The Copenhagen Post Apr 14-19

Iraq War commission to dig into past decisions

City well placed in competitiveness study

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14 - 19 April 2012 | Vol 15 Issue 15

BLACKOUT! Drugs, dance and defiance

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Denmark’s only English-language newspaper | cphpost.dk MOHAMMED ALJISHI

NEWS

Alleged increase in cross-border crime used in defence of border controls never existed

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NEWS

Happy happy, joy joy This time we’re not kidding: Danes are the best. If you don’t believe us, you must not read the British press

7 LIFESTYLE

Tick, tock

Time is running out for jailed activist Abdulhadi al-Khawaja as Bahrain stonewalls Danish diplomatic efforts

Our new section gives you all the seasonal lifestyle advice you need.

First up, gardener Toby Musgrave

Theatre for Anglophones Don’t speak Danish but want to enjoy the art scene? ‘Desdemona’ and ‘The Good Doctor’ are for you

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CHRISTIAN WENANDE Regulations are set to be eased a bit under the new government reform policy, but some argue it’s not enough

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ITH THE right-wing Dansk Folkeparti (DF) astutely leveraging its status as governmental support party over the past couple of years, Denmark’s immigration rules were decisively stiffened to a point where immigration from outside the EU became incredibly difficult.

But the current government took office with a pledge to ease up on the strict regulations and are now making an attempt to honour those promises.

New immigration laws are scheduled

to be implemented on May 15 for family reunification cases and on June 1 for cases involving permanent residence.

Some of the more significant changes scheduled to come into effect are as follows: • The points system used in family reunification cases will be removed. The points system, which was ratified in 2011, has been a massive hindrance to family reunification in Denmark.

• The immigration test ‘invandringsprøven’ will be removed. Anyone who currently wishes to immigrate under the umbrella of family reunification must take this test.

• The economic safety net will be reduced from 100,000 kroner to 50,000 kroner. This is the amount the individual has to deposit to the

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council as a bank guarantee, thereby illustrating that they will not be seeking social benefits. Additionally, the 50,000 will be structured in a way that it can be significantly reduced with the passing of Danish language tests.

• The Danish test level needed to be passed will be lowered from Danish Test 2 (Prøve i Dansk 2) to Danish Test 1 (Prøve i Dansk 1) for permanent residence applicants.

• To achieve permanent residence, applicants must have worked three out of the last five years instead of two years and six months out of the last three years, as the rules currently stand. The new regulations will also consider most educations to be the equivalent of full-time

work. This law will help keep more foreign students and professionals in Denmark. Additionally, the system in which applicants must amass 100 points through work, language and volunteer requirements will be removed.

• As of now, applicants for citizenship must show that they have been self-supporting for four and a half out of the last five years. That will be changed to two and a half out of the last five years. Additionally, the Danish Test 3 (Prøve i Dansk 3) will be lowered to Danish Test 2 (Prøve i Dansk 2) and the difficult citizenship test, which even native Danes have trouble passing, will also be

Immigration continues on page 3

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Week in review

The Copenhagen Post cphpost.dk

14 - 19 April 2012 Tivoli/Bjarke ørsted

It’s go time

THE WEEK’S MOST READ STORIES AT CPHPOST.DK Danes are the world’s happiest ... seriously Aarhus Airport accused of discrimination Pernickety Dicky | Can a foreigner ever become a Dane?

Copenhagen is the best city at being a best city Foreign flags may soon wave proudly

FROM OUR ARCHIVES TEN YEARS AGO. Politicians reject Danish Cancer Society’s call for slashing VAT on healthy foods.

FIVE YEARS AGO. Consumers spend nearly a billion kroner at the supermarkets on the last day before the start of the Easter holidays.

ONE YEAR AGO. Danish warship, the Esbern Snare, frees 18 pirate hostages on the Somali coast and detains 15 pirates and large weapon supplies.

Tivoli amusement park opened the doors on its 170th season on Thursday, meaning that despite the weather’s evidence to the contrary, summer is here

day night or early Sunday morning, but was not discovered until later on Easter morning. The building’s remains were still too hot for investigators to examine until later that evening. Swedish authorities said there was nothing left of the building, making it nearly impossible to determine the exact cause of the fire.

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

Shredded

Domestic intelligence agency PET has come under fire for allegedly shredding files it gathered on politicians. Reports surfaced over Easter that PET had shredded files concerning the trade minister, Ole Sohn (SF, pictured), who was previously chairman of the Danish Communist Party. Karsten Lauritzen (V) said

President and Publisher Ejvind Sandal Chief Executive Jesper Nymark Editor-in-Chief Kevin McGwin Managing Editor Ben Hamilton News Editor Justin Cremer Journalists Peter Stanners, Ray Weaver & Christian Wenande

he believes PET may be attempting to hide its illegal monitoring. “It is very suspicious,” said Lauritzen. Pernille Skipper (EL) agreed. “Sohn and others who were illegally monitored are now unable to clear their names,” said Skipper. PET says that it often shreds information it no longer considers relevant.

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/Torkil Adsersen

Swedish police continue to investigate the cause of the fire that claimed the lives of six Danes, including two children, at a cottage in Tidaholm. Police said that foul play was not suspected and that they were focusing on the cottage’s fireplace and the possible use of candles. The fire apparently started late on Satur-

Scanpix/Keld Navntoft

Scanpix/Mikael Fritzon

Six die in fire

Foster care

A Politiken survey of 159 foster homes revealed that nearly half the caregivers at those facilities have no pedagogical training. Five reported having no trained staff members at all.

Benny Andersen, the president of the national social educators’ union, blames the councils. “It is up to the councils to approve

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staff, and it is obvious that they do not take professionalism seriously,” said Andersen. Concern has also been expressed that some foster children only get to see a trained counsellor twice a year.

The integration minister, Karen Haekkerup (S, pictured), said an examination of staff requirements at foster homes was needed.

Layout and design Justin Cremer Aviaja Bebe Nielsen Logo by Rasmus Koch

Annual home delivery rates: 1 year: 1,200kr 6 months: 750kr 1 year (online): 365kr Discounted bulk rates available.

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News

The Copenhagen Post cphpost.dk

14 - 19 April 2012

Peter Stanners Expert speculates that Denmark’s bad reputation for immigration is responsible for significant drop in the number of applications

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sylum applications in Denmark dropped 23 percent in 2011 compared to the previous year, despite Europe as a whole witnessing a 19 percent increase in applications over the same period.

New figures released by the UN refugee agency, UNHCR, showed that in 2011 only 3,810 individuals applied for asylum in Denmark, compared to 4,970 in 2010. The number of applications had been steadily rising over the previous four years: 1,850 in 2007; 2,360 in 2008; and 3,820 in 2009.

According to the Danish Refugee Council (DRC), the drop in applications may be attributed to Denmark’s reputation as a difficult place to be granted asylum.

“There have not been any systematic studies examining why asylum seekers choose one country over another,” the DRC’s head of asylum, Eva Singer, told Politiken newspaper. “But one part of the explanation may be found in their understanding of which countries offer their best chance of gaining asylum. We can see this with asylum seekers from Somalia, who for many years had their applications turned down in Denmark. The asylum seekers are often advised by traffickers who recommend which countries are best to travel to.”

Singer added that traffickers often advised people of their best chances of being granted asylum, and that the increased knowledge of Denmark’s tightened immigration rules probably affected

Immigration continued from front page

scrapped.

• The steep 8,000 kroner per person fee currently required just to apply to the family reunification scheme will be eliminated.

The minister of justice, Morten Bødskov, said that he is elated that the new government has decided to loosen some of the stifling laws that were passed in 2010 and 2011 under the guidance of the former Venstre-Konservative government and DF. “We will be getting a new immigration policy that will better reflect the political sentiment,” Bødskov told DR News. “We will still have the 24-year rule [which prohibits family reunification if one of the individuals is under the age of 24] and the affiliation requirement [which states that applicants need a stronger connection to Denmark than an-

Vito Manzari / Flickr)

Asylum seekers avoiding Denmark

No evidence to support tighter borders Peter Stanners New revelations show that civil servants desperately tried to find evidence of an increase in cross-border crime – to no avail

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Migrants from north Africa are intercepted by the Italian coastguard in the Mediterranean Sea

where people decided to apply.

Compared to Sweden, Denmark receives a much smaller number of asylum applications relative to the size of its population. Sweden’s population of 9.4 million is less than double Denmark’s 5.6 million, but their 29,650 applications is almost eight times Denmark’s 3,810.

But according to statistics from the EU’s statistics agency, Eurostat, Denmark is an easier place to be granted asylum. Some 42 percent of applicants in Denmark received a positive decision in 2010, compared to only 29.5 percent of applicants in Sweden.

Still, Denmark granted only 1,935 people asylum compared to 19,140 in Sweden, indicating that Denmark may not be shouldering enough of the burden placed on Europe by asylum seekers, especially after the recent influxes caused by the conflicts in north Africa.

This burden is being especially felt in southern European countries such as Italy, Spain and

Greece, which saw a combined 87 percent rise in the number of applications between 2010 and 2011, while the Nordic countries experienced a 10 percent drop over the same period.

The disparity is all the more worrisome considering the economic troubles facing southern Europe, leading to calls for the EU to reform asylum laws and encourage countries such as Denmark to accept greater numbers. In order to do so, however, Denmark will first have to abolish its opt-out on EU directives regarding asylum that it was granted when it signed the Maastricht Treaty. The government has already expressed some readiness for such a move.

“The only sensible solution is to create common European rules so it is not the geographical location of the EU countries that determines the number of asylum seekers,” Zenia Stampe from government coalition partner Radikale told Politiken.

“It would create a much fairer

distribution of asylum seekers, which is why the Radikale are working for common rules and ending Denmark’s opt-out.”

In March, the European parliament approved a plan to increase financial support for member states that accept refugees and asylum seekers that have settled in developing countries, such as Libyan refugees residing in Tunisia.

Denmark has signed up for the voluntary programme, which starts in 2013. Member states will receive €6,000 per refugee in the first year of resettlement, €5,000 in the second and €4,000 in the subsequent years. The value of a refugee is currently a flat €4,000 per year.

The Danish government expressed a commitment following September’s election to reform asylum and improve the living conditions of asylum seekers while they awaited the decisions.

It stated, however, that it would not be changing the criteria by which it granted asylum.

other country], but in the future the immigration laws will be used more to promote integration in Denmark.”

Social advisor Mette Blauenfeldt, who works in the integration department at the refugee-aiding Dansk Flygtningehjælp, is also pleased that the immigration laws are set to become more lenient.

“The new tone indicates that refugees and immigrants should be treated with respect,” Blauenfeldt told the social advisors’ union Dansk Socialrådgiversforening. “The modifications support the new tone. They allow the immigrants to adapt to Denmark quicker because the demands to obtain permanent residence will be reduced.”

While the new immigration laws will move Denmark away from the stricter laws incorporated in 2010 and 2011, immigration lawyer Åge Kramp insists that although things are going in the right direction, the shift is inadequate and the Dan-

ish immigration policy will still be far too stringent.

“It’s a step in the right direction for sure, but the new law fails to deal with several aspects that continue to stigmatise the immigration process here in Denmark,” Kramp told The Copenhagen Post. “I am particularly disappointed that they have chosen to keep the three year penalty associated with receiving social help and thereby continue to use discriminatory laws that simply are not conducive to immigration or integration.”

Kramp continues to battle for the rights of immigrants in Denmark and in January successfully campaigned for a sevenyear-old Thai girl to stay in the country with her family after the authorities had designated her for expulsion.

These sentiments were echoed by immigration reform advocacy group Ægteskab Uden Grænser (Marriage Without Borders) in a recent response to the proposed law.

“Morten Bødskov has conveyed that the law will better represent Danish politics, and that may be true, but in fact it is the Danish political forum that needs to shift,” they wrote. “If Danish immigration policy is to be normalised to the standards befitting a Western nation, then all the debilitating issues must be resolved. Unfortunately the new law will not do that.”

It is important to mention that the new rules will not be retroactive. To be considered within the sphere of the new law, one must wait until they are ratified before starting an application. The exception to this could be if a case is still pending as the law transition takes place.

Kramp said that those who see their cases denied based on old criteria may be able to re-apply under the new rules.

Even with the ratification of the new laws in May and June, Denmark will continue to have some of the most harsh immigration laws in Europe.

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he former government did not have the evidence to support its claim that a rise in cross-border crime justified the installation of permanent custom controls along Danish borders, Jyllands-Posten newspaper reported on Wednesday.

The revelation comes about after the newspaper was granted access to over 6,500 government emails relating to last year’s ‘border scandal’, which reveal how civil servants desperately attempted to find evidence for a supposed rise in cross-border crime.

The decision to instal a permanent border control was made by the former Venstre and Konservative (VKO) government in May 2011 as a concession to their support party, the antiimmigration Dansk Folkeparti (DF), in exchange for DF’s votes on early retirement reform.

As a justification, the government wrote in their border agreement that “in recent years there has been a marked rise in cross-border crime.”

The border controls caused outrage across Europe. Many, including the European Commission, questioned the legality of the move and placed the government under enormous pressure to provide documentation for an increase in cross-border crime.

But the emails in JyllandsPosten’s possession seem to indicate that the government did not have any precise information on how much crime was actually being committed in Denmark by foreign criminals not resident in the country.

The emails reveal how, as a

response to increasing levels of international attention to border controls, the Foreign Ministry applied pressure on both the Tax Ministry and the Justice Ministry.

In an email from the Foreign Ministry’s department of EU law, they demanded that the two ministries provide more evidence for both the European Commission and the international media, who needed “a few more details than the mere statement that crime was rising”.

But evidence was thin on the ground. The Justice Ministry replied that their only evidence was a 63 percent increase in the number of eastern Europeans charged with crimes in Denmark since 2006. The number was deemed insufficient, however, as it did not differentiate between eastern Europeans residing in Denmark and those who had travelled here for the express purpose of committing a crime.

The number of eastern Europeans who had moved to Denmark had risen by 83 percent over the same period – more than the increase in crime committed by the group.

