual relationship, expressed very strong and exaggerated affections for men. andersen wrote to the Grand Duke of Weimar in 1847: “On that cool evening, when you took your coat and threw it around me, it warmed not only my body, but made my heart glow still more ardently”. in 1849 andersen continued his affections by writing: “i travelled alone, but you were in my thoughts – yes, i may say daily in my thoughts … oh, you scarcely know how highly i rate you, how firmly you have grown into my heart!” however, vivi Jelstrup, the head

lice, then the military can be held responsible for their treatment. army officials have repeatedly denied that Danish troops arrested the iraqis, stating that it was the iraqi police who made the arrests.

When you know how widespread torture is in iraqi jails you have to take responsibility for the fact that it’s highly likely the people you arrest will be tortured “We were supporting an iraqi operation,” Dalby told Politiken. “They were responsible for the arrests, and afterwards we searched for weapons with the

Brits. My people could have been inside the houses, but i’m very sure that none of my people arrested anyone. Nor did we interrogate anyone – the Brits were responsible for that before the iraqis took away the prisoners.”

Dalby added that the decision by Danish forces not to arrest civilians during operation Green Desert was their own idea in order to absolve them of responsibility if the prisoners were subsequently sentenced to the death penalty, which is allowed in iraq.

But even if Danish soldiers did not make any arrests, the military may still be at fault, according to the terms of a 2001 decision by a UN human rights commission. The decision found that the state that ordered the arrest could also be held responsible even if its forces didn’t physically carry out the order. “if the Danes ask the Brits or iraqis to make an arrest, then the arrest is actually made by Denmark, and then the argument that Denmark has no responsibility crumbles,” Peter vedel Kessing,

a human rights expert at institut for Menneskerettigheder, told Politiken. amnesty international also argued that Denmark holds a share of the responsibility if torture took place.

“When you know how widespread torture is in iraqi jails you have to take responsibility for the fact that it’s highly likely the people you arrest will be tortured,” Lars Normann Jørgensen, the secretary general of amnesty international Denmark, told Politiken.

The Defence Ministry established the iraq taskforce last year to investigate Denmark’s treatment of prisoners during the iraq War after information newspaper published details that showed the army had handed over prisoners to the iraqi police.

But after the new Danish government established a commission to investigate Denmark’s involvement in the iraq War, the work of the iraq taskforce was suspended. Whether the commission intends to take over the work of the iraq taskforce is unclear.

one fourth of immigrants are over-qualified for job

colourbox

Peter StannerS

23 December 2011 - 5 January 2012

Jennifer Buley

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A Funen politician thinks she has found a new way to exploit HC Andersen

of LGBt Danmark, told fyens stifstidende that while she supports the idea of a gay week, she thinks andersen was bisexual as opposed to gay.

“The word homosexuality did not exist back then – bisexuality even less … so it is not a question that andersen would not stand by his sexual orientation, he just had no chance to live it out.”

The streets of Odense may soon be filled with frivolous ducklings, faithful re-enactments of the ‘The emperor’s New Clothes’, and loud and proud princesses with peas, but for fans of his work, andersen will always be remembered first and foremost as the man who brought colour into the lives of children all over the world.

re yOU over-qualified for your current job? your chances of being so are greater if you are an immigrant, according to a recently-released study from the european Commission’s statistical bureau eurostat. in Denmark, 24 percent of immigrants are over-qualified for their jobs, whereas just 14 percent of people with traditional Danish backgrounds are. immigrants were also three times as likely as native-born Danes to be unemployed, according to the study.

The figures come from the 2008 european Labour force survey and pertain to native and foreign-born workers aged 25-54 throughout the 27 eU states.

People were considered ‘over-qualified’ if they had more education or experience than their current jobs required.

Despite the significant gap, immigrants in Denmark still fared better than the eU average, according to the study. across the 27 eU countries, more than one third of foreign-born workers were over-qualified versus just one fifth of the native populations’ workers.

Denmark also finished ahead of its Nordic neighbours. Whereas Denmark showed a ten percentage point difference between over-qualified immigrants versus natives, point differences were even higher in sweden (20 per-

centage points), Norway (17 points), and finland (12 points).

Chantal Pohl Nielsen, a senior researcher at aKf, a Danish research institute specialising in public management issues, said eurostat’s report confirmed her observations. she proposed a few possible reasons for the discrepancy.

One of them could be that Danish employers fail to understand the significance of immigrants’ foreign educations and experience, and therefore fail to properly evaluate their Cvs. she suggested that Danish employers needed to become more open and flexible to fully exploit the skills and expertise of immigrants. vibeke Jacobsen, who studies immigration issues for the national social research centre sfi, had another explanation for the employment gap: poor Danish language skills and a limited network. “you have a harder time getting a job if you can’t speak and write fluent Danish. That’s obvious. On top of that, it’s difficult to find the right job in Denmark, if you don’t have a strong network here,” Jacobsen told Politiken. she added that discrimination might also come into it. “studies have shown that foreigners are discriminated against in the Danish job market. That could be part of the reason. if that’s so, then immigrants could very well be forced to look for jobs that are below their qualifications.”

online This Week 19 arrested in child porn bust NiNeteeN Danish men have been arrested for the possession and distribution of child pornography, national broadcaster Dr has reported. The arrests were part of a european-wide bust led by Danish domestic intelligence agency Pet, which was code-named ‘Operation icarus’. europol director rob Wainright told the BBC that 112 suspects across 22 european countries had been arrested. The Danish

part of the operation resulted in 59 computers and over 2,000 external media storage devices being seized nationwide. One of the arrested men had roughly 29 terabytes of child pornography material, which could translate into over 9,000 hours of video, national police commissioner Jens henrik højberg said. The 19 arrestees were described by police as men between the ages of 24 and 55.

pollution tax to raise heating bills

Wealthy families try to cash in on Christmas aid

a five-fOLD hike in a pollution tax is due to hit about 1.6 million customers of district heating with higher bills. But while it was initially thought that the rise in bills would be modest, about 125 kroner a year, the rise in the nitrogen oxide (NOx) tax which was outlined in the 2012 budget, could be far greater and place a burden on the least well off. NOx emissions are produced during combustion and are clas-

Charities that distribute Christmas aid to the poor have rejected over a thousand applications from well-off families this year. according to Berlingske newspaper, one family with a combined income of 60,000 kroner a month sought aid from five different charities, while another couple, who had bought each other expensive engage-

sified as greenhouse gases. Kim Mortensen, the director of district heating association Dansk fjernvarme said: “it will become noticeably more expensive, but the precise bill will depend on what the plant is powered by.”

Mortensen said the price rises will most likely make it less attractive to use district heating. “i thought with the government’s green push that they would think that district heating was a good thing,” he said.

ments rings, applied for charity after returning from their honeymoon in the Caribbean. “i find it provocative,” Lars Lydholm from the salvation army told Berlingske. “They are cheating those who really have problems and distracting from the fact that there really are poor families in Denmark who can’t afford to celebrate Christmas.”

ReaD The full sToRies aT CphposT.Dk

NEWS

THE COPENHAGEN POST CPHPOST.DK

23 December 2011 - 5 January 2012

Is Denmark’s political culture sick? Ask your spin doctor Amager Parliament votes to scrutinise spin doctors amid claims the opposition just pulled off the smoothest spin job yet

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UNANIMOUS parliament passed a motion last week to analyse the rules and regulations pertaining to the employment of special communications consultants – aka ‘spin doctors’ – by government ministers.

Ironically, the motion was spearheaded by the right-ofcentre opposition, including Venstre – the very party that in 2004, when they were in power, wrote those rules, and whose very own spin doctors are at the centre of two current scandals concerning illegal leaks.

Also ironically, the left-ofcentre governing parties, led by the prime minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt (Socialdemokraterne) – who was herself the personal victim of one of those illegal leaks – maintained steadfastly until just one day prior to the vote that there was nothing wrong with the rules, only with people who break them.

Until the vote, the heat was on some of Venstre’s top political figures – former tax minister Troels Lund Poulsen and former defence minister Søren Gade –

for alleged prior knowledge of the leaks carried out by their respective spin doctors, Peter Arnfeldt and Jacob Winther.

Evidence was piling up fast enough to begin casting suspicion – and uncomfortable questions – as far up the chain of command as former PM Lars Løkke Rasmussen (V).

Critics began to ask, a little too insistently, if a culture of collusion and abuse of power had taken root in Venstre during its ten years in power.

But then, abruptly, those questions were swept off the table, because the opposition was calling for a comprehensive review of the rules regarding spin doctors employed by ministers.

“It reminds me of a bad play,” said Rasmus Jønsson, a

SCANPIX

JENNIFER BULEY

Former defence minister Søren Gade (l) and his spin doctor Jacob Winther (r) are at the heart of a leak scandal that endangered soldiers

do precisely what the politicians tell them to do.”

Under pressure from Venstre and the other opposition parties, even ThorningSchmidt capitulated and ended up supporting the opPoliticians try to shift the focus away position’s moto review from themselves by aiming their guns tion the rules.

