The Copenhagen Post - May 25-31

City’s goal: Carbon neutral by 2025

Film’s skin colour-based rejection sets off debate

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spring 2012

25 - 31 May 2012 | Vol 15 Issue 21

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NEWS

Do as we say, not as we do: politicians take days off while telling the rest of us to work more

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NEWS

Money for McDonald’s Opposition upset that taxpayers are being asked to pay for fast-food joints to develop healthy options

7 InOut

Time to split?

Distortion’s here, but will it come back next year? Well, that all depends on you

Should Denmark follow Norway’s lead and officially end the church-state relationship?

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SPORT

Denmark’s Afghanistan efforts earn praise at NATO summit

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PETER STANNERS NATO summit in Chicago agreed on timetable for Afghanistan exit and the pooling of military hardware, including drones partially funded by Denmark

D

ENMARK continued to position itself as a key player in ensuring the future security of Afghanistan at a summit of leaders from the military alliance NATO in Chicago over the weekend.

The summit agreed to maintain the planned withdrawal of the NATO-led forces by the end of 2014, which will

leave the security of the country entirely in the hands of the Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF).

Despite the agreement to withdraw forces, PM Helle Thorning-Schmidt (Socialdemokraterne) conceded that some foreign personnel will remain in the country.

“There is no doubt that we will have Danes in Afghanistan after 2014,” Thorning-Schmidt said at a press conference. “There will be a need for military training personnel and those who can help with civilian reconstruction. And when Danes are deployed, we must also ensure their security.”

There are currently about 650 Dan-

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ish troops in Afghanistan – of a total 130,000 troops, which are provided by 42 countries from around the world.

The Afghanistan army now numbers about 330,000, and its annual bill is expected to reach about 24 billion kroner. With Afghanistan expected to cover about three billion kroner and the US about 13 billion kroner of that amount, about eight billion kroner remains unaccounted for.

Denmark has spearheaded efforts to find funding to make up the shortfall. It has so far committed 100 million kroner to funding the ANSF and another 530 million for civilian purposes, while also drawing pledges for funding from other

NATO members.

Late on Monday night, ThorningSchmidt announced that she had managed to raise almost six of the eight billion kroner.

“Our effort has borne fruit,” Thorning-Schmidt said according to Ritzau.

“It’s far more than we had imagined when we started the meeting.”

Denmark’s commitment to Afghanistan was praised by NATO’s secretary general, and former Danish PM, Anders Fogh Rasmussen.

“Denmark has made a positive contribution by being a driving force in the

NATO summit continues on page 3

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Week in review

The Copenhagen Post cphpost.dk

25 - 31 May 2012 Main: Scanpix/TClaus Bech; Inset: Scanpix/Bax Lindhardt

Everybody loves Tivoli ...

THE WEEK’S MOST READ STORIES AT CPHPOST.DK Dating the Danes | True nature? (the Kiwi’s view) Former minister compares gays to slugs Dating the Danes | True nature? (the Aussie’s view) Denmark fourth largest burden on Earth’s resources Copenhagen lags behind as a student destination

FROM OUR ARCHIVES TEN YEARS AGO. A series of ads for Arla milk featuring scantily-clad women comes under fire.

FIVE YEARS AGO. Prosecutors decide against bringing racism charges against 12 Dansk Folkeparti members for their comments on Muslims.

ONE YEAR AGO. Lars von Trier’s Nazi comments at the Cannes Film Festival set off a media firestorm.

... even former US presidents and Hollywood actors. Bill Clinton visited the amusement park on Monday along with actor Sean Penn. The two had lunch at Brødrene Price restaurant after having visited Nyhavn earlier in the day. They were in town for a conference on philanthropy.

ceramic jugs, a large metal basin, thick rope, dead-eyes, ammunition, and other shipping inventory. Experts believe that one of the two wrecks, which were actually found in 2008 but kept secret for protection, is the Danish warship Lindormen that sank in 1644 during a battle against the Swedish and Dutch fleets.

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

A warm one?

Sun worshippers, rejoice!

Weather Services International – the folks that do forecasts for the Weather Channel – has released a report that says this year’s summer in Denmark will be much warmer and sunnier than last year’s, which was the second wettest on record. But wait! Just a couple of weeks ago, Denmark’s

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

Meteorological Institute (DMI) went on record as saying that this summer would be yet another grey, wet and chilly affair. “This summer will probably resemble last year’s with unsettled weather and rain,” said meteorologist Jesper Rasmussen. Who’s right?

Who knows? So, head to the beach ... but take an umbrella.

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

Tivoli

The Viking Ship Museum in Roskilde made a startling discovery during the pre-build examinations for the upcoming Femern Bælt Bridge that will connect southern Denmark to Germany. Two shipwrecks dating back to the 1600s were found at a depth of 24 metres and have so far yielded canons,

Scanpix/Henning Bagger

Morten Johansen, Vikingeskibsmuseet

Sunken treasure

CORRECTIONS The Pat Kelly Duo was incorrectly identified as Fiddler on the Hoof. Also, our sports piece misidentified Nicolai Boilesen’s position. He is a left back. Finally, we gave the wrong date for the Willis Earl Bearl concert.

Staycations

Denmark can be a lovely place in the summer ... when the sun decides to shine. And apparently Danes think so as well because 40 percent in a recent survey said they are planning to spend their summer holiday within Denmark’s borders. That is good news for a blossoming tourist industry that saw a sturdy increase in pa-

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trons in 2011. A new study from VisitDenmark indicated that 21.4 million people visited the top 50 Danish attractions last year – a million more than the previous year. That is the most visitors in the history of the list – headed

by Tivoli, Dyrehavsbakken and Legoland – after three consecutive years of decline.

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News

The Copenhagen Post cphpost.dk

25 - 31 May 2012

Rich pay the poor in ‘Robin Hood’ reform Scanpix/Torkil Adsersen

Peter Stanners Council reform angers mayors of wealthier councils, who argue they hand over enough money to poor ones already

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ealthy councils will have to hand over an extra 400 million kroner a year to poorer councils after the passage of the government’s reformed redistribution plan (udligningsreform) last week.

The government redistributes tax revenue raised in each of the 98 councils in order to equalise public service levels across the country and prevent poor councils from spiralling into debt.

Known as the ‘Robin Hood’ reform, the changes will see a greater degree of redistribution along with the creation of a 400 million kroner fund that councils can apply to for help tackling problems such as homelessness and addiction.

Councils that face problems with at-risk children and nomad families will benefit from the redistribution, while councils that operate ferry services connecting island communities with the mainland will receive an extra 15 million kroner a year under the deal.

The government started the negotiations seeking broad consensus for its proposal, but refused to compromise once the opposition parties withdrew from talks.

As a result, the passage of the bill

Vestager (centre) passed the reform with the support of Enhedslisten’s Johanne Schmidt-Nielsen (left) and Frank Aaen

hinged on the support of the far-left party Enhedslisten.

The economy minister, Margrethe Vestager, led the negotiations and was consequently accused by the opposition of breaking a pledge to seek consensus in the reform.

Vestager argued, however, that

Demanding more money from our residents is crazy

the reform could not wait until the next election, as the right-wing Dansk Folkeparti had demanded.

“Our ambition is that councils who need more money will be able to get more as of 1 January 2013,” Vestager told the Ritzau news bureau. “What’s important to us is that Enhedlisten is ready to

SF does about-face on plan to cut number of mayors Fears of all-powerful city bosses lead party leaders to backtrack

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he City of Copenhagen has seven different mayors. Along with Mayor Frank Jensen, there are individual deputy mayors that oversee, among other things: the city’s culture and leisure, health and wellness, and employment and integration. Denmark’s three other largest cities – Aalborg, Aarhus and Odense – all have similar arrangements.

Recently, the S-R-SF government seemed to be united on the idea of cutting the extra deputy mayors and consolidating power in each of the four cities under a single mayor in the same way as governance is done in smaller towns around the country. The government said that the reforms would eliminate the costly duplication of efforts and save taxpayers hundreds of millions of kroner. Now, however, it seems that the Socialistisk Folkeparti (SF) wants to scuttle the plan. Party members believe that the consolidation of power will place too much power in the hands of a single person.

“There are things that we can discuss combining under single management, like IT and human resources,” SF spokesperson Lisbeth Bech Poulsen told Politiken newspaper. “But it is essential that we continue to have direct access to any political or economic analysis, so SF opposes the idea.”

Frank Jensen’s colleague in Copen-

forms are necessary to increase government efficiency.

“I simply cannot understand why SF doesn’t think that we should save hundreds of millions of kroner,” said Andersen.

Although both Venstre and Konservative said in 2010 they would like to see changes made to the governing structure in Denmark’s four major cities, and even made the changes part of their government’s platform, both parties now say they do not support the current government’s efforts.

“We investigated it during the previous government and came to the concluCritics of the reform fear that they would turn the mayor of Copenhagen into the “king of the city” sion that there are hagen, the deputy mayor for heath and plan was met with surprise and a bit of just too many problems with the idea,” Konservative spokesperson Brian wellness, Ninna Thomsen (SF), is afraid scorn from its ruling partners.

“I hope our good economic min- Mikkelsen told Politiken. that if the proposal is passed, it would The mayor of one of the cities that effectively turn the the mayor of Co- ister, Margrethe Vestager (Radikale), knocks some sense into SF,” Copenha- would be affected, Henning Jensen (Sopenhagen into the “king of the city”.

“I manage my own shop,” Thomsen gen city councillor Ikram Sarwar (So- cialdemokraterne) of Aalborg, has no told Politiken. “I have nearly 50 nursing cialdemokraterne) told Politiken. “It love for the proposed reforms.

“I have zero sympathy for Copenhomes and 8,000 employees to handle. may be that they lose their little stool in City Hall, but this is about Copenha- hagen,” Jensen said to Politiken. “They It is not a walk in the park.”

Thomsen said that she needed to gen getting better and more transparent are the country’s wealthiest city, so why should their problems affect the rest of remain in a position to make decisions government.”

Radikale spokesperson Liv Holm us? Let local governments continue to and engage in honest dialogue.

SF’s about-face on the unification Andersen told Politiken that the re- have the freedom they have now.”

Scanpix/Søren Bidstrup

Ray Weaver

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step up and make it happen now.”

Gentofte Council was one of the big losers in the reform, and its mayor, Hans Toft (Konservative), argued that the extra 70 million kroner the residents of his wealthy council would have to pay was an unreasonable amount.

“We already pay two billion kroner to other councils. That’s half of our income tax. Demanding more money from our residents is crazy,” Toft told Ritzau.

Copenhagen will wind up losing most money in the reform. The amount of money it receives will decrease by 245.2 million kroner a year, though it is allowed to apply to the new 400 millon social fund created to help councils address social problems – especially important given that 30 percent of the country’s homeless live in the city, and that it also suffers from above-average poverty levels.

“If we couldn’t access the fund, the city’s most vulnerable – the drug addicts and homeless – would be worst affected,” councillor Ikram Sarwar (Socialdemokraterne) told Politiken newspaper, adding that the reform would affect the city’s ability to follow through with some of its planned projects.

One of the councils receiving the most money was the island of Langeland.

“We are set to receive an extra 21 million in redistribution and that is great, but it doesn’t mean we’re going to have a party – it simply means we can avoid making cuts,” Mayor Bjarke Nielsen (Venstre) told Jyllands-Posten newspaper.

NATO summit continued from front page

endeavours to raise money for the Afghanistan security forces by deciding to donate 100 million kroner,” Fogh said according to Politiken. “It has been noticed by the alliance.”

The defence minister, Nick Hækkerup (Socialdemokraterne), explained that it was important for Denmark to take the opportunities it had to make its voice heard.

“For a small country like Denmark, it is a tremendous advantage that international decisions are made in forums such as NATO in which it is not merely the strongest voice that counts,” he told Politiken. “That’s why we have to contribute.”

Remaining at the core of an international alliance does not come cheap, however. Politiken recently revealed that Denmark backtracked on a previous decision not to contribute towards the financing of five NATO drones in the Alliance Ground Surveillance (AGS) project after pressure from American president Barack Obama.

“The USA perceives Denmark as a core NATO country and want us in the central part of the alliance,” Hækkerup said. “This relates to the AGS project, for instance. So the decision to resume our involvement has been met with considerable satisfaction in Washington.”

The drones are part of a so-called SmartDefense system that involves the pooling of resources of NATO members and reduces the reliance on US hardware by European forces that was experienced in the NATO operation in Libya last year.

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Cover story

The Copenhagen Post cphpost.dk

25 - 31 May 2012

Has the time come to separate church and state?

Scanpix/Niels Ahlmann Olesen

Ray Weaver Norway has abolished the national church, and in light of recent arguments some argue it’s time Denmark did the same

T

he Norwegian parliament on Monday separated church and state by abolishing the Church of Norway through a constitutional amendment. Norway is now a secular nation, with no official religion, and the government will not interfere in the appointment of church officials.

Many Danes have in the past called for the Danish government and the church to also go their separate ways. Currently, 48 MPs from the ruling S-R-SF government coalition and its support party, Enhedslisten, agree or partially agree with the idea that church and state should be separate.

The recent decision by the government to allow gay marriage and its proposal to trim some ostensibly religious holidays from the working calendar in an effort to raise revenue have once again raised questions about the wisdom of continuing a relationship that dates back to 1849.

The Danish National Church is the state church and largest denomination in Denmark and Greenland. The church is Evangelical Lutheran and has been regarded as the official national church since the establishment of the constitution in 1849. Manu Sareen (Radikale), the church and equality minister, is the highest administrative authority.

According to Church Ministry figures, the membership of the national church has been steadily falling since the 1980s.

Whereas in 1984, nearly 92 percent of the Danish population were members of the church, that number was down to just over 80 percent last year. In Copenhagen, just 60 percent are church members.

And while those are still high numbers, only around five percent of the national population regularly attend church services.

The dwindling attendance has led to a wave of church closures across Denmark. In Copenhagen alone, 17 churches have been slated for closure.

The church is financially supported by the state, with a

With debates surrounding gay marriage and the abolishment of religious holidays, tensions between the church and state are strained

portion of tax kroner allocated to churches and other religious groups.

Viborg bishop Karsten Nissen said the government’s decision to allow gay marriage – which was strongly supported

by Sareen – overstepped what he called the “invisible line” between church and state, where politicians usually refrained from getting involved in church affairs.

“It is a key issue that was forced through,” Nissen told Politiken newspaper. “It creates a distrust of the political system and how it manages the church.”

A recent poll found that more than 60 percent of Danes are in favour of gay marriage, and church officials support it by a similar measure.

Nearly one third of the 523 members of the clergy recently surveyed by Berlingske Research said that they will not marry homosexual couples. Another seven

percent say they are not sure if they will conduct the ceremonies.

Nissen said that he personally will not marry homosexuals.

In his opinion, the unions are not in accordance with Christian teachings.

Sareen said that no priest will be forced to perform gay marriage rituals against their will.

Nørre Herlev parish priest Charlotte Chammon agreed that the situation could have been handled better.

“I personally have no problem with gays getting married, but it feels like the church is not being listened to,” Chammon told The Copenhagen Post.

Chammon said that some of the tension could have been avoided if the government had paid more attention to concerns the church raised about the use of the word ‘marriage’. She said that while many in the church have no objection to a ceremony

It is a difficult question and some days I think it would be better and some days I am not sure uniting gay couples, they believe that the term ‘marriage’ should be reserved to describe the union between a man and a woman.