Throughout July, as customs agents began patrolling Danish borders under the gaze of the international media, the two ministries attempted to find evidence to support their claim that increased border control was necessary.

But their attempts were in vain, as the Foreign Ministry ruled that the supposed evidence of increased crime levels was insufficient. By September it no longer mattered, however, as the VKO government lost out to the coalition led by the current PM, Helle Thorning-Schmidt, who promptly dismantled the border controls, thus consigning the ‘border scandal’ to the history books.

ANZAC DAY CEREMONY COPENHAGEN Wednesday 25 April 2012 10.00 am to 12 pm at the Residence of the Australian Ambassador, Øregårds Alle 27, Hellerup (Copenhagen) Australian and New Zealand citizens and other interested members of the public are invited to attend.

Due to security requirements, participants must preregister. Please RSVP to the Australian Embassy by email, copenhagenanzac@gmail.com or call +45 7026 3676 to register your name no later than Monday 16 April 2012.

As this will be an outdoor event, please dress accordingly.

Lest we forget

Cover story

14 - 19 April 2012

Time running out Justin Cremer Bahrain reportedly rejects request to have Abdulhadi al-Khawaja, a Danish citizen, extradited to Denmark

International pressure mounts over al-Khawaja Peter Stanners The Bahraini F1 Grand Prix may be called off due to security fears as protesters continue to clash with police over jailed activist

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A protester holds a poster of imprisoned activist Abdulhadi al-Khawaja, whose hunger strike

sentenced last June on charges of terrorism and attempting to overthrow the government. It has been independently confirmed that al-Khawaja has been subjected to torture, violence and sexual abuse while jailed in Bahrain.

In protest at his sentence and treatment, al-Khawaja began a hunger strike

Scanpix/STR

nternational pressure on Bahrain has been mounting after authorities there refused to hand over Danish pro-democracy activist Abdulhadi al-Khawaja, a decision that was condemned by the UN secretary general Ban Ki-Moon.

Over the past 30 years, al-Khawaja has worked to secure greater freedoms for the majority Shia Muslim population in the tiny Gulf state, which is largely ruled by Sunni Muslims and supported by Saudi Arabia.

He was arrested and convicted to life in prison for his role in peaceful anti-government demonstrations last year.

He began his hunger strike in February in protest at his conviction, but despite the strike entering its tenth week, international diplomatic pressure on Bahrain to release the activist into Danish custody has so far proved futile.

As a result, the Danish press has been calling on global leaders to take a stronger stand against the Bahraini regime and its king, Khalifa, who a year ago last February was awarded the Grand Cross of the Dannebrog, the second highest royal order, by the Queen Margrethe.

“An appeal from Margrethe is perhaps exactly what is needed to make the Bahraini authorities release al-Khawaja,” political expert Henrik Qvortrup wrote in metroXpress newspaper. “The threat of losing the prestigious Grand Cross may get the Bahraini king to pardon al-Khawaja.”

While both the Danish PM, Helle Thorning-Schmidt, and the foreign

minister, Villy Søvndal, have been working to secure al-Khawaja’s release, political party Enhedslisten argues that it is about time the queen used her relationship with the Bahraini King to make diplomatic progress.

“My impression is that Bahrain enjoys its royal relationships and I am sure their ruler was pleased with the lovely medal he received,” MP for Enhedslisten, Per Clausen, said on Radio24syv.

International pressure is also coming in the form of calls for the cancellation of the Bahrain Grand Prix, scheduled for April 22.

Last year’s grand prix was cancelled after demonstrators demanding democratic reform were beaten and shot at by security forces, leading to international condemnation. The continuing strife in the country has led to calls for it to be postponed once again.

On Tuesday, F1 boss Bernie Ecclestone said that the contract with Bahrain may not be renewed while other prominent voices from the motorsport world argued that the race should be called off.

While the race can only be called off by the sport’s governing body, the FIA, Ecclestone said that so far no racing teams had expressed any concern to him.

Still, human rights organisations have questioned how appropriate it is that the race is going ahead given the tense security situation.

“On the ground we see an increasing number of deaths, and serious injuries from tear gas and beatings,” Joe Stork, a spokesman for Human Rights Watch, told the BBC. “We’re seeing in the last couple of weeks a spike in confrontations and clashes, with very deadly results.”

The security situation in Bahrain may also be worsening after seven policemen were injured by a homemade bomb on Monday night in a village near the Bahraini capital, Manama.

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espite what foreign minister Villy Søvndal characterised as the “largest Danish consular effort ever”, Bahrain has reportedly rejected a request to transfer jailed Danish human rights activist Abdulhadi al-Khawaja to Denmark.

The state-run Bahrain News Agency (BNA) reported on Sunday that Bahrain had formally rejected Søvndal’s request to have al-Khawaja, who holds dual Danish and Bahraini citizenship, extradited to Denmark.

“An official source in the Supreme Judiciary Council said that the Criminal Procedures Law stipulates the handing over of accused and convicted persons to foreign countries upon request under specific applicable conditions that should be satisfied, and this does not cover the case of Abdulhadi al-Khawaja,” a short report on BNA read.

Politiken newspaper, however, spoke with Foreign Ministry officials late on Sunday and they indicated that they had not received a rejection of the request from Bahrain and are continuing in their efforts.

On Tuesday, the prime minister, Helle Thorning-Schmidt, said that she had written a letter to both the king and the prime minister of Bahrain demanding the release of the imprisoned Danish citizen Abdulhadi al-Khawaja.

“Denmark demands that al-Khawaja be released,” Thorning-Schmidt said.

“We have worked intensely on that since he was arrested on April 8 of last year.

We have made contact with the Bahraini authorities on many levels. I myself have also sent a letter to the king and Bahrain’s prime minister about the case, in which I of course once again underscored Denmark’s demand to release al-Khawaja.”

Al-Khawaja is serving a life sentence in Bahrain for demonstrating against the incumbent government and organising protests during the Arab Spring uprisings. He and eight others were Scanpix/Mazen Mahdi

Protesters take cover as police fire tear gas rounds into the crowd during a march in the village of Bilad Al-Qadeem on the outskirts of Manama on April 10

Scanpix/Hamad MohammEd

The Copenhagen Post cphpost.dk

Scanpix/Maxen Mahdi

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Graffiti in a Bahraini village calls for the Bahrain Grand Prix to be cancelled

A file picture from June 2007 shows Al-Khawaja attending a human rights meeting in Manama in his capacity as president of the Bahrain Center for Human Rights

on February 2. Now that it has lasted 60 days, his health has worsened drastically. As early as March 13, his lawyer, Mohammed al-Jishi, told Al Jazeera that “he can’t walk and even talking is hard.”

It was reported that al-Khawaja was transferred to a military hospital last week on Friday due to kidney failure.

His family members have indicated that he could die at any moment.

Despite his failing health, al-Khawaja has vowed to continue the hunger strike until he is either free or dead.

Last week, the human rights activist sent a letter to his family, which read very much like a farewell message. His daughter, Zainab al-Khawaja, translated the letter and put it online.

“My dear and beloved family, from behind prison bars, I send to you my love and yearning,” the letter read. “From a free man, to a free family. These prison walls do not separate me from you, they bring us closer together ... We take our strength from beautiful memories.”

Danish officials have been working to secure al-Khawaja’s release for months, but time is quickly running out.

“Unfortunately there is not much time,” Ole Engberg Mikkelsen, a Foreign Ministry official, told Politiken on Sunday. “This is a case in which the clock is ticking. We are continuing our endeavours to convince Bahrain that it is in everyone’s interest that he is delivered [to Denmark].”

news

The Copenhagen Post cphpost.dk

14 - 19 April 2012

Scanpix/Issei Kato

for jailed activist

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Bach said Denmark would support the best candidate, not necessarily Jim Yong Kim

Denmark may vote against US’s World Bank candidate Peter Stanners The American candidate for head of the World Bank is not guaranteed Danish support, the development minister says

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has entered its tenth week, during an anti-government rally in Manama on April 8

In February, al-Khawaja released a letter thanking Danish officials for their attempts at securing his release but encouraged them to do more.

“I am entitled to protection by EU member states in accordance with the EU guidelines on the protection of human rights defenders around the world,” Al-Khawaja wrote. “I would suggest that the Danish authorities kindly put more efforts, in co-ordination with other EUstate members, to take whatever possible actions […] to address my case and the cases of other detained activists.”

Other nations, including the United States, have recently become involved in the efforts to free al-Khawaja.

On Wednesday, the White House released a statement noting the US’s “continued concern for the well-being of jailed activist Abdulhadi Al-Khawaja

and call on the government of Bahrain to consider urgently all available options to resolve his case.”

Al-Khawaja was granted asylum in Denmark after fleeing Bahrain in 1989.

While living in Copenhagen with his wife and daughters, al-Khawaja took on Danish citizenship and established the Bahrain Human Rights Organisation, which works to improve human rights conditions in Bahrain.

He returned to Bahrain in 2001, and maintains that he was repeatedly arrested, beaten during peaceful protests, subjected to travel bans, and had his character assassinated in the media.

Two of Al-Khawaja’s four daughters, Zainab and Maryam, have been vocal in advocating for their father’s release. Zainab al-Khawaja was herself arrested in Bahrain’s capital, Manama, last

week on Thursday during a demonstration against her father’s imprisonment.

She was released on Saturday. Politiken reported that al-Khawaja’s family members tried to visit him in the hospital on Sunday but were denied entry.

On Monday, Maryam expressed concern that her father was being force-fed, but on Wednesday, al-Jishi reported that Abdulhadi al-Khawaja had called his family and said that he had not. His wife said that he sounded very weak on the phone.

Berlingske Nyhedsbureau reported that Danish ambassador Christian Kønigsfeldt was granted access to visit al-Khawaja in the hospital.

His daughters continue to give ongoing updates on their father’s condition on Twitter at @maryamalkhawaja and @angryarabiya.

s the World Bank’s 187 members gear up to elect its next president, Denmark is giving no assurances that it will back the American candidate.

The announcement was made by the development minister, Christian Friis Bach, who met all three of the candidates vying for the top post at the World Bank, the principal lender to developing countries, in Brussels last week.

Every president since the organisation’s inception in 1945 has been American. But Bach, speaking to Politiken newspaper, said the US candidate is no longer a shoe-in.

“The global power balance has been changing in recent years, and Europe has to do something to retain its influence. The US and Asia can make decisions without involving us. It is no coincidence that the US has put forward a candidate who is half South Korean,” Bach said.

“The Americans have been in touch with us, and we have told them that we will choose the candidate who is best suited to managing the most important development institutions in the world.”

Bach has not ruled out voting for the American candidate, Jim Yong Kim, a doctor and leading global health expert.

Kim faces tough competition, however, as unlike his two rivals, José Antonio Ocampo from Columbia and Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala from Nigeria, Kim has neither run a major international organisation, nor does he have their same level of experience in finance and economics.

Instead, many commentators have argued that Okonjo-Iweala, the current Nigerian finance minister and former World Bank managing director,

We will choose the candidate who is best suited to managing the world’s most important development institutions in the world is the most suitable candidate.

“In appointing its next president, the bank’s board should reject the nominee of its most influential shareholder, America, and pick Nigeria’s Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala,” the Economist wrote.

The Financial Times echoed that sentiment. “In this less than ideal world, Mr Kim’s appointment seems inevitable. But if the bank’s shareholders wanted the best president, they would opt for Ms Okonjo-Iweala.”

Søren Pind, the development minister for the previous government, expressed his dissatisfaction with Bach’s statements.

“Christian Friis Bach is not promising support for the American candidate as the new head of the World Bank. It’s completely crazy and is a real break in our close alliance with America. Are there no boundaries for what this government is prepared to destroy?” Pind wrote on Facebook.

Bach responded swiftly, also on Facebook. “I understand that Søren Pind has written on Facebook that we should always choose the American candidate as president of the World Bank rather than the best candidate.

Can I remind the former development minster that it was decided while he was minister that the position should be filled as a result of qualifications through an open process.”

The new president will be determined at the World Bank’s spring meeting on April 20.

Online this week Enhedslisten threatening to scupper budget

Denmark and Canada set to share island

Scientists warn of Jutland tsunami threat

If the government continues its mass reform of the welfare system, it may lose the support of the left-wing Enhedslisten, taking away its majority and forcing a new election to be called. Enhedslisten spokesperson Johanne Schmidt-Nielsen has warned that the Socialdemokraterne-led government’s

Denmark is on the brink of getting a new neighbour: Canada. A proposed border on the tiny Hans Island will only be about one kilometre, but it would settle a sovereignty dispute that has been a thorn in the side of Danish-Canadian relations for almost 40 years. The debate stems from a cartographic decision made when

The geographers Jürgen Newig and Dieter Kelletat from the University of Kiel in northern Germany have studied a tsunami that hit the North Sea coastline in 1858 and have concluded that it could happen again. “The risk of tsunamis off the North Sea

ambitions to reform the flex-job programme, early retirement and social security could lead to a major conflict in parliament.

“The more the government continues to erode social services, the more improvements Enhedslisten have to push through in the budget,” Schmidt-Nielsen told Jyllands-Posten newspaper.

drawing up the maritime boundaries in 1973. The boundary stops at the southern tip of the island and continues again from the northern edge. The plan is to connect the two points and, in doing so, the island will be split in half. The proposal has not yet been approved by the Danish or Canadian governments.

coastal area is greater than previously thought,” Kelletat told the German newspaper Der Spiegel.

Meteorological institute DMI, however, has released a report that suggested that the risk of a tsunami off Danish coasts was very low.

Read the full stories at cphpost.dk

6 News Iraq commission to investigate Danish involvement in war The Copenhagen Post cphpost.dk

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enmark’s involvement in the Iraq War is to be examined over the coming five years by an investigative committee, the government announced on Wednesday.

At a press conference, Morten Bødskov, the justice minister, said the Iraq Commission will have two main goals.