Amidst at these spin doctors, who are after all m o u n t just some middlemen who do precisely ing political one-upmanwhat the politicians tell them to do ship, Dansk political commentator for Poli- Folkeparti (DF) pressed to ban tiken newspaper. “Politicians spin doctors entirely from the try to shift the focus away from halls of Christiansborg and rethemselves by aiming their guns place them with permanent civil at these spin doctors, who are af- servants who would serve conter all just some middlemen who secutive governments, regardless

of political persuasion.

It’s worth noting that the recent Taxgate scandal was facilitated by just such a supposedly apolitical civil servant, its permanent secretary, Peter Loft – a point that was not lost on MP Per Clausen (Enhedslisten).

“A number of the scandals we’ve had recently have involved permanent secretaries. So that’s not the solution,” Clausen said, with reference to Loft and the Immigration Ministry’s ‘stateless scandal’, which this spring cost Birthe Rønn Hornbech (V) her spot in the cabinet.

No other parties supported DF’s extreme proposal.

Despite the political theatrics, two recent polls suggest that voters know who really spins the decks.

A recent poll by Ugebrevet A4 showed that 57 percent of voters questioned believe that the politicians who employ the spin doctors are actually responsible for their actions.

The poll revealed an interesting difference, however, between left-wing and right-wing voters.

While 70 percent of centre-left supporters (Socialdemokraterne, Radikale, Socialistisk Folkeparti, Enhedslisten) thought the politicians were behind the spin doctors’ actions, only 44 percent of those supporting the centre-right (Venstre, Konservative, Dansk Folkeparti, Liberal Alliance) thought so.

Regarding particular scandals, 61 percent of voters questioned in a recent YouGov/ metroXpress poll said they thought Poulsen knew beforehand that Arnfeldt, his spin doctor, was going to leak ThorningSchmidt’s tax audit to the media, an illegal act. Some 42 percent of voters questioned thought that Rasmussen also knew about it.

Socialdemokraterne’s political spokesperson Magnus Heunicke called Venstre’s fresh interest in reviewing its own rules for spin doctors “hypocritical”.

“We don’t believe that a lack of rules is the problem,” Heunicke said. “Rigsrevisionen [the national auditor] endorsed those rules just last year. The problem is that some people have had problems sticking to the rules.”

Attacker continued from front page

evening that they had caught Hansen smuggling envelopes of his own semen out of Vestre Fængsel prison, where he has been held since his arrest last year. A co-conspirator had already received several of these envelopes containing Hansen’s DNA material.

Hansen’s scheme, police alleged, was that his co-conspirator would carry out an attack on another, random woman, and would then plant Hansen’s semen on her, creating the impression that the Amager Attacker was still on the loose and that he and Hansen indeed share the same DNA profile – just as Hansen claimed in closing arguments in court last week.

The co-conspirator, who was to carry out the new rape and plant Hansen’s DNA material on the victim, was none other than Hansen’s 24-year-old son, police confirmed on Tuesday. The son’s girlfriend allegedly informed police of the plan. Hansen is now charged with planning the new crime, and his son is named as an accomplice.

Hansen’s defence lawyer declined to comment on his client’s elaborate scheme. Sentencing is scheduled for Thursday morning, December 22. The prosecution is expected to ask for life in prison.

International Citizen Service We will be closed during Christmas & New Years. We will re-open on the 4th of January 2012. We want to wish everyone a Merrry Christmas and a Happy New Year and we look forward to seeing you again next year.

Office hours Wed. 1 pm - 5 pm Thurs. 11 am - 3 pm

Get off to a good start in Denmark

Copenhagen Nyropsgade 1 DK-1602 Cph. V east@icitizen.dk Phone: +45 33 66 66 06

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Dec (28th Closed) (29th Closed)

8

OPINION

THE COPENHAGEN POST CPHPOST.DK

‘Tis far more gratifying to share than receive PETER HELLES ERIKSEN

Seasons greetings from The Copenhagen Post

23 December 2011 - 5 January 2012

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HIS PAST year has offered its share of challenges and successes for The Copenhagen Post. Most noticeably, we successfully launched a redesign of our newspaper and our website, while at the same time increasing our presence on social media.

It was also a year in which we continued to deepen our involvement in national efforts to attract and retain highly-skilled workers. Like in previous years, we accomplished this as a partner with Expat in Denmark and by collaborating with government ministries. New for us this year, however, were the community events we organised for our readers and their families.

In June, we held our inaugural Children’s Fair. With upwards of 700 families attending, 40 cultural and sporting associations on hand, and special activities for children, the fair was a resounding success. In September, we joined with the City Council to hold the most visited Expat Fair ever. And earlier this month, we were pleased to be able to join with members of our community to celebrate the holidays at our Family Christmas Party.

A number of positive initiatives have been put forth by lawmakers to attract and retain highly-skilled labour, but as a whole, it’s questionable whether the efforts are sufficient to meet the challenges we face in this area. Also hindering the effectiveness of these efforts is the lack of a co-ordinated, national plan.

Regardless of what people here believe, Denmark is neither the first choice for people looking to live and work abroad, nor is it as open-mined as we like to think. This is something people need to recognise. In order to successfully attract highly-skilled foreign labour, the average Dane has to be made more aware of just how great the need is. The media has already begun to discuss the challenges we face in this area. But, ultimately, success will rest on whether parliament gives a clear signal that we want highly-skilled foreign labour to come to this country.

Simply stated: Denmark needs foreign labour more than foreign labour needs Denmark. They can choose other countries; we have no alternative. What ought to be obvious is that talented potential employees will find their way to the country that offers them the best living standard and the most welcoming environment.

It’s in everyone’s interest – Dane and foreign resident alike – that we make Denmark as open, tolerant and internationallyoriented a country as possible, so that we can secure our longterm growth, but also so that we can get through the current global economic downturn.

We’re looking forward to continuing to work towards achieving this goal in the coming year.

Merry Christmas to our readers and partners from all of us at The Copenhagen Post and the best wishes for a prosperous 2012.

JESPER NYMARK, CEO

Denmark’s only English-language newspaper

JOHAN FORSBY

G

IVING is an art. And it’s also a good business.

Both professionally and privately, there’s something to be gained by giving something the recipient values.

When it comes to social media though, it seems more like we’re all in such a rush to share everything that we forget to ask whether anyone out there wants what we’re offering.

American bar owners of the 20th century came up with a good idea. In their efforts to attract more customers and increase their sales, they began offering free lunch.

The food was fatty and salty in the way that only American food can be. The customers beat a path to the door, and they of course needed a beer to wash down their food. And then they needed another. Before the owner knew it, the cost of the cheap food was covered and the profits started to add up with each thirst-quenching beer he poured. The practice gave rise to the phrase, “ain’t no such thing as a free lunch”.

Drug dealers, cheese sellers and all others who make a living by selling things have, throughout the ages, turned to generosity any time they wanted to attract new customers. And whether it’s

Bigger isn’t always better

facebook.com/copenhagenpost Join us on Facebook and Twitter to be updated on current news and debate the issues that matter to you.

I guess when it rains, the mud puddle out front can be described as a “water oasis adorning this magnificiently quaint hotel” (the owner is certainly not from Jutland!)

Thorvaldsen By website In other words, I have a tiny, unexceptional, expensive, cramped room to let in the attic, and I thought that calling it a “hotel” might trick some desperate journalist into giving me some entirely undeserved free publicity. This guy is a genius!

DanDansen By website Legalise the safer choice Can we safely assume 99.9% of all hard drug users at a point during their life drank milk? Ban milk, it’s the first step to cocaine.

Der_Ingenieur By website

www.cphpost.dk

more than anyone else, has made a virtue out of spreading information.

And just as civil rights groups in the physical world forced businesses to close by picketing in front of their entrances, Anonymous shuts down internet businesses. Their picketers, however, are computer users who can download a program and activate it at a pre-ordained time. The effect of thousands of computer users opening the program is to bombard a website with traffic, resulting in the company’s website grinding to a halt and eventually crashing.

The lesson is that if you don’t give, you’ll be shut down. And also that everything needs to be made public – who doesn’t take pleasure in revealing someone else’s secret?

One of the children’s TV stations that my oldest son loves to zone out to is running an advertisement for a radio controlled helicopter with a camera. The camera can record movies that can be saved on a computer, where they can be edited and finally uploaded to the internet.

Good-bye to the days of the stolen kiss in the schoolyard – our toy spy helicopter will reveal all.

Too many inventions like that and before you know it, things that were once private become public.

But, in reality, this has already happened. Who among us isn’t on Facebook, where we invite people into our private lives on an almost daily basis – whether by posting an insight or a link or by sharing a song, article or video?

So far, so good. We give something that the recipient wants. We socialise and we inspire others. But, this is where our generosity exceeds people’s

interest in receiving what we have to give them.

One example of this is pictures of people’s carefully garnished plates. Excuse me, but who in the world is even marginally interested in what you had to eat? Do you expect applause for decorating porcelain so nicely using small bits of broccoli?

Another subject people love to write about is the weather.

People comment about the weather so much that it’s starting to look like an enormous plot to put meteorologists out of work. Don’t get me wrong though. I love it when people are alert enough to notice whether it’s sunny or raining. What does irritate me about these people though, is that they apparently assume that I need to be informed with an “it’s raining” status update when the weather changes.