She conceded that some may consider a debate over semantics a bit silly, but to her it pointed out that the government and the church often do a poor job listening to each other.

Proposals by the government to scrap two holidays that have their roots in the church calendar also have many wondering if the church and state

can stay together.

Chammon wondered why the church isn’t being included in the discussions surrounding whether to eliminate the Great Prayer Day (Store Bededag, the fourth Friday after Easter) and either Maundy Thursday (skærtorsdag, the day before Good Friday) or Whit Monday (2.

Pinsedag, the Monday after the seventh Sunday after Easter).

“Why isn’t the church being asked which days we think might be the best to cut?” she asked.

The director of the Church Council of Norway, Jens-Petter Johnsen, said that the tension between church and state is what led his country to separate the two.

“Today society consists of people with different beliefs and outlooks, and it is necessary that there is an equal treatment of faith and life communities,” Johnsen told Norwegian news

agency NTB. Chammon says the idea of separating the two in Denmark is a tough call.

“It is a difficult question and some days I think it would be better and some days I am not sure,” she said.

She pointed out that she believes that the constitution allows for the possibility of the church establishing its own governing body independent of the state.

“I think that may be the best solution,” said Chammon.

“That way, we still have a solid faith with many priests and individual churches sharing the same philosophy.”

If church and state do separate, Chammon said she hopes that the churches in Denmark do not fall prey to what she called the “American system” of too many denominations, with each one doing whatever it takes to attract members.

Online this week Tommy Kamp extortion case dropped

A corner of Britain forever Danish

Wanted: eggs. For sale: sperm

The prosecution decided at the last moment to stop criminal proceedings against Tommy Kamp, the one-time leader of Socialdemokraterne (S) in Køge.

Prosecutors said that their chief witnesses, the owners of the restaurant in Køge that had accused Kamp of accepting free services in exchange for the promise of

Just over a thousand years on from the Vikings and the Dangeld, a Danish warrior of a different sort is slowly taking over Europe’s biggest island. Eco-warrior Anders Holch Povlsen, whose family owns Danish fashion company Bestseller, is on the verge of becoming Britain’s second largest private landowner. The

Fertility experts are criticising the low compensation given to egg donors, arguing that it forced hundreds of Danish women last year to look abroad for fertility treatments. Egg and sperm donors receive 500 kroner for making a donation, a sum

political favours no longer feel they were wronged by the politician. Suspension of the proceedings means that Kamp’s former friend, Henrik Sass Larsen (S) the newly-appointed head of Socialdemokraterne’s parliamentary group, will not be forced to testify in the case which had been scheduled to start on Monday.

39-year-old, who is estimated to have a personal wealth of 37 billion kroner, has recently bought two more estates in Scotland for a reported 15 million pounds.

The acquisitions have swollen the Danish retail magnate’s portfolio to almost 130,000 acres, and further purchases might add an extra 50,000 acres.

that professor Peter Humaidan, head of the fertility department at Odense University Hospital, argues is far too little for women.

“It almost mocks egg donors as there is far more discomfort in donating eggs than sperm,” Humaidan told Jyllands-Posten.

Read the full stories at cphpost.dk

news

The Copenhagen Post cphpost.dk

25 - 31 May 2012

5

Copenhagen announces ambitious climate plan The city aims to move away from carbon-based energy sources, though questions have been raised over whether its ambitions are actually feasible

B

y 2025 Copenhagen hopes to become one of the world’s first fully carbon-neutral cities, according to the ambitious plan released on Tuesday by the City Council.

The council lays out a holistic vision for the city that will reduce CO2 emissions by transitioning energy production away from coal and towards biomass, wind and solar, while also reducing energy consumption and improving energy efficiency in transport, housing, heating and industry.

The plan will cost the city about 2.7 billion kroner before 2025, though additional private investments of between 20 and 25 billion will be needed from the private sector in order for targets to be met.

The plan mirrors the climate plan set out by the Danish government over the winter to vastly reduce the country’s carbon footprint and end its reliance on fossil fuels for energy production by 2035.

Like the national government, the City Council believes the investments will be an opportunity to create economic growth.

“The investments will ensure jobs now, and the new solutions will provide the foundation for a strong green sector,” Mayor Frank Jensen (Socialdemokraterne) wrote in a press release announcing the plan’s publication.

The city’s deputy mayor for technical and environmental affairs, Ayfer Baykal (Socialistiske Folkeparti), added that the city would need the co-operation of both its residents and businesses for the plan’s targets to be met.

According to a questionnaire asked by the council, 55 percent of respondents said that sorting

rubbish was the most important act that residents could do to contribute to Copenhagen’s climate goals.

And a majority of the 20 households who participated in a trial with new rubbish-sorting bins were positive about the system that increased the amount of plastic being recycled, and in doing so, reduced the CO2 emissions caused by the burning of plastics in incinerators.

“We must choose our bikes instead of our cars, sort and recycle more of our waste, and invest in the energy retrofitting of our houses and flats,” Baykal wrote in the press release. “The reward will appear in the form of a series of environmental benefits like clean air, less noise and greater quality of life.”

The city’s latest plan, entitled KBH 2025, builds on a 2009 climate plan in which the city set out to reduce its CO2 emissions to 20 percent of 2005 levels by 2015, and to become CO2 neutral by 2025.

The first target was already met last year, four years ahead of schedule, despite the fact that the city’s population grew by ten percent over the same period.

The city still released about 1.9 million tonnes of CO2 in 2011 – a figure that would drop to 1.16 tonnes a year in 2025 if no new initiatives were introduced.

But the city wants to reduce the figure even further through initiatives such as burning biomass and rubbish at district heat and power stations instead of coal, installing 100 wind turbines around the city as well as solar panels on all council buildings, while also expanding the fledgling geothermal facility in Amager.

Some 75 percent of the planned reduction in emission reductions will be a result of this transition to low-carbon energy that is, in no small part, helped by the government’s own energy plan for the country as a whole, which will see the energy grid flooded with renewable energy over the next decades.

The council’s plan does ac-

Colourbox

Peter Stanners

Energy Use • 20% reduction in heating use • 10% reduction in electricity use by households • 20% reduction in electricity use by businesses Energy production • 1% of energy produced by solar panels • District heating CO2 neutral • Electricity production from wind and biomass exceeds total energy use in the city • More sorting of plastic waste • Production of gas from organic waste

With its climate plan, Copenhagen hopes to point the way for other cities around the globe, but the plan’s success relies on both the government and energy companies living up to their words

knowledge, however, that burning biomass for heat and electricity is far more expensive than burning coal, and it thus emphasises the need to reduce energy consumption in order to offset rising bills.

In all, about 1.4 billion kroner will be spent on energy renovations in the city, including the replacement of street lights with low-energy LED lighting, while the council is hoping for about 3.6 billion kroner of private investment to retrofit existing buildings and increase their energy efficiency.

The hope is that the reduction in heat and energy consumption in buildings and businesses will surpass the increase in price for more expensive per-unit renewable energy, resulting in annual savings of 4,000 kroner for an average family in 2025.

Copenhageners are famed for their bicycle culture, but the city wants even more of its residents to get on their bikes, whatever the weather, with

planned investments of about 600 million to improve cycling infrastructure.

The failure by the government to introduce a campaignpromised congestion charge to Copenhagen this year may have been a blow for city planners who also want to get more of the city’s commuters onto public transport.

Regardless, the city still plans on moving towards a carbon-neutral transport network by switching from petrol and diesel to electricity and biofuel in public transport and council vehicles.

Petrol and diesel will probably still be powering Copenhagen’s cars in 2025, meaning that one large source of CO2 emissions will remain despite the city’s best efforts.

The city claims, however, that they will be able to offset these emissions and become carbon-neutral by becoming a net exporter of renewable energy.

But according to Greenpeace Denmark’s energy and climate

Doctors cut hours over payment dispute Specialist doctors are treating more patients than the health service is paying them for, leading to a call from their union to cut back on hours

P

atients needing the help of specialist doctors should expect longer waiting times for appointments after the doctors’ union urged its members to cut back on their working hours.

In a letter to the 1,100 members of the union Forening af Praktiserende Speciallæger, the union expressed concern that the doctors will end up working for free if they continue to treat the

same volume of patients.

“Members need to slow down,” the letter stated. “This can be achieved, for example, by closing the clinic and taking some education, closing early, taking extra days off or something else similar.”

Speaking to Politiken newspaper, Mikkel Holmelund, the vice-chairman of the union and a doctor who specialises in throat, nose and ear illnesses, said that he is sorry that the situation will increase waiting time for patients.

“We have to sort the patients so that those who are best able to wait will have to wait longer,” Holmelund said.

The problem lies in the col-

Factfile | Copenhagen’s 2025 Climate Targets

lective bargaining agreement for specialist doctors made with the regional health bodies. The agreements outline the number of patients that the doctors can be paid to treat.

While the current agreement pays the doctors to treat 1.25 percent more patients than in 2010, figures gathered since October show that the doctors have actually treated 3.2 percent more patients. If the doctors keep on treating patients, they will effectively be working for free.

Not all specialist doctors agree with the union’s advice, however.

“It means that patients are prevented access to treatment

that their yellow insurance cards [sygesikringskort] entitles them to,” eye doctor Nicolai Larsen told Politiken.

Individuals wanting to avoid the public waiting list can pay to be treated privately, however, and Larsen accused the union of introducing a payment system via the backdoor.

The association of patients, Patientforeningen, also criticised the move by the union.

“If people are ill and are not treated in time, there could be serious consequences. It is so serious that some people may end up dying,” Patientforeningen spokesperson Erik Bach told Politiken. (PS)

spokesperson, Tarjei Haaland, this is a misleading statement.

“They want to offset their carbon emissions by building windmills outside of the city limits that will offset carbon-based energy production elsewhere,” Haaland explained. “But the fact is they can’t become carbonneutral because they will still be releasing carbon because of their transport sector. So there’s not much point in talking about becoming CO2-neutral.”

Haaland also pointed out that much of the city’s carbon reduction is dependent on energy companies fulfilling their goals of moving towards burning biomass at power plants, as well as on the government implementing their carbon-reduction policies.

Regardless, Haaland commended the city’s plan and especially the way it appealed to Copenhageners to do their bit to reduce energy consumption.

“I think it’s a very exciting plan than means Copenhagen has put itself right at the fore-

Yoga

Mobility • 75% percent of journeys either by bike or public transport • 50% percent of all work journeys on bike • 20% percent more passengers using public transport • CO2 neutral public transport • 20-40% of all vehicles running on alternative fuels City Council goals • 40% reduction in energy use by council buildings • 100% of the city’s vehicles either running on biofuel, gas or hydrogen • 30,000sqm of solar panels on council buildings Funding (22.1-27.1 bn kr) • 2.5 bn kr from Copenhagen City Council • 6 bn kr from private investment in new buildings • 3.6 bn kr from private investment in energy retrofitting • 10-15 bn kr from energy production front in the campaign for renewable energy,” Haaland said.

“It’s important that the plan is widely supported, and it sets a good example to other councils. We need Copenhageners to play their part because we need to turn reducing our energy consumption into a common project in Denmark.”

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News

The Copenhagen Post cphpost.dk

25 - 31 May 2012

Unions rage over politicians’ holiday hypocrisy Scanpix / Torkil Adsersen

Christian Wenande Mixed messages emanate from the halls of parliament as MPs take the day off while telling the public to give up their holidays

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hile the sound of construction echoed throughout the city, Christiansborg was as quiet as a crypt the day after Ascension Day (Kristi Himmelfartsdag).

As three-party negotiations get underway, the unions are struggling to accept politicians’ desire to abolish two holidays to make Danes work more, while they take extra days off themselves.

Dennis Kristensen, the head of the FOA union, found it unbelievable that the politicians don’t live by the same standards that they are trying to impose on the public.

“The fact that they are not in Christiansborg the day after a holiday must be the world’s worst commercial for a proposal that will scrap two holidays,” Kristensen told Politiken newspaper.

“Apparently, politicians feel that what they demand of the public does not extend to themselves. It smells a lot like hypocrisy to me.”

Several politicians argued that par-

Harald Børsting, the chairman of LO, said the holidays shouldn’t be taken away until Denmark has come out of the recession

liament is organised in a manner that sometimes conflicts with what they tell the public to do, and some, like Marianne Jelved (Radikale), think that the two issues are not connected at all.

“We continue working after Constitution Day (Grundlovsdag) every year,

and we’ll probably work through all of June,” Jelved told Politiken. “We work when we need to, but that doesn’t necessarily have to be on Ascension Day or the day after.”

Jelved also explained that if the holidays get scrapped, then it would mean

longer working hours for the politicians with no pay increase – something commendable in her opinion.

“I think that you should be patting us on the back for working more weeks in June without extra pay or days off,” she told Politiken.

The three-party negotiations between the government, business leaders and the labour force are expected to be completed before the summer, but whether the proposal to scrap the holidays makes it through remains to be seen. As of now, there is still political opposition to the initiative, and the unions are adamant that the holidays shouldn’t be discarded until the recession is over.

“The need for working more doesn’t mean we have to start on it tomorrow,” Harald Børsting, the chairman of LO, the organisation that represents 18 different labour unions and more than one million workers, told Politiken newspaper. “If the government thinks it should start next year, they should propose that at the negotiating table. But that’s not an opinion I endorse.”

Bente Sorgenfry, the spokeswoman for the FTF union, agreed with Børsting, adding that it may take several years before the Danes will be asked to work more.

“We won’t work more in 2013 or 2014, so it will come into effect in 2015 at the earliest,” Sorgenfry told Politiken. “People are being laid off in our sector, while others face worktime reductions, so the rest shouldn’t be asked to work more.”

Christian Wenande Denmark is named the fifth best country in one study, but Copenhagen’s status as an international student destination takes a hit in another

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new report that ranks higher education systems has ranked Denmark fifth out of 48 countries.

The report, which was jointly developed by an organisation called Universitas 21 and the Melbourne Institute of Applied Economics and Social Research, assessed the countries using a mechanism that rated 20 different criteria within four main categories: resources, output, connectivity and environment.

The resources category was gauged by investment by the public and private sector in higher education. Output was measured in terms of the supply of educated workers in keeping with market demand. Connectivity was rated by international co-operation regard, such as the number of international students, while the environment category was determined by transparency, regulation and participation.

While Denmark ranked second out of the 48 nations for resources, sixth for output, and 12th for connectivity, an average score within the category of environment gave it an overall ranking of fifth.

Additionally, Denmark finished third for the number of academic articles published per capita, and also finished third for how much of the Gross

Domestic Product (GDP) the government spends on higher education.

The report concluded that more work needs to be done to accurately rate countries with very large populations.

“Does China need to match on a population basis the number of world class universities in the Nordic countries?

Each of the four Nordic countries has roughly one world-class university,” the report noted. “To match this on a population basis, China would need over 1,300 such institutions! Economies of scale exist for systems as they do for institutions.”

The United States finished at the top of the overall rankings, followed by Sweden, Canada, Finland and Denmark.

Copenhagen lags behind as a student destination Poor employment opportunities and an expensive cost of living have ruined Copenhagen’s chances of becoming one of the best student cities in the world.

A report by leading global career and education network QS ranked Copenhagen as the 39th best destination for international students out of 98 cities around the world with a population of over 250,000 people.