It will firstly investigate the justification for joining the war in 2003 that was given by the former Venstre and Konservative (VKO) coalition government and also examine whether it suppressed any information about Denmark’s involvement in the war to parliament.

The second goal is to investigate the treatment of prisoners held by Danish soldiers in both Iraq and Afghanistan after claims Danish forces illegally handed over prisoners that were subsequently tortured.

The three-person committee – made up of a lawyer, a law professor and chaired by a judge – will examine all of the relevant material and may call witnesses to testify.

Bødskov said that while the committee’s intention was to determine the facts, the findings may result in negative consequences for some individuals.

“The government does not rule out that people will be held accountable. That is up to the commission,” Bødskov said.

The decision to follow the USA and the UK into Iraq split the Danish parliament and was only approved by a narrow margin in March 2003, with 61 votes in favour, 50 against and

Scanpix/henning Bagger

Opposition argues the government’s Iraq Commission is merely an attempt to smear their political opponents

Danes are largely in favour of letting the wealthiest pay for the welfare state

The government will investigate whether Denmark was justified in going to war in Iraq

68 abstentions. All three parties in the current government coalition – Socialistiske Folkeparti, Socialdemokraterne and Radikale Venstre (S-SF-R) – voted against participating in the war.

After beating the VKO government in September’s election, the formation of the commission was listed as a key goal in the S-SF-R common government platform.

“The government will set up a commission of inquiry to shed light on the background of the Danish decision to participate in the War in Iraq, as well as potential problems relating to Denmark’s observance of international conventions in connection with warfare in Iraq and Afghanistan,” they wrote.

The commission has been roundly criticised by the opposition – including Per Stig Møller from Konservative, who served as foreign minister for a decade during the VKO government – who argue the motivations are politically motivated.

“It is a tactic to raise suspicion about political opponents and is completely foreign to the Danish political system,” Møller told Jyllands-Posten

newspaper. “It’s a waste of time and tax payer’s money because there is nothing secret to discover.”

Søren Pind from opposition party Venstre said the commission is a petty attempt by the current government to throw mud at their political opponents.

“According to our constitution, we have the right to declare war even if it’s purely because we don’t like the colour of socks that people in another country wear,” Pind said, according to JyllandsPosten. “They are not going to find that anyone broke the law.”

But far-left government support party Enhedslisten welcomed the commission as being long overdue.

“As far as we are concerned, it is important to shed light on the whole case and we are pleased that the murky truth behind the Danish involvement in the Iraq War will be revealed,” Frank Aaen said, according to Jyllands-Posten.

Both the former PM, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, and the former defence minister, Søren Gade, have said that they will participate in the commission, which is expected to cost anywhere between five and 12 million kroner a year.

Historian claims to find “worst case” of Cold War spying East German documents said to reveal name and activities of well-known Dane who spied against his own country

C

old war historian Thomas Wegener Friis claims to have uncovered the identity of a Danish man that he says was involved in “serious cases” of subversive activities and espionage against his own country.

Friis said he cannot reveal the man’s identity “for legal reasons”, only saying that he is still alive and is well-known.

The information, according to Friis, was uncovered accidentally in previously unexamined classified documents.

The papers related to the operations

colourbox

Peter Stanners

14 - 19 April 2012

of the East German Ministry for State Security. Better known as the Stasi, the ministry engaged in extensive spy operations against Denmark and other countries during the Cold War. “I am not a lawyer so I do not know if he broke any laws,” Friis told JyllandsPosten newspaper. “But this information shocks me. What he did was ugly and hurt Denmark.”

“The Stasi was a bureaucracy that produced enormous quantities of paper. If an agent had a relationship with a person of interest, a document was placed in a folder. The information was not searchable and was impossible to find unless you knew it was there. I stumbled upon it by chance,” he said.

Friis said he may release the man’s name when he has pieced together more information.

Friis believes that the US Central Intelligence Agency has been aware of the information he has uncovered for more than a decade.

“Everything I see suggests that (Danish) authorities could have had this information 15 years ago,” he said.

“The country would have been better served if it had been handled sooner.”

“We have caught some small fish before, but this is a case of a completely different calibre. This is undoubtedly the worse espionage case in Danish history. Sometimes reality surpasses even the wildest fiction,” he said. (RW)

More than half say rich should pay more Peter Stanners Only a quarter of Danes think the wealthiest should not pay the greatest share of society’s costs

A

majority of Danes believe the wealthiest should shoulder a greater share of the tax burden to pay for society’s expenses such as the welfare state, a new study has revealed.

The survey, carried out by YouGov for Ugebrevet A4, asked whether individuals agreed with the principle that the ‘broadest shoulders’ should bear the greatest burden.

Over half - 53 percent - of those polled said they agreed with the principle, though support was greater from voters of left-wing parties than centrist or right-wing parties.

Seventy-nine percent of Socialdemokraterne (S) voters and 84 percent of Enhedslisten voters agreed, while only 23 percent of Konservative voters and 24 percent of Liberal Alliance voters agreed.

Despite this spread, only 27 percent of all respondents said they partially or completely disagreed with the statement, leading to experts and politicians arguing that the results of the survey indicate a continued support for the welfare state in Denmark.

“There is a long tradition in Denmark of support for the welfare state,” Bent Greve, a professor from the department of society and globalisation at Roskilde University, told Ugebrevet A4. “Many people believe that we should distribute the financing of social services so that everyone has access to a majority of services.”

Magnus Heunicke (S) argued that the study flew in the face of commentators that claim Danes are abandon-

The study contradicts the supposed move towards the right by Danish society ing their overwhelming support for the welfare state.

“The study contradicts the supposed move towards the right by Danish society, which has been pure rightwing spin,” Heunicke said. “It shows that Danes are a people who still highly value solidarity. And this pleases me immeasurably.”

The results of the survey also demonstrated how some parties were split on the issue, in particular opposition party Venstre (V). Forty-three percent of V’s voters polled said that they disagreed that the rich should pay more, while 35 percent said that they agreed.

V lost the election last September, but is currently the single largest polling party.

“Venstre has become a centre-seeking party that appeals to many different groups in society,” Martin Ågerup from the thinktank Cepos told Ugebrevet A4, adding that while the party has been capturing voters from many other parties, it may not necessarily hang on to them all. “It may give an opportunity to smaller parties to syphon off some of their voters.”

The study also demonstrated a link between wage levels and support for the principle that the wealthiest should carry a greater burden. Sixty-six percent of Danes earning between 200,000 and 400,000 kroner a year answered that they agreed with the principle, while only 39 percent of those earning over 800,000 kroner agreed.

Online this week More to spend their golden years outside of Denmark

More than expected likely to drop early retirement scheme

City to crack down on disabled parking cheats

It is becoming more popular for older immigrants and refugees to return to their native countries to live out the last part of their lives. Figures from the Danish Refugee Council show that nearly twice as many older immigrants returned home in 2011 than in 2010. Although the numbers are still relatively

New figures indicate that up to 400,000 Danes are choosing to leave the efterløn programme early, after a reform of the programme in December shortened the duration, from five years to three, in which Danes can withdraw from the job market before retirement age. From April 2, it became possible for people to

Copenhagen’s parking authority is joining forces with disability advocacy group Dansk Handicaporganisationer to crack down on the abuses of disabled parking permits in Copenhagen, reports public broadcaster DR. The city’s Cen-

small – just 370 in 2010 and 613 in 2011 – they seem to indicate a desire among people to spend their final years in their homeland. The largest groups heading home are elderly Bosnians, Turks and Serbs. The state gives over 120,000 kroner to an immigrant or refugee that wants to return to their home country.

withdraw from the programme and receive their contributions in one tax-free lump sum. An analysis by pension fund Danica and survey institute Userneeds has predicted that seven out of ten Danes have made a decision on their efterløn and about 40 percent of them have decided to withdraw.

tre for Parkering plans to work with the handicap organisation to coordinate registration information between the two groups so that parking wardens can immediately check if the disabled parking permit displayed on a vehicle is legitimate.

Read the full stories at cphpost.dk

NEWS

THE COPENHAGEN POST CPHPOST.DK

14 - 19 April 2012

7

JUSTIN CREMER

British media sing our praises and the Danish press laps it up

PETER STANNERS

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Denmark is the best at being happy according to a new UN ‘happiness’ survey

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HE COPENHAGEN POST recently poked fun at Denmark and its capital Copenhagen for being ‘the best at being the best’ due to their uncanny ability to regularly top ‘best of ’ surveys and polls.

If only to confirm our prejudices, it was announced last week that Danes have again been crowned the happiest people, this time by the UN in its first ‘World Happiness Report’.

Denmark was ranked first, while African countries Togo and Benin came in last and second last respectively.

Scandinavian and Nordic countries dominated the top spots, with Finland taking second, Norway third, and Sweden seventh, while the US took 11th and the UK 18th.

And while European countries were highly represented in the top ten, being European is no guarantee of happiness, as Bulgaria’s position as 146th most happy, or fifth most unhappy, confirms.

The results were based on in-

If you’re happy and you know it, clap your hands ACCORDING to the first ‘World Happiness Report’, happiness lives in Europe, home to seven of the top ten happiest countries.

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

9.

10.

Denmark Finland Norway Netherlands Canada Switzerland Sweden New Zealand Australia Ireland

terviews with 1,000 people over the age of 15 in each of the 155 countries surveyed.

The countries were then ranked on a scale of one to ten, ten being happiest. Danes received an average score of just under eight while the Togolese had a score of a little over three.

S IF ONCE again being declared the world’s happiest nation wasn’t enough to stroke the national ego, the British press added to the flames over the past week with a collection of articles on the fabulousness of Copenhagen.

First up, the Guardian posted a 1,400-word tome espousing the wonders of the city. Following on from a previous piece in which it told its readers that they should all move to Nørrebro, some may wonder if the Guardian is in cahoots with tourism organisation Visit Copenhagen.

The latest effusive praise, entitled ‘Copenhagen really is wonderful, for so many reasons’, was written by Copenhagen-based blogger Cathy Strongman – a contributor to InOut – and was a tribute to the Danish work-life balance, national welfare system, Danish design, and several of the other predictable candidates.

The national Danish press ate up the praise, and Facebook and Twitter feeds lit up with links to the story. Both Politiken and Berlingske newspapers ran articles with headlines declaring that the Guardian “lavishes praise on Denmark” and a rundown of

Foreign flags may soon wave proudly

COLOURBOX

PETER STANNERS Politicians want permission to fly flags from countries other than Denmark

How a happy Danish family looks after they’ve finished reading the Guardian

Stongman’s list of compliments.

However, Berlingske made no mention of any of the less than glowing parts of Strongman’s lengthy love letter. Politiken, at least, pointed out that Stongman included high prices and bad weather as Copenhagen’s negative sides, but it conveniently left out any mention of her comments that Danes display “a greater willingness to conform” and that in Copenhagen there is “a lack of ... cultural diversity and understanding” and “an unspoken fear among

many that this perfect society, which functions so efficiently because of universally high taxes, might shatter under the strain of an influx of immigrants”.

Not to be outdone by its competitors, BBC then got into the game by publishing a travel article entitled ‘Living green in Copenhagen’, in which it declared our fair city “Europe’s greenest” and praised Copenhagen’s cycling culture and our apparent penchant for organic food and fabrics.

Even Jeremy Clarkson, the

host of BBC’s popular motoring programme ‘Top Gear’, penned a column for The Sunday Times in which he expressed admiration for the Danes’ use of the old iron horse.

Both additional feathers in Denmark’s cap were dutifully reported by the national press.

With all these reminders from across the North Sea about how wonderful we are – which then make the rounds through a self-glorifying echo chamber – it’s no wonder we’re so damn happy.

We have the largest collection of fine hand-knotted carpets in Denmark

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A

BAN ON the flying of flags from countries other than Denmark may be lifted if the Radikale (R) gets its way.

Speaking to TV2 News last week, R’s Zenia Stampe said it was about time Denmark ended the ban and allowed foreign flags to be raised here.

“Flags are merely a symbol,” Stampe said. “I love Denmark, I love our flag, but I also love the rest of the world.”

Pia Kjærsgaard, the leader of the anti-immigration Dansk Folkeparti, disagreed that flags other than the Danish ‘Dannebrog’ should be allowed.

“We have to respect the Dannebrog and only permit the Dannebrog to be flown on Danish flagpoles,” Kjærsgaard told TV2 News. “One should not be able to raise flags from Somalia, Pakistan or Turkey.”

While the Socialistisk Folkeparti and Enhedslisten parties both support the proposal, 85 percent of people polled on the TV2 News website disagreed.

The negative response to the proposal led to Stampe writing on Facebook that if she lived abroad, she would appreciate being able to raise the Dannebrog

COLOURBOX

Danes are the world’s And if you don’t believe us, just ask the British press happiest ... seriously

Most Danes are against the notion of anything besides the Dannebrog flying above their rosehips and summer homes

on her child’s birthday.

“Raising a flag is an expression, and I believe in the freedom of expression,” Stampe wrote. “And now I am being called a ‘Dane hater’? Oh, come on.”

The rules in Denmark for the flying of flags stipulate that only the Dannebrog is allowed to be flown in Denmark, although there are a few exceptions. Embassies of foreign countries may fly their own flags because the land that they

are built on is not Danish but the property of the embassy’s home country.

It is also legal to fly the flags of Greenland, the Faroe Islands, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden, the EU and the UN without having to seek any special permission.

Permission can be granted to fly the flag of another country as long as a Danish flag of the same size is also flown with similar prominence to the foreign flag.

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8

OPINION

THE COPENHAGEN POST CPHPOST.DK

14 - 19 April 2012

Sins of diplomatic past haunting Bahrain stand-off

Executive salaries – you get what you pay them

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T CAN’T be easy for Danish diplomats these days, knowing that their efforts to free Danish citizen Abdulhadi al-Khawaja continue to fall on deaf ears while the democracy activist’s life ebbs out after a hunger strike that has lasted more than two months.

But Bahrain’s failure to acquiesce underscores that when it comes to diplomacy, two things hold true: size matters, and actions speak louder than words.

