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Danes back Barack, but honeymoon’s over

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Parisian patisseries to please Relocation guide the palate at French Affair inside

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2 - 8 November 2012 | Vol 15 Issue 44

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

NEWS

How an off-the-record comment that the PM’s husband Stephen Kinnock was gay spread like wildfire around Skat and beyond

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CULTURE

Your country needs you!

Expat entrepreneurs targeted as part of initiative to find the business people of the future

13 SPORT

Olsen’s replacement should be foreign, a top journalist contends, but how keen will he be on coaching here?

14

CULTURE

Not my Amy! We tried to get this past her dad – he said “No, no, no.” Singer’s father opposes plans to make a musical about his daughter’s life

18

9 771398 100009

Price: 25 DKK

Seemed like a good idea at the time

Tattoo removal a growing - and dangerous - business

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Defendants take stand in left-wing terror trial PETER STANNERS The five men accused of a rash of arson attacks across Copenhagen made their first appearance in the dock on Monday, where some admitted to making Molotov cocktails

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OLOTOV cocktails, clubs, flares, pepper spray, copies of the Anarchist’s Cookbook and a fertiliser bomb manual have all been presented as evidence in a trial against five men charged with terrorism that started this week.

Four of the men were caught in April 2011 attempting to set fire to a

suburban Copenhagen police academy, and one was later apprehended by the police. They are all now charged under anti-terrorism legislation that carries a maximum penalty of life in prison for co-ordinating attacks designed to “grossly intimidate the population”.

The case is without precedent as anti-terrorism legislation, first passed by parliament in 2002, has only been used to prosecute Islamic extremists such as the men that plotted a ‘Mumbai-style’ attack on the offices of Jyllands-Posten newspaper in retribution for printing the Mohammed cartoons.

The men’s backgrounds have also been the focus of attention as they have all been linked to far-left activist groups

in Copenhagen and, according to media reports, come from middle-class professional households.

Thorkild Høyer, a lawyer for one of the men, expected the trial to focus on whether the arson campaign the men carried out between 2010 and 2011 was politically motivated.

“There are two main questions. The first is whether the accused planned these acts together. And the second question is whether it is terrorism,” Høyer told TV2 News. “You can question whether it was at all politically motivated, and even if it was, it won’t necessarily mean it was terrorism.”

The men, aged 21 to 24, are accused of carrying out arson attacks against a

range of targets including the Greek Embassy, fur manufacturers, Nestlé, the police and the domestic intelligence agency PET. They also stand accused of planning attacks against the Justice Ministry, the house of parliament, AP Moller Maersk and the Immigration Ministry.

They were apprehended after an anonymous tip-off in March 2012 led to the police starting the surveillance of a building in Christiania that the men were using as a clubhouse.

Police used intelligence gathered from this surveillance to catch four of the men red-handed as they attempted to set fire to the police academy.

Terror trial continues on page 6

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Week in review

The Copenhagen Post cphpost.dk

CPH Post Word of the Week:

2 - 8 November 2012 THE WEEK’S MOST READ STORIES AT CPHPOST.DK

Skideballe (noun) – a scolding Where you heard it: In stories about the Odense headteacher who received an official warning for using racially charged language when reprimanding a group of unruly students (see page 3) peter stanners

Good-bye facial friend

The princess collide!

Jewish groups angered at absence of Israeli flag at diversity festival It’s Obama in a landslide ... in the state of Denmark Nobody plans like a Dane Sex club accused of discrimination

FROM OUR ARCHIVES

TEN YEARS AGO. Chechen leader Akdhmed Zakajev’s extradition to Russia defended by British-Danish legal duo in Copenhagen.

FIVE YEARS AGO. Harsh penalties cause lorry drivers to block Denmark’s borders in an act of protest.

Copenhagen Post journalist Ray Weaver shaves off his moustache (note, no shaving foam) on Wednesday in preparation for Movember. Ray and other members of The Copenhagen Post staff will be participating in the annual charity moustache growing month. See page 11 to find out how to donate.

the more secure, embedded microchip, was scrapped after it became apparent that retailers would pass the fee on to consumers, according to Teller. The company says it will now work with businesses to come up with ways to encourage retailers to reduce the number of swiped bank card payments.

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

Intelligence experts are predicting that Afghanistan will be plunged into a period of instability once the NATO-led security force operating there withdraws in 2014. Although Denmark and other countries with troops in Afghanistan have successfully reduced the Taleban’s military capability, defence intelligence agency FE warns

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

of a resurgence by the group. According to FE’s 2012 national security threat assessment, despite the setbacks, the resolve of insurgent groups remain intact. Denmark has lost 42 soldiers in Afghanistan since 2002, and the analysis led to critics of Denmark’s involvement in Afghanistan suggesting that the effort had been in vain.

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

Green badge of efficiency

Owners of electric vehicles and other energy-efficient cars should bear a green number plate, according to MP Rasmus Prehn (Socialdemokraterne).

Prehn suggested that the green plates would stimulate the sale of energy-efficient vehicles by making people more aware they were on the road. “If you’re sit-

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ting in a car and you see someone ahead of you with a green number plate, you’d know it was an electric car,” he told the press this week. Recognising that the lighthearted approach might not be enough to affect sales, Prehn also suggested a 50 percent reduction in car taxes on electric cars purchased as company cars.

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

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International payment processing firm Teller has decided to withdraw a 7.50 kroner transaction fee for using the magnetic strip on a bank card after it surfaced that customers would be footing the bill. The fee, implemented in an attempt to nudge retailers into ensuring that bank cards are read using

Yellow flag in Afghanistan

Scanpix /Henning Bagger

Colourbox

Red light for card fee

ONE YEAR AGO. After two long winters, S-tog operator DSB takes steps to snowproof railways and keep commuters out of the cold.