The cities were rated in four main categories: quality of living, affordability, employer activity and student mix.

Copenhagen ranked high for the quality of living, but faded in the other categories, most notably the cost of living.

The education minister, Morten Østergaard (Radikale), was not satisfied

Tao Lytzen / Copenhagen Business School

International reports give mixed marks to nation’s universities

The QS report pointed to a perceived lack of interest in foreign students among Danes

with the 39th place ranking and indicated that it will take new initiatives and ideas to propel Copenhagen further up the list.

“We need to become a more attractive country to study in, and with the ambitions Copenhagen has to become a global city, we must look at improving the situation,” Østergaard told Politiken newspaper. “Our education system is of a high standard, but the package as a whole is inadequate. We need to take better care of our guests and help them settle in.”

Mads Engholm, a senior consultant at the research group Ungdommens Analyse Enhed, was adamant that it is especially the social and cultural aspects that are languishing for the international students in Copenhagen.

“Most indicate that they have been

well received and that the Danes are good English speakers, but the Danes are simply not very interested in them, nor very good at including them,” Engholm told Politiken.

Engholm headed a study a couple of months ago that focused on international students in Denmark, and almost one in three international students in Denmark didn’t make a Danish friend while in school. Engholm said that the Danish students needed to become more involved with their international peers.

“To be a good host, you have to have some tools with which to work, and nobody has really thought about that,” Engholm said.

In February, a study conducted by Momentum – the newsletter of the association of local councils, Kom-

munernes Landsforeging – and the career centre at CBS found that over three-quarters of foreign students could imagine staying in Denmark after their studies, but many of those surveyed felt that Danish businesses were uninterested in hiring qualified foreign workers.

According to the QS report, the top five best student cities in the world were Paris, London, Boston, Melbourne and Vienna.

QS also annually ranks the top 700 universities in the world. In their 2011 rankings, the University of Copenhagen was number 52, Aarhus University came in at 79, the Technical University of Denmark at number 150, the University of Southern Denmark at 311 and Aalborg University ranked at number 362.

News

The Copenhagen Post cphpost.dk

25 - 31 May 2012

Søvndal: Label products from Israeli settlements Scanpix/GALI TIBBON

Peter Stanners Denmark wants to give supermarkets opportunity to clarify whether Israeli products derive from illegal settlements

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oreign Minister Villy Søvndal (Socialistiske Folkeparti) wants to allow supermarkets to introduce labelling on all goods produced by Israeli settlements in the West Bank.

“This is a step that clearly shows consumers that the products are produced under conditions that not only the Danish government, but also European governments, do not approve of,” Søvndal told Politiken newspaper. “It will then be up to consumers whether they choose to buy the products or not.”

The labelling initiative will be optional for supermarkets and is intended to allow consumers to better differentiate between products produced in Israel, which are subject to preferential customs agreements, and those made in settlements in the West Bank, which are not.

“I believe that the labelling will have a clear and direct impact on imports, though the precise effect is impossible to predict,” Søvndal said. “I hope that we will show Palestinians around the world that we believe

The building of Israeli settlements in the West Bank has been condemned as illegal by the United Nations

the illegal settlements should not be allowed to continue.”

The construction of settlements in the West Bank, which Israel has occupied since the 1967 Six-Day War, has aroused international condemnation, most recently from United Nations secretary general Ban Kimoon, who said in April that he was “deeply troubled” by Israel’s

approval of three new settlements in the West Bank.

“All settlement activity is illegal under international law,” Ki-moon wrote in a press release, adding that he was “disappointed that such a decision comes at a time of renewed efforts to restart dialogue”.

The UK also introduced voluntary labelling guidelines

for its supermarkets in 2009, while EU law already requires that products from settlements in the West Bank are labelled.

Søvndal’s proposal was criticised by members of Dansk Folkeparti (DF), however.

“Villy Søvndal has no idea where the borders will be drawn for a new Palestinian state,” DF’s Søren Espersen told Poli-

tiken. “Until the negotiations have been finalised, there is nothing illegal about the trade [of these products].”

Morten Messerschmidt, MEP for DF, also commented on the development and drew a connection to the meeting between the environment minister, Ida Auken (SF), and Hamas.

“Søvndal wants to mark Is-

7

I believe that the labelling will have a clear and direct impact on imports raeli products. Auken is meeting with Hamas in the European Parliament. Does SF have a problem with Jews?” Messerschmidt wrote on Twitter.

The Danish government announced its policy towards Israel in its common governmental policy that was released in October, which stated that it supported the creation of an independent Palestinian state.

“Denmark must make it clear to Israel that while it respects its right to defend itself, we – along with other EU countries and the current American government – see the IsraelPalestine conflict as more than a regional conflict. That conflict threatens to destabilise the global security situation.”

In March, the government pledged 120 million kroner of aid for the Palestine Territories over the next three years, though Søvndal ruled out unilaterally recognising Palestine as an independent state.

McDonald’s subsidy angers opposition DSB: Phone pledges McDonald’s

Christian Wenande Ministry has granted the fastfood industry millions in order to provide a “healthy” option for those on the go

National rail company warns of increased begging and says they have a plan ready to combat the problem

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E

nhedslisten (EL) and Liberal Alliance (LA) find it perplexing that Danish tax payers are being asked to pay for fast-food joints to develop a healthy food concept.

The new project, which will ensure that places like McDonald’s, DSB’s kiosks and Q8 petrol stations serve ‘Keyhole-labelled’ nutritional options, will be subsidised by the Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Fisheries to the tune of 4.5 million kroner.

Simon Emil Ammitzbøl, a spokesperson for LA, said that the initiative is redundant and a misuse of resources.

“It’s an unnecessary waste of money because Danes are not lacking places to get healthy food,” Ammitzbøl told 24timer newspaper. “And if the big companies want to change their menus, that is fine, but surely the taxpayers shouldn’t have to pay for it.”

Per Clausen of EL was equally bewildered at the subsidy, indicating that the funds should instead go to smaller eco-

can stop train begging

The food minister argues that the subsidy will help restaurants like McDonald’s provide healthier choices

logical businesses.

“We are talking about multinational and affluent conglomerates who haven’t paid taxes in Denmark for ages,” Clausen told 24timer. “So, I could easily find other more needy businesses to support, such as the small ecological producers who can’t afford to market or develop themselves.

The money would make a real difference to them.”

But the food minister, Mette Gjerskov (Socialdemokratere), backs the project, saying that it will complement the increasing trend of eating on the run.

If the big companies want to change their menus, that is fine, but surely the tax payers shouldn’t have to pay for it “The chains will also contribute financially to this,” Gjerskov told 24timer. “Lots of Danes eat meals on the go,

often unhealthy ones, so I am focused on getting the keyhole label nutrition concept into the fast-food model.”

The ‘Keyhole’ label is a symbol put on food products to identify healthier food products within a product group. The Food Ministry says that choosing foods with the ‘Keyhole’ symbol makes it easier and less time-consuming to find healthier products in food stores. Foods labelled with the ‘Keyhole’ symbol contain less fat, sugar and salt, and more fibre than food products of the same type not carrying the symbol.

tate-owned railway company DSB is looking to end begging on trains and at stations by implementing a new system that will allow travellers to donate money to the homeless via SMS. In co-operation with a few interest groups, DSB has encouraged passengers to donate money via their mobile phone instead of handing out change to beggars. The company believes that this will halt begging in the public transport domain.

The campaign is a response to a rise in begging on trains – something that the police shouldn’t have to deal with, explained Anders Petersen, the commuter spokesman for Klampenborg and Hillerød councils.

“It would be a waste of time for the police, and resources for society in general,” Petersen told Jyllands-Posten newspaper.

“Begging is an annoyance, to be sure, but people are not being assaulted.”

DSB reckons that if passengers would give money to

the homeless using the phones, begging would drop off considerably on the trains.

Any money donated through the SMS service would go to those who really need it instead of the beggars who are most unabashed and forward, according to Niklas Marschall, a DSB sales director.

“And hopefully that will also put an end to customers giving the money directly to the beggars,” Marschall told JyllandsPosten newspaper. “They will keep begging on the trains as long as it pays to do so.”

DSB predicted that there would be an increase in begging as soon as summer arrives, and that the beggars can be categorised in two general groups.

“One group consists of people who have fallen on hard times and need a little help to get through the day,” Marschall told Jyllands-Posten. “But the second group is of a more professional character. They are more aggressive, and they are the ones that really irritate the customers.”

DSB has already attempted to deal with the dilemma by handing out cards that allow the homeless to travel for free, but that has not helped and indeed seems to have exacerbated the problem. (CW)

8

OPINION

THE COPENHAGEN POST CPHPOST.DK

25 - 31 May 2012

A moment of doubt The necessity of NATO about change Freeing the church from its ties to the state could be the best thing that happened to religion in Denmark since the Reformation

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ITH DECLINING membership, the planned closures of churches in Copenhagen and, an emerging gap in attitudes over same-sex marriages, the last thing the Church of Denmark needed right now was a discussion about whether it should lose its status as the state church.

But after a decision by Norway this week left Denmark the last of the three Scandinavian countries with a constitutional bond between the church and state (Sweden enacted such a reform in 1996), the Folkekirken appears to be moving headlong into just such a debate.

In a land where public holidays are literally ‘holy days’, it should come as no surprise that there is apprehension among the clergy and traditionalists in the population at large about taking away the special status held by the church. But for a population whose formal religious activity is restricted mostly to the occasional wedding and the odd funeral, the change would have little impact.

That isn’t to say that it wouldn’t be carried out without a sense of emotional resignation. Particularly for Danes living outside Denmark, the church and its characteristic square-towered buildings, is intrinsically linked to nationality. But, in Norway, the constitutional change saw the original wording, “the Evangelical-Lutheran religion is the state’s official religion”, replaced with “our values will remain our Christian and humanistic heritage”, and that slight alteration also reflects the de facto status of Christianity here.

For the church, losing its vaunted status would be understandably traumatic, but if Danish reforms were to resemble those in Sweden and Norway, the change would only be skin deep. And although it would invariably leave the church with a smaller congregation, reducing the ranks could serve as the impetus for it to dust off its tired image.

While the change would probably only have an inconsequential impact for the church and its members, for Catholics, Muslims, Jews or anyone else from a minority religion, it would signify that their faiths, even though they don’t occupy the same space in Denmark’s past and culture as the Folkekirken, are accepted as part of the fabric of Denmark’s present.

ANDERS FOGH RASMUSSEN

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ANY YEARS ago, I took my children to visit the sites of the D-Day landings in Normandy. I wanted them to understand the sacrifices that others had made so that Europe and North America could enjoy the benefits of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. We saw three of the beaches whose names echo through history: Omaha, Utah, Juno. Those beaches remain a memorial to the idea that, together, we can overcome any threat, no matter how great.

We understand the future that could have befallen not only Europe, but the entire world, if North America had not helped Europe in its hour of need. And we know that those landings created a unique bond between our continents.

That bond remains vital for the preservation of our values and our security. But, after the Cold War, many assumed that its

institutional embodiment – the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation – would fade away. It did not, because our bond is based not just on common threats, but on shared ideals. It could no more fade away than our desire for freedom could wane. NATO needed no external reasons to exist. Yet history would provide them soon enough.

In Bosnia and Kosovo, NATO intervened to stop massive human-rights violations. In Libya, we enforced a United Nations Security Council resolution to protect civilians. And in Afghanistan, we are denying a safe haven to extremists.

The Alliance has evolved into a true security-management organization that is flexible, efficient – and cost-effective. The threats have changed, and become more global, and we have changed to meet them.

NATO is developing a ballistic-missile defence capability to protect our European populations and territory against a grave and growing threat. In the Indian Ocean, NATO is working with the European Union and many others to police major sea lanes threatened by pirates. And, in countries around the world, it carries out tasks such as demining, disaster relief, advising on how to bring military forces under democratic control and working closely with the UN to prevent harm to children.

Efforts like these may not make headlines. But security is like health – you never notice it until it takes a turn for the worse.

This is why you need insurance.

And NATO is the most solid security insurance that the world has. Signed by 28 members, it has delivered security benefits to all Allies, year after year, for more than six decades.

Last weekend in Chicago, representatives of roughly 60 member states, partner countries and international organisations assembled for NATO’s latest summit, the largest in the Alliance’s history, to tackle some of the biggest security questions of our time.

Our discussions focused on three issues: the transition to full Afghan security responsibility, the continued development of Allied military capabilities and NATO’s global network of partnerships.

Firstly, we reaffirmed our commitment to Afghanistan’s stability and security. Over the next few months, our role will shift from combat to training and mentoring. And, by the end of 2014, Afghans will have full responsibility for their own security.

Secondly, as our military involvement in Afghanistan nears completion, we must look ahead and develop new capabilities for a new era. At a time when defence budgets are being slashed across the Alliance, this requires a new approach.

By working together to maximise our assets and resources, we can do more with what we have. This is the essence of ‘Smart Defence’. In Chicago, the Allies committed

to this approach as a long-term strategy for improving NATO’s capabilities.

Finally, partnerships will figure prominently on the agenda in Chicago. Over the past 20 years, NATO has created a network of security partnerships with countries around the world. Unlike Allies, partners are not covered

by Article 5, the North Atlantic Treaty’s collective-defence clause. But transnational threats demand multinational solutions, and our partnerships help us to address common challenges.

NATO holds regular consultations with all of our partners.

The Alliance helps interested partners with defence reform.

And many of our partners bring valuable capabilities and expertise to our operations.

I began by noting my personal identification with the bond between North America and Europe. But this attachment goes deeper than you think. Chicago has long been a home for many European immigrants. My own son lives in Illinois, not far from Chicago, with his wife and two children. Of my four grandchildren, two are European and two are American.

When I think about reasons to preserve our transatlantic bond for future generations, I don’t think about my security. I think about theirs. And that is the only reason I need.

The author is the secretary general of NATO and a former prime minister of Denmark. © Project Syndicate

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Good news, bad news for daycare parents I wish it was more accepted to have flexi/part time arrangements for both parents and that you could bump along on the equivalent of one full-time job. Then daycare would have to evolve to suit families and not the other way around.

Adventures and Japes by website Yes, it would be nice if income taxes weren’t so high that families could survive on one wage earner plus one to care for the home fires. Unfortunately, those who work have to be taxed out of the wazoo to keep the crappy welfare state limping along.

Thorvaldsen by website Denmark fourth largest burden on Earth’s resources “And the accuracy of the figures can also be questioned, as the WWF concedes that it used figures from 2008 to assess Denmark’s ecological footprint.” Just like the accuracy of Denmark being the happiest country.

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We are overpopulated. We do not need two earths. 7,000,000,000 inhabitants are way too many for

this planet. Birth control among other things will mitigate the impact and Earth will stand a chance of servicing humanity a bit longer.

Dinosaurio1 by website Legal cannabis rejected by government Quite interestingly, Denmark and other European countries have no problem selling alcohol and tobacco, which kill thousands of people every year, yet a herb that hasn’t killed anyone in its 5,000+-year history of use is illegal because of supposed ‘side effects’. What side effects do you speak of Morten? Would you like to give specific examples of what you’re talking about? Not to mention the government should have no right to tell adults what they can and cannot consume, especially if it does no-one else harm (and the alleged harm to the user is miniscule).