Seen from the Western world, al-Khawaja’s case is cut and dry: a man calling for democracy was arrested, sentenced to life in prison and while in confinement has reportedly been mistreated.

Seen in that light, Denmark has done what it should by launching an all-out diplomatic effort to free one of its citizens. We shouldn’t accept anything less.

What must be frustrating for Danish diplomats, though, is that despite this being such a clear case of unjust imprisonment in our eyes, and despite Denmark’s support of multi-nationalism, it has been unable to get the EU or the US to do more to free al-Khawaja.

Given the European cacophony it’s no surprise that the union won’t put more pressure on the government in Manama, but it must be a disappointment that the US, the power player in the Persian Gulf, isn’t using its clout to free a citizen of one its closest allies in recent years.

The question Danish foreign policymakers should be asking themselves, however, is whether they would even need a diplomatic big brother had the country shown more willingness in recent years to pay attention to the sensitivities of other countries, particularly in the Muslim world.

Thanks primarily to its decision to stick to its guns during the international uproar over the publication (and re-publication) of the Mohammed drawings, Denmark has found itself grouped with countries like the US and Israel by flag-burning radicals in the Muslim world.

That’s a position that isn’t improved by the country’s participation in the drawn-out military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, or by a domestic political tone that often demonises Muslims.

Policymakers should also think about how it sounds to other countries when Denmark demands they free people who have broken their laws, yet it refuses to hand over someone for trial in a country where he admits breaking laws, as is the case with confessed gunrunner Niels Holck.

In the end, Bahrain’s unwillingness to free one of its citizens has probably much more to do with its internal politics than anything else, but it would be a tragedy if he – or any other Dane – were made to atone for the sins of Denmark’s diplomatic past.

Denmark’s only English-language newspaper

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MARTIN ÅGERUP

E

XECUTIVE salaries are again a matter of discussion in the press. A lot of people have trouble understanding why a bank president, managing directors or, as a concrete example, Dong executives, should be earning millions of kroner.

Most of us don’t see any problems with high salaries if they reflect the value of an employee’s work. But people do have trouble accepting that an executive could create so much value for a company.

That’s understandable. The fewest among us actually have an idea of what it is an execu-

Imagine that a board needs to hire a new managing director for a company that earns 2 billion kroner a year, and that the list of applicants has been narrowed down to two. The board’s preferred candidate is asking for 10 million kroner more than the other one. Is it really possible for one person to be worth 10 million kroner more for a company than someone else? The answer is, “yes, without a doubt”. If the preferred candidate is capable of increasing profits more than the other can, he (or she) would be worth a lot of money to shareholders.

In fact, for every percentage point the new managing director was able to increase profitability, the company’s profits would increase by 20 million kroner.

Let’s assume that the preferred candidate, through effective leadership, could raise profitability by five percentage points to 15 percent, while the secondbest candidate could only deliver a 13 percent profitability margin. Even though those two percentage points don’t seem like much, for the company they mean an extra 40 million kroner a year. Seen in that perspective, the extra 10 million kroner in salary shouldn’t be seen as un-

reasonable. Hiring the candidate with the lower salary requirements would, in fact, go against shareholders’ best interests, since they’d wind up losing money.

This isn’t to say that a highly paid executive is the same as a good executive. We live in a world where it’s only in hindsight that we have 20-20 vision.

Mistakes are made.

Not all footballers are worth what they get paid either. Some players with big contracts never live up to expectations. Maybe they don’t get along with their coaches, or maybe they lose their drive or get hurt. One of the important factors of success in football is being able to hire the right players for the team.

Just like footballers can wind up not being worth what they get paid, executives can also fail to live up to expectations. But, that’s not the same as saying all executives get paid too much.

Nor is it a reason for politicians to get involved.

The author is the president and chief executive of the Center for Political Studies (Cepos), an independent think tank promoting a society based on freedom, responsibility, private initiative and limited government.

READER COMMENTS No, not the ballet boiler movie, this Black Swan’s a new bar I was a little more than surprised to find the caption: “Bodil from the Netherlands, one pint and she’s anyone’s. Lucky man.” This is a terrible thing to say about someone. I understand that top quality journalism was not the priority of such an article, however I do feel that the writer, Mike Hofman, should show some respect and manners to the subjects of his work. What kind of assumptions are you making about this woman and her character, and then publishing them in a newspaper that is read by the international community? I don’t even know her and I’m annoyed! As a writer and photographer myself I understand the benefit of cheeky banter, but this is just plain rude and the writer and editor of this piece should be ashamed of themselves. How would you feel if this was you or someone you were close to? Perhaps the nice thing to do would be to find Bodil and apologise for basically calling her a drunken slag in print along with a photo of her being pawed at by the so called “lucky man”.

Stephen Akehurst By email Still adjusting | The great green swindle

www.cphpost.dk

tive does. We’ve never tried to manage a company that has thousands of employees. What’s more, much executive work goes on behind closed doors in order to prevent competitors from catching wind of corporate secrets.

Football stars also earn loads of money. Lionel Messi earned the equivalent of 230 million kroner in 2010. That’s far more than executives at even some of the largest companies earn.

The Superliga isn’t quite as open about how much players earn, but according to insiders the highest-paid players in the domestic football league earn about 450,000 kroner a month.

Yet footballer salaries aren’t the subject of the same criticism as executive salaries. That could be because most people know significantly more about football than executive management, and that Messi and the other stars perform bathed in the spotlight and their every moves are caught on camera.

But just like the right player can be worth his weight in gold for a football club, the right executive can be worth his (or her) weight in gold for a major company.

It’s easier to sit in Christiansborg and pay lip service to an issue by creating an artificial tax or fee than it actually is to really work hard and implement real measures to solve a problem.

Thorvaldsen By website

It still cracks me up when selfimportant Danes lecture me about American wastefulness, when I think back to my days in Boston and the surrounding suburbs and its curbside recycling. (In place since the early‘90s, in fact!)

HeidiakaMissJibba By website Danes simply have too much disposable income on average.

I’ve seen countless things being throw away that were still of use to someone. I’ve even seen neighbours putting out working TVs, computers and printers.

Surely some charity would be able to find a better use for them than a landfill? How about even just giving them to the poor that might have use for them?

Shufflemoomin By website Aarhus Airport accused of discrimination This does not surprise me at all.

Around 2004, I was coming home to Denmark after a business trip. As I went through the customs area in Billund airport, one of the custom officers asked me, in Danish, if I had any alcohol or tobacco in my suitcase. I answered in English: “No, I am not Danish.” Pissed him off royally. For the next five years, every time I came home through Billund, if this jerk was on duty I was guaranteed a suitcase check.

He would even stop someone else’s search in mid-search and send them packing so he could pull me over. I eventually began putting the smelliest used socks and underwear on top just to

mess with him. It is not about security, safety, or following the rules, it is all about power given to bureaucratic morons. Danish bureaucratic morons are no better than anywhere else.

Tom By website Blimey don’t even think about trying Newark unless you are a US citizen. This is small fry by comparison; I doubt these people were made to queue for hours while the local lads were whisked past.

Bo Abrahamsen,

by Facebook Illegal immigrants flocking to Denmark I am legally here and I don’t want to talk to SKAT, so there’s nothing strange there. If these people are actually willing to work, then we should be helping them get legal papers and find affordable housing instead of giving out free heroin and apartments to Danes who don’t want to work.

Thorvaldsen By website Given how stringent and confusing Denmark’s immigration laws are (and how poorly Udlændingeservicen enforces them), isn’t virtually any foreigner that crosses the border an illegal immigrant?

The1youlove2hate By website Islam debate takes centre stage in Aarhus Can anyone who is a Muslim please give me a good reason for why you came to Denmark?

Normally, if someone comes to a

different country, it would be because they are unhappy in their original situation. What is it that attracted you to Denmark? You knew beforehand what Denmark is like. It would seem that you thought you would like it as it was. Why then, are you now trying to make major changes to society? You may say you were welcomed – but in fact it is only 5 percent that say ‘welcome to Denmark’. Have you heard the saying “When in Rome, do as the Romans do” – it means that the newcomer should try to fit in with the society they are joining.

The majority of Danes are very unhappy with unrest caused by this situation. Please leave, so Denmark can go back to normal again.

Disgusted_Dane1 By website Their reasons are private to themselves. Just as mine are to come here. We have shown to be decent enough, adaptable enough, and self-supporting enough and that should be enough. We are as law abiding as anyone here and then some more. As long as we keep acting that way, just shut up, will you? You are not welcome to interrogate us in any way. That has been done and is being done right now by the government. People like you have already made things unnecessarily, arbitrarily, unfairly difficult.

If somebody commits a crime, the law is clear. Else, you are welcome to let respectable people live respectably without further questioning or baiting.

Loroferoz By website

OPINION

THE COPENHAGEN POST CPHPOST.DK

14 - 19 April 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 play’s the thing …

WWW.CTCIRCLE.DK

A

LL THINGS cultural were, in many respects, a lot different in Copenhagen in 1979 than they are now. Having been a member of two thriving amateur theatrical groups in Geneva, I came here to find a small bunch of people calling themselves the Copenhagen Theatre Circle (CTC). At the first general meeting I attended, there must have been a grand total of half a dozen members and they hadn’t put on a play for two years. And this was the only source of live theatre in the English language in Copenhagen, and probably in the whole of Denmark. Something had to be done! With a bit of effort, more people heard of the group and we gradually built up a critical mass so that we could put on two or even three plays a year.

Theatre spaces seemed to be more available in those days. I remember performing at Det Danske Teater in Bellahøj, at the now defunct Windsor Teater in Frederiksberg, at the old Skovriderkroen in Charlottenlund, and at Teatret bag Kroen in Ordrup, soon to be pulled down to make room for flats and a Netto.

Most fondly of all, I remember the lovely little theatre in Lyngby Storcenter, long since ripped out to make room for more lucrative shops and replaced by the socalled ‘kulturcenter’ across the

The CTC’s 2001 programme included a spring production of ‘Allo Allo’

street, comprising fast-food outlets and soulless cinemas reeking of popcorn. After that we found Krudttønden in Østerbro, and with one or two exceptions, we’ve been there ever since.

Not only did the CTC expand but new, professional companies performing serious works

in the English language started appearing. The first of these was That Theatre Company founded

by Ian Burns in 1997, to be followed in 2007 by the Why Not Theatre Company founded by CTC members Sue HansenStyles and Nathalie Johnson. All these developments have clearly

Theatre spaces seemed to be more available in those days

reflected a growing market for theatre that all can enjoy because it is in a language that all can understand, Danes and nonDanes alike. The fact that none of this was (or yet has been) instigated by those who purport to want to attract foreign workers and tourists is further proof of a lack of understanding of their needs – or an unwillingness to understand them. Pretending to provide ‘international theatre’ in the summer by resorting to nothing more than circus (most of which is conveniently mute) is an insult.

When I chose to write this article, I intended to draw attention finally to the one Danish professional theatre that is actually leading the way in producing shows in English. That theatre is Republique, which has brought a breath of fresh air into the otherwise stifled (and stifling) atmosphere of the Copenhagen theatre establishment.

It seems, however, that Republique is in real danger of being closed in favour of an ‘open stage’, one that is not run by a self-styled artistic director but is open for hire. (Artistic directors are the kind who insist that reading Breivik’s manifesto is ‘art’, whereas we all know it’s just an opportunity to cash in: one actor + large audiences = $$$.) God knows we need an open theatre, but why single out Republique?

I leave it to you, dear reader, and your conspiracy theorist friends to think on’t.

But back to the CTC. In a few short years we will be celebrating half a century of bringing high-quality Englishlanguage theatre to Copenhagen audiences. And being amateur, we can more easily mount largecast productions. In the last three shows alone, including the current one, we have put nearly 50 actors on the stage and played to full houses. That includes people of many nationalities, including Danes. In October we will be producing the premiere in Denmark of Tim Firth’s ‘Calendar Girls’, again with a sizeable cast, and after that our annual pantomime, this time ‘Aladdin’. We certainly ain’t just a cosy little ‘expat’ society theatre any more!

In my 70th year, I am proud not only to be the current chair of the CTC but also to be making my debut as a director with our April production of Neil Simon’s ‘The Good Doctor’. I am working with a talented cast of ten and have no doubt that, once again, the CTC will thrill its audiences with a thoroughly satisfying evening of entertainment. The production plays at Krudttønden from 18-28 April (See G3 for more details). Tickets to all our shows are available through our website at www.ctcircle.dk. See you there!

CPH POST VOICES

‘MACCARTHY’S WORLD’

‘THE LYNCH REPORT’

‘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.

English-Australian theatre director Stuart Lynch has lived in Copenhagen since Clinton impeached his cigars and writes from the heart of the Danish and international theatre scene. He is married with kids and lives in Nørrebro. Visit his Danish theatre at www.lynchcompany.dk.

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

14 - 19 April 2012

KaosPilots earn their wings in unconventional programme Kaos Pilots

Stephanie Brickman Entrepreneurial programme in Aarhus gets students ready for the real world

W

orking your tail off for a title with the word ‘chaos’ in it, may not sound like a good move, but that’s the quest 35 entrepreneurs embark upon in Aarhus each year. The (mostly young) hopefuls arrive for the three-year programme hoping to earn their wings as KaosPilots (Chaos Pilots).

The idea is that students steer a path through chaos to become leaders, entrepreneurs and captains of industry. Some 40 percent of KaosPilots go on to establish their own businesses.

The school was founded in 1991

by Uffe Elbæk, the current minister of culture, citing as its mission “to be the best school for the world”. After wading through rafts of clichés and slogans on their website, you might feel inclined to shrug it all off as nonsense, but there’s something undeniably earnest about the school’s endeavours.

Between 90 and 200 people apply each year, 70 take part in the threeday selection process and just 35 gain places in the course, which is taught in English. From then on, nothing but real life will do according to Christer Windeløv-Lidzelius, the headteacher of KaosPilots since 2006.

“We don’t simulate. Companies use what we do and produce; they’re real clients that pay money or in kind,” he said.