When all these amateur weather forecasts and food pictures – and there’s an unsettling number of them – start clogging up my News Feed, I start to ask myself why we are sharing these things. It’s like the carpenter who gives his wife a nail gun.

Here at the most wonderful time of the year, I’d like to make two wishes. First, that we all try to give something we expect the recipient will like: something meaningful something that keeps on giving. And secondly, that we think about what we’re doing when we upload pictures of our Christmas goose and instead concentrate on being part of the group we’re about to dine with.

Bon appétit.

The author is a copywriter and rapper who goes by the stage name ‘Jooks’

READER COMMENTS

WE WANT TO HEAR FROM YOU

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a dealer’s free sample or a complimentary package of Gorgonzola shoved in your hand as you leave the store, the outcome is the same: the practice brings in new customers. Today, those free samples have gone digital.

Sometimes you only get part of the product for free. This is what’s known as the “freemium” model, and typically it means you get limited access to something.

It turns out that 90 percent of consumers are satisfied with the free version, while the other ten percent choose to upgrade their service, become premium users and essentially pay for everyone else to use it for free.

Another model is the commercially-funded music streaming service Spotify. Spotify allows you to play millions of songs for free – if you can put up with the music being interrupted every third song by an overexposed pop star trying to convince you that his latest album is worth listening to. It should come as no surprise that a lot of people quickly end up choosing to pay the monthly fee. But, how does Spotify attract those paying customers in the first place? By offering them something for free.

Free is indeed a good business model.

The hacker group Anonymous this year attacked and shut down Paypal’s website because the company had frozen WikiLeaks’s accounts.

The rationale behind the attack can be found in cyberspace ideology, which is based on the belief that information cannot be owned and should be freely available to everyone. This belief explains why they support WikiLeaks – quite possibly history’s biggest whistleblower – which,

“But that a portion of users can’t successfully moderate their intake or handle the effects of a substance isn’t factored into the legalisation of alcohol, tobacco, caffeine, or junk food. Why

should such an argument apply only to cannabis?” This is a really weak argument. The argument applies because cannabis is illegal, and introducing another drug to join in with the dangerous ones we already have might not be a good idea. If we legalise, then we do it for practical reasons (tax, reducing crime, pleasure, etc), not because it is no less dangerous than other dangerous things.

Nebsy By website It will give a totally different meaning to a “drug store” So if the government get onto the bandwagon, obviously they will want their cut, will they then Tax it to death, and still leave the street versions cheaper! I suppose like popping across to Germany for the booze. We shall see.

Rugratzz By website Are those sound assumptions though? Health Canada has a 1500% mark-up on medicinal cannabis and that is still massively cheaper than the street variety. Researchers and economists in the US have suggested that legal cannabis could raise close to $6 billion in tax-

es and profits for the government .. in addition to saving approximately $5 billion in not having to enforce the prohibition. Here in the UK, 5 good quality cannabis seeds (it is legal to buy and sell seeds - just not to grow anything from them) will set you back around £30 and will crop you around 15 ounces of weed. An ounce of industrially produced cannabis on the street will set you back around £200, so your 15 street ounces will cost you around £3,000. Even at the Health Canada level of mark-up, with as much again in tax, the savings to the average user would still be astronomical.

Grumpsical By website Don’t put points before people The whole Danish system for integration of foreigners is based on the labour market. Their integration into the labour market is the main goal of the whole integration system and policies. The whole welfare system, on which it is mostly the Danes who depend, is funded by taxes. A foreigner coming to Denmark, earning high will always have a positive

impact on the system, as the system will never spend as much on the foreigner in question as it will on an average Dane. Moreover, a person running a company or a business is likely to hire locals, hence contributing to the society.

So in a manner of speaking, such a person is taking strain off the system by employing some people, who otherwise are entitled for the social dole outs. By paying high tax, such a person is also contributing to the funding of such dole outs. Finally, if a person is running a company, he/she is not replacing a local in some job, but on the contrary, as stated above, is creating more jobs, which would be nonexistent without this person. High earning foreigners are the least likely people to go for social welfare benefits. All of the above amounts to a positive commitment to the Danish society, a commitment which should be welcomed by the government and the Danes. It does not take a rocket scientist to see the contribution of such foreigners to the Danish society, and the need of such people to the Danish society.

Buddha_in By website

OPINION

THE COPENHAGEN POST CPHPOST.DK

23 December 2011 - 5 January 2012

9

To Be Perfectly Frank

BY FRANK THEAKSTON Born in 1942 on the Isle of Wight, Englishman Frank Theakston has been in Copenhagen 32 years and is on his second marriage, this time to a Dane. Frank comes from a different time and a different culture – which values are the right ones today?

The Smart economy COLOURBOX

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AST YEAR I bought a Smart car.

The reason? Well, out of consideration for the environment of course (when emailing, this is where you enter the smiley face). And perhaps just a little out of consideration for my own pocket. The government had, after all, finally seen the light (or a minute portion of it) and reduced taxes on small, energy-efficient cars.

So not only would I be doing my bit for the future of the planet and coming generations, I would be encouraging the authorities to take an even more flexible attitude towards taxation. How good is that? The fact that it is a second car, I reasoned, did not really enter into the equation, as the very act of using it would save me money. This was no luxury but a cheap and practical tool to get us around town, where a small car is easier to park, and even further afield.

And for that reason I bought the most basic model.

My only indulgence was to order some alloy wheels as a sop to my finelytuned aesthetic sense (another smiley). I had firmly expected that the car would be delivered with the new wheels fitted with the original tyres. But no! It arrived fitted with alloy wheels all right, but complete with their own tyres. The original wheels, still with their tyres, were in the back of the car, and that takes some doing in a Smart! The explanation was that it ‘didn’t pay’ to take the tyres off one set of wheels and put them on another.

Well I know that incomes are high in Denmark, and that service costs are accordingly high, but I didn’t really realise the impact of this until I took my set of winter wheels and tyres to the local petrol station to be changed. Up on the lift, zip zap zoop, and 15 minutes later I had a new set of wheels on the

That extra sink? Just keep it, it doesn’t pay to come and pick it up

car – and a bill for 400 kroner! I immediately went out and bought a jack and a wheel-nut wrench (Smarts don’t provide these).

And is the vehicle business a oneoff in this respect? Apparently not. A few weeks ago I bought a new wash basin for the bathroom from an internet site. They sent the wrong one. I rang them, they apologised, they sent the correct one and – wait for it – told me I could keep the original one! I suppose it ‘didn’t pay’ to have someone collect and return it. I don’t know what their price was for that particular basin, but the Ifö catalogue lists it at around 2,000 kroner!

A huge amount of the taxation we’re subjected to is indirect: from a whopping 25 percent VAT to the increasing trend towards levying a charge for using a service. Not necessarily a service that benefits the user, I hasten to add

It started me wondering how on earth we came to be in such a position.

We’ve been discussing, debating and complaining about the ‘throwaway society’ for decades. But up to now we’ve been throwing away ‘broke stuff’ as some of our American cousins so quaintly put it. The stuff I’ve mentioned above ain’t even broke! So what we’ve got ourselves into is a circle, vicious or otherwise, in which people are paid more and more to produce more things that people buy in order to employ more people to earn more and buy more. Wow! Sounds terrific, doesn’t it?

The problem seems to be that everyone expects to be part of this ‘ideal’

consumer society where we all have enough money to buy what we want (or ‘need’ as we like to think of it). But it becomes increasingly difficult to afford any kind of service that means employing people to do something, because they would have to be paid too much. Am I wrong, or does this not mean the end of the recycling ambition? If we can’t, for example, pay anyone to take away and do something with the ‘broke stuff’, then we’ll drown in a sea of potentially recyclable things that it ‘doesn’t pay’ to do anything with. One solution would be to create an alternative economy, an underclass if you will, that is only too pleased to take care of the stuff that the official economy finds uneconomical. In this country, that usually means breaking the law, but there are always other, cheaper countries, aren’t there?

The official way of managing the situation is to levy high taxes in order to pay for services, which is all right in theory but simply forces people to pay for things that they might have no use for or prefer to do without. And if you think I’m just talking about income tax, you’re wrong. A huge amount of the taxation we’re subjected to is indirect: from a whopping 25 percent VAT to the increasing trend towards levying a charge (gebyr) for using a service. Not necessarily a service that benefits the user, I hasten to add. My bank, for example, used to charge me 30 kroner for the privilege of receiving my pension each month – until they were persuaded it was illegal.

I’ll just leave you with this depressing news: somebody in this country (an expert on the subject, so we should rest assured it’s well thought through) has just suggested a gebyr on cash payments, since they are so costly to process! I’ll say no more …

CPH POST VOICES

‘MACCARTHY’S WORLD’

‘SO SAYS CELIA’

‘PERNICKETY DICKY’

‘STILL ADJUSTING’

Clare MacCarthy is Nordic correspondent for The Economist and a frequent contributor to The Financial Times and The Irish Times. She’ll go anywhere from the Gobi Desert to the Arctic in search of a story. The most fascinating thing about Denmark, she says, is its contradictions.

Celia Thaysen is a British love refugee who landed on these shores six years ago. With below-par Danish, a tendency to tardiness, and a fondness for Marmite, she spends her time fumbling her way through unfamiliar territory as a working mother-of-two with a house in the ‘burbs.