AmKon Dot Ne by website It’s a potentially dangerous drug, like any other. No point pretending otherwise. If you think it is without risk, then I challenge you to smoke 20 joints a day and report back in 20 years as to the state of your general health.

Nesby by website

If something could get the Danish people to drink less, it should not only be tried, but also paraded through the streets.

Loroferoz by website You can already get cannabis in Christiania – it’s not like you have to go severely under cover to get it in Copenhagen. Just leave it in Christiania and tax it. It’s an isolated area and it is known for that. Making it legal in Copenhagen would probably kill Christiania, or they will have to resort to stronger drugs to differentiate and stay afloat.

Ed Martinez

by Facebook Fifty and finished Why do you need to say “in Denmark” in the subheading? Was there a danger that the reader might think the article was about Timbuktu? Or is it just necessary to associate every bad thing you can think of with Denmark. You were quick enough to criticise the use of the ‘n’ word in a Danish newspaper headline, but here you are doing the same thing – not as serious, of course, but the same divisive agenda.

TheAuthorities by website Could it be because The Copenhagen Post actually reports more

than just Danish news? A shock, I know, but there it is.

Danishriviera by website Former minister gays to slugs

compares

I think the marriage between the Danish Church and the Danish State is a far more dangerous marriage than any marriage between gay people.

Tom by website It is absolutely mad to marry homosexuals in church! Don’t you understand that God’s guidance on this issue is very clear? Homosexual practice is an abominable sin in God’s eyes. I didn’t say that. He did. Any church has to adhere to what God says, regardless of what liberals and homosexuals say.

Carlos Montoya by website Absolute rubbish. Please provide a single quote by Jesus on this matter. If you are referring to Leviticus 20:13, please read the rest of it, among other things, the parts about killing people who curse their parents and tell us how you yourself and the church are obeying all these commandments in your everyday life!

Andrejs Visockis by website

OPINION

THE COPENHAGEN POST CPHPOST.DK

25 - 31 May 2012

9

‘MacCarthy’s World’

BY CLARE MACCARTHY 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.

Film folly ASA FILM

D

URING THE last decade or so in Denmark the name ‘Morten Korch’ has become shorthand for overblown sentimentality and an unrealistic longing for a return to bygone days. Morten Korch, who penned no less than 123 novels and died at an advanced age in 1954, was the most widely read Danish author of his day and was eventually knighted for his contribution to popular culture.

His books, mostly sagas and romances about rural Denmark, were a powerful cultural force in the 1950s and several were made into extremely successful films

by ASA Film. ‘De Røde Heste’ (‘The Red Horses’), a 1950 drama about a struggling young couple betting their future on winning a horse race, was actually the biggest box office success in the history of Danish cinema.

Like most of the film adaptations of Korch’s books, the story focused on the struggles of an underdog to overcome and eventually vanquish the illtreatment of a socially-superior foe. Danes flocked to see this film. Some 2.3 million of them in fact. And although none of the other ASA Film treatments of Korch’s stories during the 1950s achieved the same level of success, the films were invariably well-received and well-attended.

ASA Film’s ‘Kampen om Næsbygård’

One of them was ‘Kampen om Næsbygård’ (the battle for Næsby Farm). This 1964 film flicked across my screen recently and I watched it to the end despite my aversion to sentimentality of any ilk. It was a gripping, if predictable, tale: life at a manor farm is disrupted when a previously unknown heir arrives to disrupt the expectations of the heir presumptive, the patriarch’s snobbish nephew.

Drama ensues, and as in all movies with happy endings, the charmingly winsome young interloper ends up winning hearts, sympathy and the audience’s affection. As well as pitting age against youth (a grown-up nephew versus a young grandchild), the film also focused on the conflict between the familiar and the foreign. Because while the nephew was a blue-blooded member of the Danish upper

classes, the newcomer was both illegitimate and half Italian.

In 1950s Denmark, that was about as exotic as you could get. But still, the curly-topped, brown-eyed hero, with a rather darker skin tone than was usually seen in Denmark, won the filmgoers’ hearts. It was a sweet, if saccharin, tale.

Fast forward to 2012 and we’ve got a rumpus about the Danish Film Institute’s refusal

to help fund a new movie about a dark-skinned youngster struggling to overcome the odds and society’s perceptions of him.

(See page 18 for news coverage of the story.)

The film hasn’t yet been made so I can’t comment on its merit or otherwise. But what’s striking about the DFI’s grant refusal is its citing of the ethnicity of the protagonist. In fairness, this was only one of several reasons given for denying funding. But it was cited nevertheless. The DFI declined to release money because it thought the film would not be a commercial success in the provinces because of the ethnicity of the lead actor.

The dilemma in this is threefold: (1) a refusal to provide grants from a state-funded scheme on the grounds of race or background is illegal. (2) The presumption that a homegrown film with a non-Danish hero will not attract audiences in the provinces is incorrect.

‘Kampen om Næsbygård’ proves the point. (3) The Danish Film Board’s own charter – its legal raison d’être – commits it to diversity.

If you check out the DFI’s website, you’ll see this commitment stated in black and white.

The institute operates under the Film Act of 1997 and is tasked to allocate subsidies “to provide

a framework for film funding that promotes diversity and riskwillingness in the industry”.

All of this makes the decision appear bewildering, crass and stupid.

So the DFI thinks it can promote diversity by refusing to help a film with an immigrant protagonist? What logic makes these people believe that ignoring the ten percent or so of Danish citizens who can’t trace their lineage back to Harald Bluetooth represents a “promotion of diversity”?

Citing the possible commercial success of the film outside Copenhagen is another joke. Film audiences in rural Denmark can be as sophisticated and receptive to new trends as anywhere else. Just look at the blossoming of culture and arts centres across this country of late. Seriously, avant garde artistry is flowering beyond Copenhagen.

And the provincial cultural centres are also remarkably receptive to the great musical icons of our time. If Bob Dylan, David Bowie and The Rolling Stones can find an audience in Horsens (population 54,450), then surely more than a few of the locals will roll up to see a movie about an immigrant kid from Nørrebro entering a song contest.

CPH POST VOICES

‘THE LYNCH REPORT’

‘PERNICKETY DICKY’

‘STILL ADJUSTING’

‘TO BE PERFECTLY FRANK’

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

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?

10 News

The Copenhagen Post cphpost.dk

25 - 31 May 2012

It’s a dirty job, but somebody’s gotta do it Photos: Sandra Hoj

Claudia Santos Fed up with the littering situation in Copenhagen, resident Sandra Hoj takes matters into her own hands

Y

ou know that old saying: “If you want something done, you have to do it yourself ”? A Copenhagen blogger, Sandra Høj, recently reached that conclusion, and decided to take a stand and act on a problem that concerns all Copenhagen residents: litter.

Her determination helped her come up with an innovative plan for the city that she is proud to call home. The Copenhagen Post caught up with Høj to discuss the story that is causing quite a buzz internationally.

Høj’s litter-minimising project began out of frustration with the “paper cup situation” around the lakes and on Dronning Louise’s Bridge. Høj suspected most passers-by had good intentions to bin their cups, but failed to do so because the bins were overflowing.

“People would carry their cups past several overloaded trashcans before finally giving up and just dumping them.

And from there, they blow in the lakes.

So annoying,” she said.

Høj decided to take action by constructing her own solution to the problem – a cardboard tube designed to hold only cups, minus the lids.

“Stacking the cups just seemed like the most logical thing in the world, and the tube was the obvious solution,” she said.

Engaged in a somewhat ambitious project, Høj has documented the entire process on her Classic Copenhagen blog.

“I made two tubes for the bridge and inspected the progress daily,” she explained. “I was really curious to see if

people would get the concept and play along and to see if the tubes would be vandalised, but there was none of that.

People got it right away.”

On her blog, Høj follows the first few days after she installed the ‘testtubes’ on the bridge. The pictures clearly show that Copenhageners are more than capable of taking a hint. Below is the progress in Høj’s own words:

The small and pigeon-holed trashcans are too few and too far apart and clearly not up-to-date Inspired by the mess generated by paper coffee cups (top), Hoj made special tubes to hold the discarded drinks. By the third day of her experiment (below) the mess was gone. However, by the sixth day, so were the tubes.

“Day 1: No vandalism. No cups on the ground. A few cups in one tube.

Day 2: No vandalism. No cups on the ground. A few more cups in both tubes.

Day 3: No vandalism. No cups on the ground. Both tubes filling up.

Day 4: No vandalism. No cups on the ground. Both tubes almost full.

Day 5: No vandalism. No cups on the ground. Both tubes emptied, yay!

This means the City got it too?

Day 6: Removed by the City of Copenhagen. I guess the answer to my previous question would be ‘no’, then?”

Høj’s efforts were cut short on day six of the experiment, when the tubes were suddenly removed, despite the seemingly positive effect they had on the littering situation.

“The tubes were made of painted cardboard, and I was keeping an anxious eye on the weather forecast, so I could hurry up and cover them in case of a shower,” she explained. “My best

guess is that the city hosed them down and turned them into a pulp in the cleaning process.”

But Høj is not about to give up. She has contacted the City of Copenhagen several times and has been recently approached by the Center for Renhold, which is part of the city’s Technical and Environmental Department responsible for the daily cleaning of the city’s public areas. Høj said the department has shown interest in her project.

“When I travel, I find myself taking pictures and making notes on how other big cities deal with these problems.

Compared to other places, Copenhagen has it bad, and it pains me. I feel very protective about my city,” she said.

Høj has high hopes for her beloved city of Copenhagen. She told us that she believes that the littering problem is a combination of behaviour and logistics, and she is convinced that a solution is feasible.

“We use the outdoor areas of our city more, which is a good thing, but the small and pigeon-holed trashcans are too few and too far apart and clearly not up-to-date,” she said. “Dispatching more cleaning crews to pick up after people is not the stand-alone solution. It is expensive and undignified. We can do better than that. Yes, people’s mindsets could clearly do with an adjustment, but giving them the option to do the right thing is as much a part of the solution.”

The impact of Høj’s test-tube experiment remains to be seen, but judging by the followers of her blog, she certainly has popular support. A good Samaritan is difficult to find these days, but it seems Copenhagen has one in Sandra Høj.

You can find Høj’s blog at classiccopenhagen.blogspot.com.

Elise Beacom Joint initiative sees asylum seekers tending to 500,000 bees in city centre

W

hen Joseph* and his friends collected honey in Nigeria, they wore an extra layer of clothing, lit a torch and kicked the hive from the tree to take the swarm’s sweet nectar.

Now living at Sandholm Asylum Centre, Joseph is studying a more conventional method of beekeeping alongside more than 20 other asylum seekers at Copenhagen’s Bybi (City Bee Association).

The six-month training programme, which began in March, is a joint initiative between Bybi and the Danish Red Cross, with support from the Roskilde Festival Fund.

With half a million bees in the asylum seekers’ care, any profit they make from honey sales will be used to help them become beekeepers in their own right.

The asylum seekers come from all over, including countries such as Lebanon, where families commonly keep their own hive for personal honey consumption.

The head of Bybi, Oliver Maxwell, said the asylum seekers, some of whom attend the Trampoline House featured in The Copenhagen Post last week, are positive and fun to work with.

“For those who will stay in Denmark, it gives them a window into Danish society and culture,” Maxwell said.

“And for those who can’t stay, they are still learning skills that can be used anywhere in the world.”

For Sanjida, a Bangladeshi woman who has lived at the Avenstrup camp for just over four months, Tuesdays, when she attends bee school, can never come around fast enough.

“The first thing that came to mind when I heard about the honey-making course was I have to get out of this camp,” she said.

Whilst it takes most of the asylum seekers more than an hour to travel to the course, the Danish Red Cross’s edu-

Elise Beacom

Asylum seekers busy as bees

A group of asylum seekers watch on as Bybi’s Michael Pedersen inspects the colony

cation and training supervisor, Merete Zerlang, said that is one of the things the participants like the most.

Zerlang came up with the idea to run the programme after working with a Somali student who wanted to learn how to keep bees.

“I asked him: ‘Why do you want to do that?’ and he said ‘Because in Africa,

nobody owns the bees.’ I guess that comment stayed with me,” Zerlang said.

On a deeper level, Bybi’s Maxwell believes a bee hive is a “wonderful metaphor for society”, and that the project, held at the University of Copenhagen’s Niels Bohr Institute, allows participants to meet eye-to-eye as beekeepers rather than as asylum seekers.

“We want a city where there is a place for everyone, where they have a right to work and bring productivity to society,” he said.

The group will harvest its first batch of honey at the end of June. *The asylum seekers interviewed requested to be named by their first names only.

11 Expat Dinners: Finding out how the other half nibbles community

The Copenhagen Post cphpost.dk

25 - 31 May 2012

by Malene Ørsted

What better way to meet new friends than over a good home-cooked meal? That’s pretty much the idea behind Expat Dinners, which took place on May 10 all over the country to give local expats the chance to meet local Danes and bond over their traditional cuisines. At the Nørrebro Library in Copenhagen, the turn-up was great with a broad diversity of nationalities as well as food stretching from Lithuania to Iraq to America and to many more countries. At the long table the plates were quickly filled, and people were so busy chatting and eating it was only the two sisters Mona and Jania in front who had time to smile at the photographer.

Everything is set for one delicious buffet and hopefully a fruitful get-together

Mae Fong Choe from Malaysia and Sofie Højsten from Denmark just met tonight

Stine Fugl from Nørrebro Library welcomes everybody to the dinner

Deeee-lish!

Hiyam Hatem, who is originally from Iraq, and her son Enjoying the food here is Yoana Pavlova from Bulgaria and Diana Volodko from Lithuania Hasim

The chicken is cut and ready to be eaten

America’s Amanda Appel and Romania’s Oana Marin are room-mates and thought this would be a fun way to meet some new acquaintances in Copenhagen

Four of the people chatting away over the meal were (left-right) Iben Kaalund and Sun Petersen from Denmark, Hosein Taha from Iraq, and Idi Ali from Morocco

Morten Kjær Mortensen sure didn’t hold back at the buffet, here sitting next to The Copenhagen Post’s Elise Beacom, who was taking the same approach to the booze

Abdul and his daughter Zeinab brought sugar crackers

The two boys Hasim and Ali had a little too much to eat, so they took a well deserved break on the couch, and from mum

12

COMMUNITY

THE COPENHAGEN POST CPHPOST.DK

25 - 31 May 2012

ABOUT TOWN PHOTOS BY HASSE FERROLD

(UNLESS OTHERWISE STATED)

Norway celebrated its Constitution Day last week on Thursday with a reception at its ambassador’s residence in Hellerup, the former home of Thorvald Stauning, the Danish prime minister at the outbreak of the Second World War. Many dressed up (see right) for an event that was well attended by the city’s ambassadors (see left). Among them were (left to right) German ambassador Michael Zenner, Czech ambassador Zdeněk Lyčka, Ugandan ambassador Joseph Tomusange, Norway’s deputy head of mission Merete Lundemo (who was dressed in clothing traditional of the north), Estonian ambassador Katrin Kivi, Algerian ambassador Abdelhamid Boubazine, and Saudi Arabian ambassador Abdulrahman Saad A Al-Hadlg.

The Argentine and French Embassies, in collaboration with the French Institute, were the hosts of a concert at the Garnison Church on May 10 in honour of the Argentine composer Astor Piazzolla, which was followed by a reception of wine and nibbles. Pictured here are musicians Oscar Milani and Mario Raskin, French ambassador Bérengère Quincy and Argentine ambassador Raúl Alberto Ricardes.