“Our students create their own projects and companies. You have to make the student believe in their own abilities, so on your first day at school you start working on an assignment that feels overwhelming.”

Who needs a desk? KaosPilots due a lot of their learning through various workshops and activities

Originally from Sweden and an entrepreneur himself, Windeløv-Lidzelius is keen to emphasise that the teachers in the school all have real-life experience.

“You can have great professors at universities but very often they’ve never been leaders or entrepreneurs,” he said.

“We try to balance that, all our teachers are role models.”

But does the conventional world of international business, where a blue rather than grey suit is considered risqué, take KaosPilots seriously?

“In the Scandinavian countries, a lot of companies know and respect what we do. In a country where we are less known it could be more difficult,” admitted Windeløv-Lidzelius. “But our students are good at adapting. If they

want to work in a financial institution in London, they’ll adapt.”

That was the spirit that made Andy Sontag, a 24-year-old from the American state of Ohio, shift his ambitions from an MBA programme at the University of California Berkley and set his sights on Aarhus.

“I watched a video of Uffe Elbæk and he inspired me,” Sontag said. “I also remember jumping out of my chair when I read the school’s mission – ‘to be the best school for the world’. I think it’s such a noble mission. I don’t see why I should suffer through an MBA when I can have fun the whole way through being educated and then still get a really good job.”

While EU student fees are funded

by the Ministry of Education, as a nonEU student Sontag faces a 314,000 kroner price tag for the three-year programme and will be needing lucrative employment to pay off his debts. Is he worried about whether the credential of the KaosPilots programme will stand up against a more mainstream school?

“I recently had a realisation,” he said. “I’m in no way worried about getting my dream job. The work here has given me the ability to seek out employers and create my own job. Before I came here I had a clear vision of what I wanted to achieve, now I have a hundred things that draw me. I’m just about to travel to Cape Town, South Africa, where I’ll be creating a strategic business plan for an innovation and design hub.”

Windeløv-Lidzelius, meanwhile, is also setting his sights further afield and a branch of KaosPilots is being set up in Switzerland.

“My hope is that we’ll grow and we’re experimenting with not only delivering our three-year programme but also doing trainings and other courses for companies, giving us a larger customer base,” Windeløv-Lidzelius said.

“It’s important to keep track of what’s important - we produce some of the world’s greatest graduates, the enterprising leaders that the world really needs.”

And who are these fledgling figureheads? The student body remains largely Scandinavian but, according to Windeløv-Lidzelius, they come from diverse backgrounds.

“We have successful entrepreneurs, artists, a former Air Force pilot….it’s their ambition that unites them, not their background,” he said. “There’s a difference between reality and idealism.

Our students may find it harder to get jobs than they did ten years ago, but a lot of our students create jobs within companies that didn’t exist before they worked with them. Some create jobs as entrepreneurs. This confidence is important and it’s vital that our students believe that the future can be better than the present.”

With some 95 percent of their alumni working, employment is clearly not an issue for newly qualified KaosPilots. The independent think tank Mondag Morgen proclaimed that “ideas and education” were the basic skills for tomorrow’s labour market, adding ominously “the Danish education system does not reward innovators.”

Could a little bit of Kaos be the key?

Where Earth Hour is a 24 hour-a-day occurrence, all year round Richard Steed Look beyond the luxurious exterior of lavish Hilton, and this hotel is ecologically modest and quietly revolutionary

O

n Saturday 31 March at exactly 8:30 in the evening all across Copenhagen something special happened. The city went into virtual darkness, as people turned their lights off for one hour to celebrate Earth Hour 2012. In just five years, Earth Hour has become the biggest climate event in the world. Created to raise awareness about the need to tackle climate change, last year a staggering 5,200 cities and towns in over 135 countries took part.

One of the first people to take part in this global event here in Denmark was Claus Steiner, the general manager of the Hilton Copenhagen Airport. Back in 2008, he decided to celebrate Earth Hour by inviting all his staff to a screening of Al Gore’s film ‘An Inconvenient Truth’ in the hotel’s cinema suite.

“This film has had a big impact on my life; I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve seen it now,” said Steiner. “I thought it would be a good idea to show my staff the film to try and create some awareness amongst them.”

His simple idea certainly worked and just recently his forward-thinking hotel was voted by Hilton Worldwide

Upon his visit last autumn, Al Gore took the opportunity to sign the hotel’s ‘Charity of Fame’ chair, which is signed by visiting celebrities and will eventually be auctioned to raise funds for the Danish Red Cross

as the most sustainable of all its 3,800 branches. Yet this march towards sustainability has been a quiet yet revolutionary one.

Steiner is not interested in trying to be the ‘greenest hotel in Copenhagen’, contending that labels are easy to demolish, as he thinks the proof is in the

Simple yet effective small steps can make a big difference

actions being taken on a daily basis. He does admit though that it was initially his passion that helped drive and engage his work colleagues into action. After the Al Gore film, a special green team was set up with the aim of empowering the staff into making decisions about how to make the hotel more sustainable.

“Right from the start, the ethos was that any member of staff who had a great idea should come with their proposals. This helped make it an inclusive green team who were open to suggestions,” said Steiner.

“One of the green team recommended that the extractor fan in the main kitchen should be turned off at non-peak hours to stop wasting energy – this initiative has now been rolled out at all Hilton hotels worldwide. Another idea was to send all the excess soap not used by guests to Africa. So it’s simple yet effective small steps that can make a big difference.”

In only four years, the list of achievements are impressive, along with the added bonus of saving money on the hotel’s utility bills. Last year alone, the hotel made energy savings of 19.6 percent, cut its waste by 14.5 percent, and water consumption by 4.1 percent.

“It’s sometimes a fine balance between making a difference and ensuring all our guests get the comfort they expect from a Hilton hotel, but I believe you can offer top-class hospitality with a conscience,” said Steiner.

The icing on the cake came last year when Al Gore stayed at the hotel. Steiner and his green team were able to show him all the changes that have taken place, since that life-changing cinema date back in 2008. “It was a real honour to show him in person and a once-in-a life-time experience,” he concluded.

COMMUNITY

THE COPENHAGEN POST CPHPOST.DK

14 - 19 April 2012

11

How a foreign minister spent his vacation in the land of the French PHOTOS: HASSE FERROLD

WORDS BY BEN HAMILTON

HAVE YOU ever seen any of National Lampoon’s Vacation films? Because at first glance, this looks like the kind of gig Clark Griswold might have stumbled into. In the role of Clark is the Macedonian foreign minister Nikola Poposki, 34, who on his recent visit to the city addressed Francophone Day at the University of Copenhagen. But then a longer glance, this time at Poposki’s CV, clears matters up: he is a former ambassador to the EU who has spent much of his career working in France. Among the dignitaries in attendance were (left-right from the third left) Belgian ambassador Jean-François Branders, Bulgarian ambassador Ivan Dimitrov, Slovenian ambassador Bogdan Benko, Georgian ambassador Nikoloz Rtveliashvili, Macedonian ambassador Asaf Ademi, the Ivory Coast’s ambassador Ly Djerou Robert, Poposki, Swiss ambassador Viktor Christen, Moroccan ambassador Raja Ghannam, Albanian ambassador Arben Cici, French ambassador Bérengère Quincy, Canadian ambassador Peter Lundy, and Greek ambassador Dimitrios Kontoumas.

Poposki was the star speaker at ‘Le Danmark et Le Monde Francophone’.

Among those in attendance were Simone Ochsner Goldschmidt from Schweiz Univ Basel and Marie Godet from Universite Libre de Bruxelles.

Also present was the Danish author Pia Petersen, who writes in French.

Cyprus and Canada fought it out at the reception after the addresses.

And further down the table, Canada faced some tough opposition from Georgia, which perhaps wisely went for beer over the predictable choice of red wine.

It’s easy to forget how close Slovenia is to Italy and the gastronomic similarities were obvious.

Belgium’s ambassador Jean-François Branders (right) has ‘reassuringly expensive’ tastes, as you would expect from the man in charge.

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COMMUNITY

THE COPENHAGEN POST CPHPOST.DK

14 - 19 April 2012

ABOUT TOWN PHOTOS BY HASSE FERROLD

(UNLESS OTHERWISE STATED)

The renowned wine shop Løgismose Vin has opened an outlet in Magasin’s basement at Kongens Nytorv, and all and sundry descended to enjoy a fine spread of plonk and nibbles at its opening. Pictured on the left are (left-right) Løgismose Vin’s managing director Christian Grønlykke (whose parents Lene and Sven founded the chain in the 1970s) and his wife, and store manager Daniel Jensen.

Xie Hangsheng, the former Chinese ambassador – here pictured in 2010 with Belgium’s ambassador Jean-François Branders – has been in the news recently singing the praises of the Danish Bestseller Group for the help and support they have given China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs in the area of poverty alleviation in China. Xie is now the country’s vice foreign minister and, after his six years in Denmark as ambassador, a useful friend for Denmark to have in Beijing.

A wild time was had by all at Masquerade 2012 at Toldboden Nordre, which has just opened after a major renovation and provided a fantastic masked ball and line-up for the revellers to enjoy.

The US-based Russian artists Nicholas Shaplyko and Ekaterina Sorokina were in town for the opening of their joint exhibition at the Russian Center for Science and Culture.

Here they are with the centre’s head, Sergey Morgunov (centre).

DATING THE DANES

True, the Antipodeans hate being mistaken for one another and rarely agree on anything, but they are well-known for speaking their mind, so who better to ask for an opinion on dating Danish men than New Zealand’s Emily McLean and Australia’s Jessica O’Sullivan, two tough-talking girls who might have to kiss a lot of frogs to find their prince. After all, nobody ever said Dating the Danes was going to be easy.

EMILY MCLEAN

I

STILL REMEMBER the first time I experienced a Danish man’s attempt at romance. I was 19 years old and had just arrived in Denmark fresh from the Shire.

I had instructions to meet him at Østerport Station at 6.30pm. Well, I had never been to Østerport Station and I was not happy with my outfit, so after five changes of clothes and a missed train, I turned up 20 minutes late. This is when I was initiated into the Danish punctuality system. “I was waiting at the other bridge, NOT this one,” he yelled. And the romantic tone was burst.

The harsh welcome was quickly forgotten when he led me to the Little Mermaid and laid out a picnic. All was just ‘hyggeligt’ until he blurted out: “I come from a blended family … my mum nearly killed my dad – let me tell you how that happened.” Needless to say, Cupid wasn’t firing any arrows after that conversation.

While mermaid man was bad enough, the next guy who attempted to create ‘romance’ was even worse.

Sitting in a glorified kebab restaurant, he’d pretended he’d forgotten my birthday. Error. He then pulled out what looked like a paper mache football, tightly tied up with red road-signage tape inscribed with the words ‘Du er for vild’ (you are too wild). Turned out this ‘thing’ was my birthday present. Nine layers of paper and countless ‘Du er for vilds’ later, and I’m thinking this better be worth it. It wasn’t. It was ‘101 Scientific Facts you didn’t know about the Bible’. I returned the favour on his birthday with ‘101 things God never intended women to receive as gifts’.

This is also the same guy who walked up to me at a wedding last year, held a twig over my head and said: “You know this could also double as mistletoe.”

Lady Gaga coined the phrase “You and me should write a bad romance,” but I do feel the Danes were employing

that phrase long before Gaga put it into words.

You see, Danish men equate sex with romance. There’s no flowers, chocolates or jewellery along the way. And let’s just say it’s lucky Shakespeare wasn’t Danish. The great love sonnets known the world over would have been reduced to “Juliet ... what light through yonder window breaks ... make sure you’re still on that balcony at five tonight. Got a sword fight with your family at six, but I thought we could have a quickie before then.”

For fear of looking like an American (every Dane’s worst nightmare), or coming off cheesy, Danish men and romance are like misguided missiles. The attempt is launched, but completely misses its intended direction. It’s like the saying: “Did you ever hear about the Danish guy who loved his wife so much he ALMOST told her?”

Let’s just say that while Denmark may be ahead in the innovation stakes, they’re prehistoric when it comes to buying a few red roses.

JESSICA O’SULLIVAN

F

OLLOWING MY date with the bicycle chain oiler, I was understandably more wary of Danish men, but still eager to get out there and see what else they had to offer besides regimented procedures and stale pick-up lines. But before I even had the chance to find a new prospect, fate stepped in and took control of the situation.

On the day in question, I’d just moved into my new place – a side-effect of my recent break-up and subsequent eviction. Tired and exhausted, I had no plans to go out, yet within hours of moving into my new place, a few ‘housewarming’ drinks had made me warmer than anticipated and I was already wanting to neck my new flatmate – I needed a quick out.

Knowing my best friend, a gorgeous fellow foreigner, was currently on a date with a Danish man and in need of company (at least that was my logic at the time), I decided to crash their date. Whilst I’m not usually one

for third-wheeling, desperate situations always call for desperate measures.

Once inside the local bar, I knew this was going to be an evening I’d never forget.

Mr Touchy, as I like to call him, immediately caught my attention – I mean who could miss him! Unable to keep his hands to himself, this cocky bastard really was good looking, but god didn’t he know it.

Once seated, I couldn’t do anything but watch in horror as he basically tried to screw my friend from across the table, rubbing her hands and playing footsie – the strictly unAustralian rules version. More than a little aghast at his forward behaviour, my friend and I could do nothing but sit there in muted and amused horror.

It was Mr Touchy’s next antics that have made him a mythical household name amongst our inner circle. Obviously looking to up his game, he proceeded to growl like a bitch on heat. Now whilst I won’t ever be able to describe this glorious move in all its magic, I can tell you that as he raised his hands, pawing

and clawing and miaowing like a mountain lion, I realised I was watching very possibly one of the most spectacular first date moves of all time.

Realising that his date wasn’t really going to plan, ‘Mr Touchy, the Mountain Lion’ promptly sent out a distress signal and shortly afterwards his friend, Mr Normal (by comparison), arrived.

With this new company in tow, I wondered whether my girlfriend’s date would be resurrected or whether the four of us would have to call it a night.