English by nature – Danish at heart.

Freelance journalist Richard Steed has lived in Copenhagen for nearly five years now. “I love this city and want Copenhagen to be a shining example to the rest of the world.”

A proud native of the American state of Iowa, Justin Cremer has been living in Copenhagen since June 2010. In addition to working at the CPH Post, he balances fatherhood, the Danish language and the ever-changing immigration rules. Follow him at twitter.com/justincph

10 NEWS

THE COPENHAGEN POST CPHPOST.DK

23 December 2011 - 5 January 2012

Baking the books

A

S PART OF a campaign to address payroll fraud and encourage fair competition in the bakery business, the tax authority Skat carried out a series of unannounced raids on bakeries in 2011. When the flour settled, it appeared that the vast majority relied on unregistered workers.

The raids took place at 24 different bakeries, mostly in the Copenhagen area. Skat ran checks on 47 employees at those 24 bakeries and found that 43 of them – 91 percent of those checked – were not registered as employees with the state. In addition, of those 43, 15 were simultaneously on cash welfare benefits, reports public broadcaster DR. When confronted with the fraud, the illegal employees offered up a range of half-baked explanations as to why they were not on the tax rolls.

“One explained that he had just come down to the bakery to bake a birthday cake for his son, whose birthday it was,” said Skat manager Lisbet Hedelund. “Another had apparently just popped in to make a batch of breakfast rolls for his family.”

One raid turned into full-blown comedy when an unregistered employee tried to escape from police. When they caught up with him, he explained – while standing in a white baker’s uniform, covered in flour – that he had just stepped out of the house to buy a newspaper.

“Another typical explanation was that it was the person in question’s first

COLOURBOX

Tax authorities uncover widespread fraud at bakeries

Study: Cycle like the Danes and cut emissions PETER STANNERS Environmental organisation reveals how Road Cycling World Championships led to massive drop in city pollution levels

E

2011 tax raids at Copenhagen bakeries revealed that a majority of the white-clad bakers were working on the black market

day on the job,” said Hedelund.

In short, Skat concluded from its investigation that as many as four out of every five bakery employees in the country are working illegally and not reporting their income.

Copenhagen has approximately 130 bakeries in total. A little over 80 of them are members of the Copenhagen-based bakers’ guild, Københavns Bagerlaug.

Guild master Erik Ellitsgaard condemned the fraud, but denied that the guild’s members had anything to do with it.

“It’s incredibly destructive – not just for the bakers, but also for Danish society,” he said.

“You will probably call me a racist, but what we see, unfortunately, is

that it’s the unorganised bakers, with employees from other ethnic backgrounds, who don’t have ‘pure flour in the sack’,” Ellitsgaard said. “They shift around from running kiosks to being greengrocers, and go on to baking, without knowing the first thing about making bread.”

Ellitsgaard said that Københavns Bagerlaug does its own quality checks of the bakeries in the guild.

“But we very much want to have a closer dialogue with Skat, because that’s not how we do things,” he added.

Skat did not register which bakeries visited during the raids were members of the bakers’ guild, but the majority of the raids took place in Copenhagen. (JB)

Free Workshop on December 30 10-13: Turning 2012 into the Best Year of your Life

NCOURAGING Europeans to cycle as much as the Danes could dramatically reduce greenhouse gas emissions and oil consumption, a new study by the European Cyclists’ Federation (ECF) has shown.

The key findings suggested that if all Europeans cycled the 2.6 kilometres a day that Danes do on average, it would achieve 26 percent of the target set by the EU for reducing greenhouse gas emissions from transport, while also reducing oil imports by 10 percent.

“If we’re serious about meeting these targets we’re going to have to change our behaviour,” one of the study’s authors, Benoit Blondel from the ECF, said. “It’s not about moving less. It’s about the way we move and the transport choices governments make available.”

The EU wants to reduce transport emissions in 2050 by 60 percent, but according to the Copenhagen-based European Environment Agency, increased fuel efficiency and technological improvements would not be enough to reach the target alone.

The ECF suggests that encouraging people to cycle would be a cheap and simple way to reduce transport emissions compared with other alternatives.

“The potential for cycling to achieve

these targets is huge,” Blondel added.

“Getting more people on bikes is going to be a lot cheaper than say getting more electric cars on the road.”

Getting people out of their cars and on to bicycles could also reduce localised pollution in cities, the Danish environmental organisation Miljøpunkt Indre By-Christianshavn has demonstrated.

The organisation measured air pollution in central Copenhagen during the Road Cycling World Championships this August, when the area was blocked off to 60,000 vehicles that normally enter the city each day.

Taking measurements from a variety of locations around the city, the organisation recorded a 30 percent drop in air pollution in the week that the city was blocked off to traffic.

While it is hoped the proposed congestion zone could also lower vehicle numbers and pollution levels in the city, Steen Solvang Jensen, from the National Centre for Environment and Energy, told Urban newspaper that the effect would be limited.

“A reduction in the number of cars by 20 percent would only reduce the cars’ contribution to air pollution by about half of that. That’s because a congestion zone would deter commuter vehicles the most, and they tend to be the least polluting types of vehicles,” Jensen said.

“Businesses still have to distribute goods, and the charge won’t mean much to them so they’ll pay it, while commuters will move to alternative transport such as trains and buses.”

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community

The Copenhagen posT CphposT.Dk

23 December 2011 - 5 January 2012

11

stars of tomorrow end their term on the biggest stage of all by: Dave Smith

Scene Kunst Skoler (SKS), a theatre school for children, hired Det Ny Teater on 12 December where 240 of its students (aged between six and 16) put on a spectacular show for 1,000 friends and family, consisting of 35 performances of drama, singing and dance. “I didn’t really know if we could pull it off,” enthused SKS’s Christina Anthony. “We planned it as much as possible, but there is always an element of uncertainty when you do a show on this scale, with so many children coming on and off stage at different times, and with just one dress rehearsal. Luckily it went fantastically well, and the children had an amazing day and were dancing all the way home.” (Please note: SKS hired the theatre on a private basis and all of the performances and design was solely the responsibility of SKS.)

Sophie from Hellerup rocks Det Ny Teater

Nerves? Are you joking, we love it!

“Don’t stop her, she’s having a good time, she’s having a ball.” Scotland’s Iona Mulholland, the 12-year-old daughter of Copenhagen Celtic legend Joe Mulholland, nails her solo, Queen’s ‘Don’t Stop me Now’. Iona We didn’t know the Terrarium Fair was in town started attending SKS after her dad won a SKS/Copenhagen Post competition last year. The audience were quickly given a demonstration of what might happen to anyone asking for a refund. again.

Copenhagen has a new cult following – it’s called Scene Kunst Skoler and has ten schools and counting in Roskilde, Køge and Hellerup, including The International Drama School in Hellerup, which teaches in English. Among the converted is Catherine, who said her daughter was on “cloud 9” afterwards. “I could see that her skills have advanced so SKS’s British co-founder Russell Anthony- much - her stage presence, performing with every part of her body, and performing every minute that she’s on stage,” Collins acknowledges the applause she continued. “Thanks [SKS] for enriching our kids’ lives and have a wonderful holiday season!”

Not just one lady in red but a whole troupe All SKS students are taught singing, drama and dance by working professionals. Sign up for a free trial on 21 January by emailing mail@scenekunstskoler.dk. For more information, go to www.scenekunstskoler. dk and look under skoler/international.

12

COMMUNITY

THE COPENHAGEN POST CPHPOST.DK

23 December 2011 - 5 January 2012

ABOUT TOWN PHOTOS BY HASSE FERROLD UNLESS OTHERWISE STATED

Congratulations to Namrita Thomas Kapur for submitting the winning picture in our Christmas photo contest on our Facebook page. Her picture of her jolly son secured 290 likes, first place and a platinum dinner for two at the Copenhagen Hard Rock Café.

Pushing her all the way was Ashley Braiser’s mirrored ceiling at Tivoli, which earned 257 likes and the use of a 24-hour Copenhagen Card. The jury’s out on the quality of this photo, but we guess it helps when you have 771 Facebook friends.

Finishing third with 41 likes was Victoria Blanes Vidal with this snowy shot of Kongens Nytorv. She takes home a copy of The ‘Tales of Hans Christian Andersen’ by Werner Wejp-Olsen.

There was a good festive turnout for the Ambassadors Concert at Sankt Petri Church, which this year was given by the Berlin Counterpoint Ensemble. Pictured here enjoying proceedings are (left-right) Hungarian ambassador Francis BUKLOD, a non-profit organisation that aids the integration of Filipinos into Danish society, held dance and singing competitions at the Radisson BLU Scandinavia Hotel & Casino earlier this Szebényi, Romanian chargé d´affaires Cristian Negrila, German ambassador month that were attended by over 600 guests and competitors. The night was the brainchild of BUKLOD chairperson Rosemarie Alonzo Christensen, who is pictured here on the left (centre in Michael Zenner, Israeli ambassador Artur Avnon, while the queen’s cousin Princess Elisabeth is seated to the left. blue) enjoying the proceedings, and on the right are Himig Buklod, one of the finalists in the singing competition. Photos: BUKLOD

INSPIRATION FROM THE SPIRE

Jonathan LLoyd is the Anglican/Episcopal priest in Denmark. You can find him on your way to the Little Mermaid at St Alban’s Church, Churchillparken. This may seem like a little piece of England complete with its distinctive spire and statue of Sir Winston, but it gathers people from across the globe plus hundreds of tourists each week. Jonathan has lived in Copenhagen for the last two years and loves the place.