China’s new ambassador is Li Ruiyu, who is pictured here with Heidi Wang, a member of the City Council. Ni hao!

Danish artist John Kørner has opened a new exhibition of his work, ‘Produktion’, at IMO at Ny Carlsberg Vej 68 (see www.imo-projects.com for more details). In keeping with the theme, the artist describes his paintings as “production sites”.

Quick to make Li feel welcome were Saudi Arabian ambassador Abdulrahman Saad A Al-Hadlg and Italian ambassador Carlo Tripepi.

INSPIRATION FROM THE SPIRE

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

T The Albanian Embassy has opened an exhibition of Albanian hand-crafted traditional costumes at Frederiksberg City Hall.

The Danish summer finally put in an appearance for Sunday’s Copenhagen Marathon, which was won by local runner Martin Parkhøi in 2:24:49.

HE PROVINCE of Umbria forms a broad fertile plain in the centre of Italy through which the River Tiber runs south towards Rome. Along the eastern rim of this plain lie the Apennine Marches, and one of those great mountain shoulders heaved up above the valley is called Monte Subasio. On its lower slopes, facing west across the rich plain, stand several small fortified towns, of which the most famous by far is Assisi. Francis, who was born there in 1182, is the man who put this town on the map. And he continues to draw the crowds, whether pilgrim or tourist, from every corner of the world.

Sitting here in a busy cafe next to the main fountain, I can tell you that the cappuccinos are good. The small lanes of Assisi are full of both locals and visitors, alongside a lot of men and women in brown habits and open-toed sandals. When Brother Giles, a friend who is a Franciscan friar, visited me in Copenhagen last year, he was stared at on the streets of the city as he walked along dressed like this. Here in Assisi, dog collars and habits, and

sandals and crosses, are the norm.

The tourist shops have a strange mixture of wooden Pinocchio toys with long noses (he was another famous local, but with different moral standards!), catapults and knives, alongside icons and plastic models of Saint Francis of Assisi. This is a holy place, yes.

But the real world of plastic and money-making lives right alongside.

Sipping another cappuccino, and fighting away a pigeon, I ponder for a moment. What on earth would this man Francis of Assisi, who lived in a very different Umbria, make of life in modern Europe today? The men in the bars seem more interested in the Chelsea vs Bayern Munich result than deep discussion about the state of the euro and the Italian economy. I am not sure whether we will remember the euro or even Chelsea 800 years from now. But 800 years after his death in 1226, the ideas and values of Francis of Assisi are alive and thriving.

Religious people (from all faiths) revere and follow Francis’s teachings of prayer, simplicity,

poverty, chastity and obedience.

Environmentalists take heart from Francis’s teachings and stories about nature and animals (he even preached to the birds). Political scientists and international relations theorists (such as Dr Scott M Thomas) cite Francis as an inspiration for their models on conflict resolution, peace building and the new economics. People working on Christian/Muslim relationships remember the way that Francis went to meet the sultan of Egypt (Malik-al-Kamil, the nephew of the famous Saladin) and work for understanding between faiths. The life of Francis, in this new age of ‘austerity’, seems to have more meaning than ever in 2012.

As we celebrate this Pentecost weekend, which is the birthday of the Christian Church, I salute good old St Francis of Assisi who stopped to make people think by doing radical things and living simply, and whose message of peace and simplicity speaks loudly to this generation.

He is also the patron saint of Italy, but I won’t hold that against him.

COMMUNITY

THE COPENHAGEN POST CPHPOST.DK

25 - 31 May 2012

13

Rang Manch: A day of celebration to ring their bell with pride PRIYA MANI

Indians in Denmark, three years old last month, celebrated with a talent show and a Mr & Mrs India contest

I

T WAS an evening to celebrate, not only the birth of the popular Indian expat organisation Indians in Denmark, but also the diversity of Indian culture.

IID give the annual celebration the name ‘Rang Manch’ – no, nothing to do with the ‘Madchester’ music scene in the late 1980s – which is an Indian term that encapsulates many emotions and meanings, most popularly used for dramatics, theatre and a platform to express histrionic talents.

This year Rang Manch was celebrated on April 28 and brought together a large gathering of performers and those wishing to be entertained, and of course a good sample of Indian cuisine too. There were staged events, which had been carefully rehearsed for weeks, a talent contest for children and adults, and a Mr & Mrs India contest.

Everyone was enthusiastic about being on stage and performed with great pride – be it snippets from popular Bollywood films or other Indian cultural insignia. Observing that parents were able to inculcate into their children a fine balance between

adapting a Western lifestyle and assimilating the essence of Indian expression was a great insight of the day. It is indeed a tough task to create a respect and relevance for the diversity in languages, traditions, art forms and other intangible cultural artefacts that India has to offer to its diasporic youth. And it seems like the parents do it really well.

The day began with a beautiful rendering of the Indian National Anthem by the youngest children who had been practicing for weeks before they performed, and some for the first time ever.

Shravanti Allanku and Deepshikha Daga were the mothers behind this idea. They feel that knowing your national anthem is the first step to being closer to your country.

And there was some splendid dancing. Young women from the community got together to perform a welcome dance in the most colourful attire, dancing to a traditional Marwari folk number.

And a beautiful rendering of Bharatnatyam was performed

by Anna Kaval. Trained at the Benares Hindu University, Anna took great pride to be amongst the group and dance for us.

These performances were interspersed with talent displays by children and adults of all ages. A fancy dress contest for children only familiarised them even better with role-playing and popular characters from Indian society.

Parents were present in full spirit

The IID team relaxing after their welcome dance

The youngest children belt out the Indian National Anthem

to rehearse and dress up their children for the performances.

The highlight of the day, however, was the Mr & Mrs India contest. Young Indian couples presented themselves on stage for the award where they were quizzed about their partners and living in a new country.

The awards of course went to the sharpest answers! And the top prize was won by Namrata Thomas Kapur and Saransh Kapur.

This year Lebara was the main

sponsor of the event, which will happen again at the same time next year and is open to all Indians and friends of India. So join in! Meanwhile, IID will be hosting a number of events over the coming months, including ones making India’s independence day and the popular Diwali festival.

To find out more about Indians in Denmark and its various events, please visit www.indiansindenmark.com

The Kapurs at number one

Peace de résistance at Tivoli COMING UP SOON

musical influences of the Middle East with contemporary pop and rock songwriting and production”, according to the event listing on Tivoli’s website, and features lyrics in Arabic, Hebrew, and English.

A reception with food prepared by chefs from Palestine, Israel, and Denmark will be held after the concert.

The Children’s Fair Valbyparken (Hammelstrupvej entrance); Sunday 17 June, from 14:00-17:00; free adm – sign up at www.eventbrite.com The Copenhagen Post is once again hosting its popular annual event, the Children’s Fair.

The fair aims to introduce international families to various clubs and associations located throughout Copenhagen, providing a free day of fun for international and Danish families alike. Along with the many clubs and organisations present, there are a wide variety of activities and performances suitable for children aged two to 13, including: pony rides, face painting, balloon artists, live demonstrations by the sports association DGI, a mini-show performed by the Copenhagen Police with their K9s and motorbikes, the Copenhagen libraries’ waffle wagon, a raffle to raise funds for the Danish Red Cross, a playground, stalls selling crafts, free snacks and beverages, and animals for petting courtesy of Børnenes Dyremark. Bring along a picnic basket and enjoy the cosiness of the fair!

‘Six Days of Peace’ is being performed at Tivoli Concert Hall at 19:30 on Thursday May 31.

Tickets cost 175-295 kroner and are available at www.billetlugen. dk, Fona stores, and the Tivoli Box Office.

Auditions for CTC’s Autumn Production: Calendar Girls Østerbro International School, Præstøgade 17, Cph Ø; Sat 2 June at 14:00 & Thu 7 June at 17:00; www.meetup.com The CTC is holding open au-

SHANDANA MUFTI

M

USIC WILL be at the forefront of promoting Arab-Israeli co-operation on Thursday May 31, when various international artists – including My Favorite Enemy and award-winning violinist Diana Yukawa – perform the ‘Global Music Concert’ at the Tivoli Concert Hall to launch ‘Six Days of Peace’.

Six Days of Peace is an Arab-Israeli initiative that aims to promote cultural co-operation between Arab and Israeli youths.

“For one night, we will not talk about politics but rather use the power of music to embrace our diversity,” wrote Gregory Rockson, the founder of Six Days of Peace, in an article for The Huffington Post.

“We will do something politicians have failed to do and that is bring people together. Will this solve all the problems in the region? No. But it will show us that what brings us together, our common humanity, is much greater than the things that seek to divide us.”

The concert will “serve as a platform on which various musical artists can spread the message of peace through music”, according to the Six Days of Peace website. The artists “have come together to use music to create a new vision for the Middle East”.

Gregory Rockson with Israeli president Shimon Peres

In a short video message, Pia Allerslev, Copenhagen’s deputy mayor for culture, encouraged people to attend the concert.

She praised the initiative, calling it an opportunity to erase years of prejudice and conflict.

“My Favorite Enemy proves that music truly is a universal language” noted Middle East Program, another initiative devoted to promoting dialogue in the Middle East.

My Favorite Enemy formed in 2009 when songwriters and musicians from Palestine, Israel, Jordan, Norway, and the USA began working together. Their music “bridges the traditional

ditions for ‘Calendar Girls’ by Tim Firth. Contrary to popular belief, the play includes big parts for both men and women, ranging in age from 20 up to the 70s. There will be auditions on June 2 and 7. The audition will be based on reading from parts of the play, so no preparation of material is necessary.

May Social Custom House, Havnegade 44, Cph K; Fri 30 May, 18:00; free adm; sign up at www.expatindenmark.dk Come along once again for an opportunity to meet fellow expats, Danes, and EiD staff from the past and present at their monthly social event. As always, you are most welcome to bring along family members, friends and colleagues.

Storytime Books & Company, Sofievej 1, Hellerup; every Tuesday 09:30-10:00; free adm; for more information check www. booksandcompany.dk/storytimeat-books-company Tuesday mornings at the international book café are dedicated to inspiring and captivating the imagination of the little ones.

The wonderful storyteller Sara Albers, a teacher and a mother of two young boys, entertains the kids with stories, poems, finger plays and small projects. This is a fantastic way to start the day! TK

The Danish Tax Return: What’s in it for me?

Komitesalen, Børsen, Cph K; Thu 29 May, 18:00; free adm; sign up at www.expatindenmark.com The time of the year when tax returns are mandatory for all foreigners in Denmark is approaching. What is the current system and how does it affect you?

What changes have taken place since last year that affect you?

How will it affect your income?

Which allowances and deductions do you need to be aware of? How can you make changes, and what are the deadlines? All these questions and more will be answered when Ernst & Young present the ‘Danish Tax Return 2012’.

Yoga with a Passion Copenhagen International School, Hellerupvej 22-26, Hellerup; Fri 30 May, 18:00; free adm for members, 150kr for non-members; www.europeanpwn.net/copenhagen As summer is approaching, the nights are getting brighter and the days more vibrant. However, it can also be a stressful one as we hurry ourselves through our daily routine trying to get ready for the fantastic summer months ahead – so much so that we are exhausted when holidays finally arrive. With this in mind, EPWN is inviting you to their yoga class.

MIKE HOFMAN

14

sport

The Copenhagen Post cphpost.dk

25 - 31 May 2012

christian Wenande FC Copenhagen’s board will only have themselves to blame if FC Nordsjælland beat them to the title on Wednesday

J

anuary 9 may be a day FC Copenhagen will lament for a very long time. It was the day they fired Roland Nilsson.

At that point, the Danish champions had only lost three times in 18 games and looked destined to steamroll their way to their fourth title on the trot.

But then Nilsson was sacked and the inexperienced sports director, Carsten V Jensen, was installed instead.

Since then, FCK have won just six from 14, with only two wins in their last six. During that time FC Nordsjælland have overturned a six-point deficit to lead by two, and at the time of going to press looked likely to win their first ever Superliga, providing they could beat AC Horsens at home on Wednesday night.

FCN have an inferior goal difference so FCK would need to beat Silkeborg at home and hope that FCN fails to win.

Nilsson’s brand of football wasn’t popular with the fans, but many of them are now rueing the change. No more so than last weekend. On Sunday FCK, who won the Danish Cup final last week on Wednesday, lost to FC Midtjylland while FC Nordsjælland beat Brøndby.

A long-range free kick scored on

the hour by Danny Olsen was all FCM needed against a lacklustre FCK side.

FCN, meanwhile, beat Brøndby 1-0 thanks to a goal by Kasper Lorentzen, himself a former Brøndby player, early in the second half. It was the catalyst for a bizarre moment at Brøndby Stadium as the home fans actually cheered their opponents’ goal. It could very well end up being the strike that means their arch rivals come second this season.

But Kasper Hjulmand, the head coach of FCN, was not ready to pop the champagne just yet.

“The league table can still change many times as there are still lots of minutes to be played and Horsens is playing for third place,” Hjulmand told MetroXpress newspaper. “I think a lot about Horsens, more than anything else.

We’ll face them on Wednesday.”

The FCK players were notably disappointed with the uninspired performance against FCM, but midfielder Thomas Kristensen wasn’t ready to give up quite yet.

“It’s very, very disappointing, but we need to look in the mirror,” Kristensen told TV2 Sport. “We have earned just two points from the last few matches and that is not good enough. But there is still one game left, so there is still a chance.”

It would seem that Jensen may not be the messiah he was hailed on that cold January day.

“Roland Nilsson started the season with new players, but was dismissed

Henning Bagger/Scanpix

Lions for Lambs: How FCK have imploded this spring Kessler leaves than Jensen. In 31 matches, including a failed campaign in Europe, Nilsson’s team scored 1.9 points a game while Jensen’s average is 1.63 points in 19 games.

The real travesty for FCK is that this season’s winners automatically qualify for the 201213 Champions League, something that they have contributed to greatly thanks to brilliant results in Europe in recent years.

Instead it looks like FCN will nick the lucrative Champions League wealth, while FCK: no longer the towering force they were ... three months ago FCK will have to during the winter break, and Jensen go through the qualification process, took over,” football pundit Jan Kalborg where teams like Feyenoord, Fenertold DR News. “At the time nobody bache, Malaga, Udinese and Lille await. questioned the decision, but he has not They will all prove to be tougher opposibeen able to solve the problems.” tion than FC Midtjylland.

And they’re not wrong, because One can almost hear the FCK fans statistically Nilsson had more success saying: “My kingdom for a Nilsson.”

Fewer ranking points, less pressure ANDREA COMAS/Scanpix

Ben Hamilton Wozniacki’s odds to win the French Open will match her seeding – for once

C

aroline Wozniacki is 25/1 (with both Denmark’s Bet 365 and Ladbroke’s) to win this year’s French Open, which begins this Sunday at Roland Garros in Paris. Ranked ninth in the betting, it is a far cry from last year when she was as short as 11/2 second favourite a week ahead of the second grand slam of the year.

By rating her number nine, the bookmakers are taking heed of her world ranking – for once! After all, as world number one, she was never favoured to win a grand slam, so at least the bookies have stopped disrespecting her ranking. Every cloud.