Luckily things started to pick up, and in no time at all the conversation had turned to sex – a topic that was initially amusing.

Amusing, that is, until my girlfriend’s date, in an attempt at his definition of amusing, began talking about the live sex club he’d been to and how we should all visit one together. Practically panting as he talked about this club, it became obvious that it was time to call the date a night, at least for those two.

Mr Normal, however, had caught my eye, and so off we headed to another bar, interested in what may await me ...

LIFESTYLE: SUMMER GARDENING THE COPENHAGEN POST CPHPOST.DK

14 - 19 April 2012

A plan for all seasons

BY TOBY MUSGRAVE

O

KAY, SO it’s still only midApril, it’s not so warm and spring has only just woken up to the fact she should be here. Even so, the garden is already full of life, the nation’s garden centres (planteskoler) are thronging with eager hordes of gardeners parting with their hard-earned cash, and there is plenty of planning that can be done to maximise your enjoyment of the garden for the coming summer months. And by garden I am talking about anything in size from a balcony with a handful of pots upwards.

Toby Musgrave is one of Britain’s most celebrated gardeners - both as an author, historian and design consultant - but yet he has lived in Denmark this past decade, so who better to turn to, to find out everything you need to know about preparing for and enjoying the different seasons. Find out more at www.tobymusgrave.com.

the price! The same applies to herbs, which I grow in pots and replace every year – they just

filling your garden or pots on the patio or balcony with flowers and edibles.

For a balcony, why not use some hanging baskets to maximise your growing space?

Thinking beyond winter

PHOTOGRAPH © TOBY MUSGRAVE.

And another word of caution. If you are planning to splash out on some new perennials (stauder) or shrubs (busk) for the garden, do check that what you are going to buy, while looking lovely right now, is hardy enough to survive a Danish winter. In the vast majority of cases you will be fine, but last year, for example, I noticed garden centres selling the most lovely looking camellias and the elegant white Clematis armandii, which will survive a touch of frost, but not the -10oC and worse we always get here.

Succeeding with seeds From now onwards is the time to be planting seeds in seed trays or pots.

There is something hugely rewarding about watching plants grow from seeds: it’s something great to do with the kids, and it really is the least expensive way of

don’t survive the winter. Buy yourself some fresh herb plants in the supermarket, pot them up, put them somewhere sunny and enjoy. A show of herbs will look lovely even in the smallest garden.

Gro-Bags are also a great way to cultivate plants in a restricted space. For a crop of salad leaves lay them flat and off the whole top; for root vegetables and tomatoes, cut the bags in half and stand them on their ends. This gives the plant roots the necessary space and the compost is less likely to dry out.

Keeping the grass in trim One thing that most Danish gardens have is a large lawn, and it’s a good time to check that your mower is ready to mow. If not, many of the independent hardware stores offer a service that costs in the region of 600800kr for a petrol-powered rotary mower. When it comes to cutting the lawn, begin the season with the cutting blades set high for a couple of cuts (once a week is fine) in order to give the lawn a chance to recover after the winter and spring. Then drop the blades for a close shave.

Written in the Constitution But let us begin with a traditional (and sensible) Danish gardening rule of thumb. June 5 is Constitution Day and is generally held to be the earliest date that any tender plants (sommerblomster) – your geraniums (pelargoniums), begonias, busy lizzies, dahlias, zinnias etc – should be planted out in pots or into the garden. The reason?

Because here ‘up north’, Jack Frost has a nasty habit of lulling gardeners into a false sense of security and then whacking us with a late frost. So, unless you have a greenhouse or similar, or you plan to keep the plants indoors until it’s safe, follow this guideline in order to avoid having to buy a second batch of plants to replace those that went out too early.

And don’t forget that European legislation allows you to import seeds (but not always plants) from just about anywhere.

Being English, my favourite seed supplier is Thompson & Morgan.

You can’t home-grown

Caroline Cain

Naturopathic Nutritionist & Reflexologist

Natural health and detox specialist guiding and motivating you to create optimal, lasting health. tel: 50 19 76 06 www.carolinecain.dk

For four weeks at a time, four times a year, our aim is to give you all the seasonal lifestyle advice you need to thrive in the areas of gardening, health, food and sport. When should you plant your petunias, when does the birch pollen season normally start, which week do the homegrown strawberries take over the supermarket, and which outdoor sports can You play in the snow? All the answers are here in ‘A plan for all seasons’.

Garden

The green winter Once we get those long, long summer evenings, don’t forget that the Danes often refer to the season as the ‘green winter’. It may look lovely out there, but do not be deceived as it may not be that warm, so some form of garden heating is advisable. The gas ‘umbrella’ patio heaters are mighty efficient, but I do like my fire pan with its naked flames and the smell of wood smoke.

Just remember to stand it on something insulating such as a paving slab to avoid scorching the wooden deck or the lawn.

beat

One of my great delights in summer is harvesting and eating my own vegetables.

Tomatoes are an absolute favourite (but you really do need a greenhouse or be prepared to grow them indoors) and if you don’t want the bother of growing them from seed, you can buy juvenile plants from the garden centre.

Although last year I noticed that both Netto and Aldi were selling the same plants at a quarter of

13

Enjoy the outdoors while you can And above all else this summer, use your garden, patio or balcony. It is so good for the soul just to get outside and to enjoy the fresh air, to relax and to revivify the soul, to have some friends over for a BBQ. And if you’ve had a bad day, nothing beats burning the hell out of weeds with a flame gun – which, of course, is also a far more ecological method of control than using a weedkiller!

Halmtorvet 19 • The Bosch building • DK-1700 Copenhagen V Tlf: +45 33 31 20 00 • hej@biomio.dk • www.biomio.dk

Halmtorvet 19 • The Bosch building • DK-1700 Copenhagen V 19 • The Bosch building • DK-1700 Copenhagen V Tlf: +45 33 31 20Halmtorvet 00 • hej@biomio.dk • www.biomio.dk Tlf: +45 33 31 20 00 • hej@biomio.dk • www.biomio.dk

BioMio is Denmark´s largest 100% organic restaurant.

Flavoured with love, passion & position

COMING SOON!

Health Next week

Food Sport

RELOCATION GUIDE

• What is a CPR number & that little yellow card?

• Want to say “hej” to Danish?

• Want to find the perfect neigbourhood?

SPRING 2012 Look for the Relocation Guide in issue 1517 on 27 April

14

sport

The Copenhagen Post cphpost.dk

14 - 19 April 2012

Twenty20 cricket team regrouping after wooden spoon performance in Dubai Michael reca/scanpix

Elise Beacom

Young squad bodes well for the national team’s prospects in the short code, says assistant coach

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enmark came last out of 16 teams at the recent ICC World Twenty20 Qualifiers in Dubai, but assistant coach Graham Kinchington remains positive, bolstered by the youth in the side’s squad.

The Copenhagen Post caught up with Kinchington to mull over lessons learnt and discuss the future of Danish cricket.

You went into the ICC World Twenty20 Qualifiers with low expectations, but did you expect to finish with the wooden spoon?

Obviously it was disappointing to finish where we did at the tournament, but you must remember we were playing against the best countries in the world, outside the top ten Test-playing nations.

Denmark on their way to defeat against Canada in Abu Dhabi in the recent ICC World Twenty20 Qualifiers

The team showed promise against Bermuda in your first match – how would you rate Denmark’s performance in Dubai as a whole?

It was fantastic to start the tournament with a win against such a high-ranked country. Playing against high quality opposition will only improve the standard of our players. One fantastic achievement for Denmark was when Aftab Ahmed (Glostrup) produced the seventh best T20 international bowling figures ever, taking 6-22 against Papua New Guinea.

Freddie Klokker was man-of-the-match for his performance against Bermuda

Your batting improved over the course of the tournament. What else does the team need to improve on?

out the playing field between lesser cricketing nations like Denmark and top sides like England?

Our bowling was inconsistent. The bowlers would bowl four good balls in an over, but then might get hit for boundaries off the last two balls. Hopefully in the future, the bowlers will be prepared for batsmen to go hard off the last two balls and bowl differently to stop this. When we won the European Division 1 Championship in Jersey our fielding was outstanding, but we didn’t repeat that standard in Dubai. This was due in some part to the faster outfields in Dubai. Improving the quality of outfields in Denmark (shorter grass) would help the Danish players when they compete at an international level.

When people ask me about the T20 format, I always say if a football team from Fano played Brazil in a match, in which each half lasted 10 minutes, Fano would have a better chance of beating Brazil. So T20 offers Denmark the best chance of being successful and beating one of the Test nations like England, Australia, Pakistan, India etc.

How does the Twenty20 format even

Your squad has a young average age of 23 – how do you see the side faring as they mature?

It’s great news for the future of Danish cricket that such a young squad has gained so much experience from playing in this tournament. Seeing how

some of the best players in the world prepare, and then playing against them, I feel, can only help improve our young players. Also the experience has made all the players hungry to play in the next ICC T20 World Cup qualifying tournament in 2014.

Which young guns should we keep an eye on and why?

Basit Raja Javed (Svanholm) had the best economy rate of our bowlers in the tournament, and at 18 years of age he will mature into a top quality allrounder for Denmark and play in many more international tournaments. And Hamid Shah (Svanholm), who sadly picked up a bad facial injury in our warm-up match against USA and didn’t participate in the tournament. Hamid was sadly missed by the team as he is

And likewise, Aftab Ahmed picked up a gong for his 6-22 against Papua New Guinea

an excellent batsman and spin bowler.

What is the team’s focus at the moment?

Denmark’s main focus at the moment is getting promotion from the World Cricket League (WCL) Division 4 in September 2012. I feel it’s very important for Denmark to play in the highest division within the WCL structure.

This will increase funding for Danish cricket and that will help.

You are from England where cricket rates highly as a sport. Are many of your players first or second-generation immigrants from countries where the sport is similarly popular, like Sri Lanka, India etc?

Eight or nine of the 14-man squad in

Dubai were first or second generation immigrants from Asia. There is a fouryear residency rule before you can play cricket for Denmark. In Dubai, Jimmy Moniz was the only player to play under this rule and Jimmy’s lived in Denmark for the past eight years.

How can keen cricketers get involved in playing the sport here in Denmark?

Any cricketers out there who would like to get involved in playing club cricket in Denmark can visit www.cricket.dk.

Here they will find the contact details for all the Danish clubs. Also, if there are any companies or individuals interested in sponsoring the national team or any of the players or coaches, they can find all the required contact details at the above website.

Sports news and briefs Bronzed in Oz

Finishing strong at Masters

On course for Euro 2013

Horse betting boost

Against artificial turf

All set for finals

Lasse Norman Hansen claimed Denmark’s only medal at the World Track Cycling Championships in Australia, picking up the bronze in the men’s omnium, a six-discipline event (three timed, three massstart) that will make its Olympic debut in London. Meanwhile, Denmark’s men’s team pursuit quartet finished seventh, a disappointing four seconds off qualifying for the medal races.

Denmark had two entries in the US Masters, but neither Anders Hansen or Thomas Bjørn ever looked like mounting a challenge at Augusta. Nevertheless, both finished strongly.

Hansen shot a final day 68 to finish equal 24th, while Bjørn fired a 69 to finish equal 37th. Both were left to rue 76s: Hansen on the opening day and Bjørn on day two, which saw him make the cut by only one stroke.

The ladies football side remain on course to qualify for Euro 2013 following a clinical 2-0 defeat of the Czech Republic last week – their fifth straight win. The victory sees the Danes, who have appeared at every Euros since 1991, open up a five-point gap above the previously unbeaten Czechs, who they play at home on June 20. Among the scorers was teenager Pernille Harder – her eighth of the campaign.

Danish punters will be able to bet on British and Irish horse racing thanks to a deal signed with international distributor GBI Racing, which will give them access to the races at Danske Spil’s 220 betting shops and online. “Up until now, Danske Spil has offered betting only on Scandinavian races,” Morten Kofoed Sørensen, the marketing co-ordinator of Danske Spil, told gaming news website InterGame.

A survey by Spillerforeningen, the football players’ union, reveals that 96 percent of its Superliga members prefer playing on natural grass, with 83 percent believing that the game changes fundamentally when played on artificial turf. Superliga club FC Nordsjaelland is from next season switching to an artificial surface – a decision that 71 percent believe will give the club an unfair advantage.

The national basketball finals between the Bakken Bears and Svendborg Rabbits were due to start on Thursday at Bakken’s NRGi Park. Bakken will also host games three, five and seven of the best-of-seven series on April 19, April 26 and May 3, while games two, four and six will take place at the Svendborg Idrætscenter on April 16, 23 and 30. Learn more at www.rabbits. dk and www.bakkenbears.com.

business

The Copenhagen Post cphpost.dk

14 - 19 April 2012

15

Ty Strange

Developer’s latest deal: buy the driveway, we’ll throw in the car Moribund housing market has builder offering buyers a free car.

Consumer advocates say they’d rather have the cash

D

Copenhagen’s strongest card is its people, the Economist found

Copenhagen positioned well in competitiveness study Christian Wenande City earns top-30 finish in Economist study, but placing marred by weak economy

C

openhagen has earned high marks in a new Economist study thanks to its large, skilled, healthy and productive labour force, but the Danish capital ranks 23rd overall in the 120-city competitiveness survey due to its low ranking for economic strength.

The Economist Intelligence Unit looked at eight criteria of competitiveness in assessing major cities: human capital, economic strength, social and cultural character, institutional

effectiveness, financial maturity, environmental and natural hazards, global appeal, and physical capital.

Denmark’s best placing was in the ‘human capital’ category, where it ranked third. According to Kim Bek, the development coordinator for investment agency Copenhagen Capacity, the city’s good results here were due to free access to good universities.

“We have a lot of advanced courses in our further education system,” Bek told MetroXpress newspaper. “Everyone has access to them, and internationally this is unique and essential for companies looking to employ highly skilled workers.”

While Copenhagen finished in the top 40 in seven of the categories, a poor showing in ‘economic strength’– ranking out-

side the top 60 behind cities like Bogota, Krakow and Panama City – saw the Danish capital finish up 23rd overall.