I

And finally, a special Happy Christmas to Bheka Pierce, an English teacher at the Copenhagen International School, who has sacrificed all those Father Christmas appearances (in favour of the Grinch?) and shaved his beard off for charity. Could this be the start of something – they could call it Becember. Photo: CIS

LOVE strolling around Tivoli, cathedral one is greeted by a vertical taking visiting friends to the laser rugby scrum of smiling black bears, light show, and trying to avoid with the one at the top waving a large the scary rides. I have only been on red star. It felt like we were all on one – that tall one that circles around the wrong ride. The very reason for Christmas – a baby born with your legs dangling.

2,000 years ago in BethAnd I only went on that lehem under a bright by mistake. I was queuing golden star – has been with my daughter Sarah for surgically removed from what I thought was a much the story. gentler ride, and once I got Hey guys, did We are left with a to the start gate it was too I really start plastic replica of the late to turn back. I keep well real thing with its heart clear of the queues now and all this? Which removed: the shell of admire those with greater ride are you a Christian building, courage than I. with the star of BethleI was excited to see the on? hem replaced by the star Russian-themed centrepiece. of Russia. Apart from From a distance, the large domed cathedral with bells swinging the sterilisation of anything to do reminded me of a visit to St Peters- with the real Christmas, I also wonburg. Going inside I wasn’t sure what der what our visitors from Estonia, to expect. On my travels to Russian Latvia, Lithuania and other former cathedrals, I had experienced clouds Soviet republics would make of this of sweet incense, deep tones from Danish glorification of the red star bearded men, and little old ladies state?

In Bethlehem this year, Christian bowing before icons of the Madonna and Child. At the Tivoli unorthodox families celebrating Christmas will

be divided by the huge wall built by the Israelis and face economic strangulation. In Egypt, Christian families celebrating Christmas are mourning those killed by bomb attacks on Coptic churches. For many Christians this Christmas, life is uncertain and celebrating the birth of Christ can be dangerous. In Moscow, my colleague chaplain of our Anglican Church has to wear a bullet-proof vest.

But none of this is new. Jesus was born into a dangerous world, into poverty, to an unmarried teenage mother who had to flee for her life – on a donkey. This was a pretty odd way for the Son of God to arrive! Just over 2,000 years later there are two billion Christians around the world, and growing. As we celebrate his birthday this week, I just wonder ... what would Jesus make of all the nisser, tinsel, shopping and consumption if he walked through Tivoli today? Maybe: “Hey guys, did I really start all this? Which ride are you on?”

However you celebrate, have a very happy Christmas and New Year!

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14

sport

The Copenhagen posT CphposT.Dk

23 December 2011 - 5 January 2012

gridiron team aiming to tower over all-comers in 2012 swimming legend dies Jens RøRBye

fact box | player profiles

a

fact box | Results DAte april 17 april 24 May 14 May 21 June 12 June 26 august 6 august 21 august 26 September 10 September 18 September 25

Ben hamilton nazi sympathiser set 44 world records in a career cruelly interrupted by the war

#24 Cornerback Christian Dinesen. at 26 years of age dinesen is a fixture at CB for the towers’ as well as the danish national team, since his first game against germany in 2006. in his eight seasons, dinesen has won numerous accolades at club and national level. he is among the very best coverage players in the country, yet still packs a powerful punch when tackling. a very modest person, dinesen provides veteran leadership in the towers’ defensive secondary.

#12 Quarterback Jr Artozqui american QB Jr artozqui has not only elevated the offensive output of the towers in his two seasons with the club, but also set new standards for QB play in denmark. The 24-year-old California native signed a contract to return to the towers just days after the 2011 season ended. his positive spirit and leadership has endeared him to his teammates and fans, while his play has spoken for itself. prophetic as the towers would proceed to lose games to both teams later on in the season. and in each case by a larger margin than the first games. and it had all started so well. Winning the first three games of the season by a combined score of 136-28 provided proof that the towers would be a legitimate contender in 2011. a solid and at times brilliant defence has been a towers staple for years, but an offence that can put points on the board at will is not something towers fans are normally used to. inevitably, the pace slowed as the towers lost three out of four games over the summer, before closing out the regular season with a three-game winning streak. in the three losses the towers kept things close, scoring 86 points while conceding 119 points, while the final run-in saw a combined score of 128-7.

But anyone who has ever been involved in competitive sports knows that getting to the play-offs is always a goal, but never the ultimate goal: having qualified for the play-offs with a 7-3 regular season record, they now needed to go 3-0 in the play-offs.

#88 Defensive lineman ole toft. a true towers veteran, the 40-year-old Ole toft has been a tower for more than two decades, except for one season playing semi-professionally in Sweden. toft made a name for himself playing te, but has since moved to the other side of the ball to play on the defensive line.

Over the years toft has been a regular for the danish national team. a very vocal player, toft is passionate about the towers to a degree only few can match.

www.coPenhagen-towers.dk

SeaSOn that began with a new head coach while snow still covered the ground has come to an end for the Copenhagen towers. Countless hours of practice, workouts and film study earnt the gentofte squad a 7-3 record and a ticket to the play-offs, but once again they failed to make it to the final. any time a new head coach takes over a team there are bound to be changes. The 2011 towers were no exception. long-time towers player and coach Peter herbild took over the reins during the off-season and he very quickly made it clear that nothing would be taken lightly during his tenure. herbild brought a whole new level of structure and planning to the towers. he is also very motivational, so the young team very quickly bought into his style of playing.

The talent on the team is beyond anything the club has ever seen before, but for a coach it is always a challenge – albeit a pleasant one – to mould a group of raw talent into a team. however, the core of the team remained from 2010, and the family feel of the 2011 towers was evident from the first game.

“2011 was about a young team trying to gel into a new system and prove to themselves that they could play with the best,” explained herbild. “Unfortunately we lost a bit of energy as the season went on, and in the play-offs we lacked the spark that we’d had in the spring.” after having lost two close games to the triangle razorbacks and Søllerød gold diggers – the finalists of the previous two seasons – coach herbild noted in June: “We have shown that we are good enough to play the top teams.

But also that we’re not good enough to beat them.”

Those words would prove almost

Per Falkeborg

gentofte’s Us football side will learn from their mistakes and aim to peak in the autumn, not the spring, of next year

The towers have added a mean offence to a reliable defence this season

initially it went to plan with a convincing 31-0 win over the Århus tigers in the wildcard round, taking their four game score to 159-7. But it all came undone in a 13-23 loss to the triangle razorbacks, who would go on to take a thrilling victory in Mermaid Bowl XXiii.

For the towers coaching staff it is imperative to identify the challenges that were not overcome in 2011. This task is at the top of the agenda dur-

ing the off-season, and the process was initiated by conducting individual exit interviews with all of the players. This gave the players an opportunity to give their take on the hurdles they had experienced.

The knowledge gained will help the entire organisation handle unexpected problems more efficiently in 2012.

This will enable everyone involved to focus on playing football games. and winning them.

fact box | Copenhagen Towers youth squads opponent herlev rebels @ Kronborg Knights Slagelse Wolfpack @ triangle razorbacks @ amager demons Søllerød gold diggers @ Søllerød gold diggers amager demons Kronborg Knights @ herlev rebels Århus tigers @ triangle razorbacks

sCore 26-0 48-10 62-18 26-31 62-14 40-41 20-47 48-0 34-0 46-7 31-0 13-23

in 2012 the towers will field youth teams in four age groups for the first time: boys 12 years or younger (U12), 14 years or younger (U14), 16 years or younger (U16) and 19 years or younger (U19). all three 2011 squads qualified for the play-offs this season, with the U16s and U19s reaching

their respective championship games: the Future Bowl (U16) and Junior Bowl (U19). The U16 team claimed their third straight – and sixth since 2002 – championship. The U19 team fell to the Søllerød gold diggers. The U13 squad lost their shot at their first championship since 2007.

Copenhagen Towers – learn more The Copenhagen Towers is an amateur American football team based in Gentofte.

The club fields four youth teams in addition to the adult team which plays at the highest level in Denmark: the National League. New players are welcome, as is anyone wishing to coach, officiate or just help out. Read more at www.copenhagentowers.dk.

R

agnhild hveger, a legend of danish swimming, has died at the age of 90. during an illustrious career interrupted by the Second World War she set 44 world records, but the closest she came to an Olympic title was a silver in 1936, aged just 15.

By the time the next Olympics came along in 1948, she was still highly competitive at the age of 27.

But the danish sports authorities barred her from taking part due to her making a professional living out of the sport whilst abroad, firstly in Kiel in germany during the war, and then after the war in Sweden. The ban was probably influenced by her family’s membership of the nazi party, her marriage to a german officer, and her participation in nazi propaganda swimming events – all of which led to her being interned for six weeks following the end of the war. it took her a long time to recover her reputation in denmark, but she still went on to represent her country at the 1952 Olympics in nearby helsinki where she came fifth in the 400m freestyle – in a time quicker than her swim in 1936 - and helped the 400m freestyle relay team to fourth.