It’s been a steady decline since she fell three places from the top spot after crashing out of the Australian Open in the quarter-finals. And Wozniacki slipped a further place last week after

Ahead of the Rome withdrawal, Woz only made the third round of the Madrid Open

losing in the second round at the Rome Masters – an event that last year yielded a place in the semis, but this year she withdrew from due to injury – an “upper respiratory illness”, she told media.

Pundits argued that the old Woz-

niacki would have battled on and done anything to protect her rankings points.

Like defending the pitiful amount she accumulated winning the 2011 Brussels Open this time last year – could this really be the same player who in 2010 and

2011 never stopped playing in her quest to be the best?

Instead, the decision to take a week off to prepare for the French Open confirms the Dane has switched her priorities: from ranking points to grand slams.

Likewise, her first ever participation in the Aegon International grass court tournament in Eastbourne in southern England in mid-June confirms she is taking her participation in Wimbledon more seriously as well.

The draw for the French Open will be announced on Friday and, given her low seeding, Wozniacki will most probably face top-eight players from the last 16 onwards. Nobody is expecting her to win.

But with only 160 ranking points to defend (having reached the third round last year), the Dane will be free of any such distractions – plus, it will be the first major in almost two years that she won’t be asked that dreaded question.

It should allow her to focus on her ultimate goal: winning her first grand slam. After all, she remains the youngest player in the world’s top 23. Time is on her hands.

Green in pieces

Christian Wenande Viking Warrior earns the chance at championship bout after knocking out Allan Green in Parken on Saturday night

D

espite struggling early on, Mikkel Kessler showed the boxing world he is still a force by knocking out Allan Green with a devastating left hook in the fourth round of their light-heavyweight bout at Parken Stadium on Saturday night.

Things weren’t looking good in the first round. The Dane, who had been out of the ring for an extended period of time due to a series of injuries, was caught on the chin by a strong right that sent him to the canvass for the first time in his career.

But although Kessler was clearly shaken, he quickly regained his composure and took control of the bout early in the third round, dispatching Green a round later with a left hook that will be a strong contender for ‘KO of the year’.

Green didn’t see the punch coming and his head spun around before he crashed like a sack of potatoes.

Kessler, who had put on the pounds to fight up a weight class, immediately raised his gloves in the air in triumph as the Parken crowd went ballistic.

Boxing trainer and pundit Brian Mathiasen said that a loss would have spelled the end of his illustrious career.

“I am very surprised that Kessler could finish Green with one spectacular punch like that,” Mathiasen told MetroXpress newspaper. “I thought that he would slowly dismantle Green, but a punch like that gives Kessler a completely new dimension.”

The fierce knockout earned Kessler a WBC Silver title (started in 2010 – as if boxing didn’t have enough belts already!) and puts him in prime position for a big money title fight this autumn.

Potential fights in his natural super middleweight division include Lucian Bute, Carl Froch, Brian Magee or Andre Ward, whom Kessler lost to in the Super Six competition.

But not everyone was impressed.

“This win leaves a lot of questions about what Kessler can do against better opposition,” Scott Guilfoid wrote on the Boxing News 24 website.

“If he’s getting dropped by the likes of Green, then what will happen when Kessler faces someone good like Lucian Bute or Chad Dawson?”

The Viking Warrior himself didn’t seem to lack confidence when asked about a prospective fight against one of the big guns.

“They can just come!” he bellowed.

Sports news and briefs Bjørn bamboozled

Lucky twist

Who would back him?

England up next

Historic for two reasons

That will do us!

Thomas Bjørn had a World Match Play Championship encounter he won’t forget in a hurry, even if his stay in the tournament last week was shortlived. His opponent, America’s Brandt Snedeker, lost his clubs on a flight from Miami to Malaga, and ended up playing with a borrowed driver and a putter he bought at the course’s shop. It didn’t put him off though as he crushed Bjørn 5 & 4.

The national men’s team on Tuesday beat Malaysia 3-2 in their final group match in the biennial Thomas Cup, badminton’s ongoing world men’s team championship in China. The win ensures the Danes will avoid top seeds and favourites China in the quarter-finals. World number one Chong Wei unexpectedly twisted his ankle in the opening game to gift Denmark a point they weren’t expecting.

Denmark’s seventh best cyclist won stage 12 on the world’s second most prestigious tour last week on Thursday. Lars Bak, who races for Lotto Belisol and is the world number 253 according to cyclingranking.com, broke away 2km from the end to snatch the 155km Giro d’Italia stage by eleven seconds. It was the biggest win of the 32-year-old’s career.

Denmark’s second ever international futsal match is against England on Friday at 20:30, followed by another game on Saturday at 16:00, both in Barking, East London. Clement Cliford, formerly of FC Copenhagen, is among those who has been called up and will be hopeful he can add to the goal he scored in last month’s 4-4 draw with Germany – the country’s first ever futsal international.

FC Nordsjaelland’s decisive Superliga matchup against AC Horsens on Wednesday night was historic for more than one reason, as it was only the second in the world to ever use the GoalRef system, one of two goal-line technology systems currently being tested by FIFA. A Superliga game on Sunday (Silkeborg IF vs SonderjyskE) was the first to try it out.

The Danish pairing of Henriette Koch and Lene Sommer have easily qualified for the 2012 Olympics in the 470 women’s sailing category. It took the duo just five days to notch up enough points to seal their place at the ongoing World Championship, which is also the Olympic qualifying event. However, instead of pushing for a medal, they chose to pack up despite being sixth overall.

BUSINESS

THE COPENHAGEN POST CPHPOST.DK

25 - 31 May 2012

15

JYLLANDS-POSTEN 1,400 billion kroner of unspent EU structural funds could be used for investments to stimulate growth and jobs, PM says

P

M HELLE Thorning-Schmidt (Socialdemokraterne) said that the creation of a European growth treaty would be a perfect ending to Denmark’s sixmonth presidency that ends at the beginning of July.

The PM’s statements came ahead of Wednesday’s informal meeting of European leaders in Brussels where ThorningSchmidt hopes the first stages of the growth treaty will be agreed upon.

“It looks like we will be able to move ahead with discussions about creating growth and new jobs,” Thorning-Schmidt said, adding that she was optimistic about the outcome of discussions between the German chancellor, Angela Merkel, and the new French president, François Hollande.

“The election of Hollande means that there will be wind in the sails for many of the initiatives that the Danish presidency started,” Thorning-Schmidt said.

The PM pointed out that growth and job creation have

been high on the Danish presidency’s agenda from the start, but admitted that tackling the euro crisis had instead taken centre stage over the past few months.

“We are happy that discussions that previously focused exclusively on the topic of economic discipline have now moved toward talks about growth,” Thorning-Schmidt said.

Among the potential tools in the new growth treaty is reform of the EU’s single market, a strengthening of the European Investment Bank to let it make more loans, and a proposal to create so-called ‘project bonds’ that would raise money for infrastructure projects. Finally, the presidency is hoping to speed up the creation of trade deals with a number of non-EU countries.

“We are also discussing how to use our structural funds in more intelligent ways that foster growth and job creation,” the PM said.

Despite the economic crisis that forced governments to make drastic cuts to public spending, there is currently about 1,400 billion kroner sitting in the EU’s bank accounts waiting to be spent. The money stems from the EU’s structural and cohesion funds – money earmarked for projects in the EU to support flagging regional economies – that instead could be integrated

SCANPIX

PM pushing for growth treaty to stimulate jobs The election of Hollande means that there will be wind in the sails for many of the initiatives that the Danish presidency started

Thorning-Schmidt is embracing Hollande’s calls for growth, but cautioning against more borrowing

into a growth treaty.

“We will discuss whether we could use the funds in a better way. There is a reason the money is unspent and this is probably because the projects it was meant for were not good enough,” Thorning-Schmidt said. She dismissed, however, the possibility of borrowing to

stimulate growth.

“No European countries want to go further into debt at the moment. Taking on debt will only damage growth,” Thorning-Schmidt said, adding that running healthy economic policies are rewarded with low interest rates that in themselves could stimulate growth.

Tax on sugar not so sweet for business

T

HE NEW TAX that will be imposed on manufactured goods that contain sugar – products such as jams and ketchup – will cause companies to layoff employees and, in some cases, completely shut down factories.

Seven out of ten food manufacturers surveyed by Dansk Industri (DI) said that they will be forced to cut the number of their employees when the tax takes effect next year. Fully one third of those surveyed said they will lay off one out of every ten workers.

The survey of 32 companies included some of the country’s largest food manufacturers like Arla and Danish Crown. Altogether, the companies employ about 5,000 people nationwide.

“Businesses cannot take anymore,” said Ole Linnet Juul from DI. “First a fat tax and now a sugar tax. Does the government just want companies to shut down?”

DI fears that as many as 1,200 manufacturing jobs could be at risk.

Business leaders also fear that jobs in the retail sector will disappear as shoppers cut back on buying sugared foods in Denmark – due to higher prices created by the tax – and opt instead to head across the borders to Germany or Sweden to stock up.

“More expensive goods drive trade out of the country,” said Lotte Engbæk Larsen from Dansk Erhverv, the Danish chamber of commerce. “Prices go up, and cross-border trade increases.”

The chamber estimated that around 700 jobs were lost when the government raised taxes on candy, alcohol and tobacco.

It is still not clear how the new levy on sugar in foods like yoghurt, ketchup and jams will be calculated, but the government says it expects to earn more

than one billion kroner from the tax each year.

Food manufacturer Beauvais fears that the tax will cause the price of a jar of jam to nearly double and could cause the company to shut down their Danish factories.

“We fear that our volume will be hit so hard that we will no longer be able to maintain production in Denmark,” said the company’s information director, Elisabeth Voss.

The tax minister, Thor Möger Pedersen (Socialistisk Folkeparti), said he didn’t believe that the tax will result in plant closures. He said the levy will be the same on Danish and imported goods.

“There will still be significant demand for the products that fall under the tax,” said Pedersen. “It is a smaller tax than the one on chocolate and sweets.” (J-P)

BRITISH CHAMBER OF COMMERCE IN DENMARK

2012 BCCD-BIU Golf Tournament

This year’s golf day will be held at Ledreborg Palace Golf Club, which has Scandinavia’s only course designed

by Sir Nick Faldo, on Thursday 14 June . We have arranged both a tournament for experienced golfers, and a fun golf event for beginners.

The tournament will be a 4 person team (best 2 scores per hole per team) Stableford competition over 18 holes with a gun start for experienced golfers. It will be arranged to accommodate company teams, private teams and individual players in a way that will provide good networking opportunities. In addition to the Hole-in-one prize and tournament prizes, there will also be other attractive individual prizes. The beginners’ event will start with training from the Pro, followed by a competition and will give non-golfers and beginners an opportunity to learn the basics and have some fun! Equipment will be provided.

WIN AN ELECTRIC CAR! The first player to score a hole-in-one on the designated hole will win a Better Place, battery powered Renault Fluence ZE. Book Now – there are a limited number of places available Date: Location: Time: Participation Fee: Main Tournament:

Exchange Rates

Beginners Event: 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

5.50

5.53

7.33

0.07

0.18

0.78

6.08

9.5

5.72

Buy

6.00

5.98

7.56

0.07

0.20

0.82

6.28

9.41

5.99

Thorning-Schmidt has been criticised in recent weeks for siding with the conservative Merkel rather than the socialist Hollande on a range of issues concerning economic discipline, the conditions of a European growth treaty and the possibility of a financial transaction tax.

But Thorning-Schmidt re-

jects the accusation.

“It’s completely incorrect to say that I’ve thrown myself into the arms of Chancellor Merkel,” Thorning-Schmidt said. “My view is that we need to do both.

We need to make sure that there is better control of the income and spending of EU member states, and that the members live up to their responsibilities in this regard. At the same time we need to do everything possible, both on a European and national level, to create growth in Europe.”

“These two goals are dependent on each other,” she added. “You can’t have growth in Europe if there is no control of debt and a country’s finances.

It’s also evident that it’s easier to take control of finances and keep a balanced budget if there is more growth in Europe.”

Thursday 14 June 2012 Ledreborg Palace Golf, Ledreborg Allé 2A, 4320 Lejre Arrival 07.00 – 07.30 AM, Gun start 09.30 Member/guest – DKK 1000 per player + moms Non-member – DKK 1200 per player + moms Member/guest – DKK 900 per player + moms Non-member – DKK 1000 per player + moms

Participation fee includes breakfast, lunch, green fee etc. Players (with DGU card) that register and pay early (deadline 3rd May ) will be eligible to play a free practice round before the tournament. This represents a saving of up to DKK 595 on Ledreborg’s normal green fees. Registration fees are non-refundable but transferable.

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

Price in kroner for one unit of foreign currency

Date: 23 May 2012

REGISTRATION: Online at www.bccd.dk or via email to event@bccd.dk by Wednesday 30th May at the latest.

Please state DGU membership number in the “notes” section for each player entering the tournament.

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

16

THE COPENHAGEN POST THE COPENHAGEN POST CPHPOST.DK SPOUSE EMPLOYMENT PAGE

SPOUSE: Raffaele Menafra FROM: Italy SEEKING WORK IN: Copenhagen QUALIFICATION: A degree as Prevention techniques in Work and Workplaces.

EXPERIENCE: I worked 4 years in a rehabilitation clinic.

LANGUAGE SKILLS: Italian (native), English, Danish (currently learning).

IT EXPERIENCE: MS Office.

CONTACT: menafra1@yahoo.it SPOUSE: Malgorzata Tujakowska FROM: Poland SEEKING WORK IN: Aarhus and the surrounding area QUALIFICATION: Masters in Ethnolinguistics with major in Chinese and English, Chinese HSK and Business Chinese Test certificates, 2-year long studies at Shanghai International Studies University and National Cheng Kung University,Taiwan.

LOOKING FOR: Working for companies hiring Polish and Chinese employees, teaching Chinese, Polish, Business English, linguistics, translation and interpretation, proofreading, Chinese business and culture consulting, administrative work.

LANGUAGE SKILLS: Polish (native speaker), Chinese – simplified and traditional (fluent), English (fluent), German(intermediate), Danish (intermediate-currently learning).

IT EXPERIENCE: MS Office.

CONTACT: Tel:+45 28702377, m.tujakowska@gmail.com SPOUSE: Ylenia Fiorini FROM: Italy SEEKING WORK IN: Copenhagen QUALIFICATION: Post Graduate Master’s Degree in Peace Studies, Development Cooperation, International Mediation and Conflict resolution EXPERIENCE: I have ten years experience as social worker in Italy,and experience in various fields, in the social and third sector and I feel that my educational background combined with my campaign assistant practice in the Ngo Burma Campaign, in Barcelona, has been an excellent preparation. In the same way also my job experiences in the social field made me open to different situations and to see them as a source of knowledge.

LOOKING FOR: Entry Level jobs in the third sector field, in international organization or NGO’s LANGUAGE SKILLS: Italian Mother tongue, fluent in Spanish, English, French, Swedish (basic) IT EXPERIENCE: Ms Office (Mac,Windows) CONTACT: yleniafiorini@yahoo.it

PARTNERS:

25 - 31 May 2012 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.

LOOKING FOR: Voice coaching for corporate presenters and speakers, Writing and Communications work, work in theatre organisations.

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.

CONTACT: Tel: +45 52 77 30 93 Christina@hermionesvoice.com, www.hermionesvoice.com.

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).