But while Bek said the result is something to be proud of, he warned Danes not to rest on their laurels when it came to human capital.

“This area will be paramount to the competitive edge of Copenhagen because it is an integral component in living up to the demands of businesses,” he said. “We should definitely mention the high placing to the foreign businesses we interact with, but we should keep working at it to make it even better.”

Ranked equally with Houston, Copenhagen was the second-ranked Scandinavian city, coming in three places behind Stockholm.

business news and briefs 50,000 ‘likejacked’ over Easter holiday weekend

Financial tips are useless

headlines like “Big Brother’s Amanda in the shower”, “Paradise Hotel 2012: Julian Crash on Holiday” and “X-Factor participant falls off the stage” were used this past holiday to catch the clicks of Facebook users in an internet scam known as ‘likejacking’.

“Over 50,000 Danish Facebook users have been tricked by like-

Economists and analysts are often giving public advice on how to invest. But, according to Rune Wagenitz Sørensen, an independent consultant at assessment management firm Miranova, such tips are rarely relevant to private investors. His best tip is to invest globally – and to ignore other tips.

jacking campaigns,” Peter Kruse from the security firm CSIS told Jyllands-Posten. To view the content, the user must share it with others, which is precisely why the scam is lucrative, as the culprits profit from visitors looking at the ads placed on the phony webpages. According to CSIS, visiting the pages poses no risk.

Exchange Rates

eveloper NCC Bolig is hoping it has an offer that’s too good to refuse for potential homebuyers. The company, one of the country’s largest property developers, says it is prepared to give buyers of homes in its Ullerødbyen development, near the northern Zealand town of Hillerød, a new Chevy Spark if they sign before May 1.

The car has a value of 100,000 kroner, while the terraced homes themselves start at 2.295 million kroner for 114 sqm of living space.

“We need to accept that it’s a slow market right now,” Dorthe Andersen, NCC Bolig’s head of marketing, told local newspaper Frederiksborg Amts Avis. “Our business is building and selling houses, and when we get them built, we want to sell them so we can start building more.”

Financial expert Kim Valentin called NCC Bolig’s offer “a measure of creativity the housing market needed right now”.

Consumer advocates, however, were less enthused.

“If you really want to give

NCC Bolig will throw in a Chevy Spark if you purchase by May 1

We don’t think you should be mixing the two offers together. We see it as a con game people something for less, then why not just lower the price?” said Rasmus Kjeldahl, the head of consumer agency Forbruger-

rådet. “It’s difficult to get a mortgage right now, so cutting prices is something everyone would benefit from.”

He described the free car offer as a “diversionary tactic” that kept people from paying attention to the price of the home.

“We don’t think you should be mixing the two offers together. We see it as a con game.”

Prior to a 2007 EU court ruling, buy-and-get-free offers were not permitted by Danish consumer protection laws. (KM)

BRITISH CHAMBER OF COMMERCE IN DENMARK

Visions for Horizon 2020 – from Copenhagen Research Forum Professor and Chair of Department University of Copenhagen Professor Liselotte Højgaard has a wide international standing and is currently: Chair of Department (Klinikchef), Department of Clinical Physiology, Nuclear Medicine & PET, Rigshospitalet Clinical Professor in Medical Technology, University of Copenhagen, Faculty of Health Sciences.

Adjunct Professor in Advanced Imaging DTU, the Technical University of Denmark.

In addition, she chairs or has membership of a wide variety of European and international bodies related to health.

She has received numerous science awards is a Ridder af Dannebrog (Knighthood, DK) and a recipient of the Niels Lassen Award in 2005, the Klein Award 2010 and the Ib Henriksen Research Prize 2011. She has published more than 200 papers on pathophysiology and nuclear medicine in gastroenterology and oncology.

In the autumn of 2011, Prof. Højgaard was President of Copenhagen Research Forum which invited more than 600 European researchers to contribute their comments and ideas concerning the six societal challenges in Health; Food & Agriculture; Energy; Transport; Climate & Resources and Societies.

The final recommendations of these experts have just been published in the report “Visions for Horizon 2020 – from Copenhagen Research Forum” and presented at the Ministerial Conference of the Council of Ministers on 1 February 2012.

Prof Højgaard will share highlights of the report with BCCD members.

Date: Thursday, 20 April 2012 Time: 11.45 Venue: Radisson Blu Royal Hotel

Australian Dollars AUD

Canada Dollars CAD

Euro EUR

Japan Yen JPY

Russia Rubles RUB

Sweden Kronor SEK

Switzerland Francs CHF

UK Pounds GBP

United States Dollars USD

Sell

5.60

5.51

7.34

0.07

0.18

0.81

6.07

8.84

5.56

Buy

6.11

5.96

7.57

0.07

0.20

0.85

6.27

9.19

5.82

Non-members are very welcome. Please contact BCCD or go to www.bccd.dk for further information

If you would like to attend then please send us an email (event@bccd.dk) or call +45 31 18 75 58 Price in kroner for one unit of foreign currency

Date: 12 April 2012

• official media partner Denmark’s only English-language newspaper

THE COPENHAGEN POST SPOUSE EMPLOYMENT PAGE SPOUSE: Bhargavi Lanka Venkata FROM: India SEEKING WORK IN: IT industry- Software - Manual & Automation Testing.

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EXPERIENCE: LEGO systems.

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IT EXPERIENCE: 3 Years in LEGO systems.

CONTACT: anbukamali@gmail.com

FROM: India

PARTNERS:

SPOUSE: Dolon Roy FROM: India SEEKING WORK IN: Sjælland QUALIFICATION: Masters in Science(Chemistry), BEd. (Teacher training course).

EXPERIENCE: St. John Diocessan School February-May 2005, Kolkata, India. The Assembly of God Church School April-May 2006, Kolkata, India. Disari Public School June 2006-October 2007, India.

Research project work Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Copenhagen University, March-July 2009.

LOOKING FOR: Part time or full time work teaching in primary,secondary or higher school level (Chemistry, Mathematics, Science).

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IT EXPERIENCE: Microsoft office.

CONTACT: dolonroy2005@yahoo.com. Tel: +45 60668239 SPOUSE: Christina Koch FROM: Australia SEEKING WORK IN: Copenhagen QUALIFICATION: Bachelor of Arts in Linguistics and Drama, 1997 University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia. Experienced actor and voice coach for speakers, with parallel high level experience in written communications.

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IT EXPERIENCE:Microsoft Office, Office for Mac. LANGUAGE SKILLS: English - Native speaker, excellent written and oral expression. German – good reading and listening skills. Spanish – fluent oral communication, good reading and listening skills. Danish – beginners level speaking and writing skills.

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SPOUSE: Chiara Stevanato FROM: Italy SEEKING WORK IN: København or nearby areas QUALIFICATION: Bachelor degree in Physics.

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IT EXPERIENCE: Operating systems: Windows, Linux. Programming languages: basic C, C++; Python.

CONTACT: chiarasteva@gmail.com. Tel: 41681741 SPOUSE: Debjani Nandy Biswas FROM: India SEEKING WORK IN: Would like to join in kindergarten, School teacher in English, official work in English.

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EXPERIENCE: Temporary school teacher in Bongaon, India and involved in social work (handicapped society).

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IT EXPERIENCE: Diploma in basic computer applications.

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SPOUSE: Nina Chatelain FROM: Vancouver, BC, Canada SEEKING WORK IN: Midt - og syd jylland QUALIFICATION: BA courses in english and anthropology, certificate in desktop publishing and graphic design, internationally certified yoga teacher since 1999.

EXPERIENCE: Over 7 years experience as the assistant to the director (what would correspond to a direktionssekretær position) at an international university museum where i also was seconded to act as the program administrator – a project management internal communications role – for the museum’s major renovation project. I acted as the director’s right hand and the museum’s communications hub where i had daily contact with the visiting public, community stakeholders, volunteers and students. I have earlier worked as an editor and writer in various capacities, as well as a desktop publisher/graphic designer.

LOOKING FOR: An administrative role in a creative company that needs someone who can juggle a variety of projects and use excellent english writing and editing skills LANGUAGE SKILLS: English (mother tongue) and Danish (fluent comprehension-studieprøven / university entrance exam).

IT EXPERIENCE: MS Office Package, PC and Apple, have earlier worked with various desktop publishing software, quick to learn new software and systems.

CONTACT: nina.chatelain@gmail.com, Tel: +45 29707430 SPOUSE: Mohammad Ahli- Gharamaleki FROM: Iran SEEKING WORK IN: Copenhagen QUALIFICATION: Master degree in chemical engineering.

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IT EXPERIENCE: Professional (MATLAB, Hysys, Aspen plus, Auto Cad, others (Office, Minitab).

CONTACT: mohammad_ahli@yahoo.com, Tel: (+45) 71 63 12 85 SPOUSE: Clotilde IMBERT FROM: France SEEKING WORK IN: Greater Copenhagen Qualification: Master of town planning and development and master of urban geography (Paris IVSorbonne) EXPERIENCE: 5 years in field of town planning and development: - Coordinator in urban project in a semi-public company: supervised a major urban project in Paris area (coordination of studies, acquisition of lands, worked with Planning Development of the Town Council, architects, developers to define the master plan and implement the project...); - Officer in research and consultancy firm (urban diagnosis, environmental impact assessments, inhabitants consultation...).

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IT EXPERIENCE: MS Office.

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EXPERIENCE: Business Development, Sales & Marketing and Client Relationship Management specialist. 15+ years experience in securing ‘insurance and lifestyle benefits’ contracts with high volume and high consumer numbers within the Affinity Group Marketing sector from a wide variety of distribution channels including banks, financial institutions, large membership affinity groups and employers, credit card issuers and insurers. Highly accomplished and skilled at ‘low cost, high perceived value’ large scale marketing to B2B and B2C target audiences through both on-line and other direct marketing channels. Entire career spent in the banking, finance and insurance sectors the latter of which I have spent in the UK employment of 3 of the top 4 global insurance brokers.

A team player and a ‘people person’ with the skills and abilities to easily and comfortably interact with individuals at all levels. Natural problem solver who sees opportunities rather than obstacles.

Simplistic and structured approach to finding straightforward and practical solutions to problems.

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IT EXPERIENCE: PC and Mac - Microsoft Office Suite, Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, Flash, Dream Weaver, Director, Maya, 3D Studio Max, ML Cad, LD. CONTACT: megzter1@yahoo.com Tel: +4535140779 SPOUSE: Debasmita Ghosh FROM: India SEEKING WORK IN: Copenhagen QUALIFICATION: Master of Pharmaceutical Sciences (Pharmachemistry specialization).

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Proficient in analyzing market trends to provide critical inputs for decision-making and formulating marketing communication strategies. Familiar with brand image build-up, channel marketing, media communication, issue management, etc. Possess in-depth understanding/knowledge of APAC market and Chinese culture.

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IT EXPERIENCE: Familiar with Windows O/S and MS Office.

CONTACT: sugarex@hotmail.com

Denmark’s only English-language newspaper

THE COPENHAGEN POST SPOUSE EMPLOYMENT PAGE WHY: The Copenhagen Post wishes to help spouses looking for jobs in Denmark. We have on our own initiative started a weekly spouse job page in The Copenhagen Post, with the aim to show that there are already within Denmark many highly educated international candidates looking for jobs.

If you are a spouse to an international employee in Denmark looking for new career opportunities, you are welcome to send a profile to The Copenhagen Post at aviaja@cphpost.dk and we will post your profile on the spouse job page when possible. Remember to get it removed in case of new job.

EMPLOYMENT

THE COPENHAGEN POST CPHPOST.DK

14 - 19 April 2012

Biotech Job Vacancies

17

we’re counting down the days.....

Copenhagen International School

Leo-Pharma

HR Business Partner, Global Sales & Marketing Process owner for LEO Pharma’s Global Planning process

Lundbeck

Specialist GCQA Systems Head of Department Medical Writers Specialist (Medical Writing) Specialist GCQA Systems Student Assistant for Corporate Development Head of Department

Charity Spring Fair Saturday 28 April 2012 11am – 3pm

Games hall Tombola Used book sale

Novozymes

new this year

Manager, FP&A Demand Project Manager IT Project Manager

Charity Car Wash

Fun with Chemistry Gift basket auction

Novo Nordisk

Global Project Manager - Marketing Excellence Seeking 3 medical doctors with a need to explore Regulatory Associate Quality Engineer Strategic Purchaser Clinical Trial Administrator Laboratory technician or medical laboratory technician PAS-X Administrator Senior Analyst, Competitive Intelligence

Fire Truck

fun for the whole community... everybody is invited

International Food Court Tasty dishes from over 15 different countries, the food court is not to be missed!

Real American burgers  Japanese Sushi  French crepes Indian curries  German cakes  British delicacies  Fresh homemade lemonade Irish coffee  Beer  Soft drinks  Pimms  Popcorn Plus much much more!!

Join us at Copenhagen International School, Hellerupvej 22-26, Hellerup 2900

For more information and other job vacancies visit our webpage www.cphpost.dk/jobvacancies

The successful applicant must have an advanced knowledge of the Danish and Norwegian political and economic environment, and a sound understanding of current domestic and international affairs. The successful applicant must possess highly developed communication, research, analytical and organisation skills. Above all, the applicant must display sound judgement and initiative and be able to work well under pressure as part of a small and dynamic team. Fluency in English and Danish is essential. Fluency in Norwegian is desirable.

DUTIES OF THE POSITION: •

Undertake research activities on domestic and foreign policy issues

•

Undertake translations exercises

•

Monitor Danish media and report on issues relevant to Australian interests

•

Promote Australia through effective management of Public Diplomacy activities

•

Assist in the coordination of programs for official visits by Australian Ministers and officials

AUSTRALIAN EMBASSY, COPENHAGEN The Australian Embassy is seeking a temporary Personal Assistant to the Ambassador to cover a period of maternity leave from 11 July 2012 to 5 December 2012 only.