But in the end, three golds at the 1938 european Championships remained the pinnacle of her career. nevertheless, she continued to pick up awards after retiring. in 1966 she was inducted into swimming’s hall of fame in Fort lauderdale, USa, and in 1996, the danish Olympic Committee declared her sportswoman of the century. hveger’s career was very much in contrast to that of ‘little Captivating inge’ Sørensen, a fellow competitor at the Berlin Olympics who died in March at the age of 86. Sørensen captured the hearts of her fellow countrymen when she refused to heil hitler on the winners’ podium in Berlin after winning a bronze medal at the age of 12. and then, when hveger and fellow swimmer Jenny Kammersgaard willingly took part in nazi-organised swimming competitions to underline the perfection of the aryan race, Sørensen refused to take part. it was never clear whether it was an act of conscience – hveger complained that Sørensen’s parents would not let her.

Perhaps ironically, while hveger went on to live and die in denmark, Sørensen, the darling of her nation, emigrated to the USa in 1951.

spoRTs news anD bRiefs hardhitter eyes title fight

Doubles pair dominant

Match fixers named

Juniors in pool of death

king’s Cup dates confirmed

Ladies out in semis

MiddleWeight boxer rudy ‘hardhitter’ Markussen said he was ready for a title fight after extending his record to 37 wins and just two losses with a fourth round stoppage of former english champion Steven Bendall in herning on Saturday. Bendall is 38 and has not won a fight for over three years.

MathiaS Boe and Carsten Mogensen defended their men’s doubles title in badminton’s World Superseries Finals in China on Sunday. Meanwhile, the Copenhagen Masters, which runs from december 27-29, promises to be a danish-centric event, with only a minimal number of international players taking part.

the daniSh Fa (dBU) has informed media that it has warned two Second division players, Samir haiba and Jesper Sneholm, for placing bets on their teams, B1908 and vanløse respectively, to lose games in 2010. The dBU noted that it was the country’s first ever case of match-fixing.

denMarK’S preparations for the U20 World Junior hockey Championships, which starts on december 26, have been disappointing, underlining their status as rank outsiders to get out of a ‘pool of death’ that also includes the hosts Canada, USa, Finland and the Czech republic.

denMarK has confirmed its participation in the King’s Cup in Thailand in January against norway, South Korea, and the hosts. The tournament starts on January 15. Meanwhile, it has also been confirmed that denmark will play a friendly against australia in Copenhagen on June 2.

denMarK’S ladies handball side got within one win of qualifying for the 2012 Olympics, but in the end that place went to their victors, France, who prevailed 28-23 in their World Championship semi-final on Friday. denmark then lost to Spain to finish fourth, while norway beat France to claim the title.

sport

The Copenhagen posT CphposT.Dk

23 December 2011 - 5 January 2012

The Copenhagen post’s resident sports writer, Ben hamilton, selects the five Danish sportspeople who have impressed him the most in 2011, both on and off the playing. ag

5

www. ontennis.com

sports personality of the Year, 2011

15 2

Caroline Wozniacki

Denmark’s golden girl has had another unforgettable year, beginning and ending the year as world number one – an achievement that only a select number have managed. But despite winning six tournaments - including the unofficial ‘fifth major’, Indian Wells, in March – her first grand slam remains elusive. The closest she got in 2011 was the Australian Open where she reached the semis. In fact, while many praised her achievement in remaining top for 51 weeks out of 52 (a slight blip saw her slip for a week in February), there were an equal number deriding her, pointing out that she was only the second non-grand slam winner to achieve the feat, following Jelena Jankovic in 2008.

Anders Hansen

Das Büro

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1

tim Hales

The return to form of the elder statesmen of golf has somewhat overshadowed the amazing year Anders Hansen has enjoyed. While he didn’t win any tournaments, he finished in the top four with regularity, recording his best ever finish in a World Golf Championship event in March when he came third in the WGC-Cadillac Championship. His form led to a dramatic rise in his world ranking (he’s currently number 34) and a seventh place finish (his best ever) on the European Tour. And he saved the best for last: having been criticised for turning down the chance to play in the US Open in favour of concentrating on his bid to win the European Tour, he came in third in the final major of the year, the US PGA.

Thomas Bjørn

In the end he didn’t win, but the courage he showed during four days in July will never be forgotten. It might sound a little overdramatic, but Thomas Bjørn’s press conference following a first round 65 that saw him take the lead at the British Open at Sandwich – the very same course at which the Dane had eight years earlier blown a two-shot lead with just three holes to play – was one of the most emotional of this, and any, golfing year. Choking back tears, he reflected on how his recently deceased father would have been proud of his efforts. He went on to finish fourth – the highlight of an awesome year.

While Bjørn went over four years without a win up until June 2010, in 2011 he won three times, including back-to-back triumphs at the end of the summer. His ranking shot up into the top 40 (he’s currently 36), he finished ninth on the European Tour, and most importantly, he exorcised the ghosts that had threatened to define his career.

Jeanette Ottesen

jens Dresling

3

www.goonery.net

Heading into an Olympic year, it’s encouraging to note that while Denmark hasn’t got a prayer in athletics, there are considerable talents emerging in the pool – most notably Jeanette Ottesen, a triple gold medallist at the recently concluded European Short Course Championships in Poland, which included the 50m and 100m butterfly double. She might be nearly 24 – by which time most Soviet swimmers had won a gold, mothered a child, made a comeback and retired – and Lotte Friis is still a better Olympic prospect, but there’s no denying it was a hell of an effort.

And finally … Nicklas Bendtner

Christian Eriksen

2011 has been an awesome year for the Ajax star who is not yet 20 years of age but is already playing with a maturity and consistency that has put him top of the Christmas shopping lists of many elite European coaches, most notably in England and Spain. His performance in Denmark’s 2-1 defeat by England in February made him a household name, although by that time he had already forced himself into his Dutch club’s starting eleven. Eriksen is central to the national team’s new fluid playing style – and his participation will be crucial if they want to emerge from their group of death at Euro 2012.

A good year for his country, a poor one for his club, let’s hope 2012 is a better one for Mr Bendtner. Personally, I don’t think his main problem is his form, his ability to attract trouble or ask people if they know who he is, or even his taste in footwear - it’s his honesty. While most footballers these days give the media short shrift in every interview they do with monosyllabic lies, clichés, and complete non-observations, Bendtner’s actually quite good value. And this, with his extraordinary self-belief and ambition, is a dangerous combination, because when a Danish hack says to him: “Oh, Nicklas, you’re so good, you should be playing for Barcelona,” he tends to agree with them. In 2012, he needs to stop saying he wants to play in the Champions League (against Barcelona in March, he had his chance to become an Arsenal immortal – he blew it) when’s he playing for a club that’s fighting relegation, and stick to saying he wants to play regular football in the Premier League – it might be a cliché and a lie, but at least your own fans won’t think you think their club’s rubbish and you want to leave. And there are signs he wants to learn from his mistakes, even though a public apology issued last week did read rather like the queen’s New Year speech. “I hope you will understand that I now promise to concentrate fully on football and only football,” he told a shocked media. “It means that I in the upcoming time won’t be involved in extra-curricular activities - like too many parties or interviews about my persona.” Ouch! What will they write about in 2012?

16 BUSINESS

THE COPENHAGEN POST CPHPOST.DK

23 December 2011 - 5 January 2012

CIMBER STERLING

Interest rate drops to record low JENNIFER BULEY Central bank hopes to slow the krone’s rise against euro

I

N AN attempt to weaken the Danish krone, which has been gaining strength against the euro, Denmark’s central bank, Nationalbanken, decided last week on Thursday to lower the lending rate another 0.1 percent to a record-low of 0.7 percent.

The national interest rate is now approximately 0.30 percent below the European rate.

Sydbank’s senior economist, Jacob Graven, suggested that the central bank was running out of options for stabilising the krone against the euro.

“If the krone continues to

get stronger than the euro, and the interest rate hits zero, Nationalbanken will have used up all of the traditional ammunition for securing the fixed exchange rate policy,” Graven told Politiken newspaper.

Graven added that if the latest rate reductions fail to have an effect, Nationalbanken could lower the interest rate to zero – or try something more creative, such as printing money to weaken the Danish krone, or breaking its fixed exchange rate with the euro, which has been in place since 1999.

The strong krone has been making it hard for Danish exporters to sell their goods.

Another senior economist, Jens Nyholm from the bank Spar Nord, predicted that the

Danish base interest rate would fall to 0.45 percent in January.

Nationalbanken’s chairman, Nils Bernstein, would not rule out the possibility that the national interest rate could even go below zero – a situation Sweden experienced between July 2009 and September 2010, when its interest rate fell to –0.25 percent.

A negative interest rate would force banks to circulate their money, explained economics professor Henrik Jensen from the University of Copenhagen.

“You can very well have a situation where Nationalbanken would put a negative interest on deposits from the country’s banks,” he told Politiken. “Then the interest is simply minus, so the banks get penalized for letting money sit in Nationalbanken.”