LANGUAGE SKILLS: English, Hindi, Bengali, Danish (modul 3/modul 5).

IT EXPERIENCE: Microsoft office.

CONTACT: dolonroy2005@yahoo.com. Tel: +45 60668239 SPOUSE: Jik Boom FROM: The Netherlands SEEKING WORK IN: Copenhagen QUALIFICATION: Architect .

EXPERIENCE: CELTA (Cambridge Certificate in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages) see also Linkedin profile http://dk.linkedin.com/in/jikboom)LOOKING FOR: Job in Architecture or Construction Company.

LOOKING FOR: Work in the area of teaching (English), proofreading (English) and translation (English/Dutch - Dutch/English) LANGUAGE SKILLS: Dutch, English, French, German, Danish IT EXPERIENCE: MS Office (Powerpoint, Word, Excel) CONTACT: jikboom@yahoo.com, Tel: +45 42129175

SPOUSE: Sucharita Reddy FROM: India SEEKING WORK IN: Anywhere in Denmark QUALIFICATION: Bachelor in Technology (Electrical Engineering) EXPERIENCE: 4+ years of professional experience in SAP ABAP & OO-ABAP programming for Material Management(MM), Plant Maintenance(PM), Document Management and Record Management System(DM/RM), Extended Warehouse Management (EWM) , Sales and Distribution(SD) and Finance (FI) modules.

LOOKING FOR: Job opportunities in IT(technical or Functional),Consulting,Management or Business Field.

LANGUAGE SKILLS: Proficient in English & Hindi. Danish(learning Intensive course) IT EXPERIENCE: SAP ABAP/4 technical skills include ABAP Programs (Dialog Programming, Standard and Interactive Reports), ALV Reporting, Smartforms, User Exit and Field Exit Development, Interfacing Data with external systems, Data conversions, Programming using BDC, ABAP/4 Workbench, Data Dictionary ,Batch Job management ,Workflows, Adobe Forms, Webdynpro, ABAP Objects CONTACT: sucharita17.reddy@gmail.com, Tel: 0045-5271184.

SPOUSE: Lillian Liu FROM: Taiwan SEEKING WORK IN: Marketing/Public Relations.

QUALIFICATION: Bachelor of Foreign Language and Literature (Major in English, and minor in French) EXPERIENCE: 5+ years of professional experiences in Marketing and PR. I am a dynamic and creative marketing communications talent with substantial international working experience in large corporation and in agencies, possessing Integrated Marketing Communication ability.

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.

LOOKING FOR: Marketing jobs in Jylland.

LANGUAGE SKILLS: Mandarin Chinese, English, Danish, French.

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

CONTACT: sugarex@hotmail.com

SPOUSE: Mohammad Ahli- Gharamaleki FROM: Iran SEEKING WORK IN: Copenhagen QUALIFICATION: Master degree in chemical engineering.

EXPERIENCE: 5+ years as a chemical engineer in R&D oil/gas projects as a team leader or member in Iran.

LOOKING FOR: A position in an Intrnational company to expand my experience and expertise.

LANGUAGE SKILLS: Azeri (native), English (fluent), Farsi (fluent), Arabic (good), Turkish (good), Danish(beginner).

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

CONTACT: mohammad_ahli@yahoo.com, Tel: (+45) 71 63 12 85

SPOUSE: Margaret Ritchie FROM: Scotland, UK SEEKING WORK IN: Copenhagen QUALIFICATION: BA Business Administration majoring in Human Resource Management EXPERIENCE: Worked in the field of Education within a Scottish University. 12 years of experience.

Administrating and organising courses and conferences and also worked as a PA to a Head of School. Great communication skills.

LOOKING FOR: Administration work, typing, audio typing, data input. Can work from home.

LANGUAGE SKILLS: Mother tongue: English, very basic Danish IT EXPERIENCE: A good user of Microsoft Office package, access to Internet CONTACT: megmagsritchie@googlemail.com Tel: 71182949

SPOUSE: Deepak Kumar Koneri FROM: India SEEKING WORK IN: Copenhagen QUALIFICATION: M.Sc in Electrical Engineering specialization in Embedded Systems (Jönköping, Sweden), B.Tech in Electrical and Electronics Engineering (Hyderabad, India).

EXPERIENCE: Worked as Electrical Distribution Design Engineer in Electrical Consultant company for more than 2 years. I was responsible from the start of design definition phase till the implementation phase of individual project.

LOOKING FOR: Full and part time job opportunity in Energy, Robust Electronics design, PCB Design, Thermal Analyst, Design & Modelling of power systems, power optimization, simulation and also in constructional, architectural consulting organization.

LANGUAGE SKILLS: English (Fluent), Hindi (Mother Tongue), Swedish (Basic) and Danish(Basic, Currently learning).

IT EXPERIENCE: MS-Office (word, Excel, Power point, Visio), CFD (Mentor Graphics FloTHERM, FloVENT, Noesis OPTIMUS, Electrical CAD, Assembly Programming (PIC 16f77, 8086,8051), WireMOM, Telelogic SDL-99, C and VHDL. CONTACT: konerideepak@gmail.com, Tel: 71561151

SPOUSE: Munawar Saleem FROM: Pakistan SEEKING WORK IN: Copenhagen QUALIFICATION: MBA logistics and supply chain management (Jonkoping University, Sweden) M.Sc. Computer Sciences (Punjab University, Lahore Pakistan).

EXPERIENCE: 4 years, Lecturer in computer sciences.

LOOKING FOR:Full time or part time job in Logistics and Supply.

LANGUAGE SKILLS: English (fluent), Urdu (mother tongue), Swedish (Basic).

IT EXPERIENCE: Proficient in MS Office (word, excel, power point etc.).

CONTACT: libravision3@gmail.com, Tel: 71412010

SPOUSE: Pooja Nirwal FROM: New Delhi, India SEEKING WORK IN: Copenhagen and Capital region.

QUALIFICATION: Masters (M. Sc) in Environmental Science, +2 yrs of Exp. as Env. Consultant in the field of Environmental Impact Assessment.

LOOKING FOR: Positions in Consultancies/Organizations/NGOs working in the field of Environmental Science (Climate Change, EIA, Env. Compliance Audits, Solid Waste Management etc.).

LANGUAGE SKILLS: Fluent in English, Hindi and Sanskrit, Started learning Danish.

IT EXPERIENCE: MS Office (PowerPoint, Word, Excel).

CONTACT: poojadahiya1@gmail.com Tel: +45 503 904 60 SPOUSE: Mayurika Saxena Sheth FROM: India/USA SEEKING WORK IN: Copenhagen & nearby areas, Greater Copenhagen QUALIFICATION: MCA, PGDMM(MATERIALS), B.SC (COMPUTERS) CERTIFICATIONS: CSTE, CSQA, GREEN BELT SIX SIGMA, TSP/PSP. EXPERIENCE: Eleven years of software development work/IT/BUSINESS experience with prestigious organizations (onsite and offshore): Microsoft, General Electric, Primus Telecommunications (AUSTRALIA), CitiFINANCIAL(USA), ISS and Imany.

LOOKING FOR: Full Time Job in IT, Management, Consulting or Business/Financial Field.

LANGUAGE SKILLS: ENGLISH fluent, HINDI fluent, DANISH AND SPANISH (Beginner).

IT EXPERIENCE: Testing tools like Test Director, Quality Center, Access Server, Product Studio, Polyspace Analysis, .NET testing, Web Page testing, Electronic Appliances testing, development in Winrunner, ASP, HTML, JavaScript, VBScript, Jscript, Oracle, Cold Fusion, SQL, Access, COM/DCOM, MTS, Siebel as well as UNIX, Tuxedo, C, PL/SQL, VB.Net/ ASP .Net, VB.Net. C#.

CONTACT: mayurika.s@gmail.com Tel: +45 7169 5401

SPOUSE: Fernando Carlos Cardeira da Silva FROM: Portugal SEEKING WORK IN: Copenhagen QUALIFICATION: Accounting course from Danish Institution (Regnskabs medarbejder at Niels Brock), previous frequency of Accounting and Management courses in Portugal.

EXPERIENCE: I have more than 5 years of experience in accounting.

LOOKING FOR: Job as accounting assistant.

IT EXPERIENCE: Microsoft Office (Excel, Word and Power point) and accounting software such as Navision C5.

LANGUAGE SKILLS: I can read and write Danish, English, Portuguese, Spanish and French.

CONTACT: fercardeira@gmail.com Tel: +45 50437588 SPOUSE: Simon Rigby FROM: United Kingdom (originally Scotland) SEEKING WORK IN: Jylland, Fyn or Sjælland (anywhere in Denmark).

QUALIFICATION: Secondary High School - 8 ‘Ordinary’ levels & 3 ‘Advanced’ levels achieved.

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.

LOOKING FOR: A job within an organisation (financial services or otherwise) where my Sales & Marketing and Key Account managerial skills and experience are fully utilised and where I can provide a sustainable and tangible long term contribution to my new employer as well as to my new country within which I have chosen to permanently live.

LANGUAGE SKILLS: English (mother tongue); German (very good); French (good); Danish (basic, but currently enrolled on a ‘Danskuddannelse 3’ language course).

IT EXPERIENCE: Word - Advanced user. Powerpoint - Proficient user. Excel - Basic.

CONTACT: simon040561@hotmail.co.uk Tel: +45 60 16 80 40.

SPOUSE: Debasmita Ghosh FROM: India SEEKING WORK IN: Copenhagen QUALIFICATION: Master of Pharmaceutical Sciences (Pharmachemistry specialization).

EXPERIENCE: 4 years in Clinical Research (Pharmacovigilance/Safety and Medical Coding) in a leading CRO (Quintiles) and 6 months experience as a lecturer for bachelor degree students in Pharmacy College.

LOOKING FOR: Job in pharmaceutical industry, CRO or any vocation suitable per qualification and experience.

LANGUAGE SKILLS: English (fluent written and spoken), enrolled for Danish language classes, Indian Languages (Hindi, Bengali, Kannada).

IT EXPERIENCE: MS Office Applications i:e Microsoft office word, excel, outlook, power point and tools, lotus notes, medical and drug softwares like micromedex and ISIS draw. CDM systems like ds Navigator-Medical coding tool and AERS database.

CONTACT: ghoshdebasmita@gmail.com, Tel: +4571488438 SPOUSE: Rita Paulo FROM: Portugal SEEKING WORK IN: Great Copenhagen QUALIFICATION: Architect .

EXPERIENCE: I am an architect and I have experience in Project and in Construction Supervision.

In the past 7 years, I have worked mainly in housing, masterplanning and social facilities buildings.

My last employer was a Project and Construction company where I had the opportunity to complement my experience in projects together with construction related tasks, developing myself as a professional.

LOOKING FOR: Job in Architecture or Construction Company.

LANGUAGE SKILLS: Native Portuguese, Proficiency in English, Basic user of Spanish and Danish IT EXPERIENCE: Strong knowledge of AutoCad and ArchiCad. Experience in Studio Max, CorelDraw, Photoshop, Office tools.

CONTACT: rita.vaz.paulo@gmail.com, Tel: +45 2961 9694 SPOUSE: Megan Rothrock FROM: California-USA,Via SEEKING WORK IN: Toy Design, Games Design, or Photography (Syd Denmark Jutland).

QUALIFICATION: Associate Arts Degree: Corporate Communication, Design, and Commercial Illustration, with a background in animation.

EXPERIENCE: Former LEGO Product Designer, LEGO Universe: Level Designer, European Bureau Editor Brick Journal Magazine. I have a strong knowledge of Toy and Gaming Markets. I am driven, enjoy solving daily challenges and I’m a strong communicator wanting to join a creative team of colleagues.

LOOKING FOR: Part/Full time work in an innovative and creative .

LANGUAGE SKILLS: English: native - Dutch: Excellent - Danish (currently in): Danskuddannelse 3, modul 3.

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: Chia-Pei CHEN FROM: Taiwan SEEKING WORK IN: Business Chinese/ Tutorial Chinese teaching in corporations, institutions or International schools.

QUALIFICATION: A certified teacher of teaching Chinese as a second language. A degree in Social Science discipline. Continuously participation in training program (organized by Beijing Hanban of CHINA and CBS) to teach Chinese to foreigners in western context. Enrolment to distance Chinese teaching education system that keeps professional Chinese teachers resourceful.

EXPERIENCE: I am a certified teacher of teaching Chinese as a second language to foreigners.

And I have started teaching Chinese with English in my class for 2 years. I design suitable materials to teach Chinese with different phonetic systems (PinYin for China and HongKong, and Mandarin Phonetic Symbols for Taiwan) as well as to interpret differences between simplified and traditional Chinese characters. My past positions were Chinese language-related, such as: reporter, translator and social science researcher. Students who I taught before regard me as a sincere, discreet teacher who helps learners to progress in short time.

LOOKING FOR: Business Chinese/ Tutorial Chinese teaching.

LANGUAGE SKILLS: Chinese (mother tongue), English (Fluent), French (basic), Danish (beginner).

IT EXPERIENCE: Word Office, SPSS statistic software, Basic Video and Audio editing, Blog writing.

CONTACT: teacherchen@live.com, Tel: 25 81 65 18 SPOUSE: Debjani Nandy Biswas FROM: India SEEKING WORK IN: Would like to join in kindergarten, School teacher in English, official work in English.

QUALIFICATION: B.A., M.A in English literature and language (American, European and Indian).

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

LOOKING FOR: A possibility in getting practical experiences in kindergarten or any international school, official work (administration) in English, voluntary work also.

LANGUAGE SKILLS: English, Hindi, Sanskrit, Bengali, little Danish (currently learning).

IT EXPERIENCE: Diploma in basic computer applications.

CONTACT: debjaninb@gmail.com, Tel: +45 50219942.

SPOUSE: Chao Wen FROM: China SEEKING WORK IN: Great Copenhagen QUALIFICATION: Language teacher (German, Chinese.

EXPERIENCE: Teaching Chinese as a foreign language by offering company-course for 2 years, in Germany; teaching Chinese to native speaker in private school for 4 years, in Germany; teaching German as a foreign language by offering private course; exhibition interpreter; translator.

LOOKING FOR: Part time or full time in Aarhus, Language teacher, translator or interpreter.

LANGUAGE SKILLS: Chinese, English, German, Danish.

IT EXPERIENCE: Windows, Open office, Powerpoint.

CONTACT: wenlily80@googlemail.com, Tel: 48417526

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

25 - 31 May 2012

17

Østerbro

I N T E R N AT I O N A L S C H O O L

After School ProgrAm coordinAtor

Rygaards International School

Østerbro International School is looking for a dedicated and responsible

Invites experienced, enthusiastic and well-qualified teachers, familiar with and experienced in British-style education, to apply for the following teaching position. Applicants should be lively, energetic and committed professional teachers. They must also be native English speakers. The jobs will be for August 2012.

person to lead its highly successful After School Program. This is a part-time position (20 hours weekly). The successful candidate must be qualified to work with children and have a relevant degree in Education.

Rygaards School has a Danish and an International English-speaking school each teaching its own separate curriculum. Rygaards International School consists of Key Stages 1 – 4 (Years 1 – 11).

we Are looking for An exPerienced PerSon who cAn:

Rygaards is a Catholic school founded in 1909 by the Assumption sisters. The school has strong ecumenical traditions and welcomes applicants who are interested in actively supporting Christian values. It would be an advantage but not a requirement that the applicant be willing to teach in the Catholic Religion Programme.