The successful applicant will display sound judgement and initiative, be keen to take on challenges and adapt quickly to changes and new tasks. The successful applicant must also have strong organisational and communication skills, including the ability to liaise effectively with a wide range of people, and good writing and research skills.

Above all, the applicant must be able to work well under pressure as part of a small and dynamic team. Fluency in English and Danish is essential. Fluency in Norwegian is desirable.

DUTIES OF THE POSITION: •

Manage Head of Mission (HOM) appointments, correspondence and Australian based staff travel arrangements

•

Undertake research tasks and translation exercises

•

Assist HOM with organisation of representational activities

•

Manage Embassy protocol issues

•

Maintain Embassy database of key contacts and internal phone lists

•

Provide reliable and efficient support of a high standard for official visits by Australian Ministers and officials

• Applications close Friday 27 April 2012.

Fun4Rent.dk

If you have any questions please email Lisa Mariner at lisa.mariner@hotmail.co.uk

AUSTRALIAN EMBASSY, COPENHAGEN The Australian Embassy is seeking a Policy, Research and Public Diplomacy Officer on a Part-Time basis from 1 July 2012.

Inflatables supplied by

Contribute effectively as an Embassy team member, including assisting with reception duties and answering general enquires as required.

Applications in English only may be emailed to applications-CPGN@dfat.gov.au or forwarded to Applications close Friday 27 April 2012.

Australian Embassy Dampfæregvej 26 2100 Copenhagen Ø Attention: Senior Administrative Officer

Applications in English only may be emailed to applications-CPGN@dfat.gov.au or forwarded to

Australian Embassy Dampfæregvej 26 2100 Copenhagen Ø Attention: Senior Administrative Officer

18

culture

The Copenhagen Post cphpost.dk

14 - 19 April 2012

Support for Swedish films slow - the days of Bergman are long gone Who is ...

Anders Debel Hansen/scanpix

Scandinavian neighbours, in contrast, are backing Danish films to the hilt

Mikkel Boe Følsgaard?

TrustNordisk

Claudia Santos

D

id you know that one of the reasons why so many Swedish actors can be found in Danish films is that it supposedly increases the odds of Swedish funding? Although perhaps this is a cynical viewpoint, especially considering the calibre of the Swedish actors that have recently been cast in Danish films, including Alicia Vikander in ‘En Kongelig Affære’ (‘A Royal Affair’), Tuva Novotny in ‘ID:A’ and Mikael Persbrandt in ‘Hævnen’ (‘In a Better World’).

Whatever the reason, the numbers are quite clear. According to MetroXpress newspaper, Danish films – which premieres this summer – received a total of nearly 10 million Danish kroner in Swedish film support in 2010 and 2011. In the same period, Swedish films received a meagre 2 million kroner from the Danish Film Institute (DFI).

Perhaps Danish films are just that much better; after all, awards have been pouring in for the Danes. Henrik Bo Nielsen, the CEO of the DFI (and also the person responsible for giving out Danish film support), agrees.

“If you look at the silverware that Danish films have brought home from international festivals in the past few years, versus what the other Nordic countries have scraped together, then there

Malene Ørsted He’s a Danish actor.

What might I have seen him in?

He plays the young and rather crazy king, Christian VII, in the recently-released, award-winning film ‘En Kongelig Affære’ (‘A Royal Affair’).

Alicia Vikander, the Swedish actress who plays the queen, who was in fact actually English - so we hope her elocution is terrible

is something to suggest that the end product justifies a balance in Danish favour,” he told MetroXpress.

Peter Schepelern, a film expert and lecturer at the University of Copenhagen, is also not surprised by the numbers. “The Swedes have been superior to Danish film for many years, but sort of like with football, things have reversed in the last 15 years, as Denmark has come out with names like Von Trier, Susanne Bier and Lone Scherfig,” he explained to the same newspaper.

“In the same period, it has been

clear that although Swedish films definitely have shown good results, exciting Swedish films are not really coming out these days. They are not in a golden age. So I think, well, you can be arrogant enough to think that Danish films are simply better.”

Charlotta Denward from the Swedish Film Institute (SFI) is not a fan of this point of view.

“For many years, there has been a very even distribution. The explanation for the large disparity in the past few years may be that the DFI, a few years ago, decided to change the rules so that it

only supports a film with 60 percent of the money the production uses in Denmark,” she told MetroXpress. “One is therefore forced to spend more money in Denmark than one can get in funding from the film institute.

It can be hard living up to those requirements.”

She added that quite a few Swedish producers have been denied Danish aid since the rule change and expressed her hope for a more co-operative future.

The SFI also discussed the issue with the Danes, but the DFI has so far stood its ground, despite

the fact that the Swedes show no intention of adopting a similar strategy to that of the DFI. Henrik Bo Nielsen maintains his position: “It is clear that it’s a problem in the long run, if there are people out in the world thinking we are stingy, but these are the terms of our funding system: we get involved in projects that we think are cinematically interesting.”

In other words, Sweden needs to up its game if it wants to receive anything approaching reciprocal funding from Danish producers.

The one with Mads Mikkelsen?

Yes. Følsgaard isn’t as famous as Mikkelsen, so there hasn’t been as much fuss about him. And while Mikkelsen plays the handsome hero, Følsgaard is stuck with a curly wig that don’t do anything for him – to say the least.

Might I have seen him in anything wigless?

Probably not, as this is his first real movie. His biggest prior achievement was as a ten-yearold playing the role of Carl Jacobsen in the Danish TV series ‘Bryggeren’ (The Brewer). Although he did once play Christian II in a school play – it’s safe to say he likes wigs.

Elise Beacom

Wow, that’s impressive!

Yes, particularly as he’s the first Dane to ever win. Other winners include Tom Hanks, Leonardo DiCaprio and, err, Juliette Binoche for ‘The English Patient’.

scanpix

Noma accused of serving up nationalistic ideology

Is he any good?

He’s just won the Silver Bear for best actor at the Berlinale for his role in En Kongelig Affære.

Former chef of the year says he will never surrender to the regime of ‘New Nordic’ cuisine

But she’s only in it for five minutes. It all sounds a bit Euro-biased.

Not really, ‘Wag the Dog’ won best film in 1998.

O

ne of the country’s top chefs is distancing himself from Noma, claiming that the ‘world’s best restaurant’ has a nationalistic approach to cuisine.

Famed as the forefront of ‘New Nordic’ cuisine, Noma under the guidance of head chef Rene Redzepi has become renowned for serving all things Danish, including dirty carrots and ants, and avoiding imported produce – especially that from France and Italy.

But instead of going along with the style that launched Danish cuisine onto the world stage, renowned chef Rasmus Grønbech wants to steer clear of everything New Nordic.

Grønbech, 38, has been one of the country’s leading chefs since he was crowned Chef of the Year back in 1998. His restaurant was one of four in Co-

And rubbish. So were there any mishaps?

Well, yes, shock horror, Følsgaard forgot to kiss the actress handing him the award. He did manage to kiss the award itself in almost every picture afterwards, though.

Guess he prefers bears.

Grønbech & Churchill won a Michelin star, but don’t go there expecting ‘Nordic cuisine\

penhagen to win its first Michelin star last month, while Noma missed out on a third star – a decision that surprised many.

“We don’t want to do another copy of a ‘Nordic kitchen’,” Grønbech told the Global Post a US news website at his restaurant Grønbech & Churchill, which is named after former British prime minister Winston

Churchill, partly because he was a vociferous opponent of Nazism.

“That’s why we plough on with Mr Churchill. We are fighting for our freedom – our gastronomic freedom.”

This latest criticism is nothing new to Noma. In May last year, a headline in Politiken newspaper read: “Noma is fas-

cism in avant-garde clothing.”

The article went on to highlight “striking similarities between Nazism and the new avantgarde modern Nordic cuisine”, making reference to the Noma staff’s brown shirts.

Nevertheless, Nordic cuisine continues to go from strength to strength. The three other restaurants that won Michelin stars

last month are all influenced by Noma’s New Nordic principles.

And Grønbech, himself, confessed he is also an admirer.

“I love what René is doing,” he told the Global Post.

But there are some principles he isn’t prepared to follow.

“We love olive oil,” he protested. “Why can’t we use it just because we are in Denmark?”

What gay men with hairy arses?

No! So, what’s next?

Well, apparently he hasn’t had any other film offers yet, although he’s currently finishing his final year at the Royal Theatre School. And he’s also learning how to tap dance. Wigs, tap dancing – if only they were reviving ‘The Black and White Minstrel Show’.

14 - 19 April 2012

Denmark through the looking glass The Copenhagen Post cphpost.dk

19

Saxo Grammaticus, Denmark’s man of letters and greatest ever scribe

Laurits Tuxen

“Absalon, Valdemar, stop raping and pillaging and look dignified - Saxo’s just turned up with his quill.”

came from a warrior class, and that his father and grandfather regularly participated in the war campaigns of Valdemar I. In the book, Saxo expresses his Without the ‘founding father’ of this wish to serve Valdemar II, but more in country’s history, we’d know a lot less a spiritual sense. He goes on to menabout Norse mythology and Shakespeare tion, albeit with a lot of humility, that would have never written ‘Hamlet’ it was with great confidence that the Archbishop had placed on his feeble shoulders that he embarked on this humongous project. Apart from this very here is hardly anywhere left specific mention, there is nothing else on Earth today that doesn’t documented about Saxo anywhere else.

Sven Aggesen, a Danish nobleman harbour lengthy shadows of its past. Every community values and contemporary of Saxo, claimed its history; it is both a guiding light that Saxo had been his ‘contubernalis’ and a forewarning of disaster. Our past (tent comrade), indicating that the two is a critical part of our identity, for our were part of the royal guard serving communities and the individuals who under Valdemar I of Denmark. In fact inhabit them. Denmark, the smallest Sven had produced an earlier version of the Scandinavian countries, is no of Denmark’s history, and it is believed that he might have helped Saxo with exception to this rule.

The end of the 12th century saw his writing of Gesta Danorum.

Saxo’s elegant command of Latin the dawn of a new era that changed the course of Danish history. It was and Roman in Gesta Danorum makes during this time that Absalon, the it quite certain that he acquired an eduarchbishop of Lund and the foremost cation outside Denmark. This location could have been Paris adviser to Valdemar I as it was common in of Denmark, assigned those days for the sons the monumental task of the elite classes to of officially recording that city for the history of Denmark The main idea behind choose academic studies. for the first time to one The main idea beof his secretaries, Saxo ‘Gesta Danorum’, as hind Gesta Danorum, Grammaticus. Some as Saxo described it, scholars believe that Saxo describes it, was “to glorify our faSaxo was only chosen was “to glorify our therland”. The need after various others for this level of glorirefused to embark on fatherland” fication came from the such a herculean task.

The sum of Saxo’s efforts was to be- fact that Scandinavia was constantly at come known as ‘Gesta Danorum’ – the war during Saxo’s time. The nation’s neighbours, such as Norway and Icedeeds of the Danes.

There is very little or no reliable land, had already created and docuinformation available about Saxo, the mented quite a robust account of their man who gave the Danes the first of- ancestry. Denmark, unfortunately, had ficial documentation of their heroic no such equivalent. This troubled the past. Today, whatever little informa- archbishop who wanted to ensure that tion we have about Saxo Grammati- something concrete and official was cus, also known as Saxo Cognomine done in this matter in the event that Longus (the tall), is mainly attributed a calamity befell the land. It was this to the preface written by him in Gesta critical need that led to the archbishop Danorum, which perhaps was the only appointing Saxo.

Gesta Danorum is divided into 16 major and significant work of literature books, of which the first nine books foin his life.

In this preface, Saxo tells us that he cus mainly on the mythology and pre-

louis moe

Jaya Rao

T

Most historians believe Saxo died aged 70, most artists think he looked like God

Christian era of Denmark. Saxo heavily relied upon oral traditions including Absalon’s own reports, the old Danish poems and Norwegian-Icelandic sagas.

Saxo also referred to runic inscriptions and other historical materials available to him at the time.

He appears to have been inspired

by Vergil and his work ‘The Aeneid’ in the way that the characters in the first

nine books of Gesta Danorum are so very larger than life. This is evident in the way Saxo describes the feats and adventures of the Norse mythology characters in this collection, which include Balder, Hother, and Amleth, the source for Shakespeare’s Hamlet. It is only in the ninth book that he moves from fiction to fact with the record of a king: Gorm the Old.

The next seven books then cover the historical events leading up to Saxo’s time. They include the story of ninth century hero Palnatoki, who was made to shoot an apple off his son’s head by King Harald – which is possibly the real-life inspiration for the Swiss legend of William Tell, although the arrow-apple episode does appear in other Germanic stories.

It is believed that Saxo wrote the histories prior to the first nine books.

Historians believe that Saxo wanted to strengthen his writing muscles by documenting his country’s known history first, after which he conjured up an imaginative past, and then stitched them together in a way that the mythology could neatly connect with real history.

Christiern Pedersen, a 16th century publisher, is credited with giving Saxo the appellation ‘Grammaticus’ (Latin for ‘teacher of letters’) after being profoundly impressed by Saxo’s use of words. It was Pedersen, over 200 years after Saxo wrote his work, who republished Gesta Danorum on 15 May 1514, entitled ‘Danorum Regum heroumque Historiae’.

‘Jyske Krønike’, a Danish historical work of the mid-14th century, states that Saxo was born in Zealand. However, there is a dispute over the years he lived. Some historians speculate that he was born in around 1150 and that his death occurred in around 1220.

Gesta Danorum stands out as an extremely important piece of literature for Denmark. It not only highlights the past of the Danes, but also does so by beautifully combining mythology and history.

Today only four fragments of an original copy of Gesta Danorum exist – all four can be seen at the Danish Royal Library. However, had Pedersen not acted when he did, it’s extremely likely that the text would have disappeared forever. It took Pedersen two years to track down a copy of the work, although you have to question how hard he looked as he eventually found it in the collection of Birger Gunnersen, the archbishop of Lund, a successor of the very same cleric who commissioned the original work.

THE COPENHAGEN POST CPHPOST.DK

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