Maersk exec to take over at Danske Bank

Heavy turbulence for Cimber Sterling JENNIFER BULEY Troubled airline admits steeper than expected losses, just as Ryanair stakes larger claim to domestic airspace

C

IMBER STERLING announced last week on Thursday that losses for 2011/2012 would be three to ten times greater than previously expected. Instead of losing between 20 and 60 million kroner, the shaky budget airline now predicts it will lose between 160 and 200 million kroner before taxes for 2011/2012.

All told, losses will top 750 million kroner for the past three years. Meanwhile, the share price has nearly bottomed out. Cimber Sterling was listed on the Copenhagen Stock Exchange in December 2009 at a disappointingly low-altitude share price of nine kroner. Two years later, shares are going for around 1.25 kroner.

Managing director Jan Palmér pointed to the renewed economic uncertainty that began in July as a major reason why losses would now be much heavier. Fears of a new recession have been weighing heav-

ily on ticket sales.

However, Cimber Sterling’s executives also confessed that the company had made a strategic mistake by acquiring a fleet of Boeing 737s and focusing too much on getting into the longer distance market, reports Jyllands-Posten.

Instead, the company now intends to go back to its roots – which stretch back to Sønderborg in 1950.

The airline plans to phase out the Boeing 737s and refocus on smaller planes: turboprops and a new line of jets that seat just 80 passengers. The airline will then concentrate on its shorter, regional flights, with an emphasis on routes out of Billund, Aalborg and Aarhus in Denmark, and out of Gothenburg and Jönköping in Sweden.

Cimber Sterling owns 46 planes now, including ones acquired through a merger with Skyways. But the company expects to increase its fleet by 15 to 20 smaller turboprops and jets over the next two to three years.

Palmér said that Cimber Sterling’s majority shareholder, the Ukrainian billionaire Igor Kolomoisky, had promised to continue finansing the airline, despite ongoing losses. Kolomoisky has injected millions of kroner into Cimber Sterling

several times now. He will probably have to do so again to keep the struggling airline alive.

In related news, the Irelandbased discount airline Ryanair has announced that it is establishing a new headquarters at Billund, beginning in March 2012.

With its new ‘Ryanair headquarters’ status, Billund Airport will get some 100 permanent jobs and two permanently stationed airplanes, which will use the airport as their home base, reports Politiken newspaper.

In addition, Ryanair will open five new routes from Billund to Carcassone (France), Corfu (Greece), Krakow (Poland), Venice (Austria), and Zadar (Croatia), as well as an additional route from Aarhus to Palma (Mallorca), beginning at the end of March.

Ryanair expects to fly at least 800,000 passengers a year from Billund, but hopes to increase that number to as many as two million a year within six years.

Ole Kirchert Christensen, of the Travelbroker travel agency, told Politiken that Ryanair’s foothold and expansion in Billund would almost certainly “keep other operators away, because they won’t want to fly in direct competition with Ryanair”.

D

ANSKE Bank announced early on Monday morning that Eivind Kolding will replace Peter Straarup as managing director on February 15.

Straarup will retire after 43 years at Danske Bank, the last 13 as managing director.

The 52-year-old Kolding has served on Danske Bank’s board of directors since 2001, most recently as chairman. He stepped down from that position on Monday, when it was announced that he

would be the new CEO. He will continue as a board member until he assumes his new job on February 15, however.

In addition to serving on Danske Bank’s board for ten years, Kolding, who is a lawyer, has been a shipping agent and the managing director of Maersk Line, the world’s largest container shipping company, since 2006. He also served as finance director at A.P. Moller-Maersk from 1989 to 2006.

SCANPIX

The 737s will become a thing of the past under the new strategy

Kolding will take over in February

Following the announcement, industry insiders lauded Kolding as a “good and secure choice” to take the reins at Denmark’s largest bank. (JB)

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18

culture

The Copenhagen posT CphposT.Dk

23 December 2011 - 5 January 2012

With no celebs and terrific audience interaction the slipper fits perfectly cTc

ben hamilton Cinderella

T

here are three types of performer every good pantomime version of ‘Cinderella’ should never have. One is the prima donna (usually Buttons): the washedup, former soap star who has ended up doing what they used to joke about never doing; another is the bitter alcoholic (one of the ugly sisters): the former household name comedian, who takes his rare media opportunities to argue there’s nothing wrong with a racist joke if it’s funny; and then there are the legs (Cinderella): a former reality TV ‘star’ with more of a cling to fame than a claim, who’s been miscast in a show where the audience will either be too young or too old to know her.

Fortunately, the Copenhagen Theatre Circle’s production of Cinderella - which debuted last week on Thursday at the Kruddtønden theatre in Østerbro - had none of these distractions. Instead, the performances were likeable and earnest. Nobody was coasting or winging it; they were there because they love entertaining and it showed.

It’s true the singing wasn’t brilliant, but this wasn’t a musical (if it was, it would have

ctc Brendan O’Gorman and Iven Gilmore exeelled as the ugly sisters

been an adaptation of ‘Flatliners’ – that’s my last panto joke, I promise) or an edition of ‘X Factor’. a good panto only needs to satisfy two criteria to be a hit: interact with the audience … a lot, and make sure there aren’t any bland, easily forgettable characters. The last thing you want is the question: “Who’s this again?” The developing relationship between the cast and the audience is critical, and the evidence on opening night suggested the CTC got this absolutely spot on.

There were times in the second act when you could sense the audience’s excitement every

time there was a set change.

The actors were greeted like old friends. The audience wanted more and more and more. and while the first act felt a little overlong, the second could have easily gone on for another hour.

Knowing how small the theatre is, I had reservations about watching a panto there, or indeed any play that involves a cast of more than three. But as is often remarked, you don’t want to turn down a chance to see a big name in music play at an intimate venue, and likewise this chance to get up-close-andpersonal should be embraced with the kind of feel-good hug

that emanates throughout the production.

Central to all of this is Siovhan Christensen in the lead. hers is not strictly a panto performance. It’s passionate and packs an unexpected romantic punch, which is helped by her performance of Brian rice’s ‘Breathing’, the runner-up in Denmark’s 2010 competition to find their eurovision entry.

Christensen had already demonstrated she could hold a note, but this was a knockout performance – and musically the highlight of the night.

The audience pushed her close though. Under the guid-

www.salyer.com

victoria steffensen Slayer warming up for their trip to hell

slayer and Manson off to hell Justin cremer Metal festival secures some of the genre’s biggest names

n

OT CONTeNT to let the roskilde Festival steal the spotlight with its slew of early announcements, the heavy metal festival Copenhell last week added headline acts sure to excite the city’s headbangers.

The 2012 Copenhell festival will be headlined by metal stalwarts Slayer and shock-rock act Marilyn Manson. The two veteran acts will join previously announced bands anthrax, Lamb of God and Skeletonwith, among others, at the two-day festival taking place from June 15-16 at refshaleøen.

Slayer have been among the undisputed kings of metal since their formation in the

early 1980s. Their 1986 album, ‘reign in Blood’, set the standard for thrash metal and has been called a variation of ‘the best metal album of all time’ by several publications. The group’s last appearance in Denmark was an aarhus show in March, where the band split the bill with fellow veterans Megadeth.

While Slayer’s dark, sometimes-Satanic lyrics have netted them their fair share of negative attention, co-headliner Marilyn Manson’s entire career has seemingly been built upon controversy.

The american shock-rocker’s 1996 album, ‘antichrist Superstar’, made him one of the most popular acts in the world. his anti-Christian stance and tendency to rip up the Bible on stage also made him the subject of protests from religious groups in the US. Later albums failed to match the sales or critical acclaim of ‘antichrist Superstar’.

his name literally means ‘The Christmas Man’ in english. according to where you’re from, this could refer to Santa Claus (USa, australia), Father Christmas (UK, India), Père Noël (France) and so the list goes on …

Do these names all refer to the same man? actually there are so many stories and legends that, over time, they have become mixed together.

Luckily, I’m going to give you a brief summary of some of them.

So, if you’re sitting comfortably, I’ll begin.

Legend has it that a baby, Nicolaus, born way back in the third century, in neither Lapland nor Greenland but ... wait for it …

Turkey, grew up to become the bishop of Myra. he was rather wealthy and saved a family from poverty by throwing money into their window at night. Is it starting to sound familiar? he also had the handy talent of saving sailors from wild storms. This talent secured him a place in the hearts of shipping folk for centuries to come. Incidentally Dutchmen referred to him as Sinterklass, and

scanpix/marTTi KainUlainen

Who is ... Julemanden?

ance of the ugly sisters (Iven Gilmore and Brendan O’Gorman), they delivered a fantastic performance of ‘Daisy’. It really brought the cast and audience together, and the evening never looked back from this point.

The beauty of pantomime is that very often the provider of the biggest laughs is the audience – and the cast dully pushed the buttons to enable them to deliver.

It would, however, need to be something pretty special to rival the sisters. aided by an impressive array of costumes, and the best one-liners of the night, theirs was a collaboration that grew and grew on you, particularly when tussling over the affections of a wonderfully expressive Dandini (Kaan arici).