• Directly supervise a staff of five.

• Be responsible for daily supervision of students and program.

• Manage the coordination of attendance, staff hours, snack, etc.

• Engage students and families in program activities.

The teaching position is as follows: • A Y2 primary class teacher.

• A secondary teacher with a combination of the following subjects; French, RE and PE.

• Participate in family nights, and other family activities as planned.

• Meet with school teaching staff to plan enrichment activities related to academic goals.

• Assign employee work schedules, maintaining a 1:15 ratio.

Terms of employment in accordance with contract between The Ministry of Finance and LC (Teaching Unions)

• Attend monthly meetings with the headmaster.

Applications should be addressed to The Board of Governors and for the Secondary position sent by e-mail to The Head of the Secondary School, John Barker, john.paul.barker@rygaards.com. For the Primary position, applications should be sent by e-mail to The Head of the Primary School, Shirley Jacobsen, shirley.jacobsen@rygaards.com. Applications should include a cover letter and CV containing the names and e-mail addresses of two referees.

• Perform other duties as assigned.

Please cV and cover letters by 8th June to: the headmaster (nedzat Asanovski) by e-mail: - na@oeis.dk

Information about the school can be obtained from our website www.rygaards. com

www.oEIS.dk

Closing date for applications: Monday, the 4th June, 2012.

Østerbro International School • Præstøgade 17 • 2100 Copenhagen Ø • Tel.: +45 70 20 63 68 • E-mail: info@oeis.dk

Biotech Job Vacancies Lundbeck

Novo Nordisk

Student Assistant IT Specialist Learning Consultant Global Pricing Analyst Manager Regional Market Access Manager Head of Section in Biometric Programming Market Analyst & Insights Partner Specialist in Biostatistics Interns

Project Engineer Tools and Moulding Statistician Purification specialist to Biopharm API Support Logistics Coordinator Safety Medical Writer Safety Publisher Editor, Corporate Communications International Trial Manager Head of CMC API Business Support Production Engineer – Automation/IT

Novozymes Laboratory Technician Head of Technical & Investments ISG Business Analyst CMC Project Manager Customer Communications Coordinator Recovery Scientist

Ferring Student, Global Regulatory Affairs, Development Projects

Leo-Pharma Regional Finance Director EU5+

For more information, deadlines and other job vacancies visit our webpage www.cphpost.dk/jobvacancies Denmark’s only English-language newspaper

18 Film institute: Non-ethinc Danes don’t sell Who is ...

CULTURE

THE COPENHAGEN POST CPHPOST.DK

F

Birthe Kjær?

POLITIKENS BØRNEBØGER

board assessed would not appeal to a large enough audience. The sentence in question is a ‘besides-sentence’, which I aplogise for deeply because I don’t think it is correct or appropriate. It is a very, very unfortunate formulation, but it is not the reason that the film was rejected.”

Ladegaard said that the rejection letter contained a series of arguments for the film’s rejection, but those reasons were redacted in the document obtained by Information. He also added that, as far as he was aware, DFI had never rejected a film due to the ethnicity of its cast members before.

“We’re not sitting here and weeding the brown actors out of white films,” he told Information, adding that he had spoken to the DI’s support board to ensure such a formulation never appeared in a rejection letter again.

Over the weekend, DFI’s rejection letter drew the attention of the culture minister, Uffe Elbæk (Radikale).

Elbæk met with DFI’s CEO Henrik Bo Nielsen in Cannes to discuss the letter and to request that DFI provide a written assessment of the rejection, and told Information that he found the lines referencing ethnicity to be inappropriate.

“It’s a deeply problematic formulation that is prejudiced on so many levels,” he said.

“One is that there is a judgement that the actors’ skin colour has an influence on the film’s impact. Another is that you are saying at the same time that the people who live in the provinces are less tolerant than people who live in Copenhagen.”

Despite Ladegaard’s assur-

HENRIK FRYDKJÆR /DR

“I must admit that I really thought we had come further than this,” Dansk Skuespillerforbund chair Katja Holm told State-run fund rejects film, Information. “We all have a claiming people outside of responsibility in this area, and Copenhagen don’t want to see non-Danes in leading roles that applies particularly to DFI. Furthermore, I don’t think they are correct when they write that ILMS FEATURING people in the provinces aren’t incast members with an- terested in seeing brown people. other ethnic background This is something DFI should haven’t shown to be espe- document, or otherwise it’s just a hunch.” cially sellable in the provinces.”

The plot of ‘MGP MissioSo read a rejection letter obtained by Information news- nen’ revolves around a 12-yearpaper sent by the state-run Det old ethnic Danish boy who Danske Filministitut (DFI) to moves from western Jutland to the film agency ASA Film. The Nørrebro and finds himself mostfilm company had applied for fi- ly surrounded by non-ethnic nancial support for its children’s Danes. He eventually befriends film ‘MGP Missionen’, and a young girl named Sawsan and while DFI described the film as convinces her to participate “well-meaning and sympathet- in the children’s song contest ic”, the film institute ultimately Melodi Grand Prix against her Muslim family’s rejected the apwishes. When the plication because two kids travel to it deemed the Jutland to comfilm would not pete in the conhave “sufficient We’re not sitting test, their parents potential to hit travel from Nørthe broad family here and weeding rebro together market”. the brown actors and slowly get to Part of that know each other reasoning, DFI ar- out of white films despite their culgued, was that the film features cast members who tural differences.

DFI, which operates under are non-ethnic Danes.

“For us in Copenhagen, it is the Culture Ministry, distributes very natural and obvious to por- millions of kroner each year to tray a multiethnic/multicultural support various film projects. environment, but in the prov- DFI’s director of production inces it is unfortunately another and development, Claus Ladecase,” the letter obtained by In- gaard, called the rejection letter’s reference to ethnicity “very unformation read.

While ASA Film did not fortunate”, but contended that wish to comment directly on the film was rejected for other the rejection, the letter’s message reasons.

“In this particular case, there was criticised by the chairwoman of the actors’ union, Dansk was a very well-founded rejection of a film that our decisions’ Skuespillerforbund.

JUSTIN CREMER

25 - 31 May 2012

MALENE ØRSTED A Danish singer and Eurovision diehard.

Where might I know her from?

From the Danish Eurovision qualifying contest, the Melodi Grand Prix, which the 63-yearold has entered five times, but only won once. She has also hosted it several times, most recently in 2009 with Felix Smith (the longhaired dude off ‘Talent’).

The film in question is based on a children’s book by Gitte Løkkegaard

ances that the language in the letter was an aberration, Information spoke with several actors who are non-ethnic Danes and they contend that discrimination is commonplace in the Danish film industry.

“I don’t think there is a single non-white Dane in the cultural scene who hasn’t experienced that the industry is very selective – both in regards to the stories that can be told and the people that can tell them,” actor Hassan Preisler told Information.

Actress Sandra Yi Sencindiver said that the surprising thing about the DFI rejection letter wasn’t its content, but the fact

that it was made public.

“They’ve written it, so they can’t now run away from it,” she said. “But it’s not because anybody is really surprised by the fact that people think that way.

The unusual thing is that we now have it in black and white.”

Similarly, actress Wagma Khattak told Information that the ‘MGP Missionen’ rejection only confirms what many have suspected.

“There are a lot of rumours in the film industry that DFI doesn’t support the non-white actors, and now unfortunately we see that the rumours are true,” she said.

Diego’s cameo in Carlsberg ad work of the Diablo

Argentina crying over spilt beer that even the Mop of God can’t soak up

A

S IF relations between England and Argentina weren’t strained enough already, a new Carlsberg promotional video, aimed at the English market ahead of Euro 2012, is adding smoke to the fire.

The 90-second advert (http://bit.ly/carlsad), which has since gone viral, shows three English fans on a tour of the ‘Carlsberg Fan Academy’. As they end their tour, it is a two-second appearance of a Diego Maradona lookalike, washing floors, that has sparked anger on social networks, and in Argentina.

Clarin, Argentina’s biggest newspaper, has blasted the clip, as have some of its readers. “This advertisement is a provocation, an insult and a humiliation for all Argentines,” one of them wrote. “Argentina doesn’t sweep the floor of the invader, pirate and English thief.”

Another took a more light-

In the advert, two England supporters are guided around the Fan Academy by broadcasting legend Des Lynan (left)

hearted approach. “Boys, Maradona’s not cleaning,” he wrote.

“He’s drying the tears shed by the British in 1986.”

The commercial follows a recently-made 2012 Olympics advertisement for the Argentine market, which was filmed on the disputed Falkland Islands and featured an Argentinian hockey player, Fernando Zylberberg, doing exercises on a British war memorial.

Was it any good?

It’s popular on YouTube. “Unashamedly camp, upbeat, a great performance and a cracking melody”, wrote one commenter. “Makes you wanna hug the country in total! If I knew I would not be called ‘black head’ or something, would totally love to live in Denmark ... Greetings from Turkey!” wrote another.

Did she sing it in English?

No, it was just before everyone at Eurovision started singing in English.

What does she sing about?

The content’s very Danish. Her most famous song is about a “very red rubber boat” – pretty much everyone knows the lyrics. It’s the closest the Danes have come to a schlager (hit).

CARLSBERG

JESSICA O’SULLIVAN

What did she sing at Eurovision?

The song was called ‘Vi maler byen rød’ (we’re painting the town red) and came an impressive third place in 1989, just 26 points behind the winners, Yugoslavia.

The advert’s tagline in particular, “To compete on English soil, we are training on Argentine soil,” sparked off outrage in Britain, where many headed to social media sites to vent their anger.

“Maradona and his ‘Hand of God’ can speak for himself,” wrote one commenter on the Daily Mail’s website. “The dead, whose sacrifice is commemorated by the Port Stanley war memorial, cannot.”

However, while it is not believed the Olympic ad will result in any boycotts, there is a risk that the Carlsberg advert may adversely affect the Danish brewer. Although English creative agency Fold7 was responsible for the marketing campaign, some Argentines have chosen to direct their anger towards Carlsberg, which is also an official sponsor of England and Euro 2012.

Some Clarin readers have even

been encouraging disgruntled fans to contact the Danish headquarters.

Carlsberg has downplayed the hysteria. A company spokesperson claimed the Maradona scene was “a funny moment”, while the advert as a whole “reflects the unique sense of humour of English football”.

Whether Argentine consumers will have the last laugh remains to be seen.

Is her music popular among Danes?

It’s a kind of music everybody loves to hate: Danskpop. She has even had some uncomfortable experiences, including one when she was hired by a private event as a joke. But she took it well and just walked around the table handing people the mic to sing along – which they all did of course.

Sounds like a tough chick She is. So tough that’s she never been married, and her longest relationship only lasted two and a half years.

Is she still performing?

Yes, and although she wasn’t involved in this year’s Danish Melodi Grand Prix, you just know she’ll be back to paint the town red one last time.

Denmark through the looking glass The Copenhagen Post cphpost.dk

25 - 31 May 2012

19

Echoes of ‘48 as oarsome foursome put their stroke on the water

Scanpix (arkivfoto)

Jane Graham How Finn Pedersen, Tage Henriksen and Carl-Ebbe Andersen made up Denmark’s winning rowing team at the 1948 Olympics, bringing home the gold in the now discontinued coxed pairs event

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The gold medallists of 1948 - (left-right) Tage Henriksen, Carl-Ebbe Andersen and Finn Pedersen - on the podium at Henley Brian Martin Rasmussen

o matter what the bookies predict, Denmark has one thing on its side at this year’s Olympics before it kicks off in London on 27 July: history. The last time the epic sporting event was held in the British capital, 1948 proved to be a particularly successful year for Denmark, which chalked up its best ever results at an Olympic Games, winning 20 medals, including five golds.

Following the Second World War, there had been no Olympic Games held for more than a decade, and a total of 59 nations participated. Japan and Germany, which were still under Allied military occupation, were not permitted to compete, while the Soviet Union chose not to. London had been due to host the 1944 games, but the event was derailed by the war. Tokyo, the original 1940 host, had in the late 1930s, handed over responsibility to Helsinki, which eventually hosted the games in 1952.

Nevertheless, despite London leapfrogging the Finns, there were doubts over the English capital’s hosting suitability. Rationing was still in force, and there were shortages of everything from food to petrol and accommodation, which led to many believing that London was not yet ready to host the event. Naturally, good old British spirit prevailed, and with improvised measures such as using RAF camps and college dorms in lieu of an Olympic Village, the 1948 Olympics went ahead, although it did become known as the ‘Austerity Games’.

Still, as this year will hopefully prove, austerity doesn’t affect the weather. It was a gloriously hot summer that year in England, and affluent Henley in Oxfordshire, with its long-standing history of rowing events, was radiant. And it was here that three colleagues from the provincial Roskilde Rowing Club – Finn Pedersen, Tage Henriksen and their 19-year-old coxswain Carl-Ebbe Andersen – made their mark, winning gold in the coxed pairs rowing event.

The boys from Roskilde had to make do with coming in second in the preliminary heats, before narrowly seeing off France in a nail-biting semi-final. But in the final, they bided their time and then, when it mattered most, pushed past the Italian and Hungarian teams to take the gold medal on 9 August 1948.

The team’s victory was particularly sweet for their local sports club, cementing Roskilde Rowing Club’s reputation as one of the top rowing clubs in the country. It’s also one of Denmark’s oldest – it was founded in 1890. Roskilde has been breeding sailors since the Vikings began building longboats – as the town’s Viking Ship Museum can testify – making good use of the spectacular fjord that snakes northwards out of the town.

Twice-national champion Finn Pedersen, who died in January at the age of 86, never stopped being involved in rowing, even after his retirement. He was the chairman of Roskilde Rowing Club for several decades and remained an active member of the club right up

Rowing legend Eskild Ebbesen (left) with the other members of his quartet

until his death, and a great inspiration to the club’s youngest members.

Along with Henriksen and Andersen, Pedersen had won his first national championship in 1947, and after the Olympic win in 1948, the team held onto the national trophy in 1950, albeit with Henriksen making room for Kai Suhr.

Switching then to coxless pairs, Pedersen paired up with another colleague from Roskilde Rowing Club, Kjeld Østrum, to dominate the national championships in the 1950s. Success continued up until 1956, but the pair’s efforts at that year’s Olympic Games in Melbourne failed to match previous achievements, when they were eliminated in the semis.

The men’s coxed pairs event was discontinued as an Olympic event after 1992, along with a number of other rowing events. In its place, a new event made its debut at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics: the lightweight men’s four.

Denmark took to this event like a duck

to water and has brought home the gold in the lightweight men’s four more often than any other nation. This year, their chances are as strong as ever.

The return of 40-year-old veteran Eskild Ebbesen – a onetime ‘Vild med dans’ competitor who with three Olympic gold medals under his belt is one of the most successful male rowers of all time – has breathed renewed confidence into the quartet ahead of this year’s Olympicrowing event, which this time is taking place at the artificial Dorney Lake near Eton.

The whole country will be waiting with baited breath to see if he can guide his lightweight four team (Jacob Barsøe, Morten Jørgensen and Kasper Winter) to repeat the precedent set by Pedersen, Henriksen and Andersen and earn Denmark another rowFinally, the graphic designers of the 1940s could stop making propaganda posters ing gold on English soil.

CHILDR E EN TH

AIR 2012 F S N’ ’

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