Sadly this isn’t the review of a play at a school where all the children should be given ‘equal’ praise, because it’s no exaggeration to say that everybody is worthy of a mention, but I’ll restrict it to an arbitrarily chosen three. Carabosse (Veronica Kielsholm-ribalaygua), the villainess, achieved a perfect level of shrillness in her brilliant interaction with the audience, although it wasn’t always easy booing somebody so disarmingly sexy; in her dual role as the Saucy Girl and Grisabella the Cat (elke de roos) was clearly a crowd favourite, delighting

us with her attempts to screech Lloyd-Webber; and the Ghost of Jack Sparrow (John Shennan) brought an unexpected quirkiness to the proceedings and the best visual gag of the night – the actor portraying him also impressed in a small role in ‘a Christmas Carol’ last year, and I for one would pay good money to see him take the lead should the CTC try something darker next time (but please not as one of the ‘Calendar Girls’, which is apparently on the agenda in 2012).

Universally, I’m sure, the cast would agree that they were in safe hands under the eye of director and scriptwriter Barry McKenna, whose latest triumph is all the more emphatic given the confined space he was working with. he was ably served by some fantastic set and costume designs (Maria Lundbye) and lively choreography (Marija Baranauskaite) – two names to look out for in the future.

But for the final verdict, I feel I should turn to my sevenyear-old daughter. Sure, her favourite bits were the slik handout, the Union Jack dress and when the Fairy Godmother fell over – but one day on it’s still something that she’s animatedly talking about with an ear-to-ear grin. That’s the magic of a good Christmas pantomime, and it’s written all over her face.

The Copenhagen Post text 40 Quick Crossword No 377 No 377

when they moored in New York, this morphed into the american Santa Claus.

So why isn’t he called Saint Nicolaus (or in Danish, Sankt Nikolaus)?

In Denmark, after the reformation, people weren’t supposed to believe in saints. But the new Lutheran church found it difficult to get rid of this particular holy man because he had become so popular. They dropped his bishop’s hat, and as Sankt Nikolaus’s death coincidentally occurred in the month of Christmas, called him Julemanden. The trick was played so well, that the Danish population didn’t even notice!

Forget all that history malarkey; tell us where the man lives now!

This is a rather controversial question, especially in Denmark. The Danes couldn’t have him residing in a timeshare in antalya, Turkey.

Many other countries believe he lives in Lapland, but the Danes are having none of that either. he lives, of course, in Greenland! and what will they do when Greenland becomes independent? I guess he and rudolf will be packing their bags and moving to Skagen.

Across 1.

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Diligence (11) Desert (7) Female relative (5) Boredom (5) Graceful (7) Infuriate (6) Plan (6) Type of raisin (7) Light purple (5) Swift (5) Oriental (7) Spy (6, 5)

Down 2.

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Evident (5) Accommodation (7) Annul (6) Taut (5) Intimidate (7) Flexible rule (4, 7) Vane (11) Fall back (7) Vocation (7) Empty (6) Viper (5) Ancient language (5)

Post Quick Crossword No 376 Across: 1 Appendix; 5 Heal; 9 Fret; 10 Strategy; 11 Alter; 12 Nominal; 13 Exceptionally; 18 Confound; 19 Send; 20 Special; 21 Begun; 22 Dull; 23 Symmetry.

Down: 2 Perplex; 3 Extreme; 4 Intentionally; 6 Eternal; 7 Loyalty; 8 Layman; 13 Excused; 14 Congeal; 15 Profit; 16 Austere; 17 Langour.

23 December 2011 - 5 January 2012

Denmark through the looking glass The Copenhagen posT CphposT.Dk

19

santa, champion of the working classes and scourge of the bourgeoisie

All photos: www.kulturkAnon.kum.dk

Bonnie Fortune how a theatre troupe’s street performances dressed up as Father Christmas in 1974 changed the way Copenhageners regarded the festive season – in some cases forever

I

n the early 1970s, Denmark was hit by the energy crisis sweeping the globe. A rise in the price of oil led by the nations of OPeC (Organisation of Petroleum exporting Countries) led to a global economic slow-down, especially in industrialised nations. Due to the crisis, Denmark faced high levels of unemployment, among other problems.

As Christmas time drew near in the winter of 1974, some creative citizens decided to take matters into their own hands.

Many of those creative people lived, at the time, in the recently-formed community of Christiania, also known as the Free town, in Copenhagen’s Christianshavn neighbourhood. They were a group of young men and women who had radical ideas of peace, love, and equality – ideals mirrored in Christiania’s culture – combined with a love of theatre. They decided to form a theatre troupe, naming it Solvognen (Sun Chariot), in reference to the trundholm Sun Chariot, an historical artefact from Danish history.

The troupe was officially active from 1969-1983, but their most famous performance took place during the Christmas season of 1974. Solvognen was predominantly a political theatre troupe.

They staged their performances in the public sphere with less emphasis on script and rehearsal, and more on public spectacle focused around a political topic of the day. today, the group occupies a spot in Denmark’s prestigious Culture Canon for the Theatrical Arts, moving from being wanted by the police for being instigators, to being wanted by the Ministry of Culture as innovators. The Culture Canon was created in 2006 to celebrate the best in Danish arts and culture. The Ministry of Culture created separate categories for the best works in sculpture, painting, film, architecture and design, among others. Interestingly, both Solvognen, the political theatre group and the Bronze Age artefact after which it is named are included in the Culture Canon, but in separate categories.

So, what did Solvognen do to acquire such infamy?

Starting with conversations about roller skates and who exactly the real Santa Claus was, Solvognen developed a series of performances that took place over the week before Christmas in 1974.

The idea was to embody the true spirit of Christmas by dressing up as Santa Claus and performing street theatre.

The Culture Canon notes in its description of Solvognen that street or activist theatre is the antithesis of traditional theatre, because it relies on the unanticipated interactions that occur during a performance, rather than the scripted interactions typical of traditional theatre performances. Performers of street theatre want to create a new reality by disrupting everyday life with their antics.

The troupe began with historical research into the history of Santa Claus, casting him as a benefactor to the poor in an unjust world. The character of Santa Claus became the star of a performance designed to address what the performers called “the bourgeois consumer terror of Christmas”. They wanted to help

it was a heck of a job identifying santa in a line-up in the pre digital image age

people who were facing unemployment and poverty at Christmas time, as well as spark a public debate about what the Danish government might do to help its citizens. They combined this with their love of theatrical spectacle – imagining and performing a series of increasingly dramatic pieces of street theatre over the course of the week. The troupe was inspired by what is known as ‘agitprop’ (agitation propaganda), which began as a method used by creative activists in Germany in the 1930s. Using theatrics, costumes, and spectacle, agitprop methods could be used to spark public discussion about a particular political issue - in this case unemployment in Denmark.

Solvognen sent out a call to the theatre community to get participants to act as Santa Claus for the series of performances. Over a hundred actors and actresses volunteered to dress up like the red-clad saint to spread cheer around Copenhagen. The script called for eight days of Santa-clad, increasingly antagonistic, public performances of the Christmas spirit of giving, with

or without official permission. Former Solvognen member nina Rasmussen said the purpose of the whole performance was “to do good things as a Santa should”.

On the first day, a helicopter full of Santas touched down in holbæk guided by an ‘angel of light’. This spectacle was followed by a parade of Santas marching into Copenhagen. The Santas pulled a giant Christmas goose, a traditional part of the Danish Christmas dinner. The troupe had originally intended the goose to hide Santas inside, but it proved too unwieldy. Instead they pulled the big, white bird down public streets, taking care not to pull Christmas decorations after them.

Subsequent performances, which were borderline civil disobedience and humorous theatre, saw the Santas marching into a bank to ask for several million kroner to distribute to the public; Santas marching into nursing homes to bring cheer and goodwill to the elderly with carols; Santas visiting school children, playing games and passing out

alternative history books, which placed focus on the histories of working people; Santas on roller skates swarming public places while people shopped, in the week leading up to Christmas; and Santas with pitchforks attacking state buildings in support of working people.

Some Santas even walked about with live animals. The troupe was dubbed the Julemandshæren, or Santa Claus Army, and they marched as a benevolent army around the city performing good deeds in support of Denmark’s working class.

Solvognen’s theatrical intervention into Copenhagen life that year culminated in a dramatic performance of giftgiving. The Santa Claus Army, around 40 of the actors and actresses, marched into Magasin department store in the city centre and began passing out gifts to shoppers from the store’s shelves. The Santas said: “Merry Christmas! today, no-one has to pay.” They justified their actions, saying they were returning gifts to the workers who had made them.

The shoppers were thrilled, thanking the Santas and wishing them well.

Children stared, amazed. Then the police came. Magasin officials grabbed at the white Santa beards, trying to pull them off the actors’ faces, as police handcuffed the Santas and hauled them out of the store. The children cried. The actors were thrilled because all the roles were performed accordingly – the generous and good Santas, representing hope at Christmas, were being arrested and hauled away by the police against the will of the people.

A debate raged in Copenhagen newspapers for weeks following the arrest of the Santas. It focused on the treatment of the Santas during the arrest, as well as the freedom of speech and democracy. The political theatre of Solvognen was successful: it got people talking about the issues of the day through humour and spectacle, not to mention Christmas cheer.

Visit www.kulturkanon.kum.dk/ scenekunst/julemandshaeren to learn more about the troupe and see video clips of the Santa Claus Army in action.

The Copenhagen posT CphposT.dk

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