3 Heated ‘Muslim’ outburst earns headteacher reprimand The Copenhagen Post cphpost.dk

Ray Weaver

are under pressure. That doesn’t make it right for a headteacher, but I can understand the Odense headteacher accused situation.” of racism was admonishing a Almost immediately after group of students who had been she made the comments eardisrupting a class her daughter lier this month, Sonsby had was teaching apologised for shouting, “I’m so bloody tired of you Muslims he headteacher of an ruining the lessons,” at a group Odense primary school of disruptive students she had has received an official called into her office. She exreprimand after she used plained that her outburst came after the boys racially charged started laughlanguage when ing at her, but shouting at a added that she group of boys did not feel it who had behaved amounted to badly in class. If you do not put the racism.

Poul Anthonibrakes on hateful S h a i b ussen, the head Mansoor, the of the Odense propaganda, it will father of one school district, of the children confirmed that be devastating for Birgitte Sonsby integration in Denmark being admonished and preof Ejerslykkeskolen had been reprimanded for sent during the meeting, later her outburst, which is the mild- reported Sonsby to the police est sanction she could have for racism. He subsequently dropped the charges, saying received.

“I think she lost her cool,” that the media attention had Anthoniussen told the press. succeeded in creating a debate “It can happen to anyone given about the issue.

The head of the school’s parthe right circumstances or if you

T

ents’ association then lent the support of parents and teachers to Sonsby, saying that teachers are regularly subjected to harassment at the hands of minority students.

“The students behave in a completely unacceptable manner,” said Peter Julius in a letter written to Fyens Stiftstidene newspaper on behalf of the school staff and the school board.

Julius said he did not approve of Sonsby’s choice of words, but understood her frustration that a small group of students could disrupt an entire class.

“We are not racists. But we must have the nerve to stand up and be honest about what is happening within the school’s walls,” he said.

He added that students involved in the bullying and namecalling “lacked the standards and values needed to succeed in a normal Danish school”.

The case, though, took an unexpected turn when it was revealed that the substitute teacher who lost control of the classroom leading to the original rep-

scanpix/ Sonny Munk Carlsen

2 - 8 November 2012

Ejerslykkeskolen headteacher says she’s not a racist

rimand was Sonsby’s daughter.

Anthoniussen said there are no rules that would prohibit Sonsby from hiring her daughter as a substitute, but that her decision to do so was noted in the official reprimand.

After reading about the case, Carsten Halvorsen, from

Event organisers rethinking procedures after criticism of a recommendation it says was sparked by security concerns

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city hall request that the Israeli flag not be displayed at a street festival intended to promote diversity has Jewish community leaders wondering what “diversity” really means to some city leaders.

During planning meetings for September’s Smag Verden – Mangfoldighedsfest, a celebration of the cuisines and cultures of different countries, Jewish participants were warned that some would interpret the flying of the Israeli flag as a provocation.

“We were told that it was better if we did not fly our flag,” Malgorzata H Hansen, who represented local Jews at the meetings, told Berlingske newspaper.

Organisers said they feared clashes between Jewish, Muslim and leftist groups if the Israeli flag was displayed.

Originally, representatives of TaskForce Inklusion, the group responsible for communicating with all of the groups participating in the festival, told the Jewish representatives that all participating associations were being asked not to bring flags.

But other flags were displayed prominently at the festival and the groups involved said they were never asked not to

Veterans compensation

File photo: Facebook

Ray Weaver

Stiftstidenede.

Sonsby declined further comment on either the case or her daughter’s employment at the school.

“I have said what I have to say and it is time to look forward,” she told Fyens Stiftstidende.

scanpix/ Jens Astrup

Jewish groups angered at absence of Israeli flag at diversity festival

the small town of Assens on Funen, reported Sonsby to the police, asking them to investigate whether the comments amounted to racism.

“If you do not put the brakes on hateful propaganda, it will be devastating for integration in Denmark,” he told Fyens

Veterans marched on parliament to make their demand

War veterans argue PTSD often develops more than six months after soldiers return home, but if it does they are not entitled to make their claim

Allerslev (in white) said she consulted with the Zionist group ahead of the event

display their country’s standards.

TaskForce Inklusion has since revised its story.

“It is not that there is a flag policy,” Pernille Kjeldgaard, the head of TaskForce Inklusion, told Berlingske. “Specific associations were asked not to display their flags as a safety precaution.”

Max Meyer, the head of the organisation Dansk Zionistforbund, said the rules ought to have been the same for everyone.

“It is a shame that one group is discriminated against, especially at a diversity celebration,” Meyer told Berlingske.

Kjeldgaard said her organisation is now re-evaluating its procedures.

“We are aware of the conflict and are looking at whether we should make some changes,”

she said.

Copenhagen’s deputy mayor for employment and integration, Anna Mee Allerslev (Radikale), apologised to the Zionist group and invited them to a meeting to discuss the situation.

“No-one should feel excluded from a diversity festival,” she said.

Allerslev said that she had been advised to completely exclude the Danish Zionist group from the festival, although he declined to say who exactly made that recommendation.

“We had some experts who were deeply concerned about the situation and were afraid that the security was not sufficient,” she said.

The city deployed 20 additional police officers in and

around the festival’s location in the multi-ethinc Nørrebro district.

City councillor Lars Aslan Rasmussen (Socialdemokraterne) called the situation “completely discriminatory”, but Allerslev said other considerations had been in play.

“I would really love to have an explanation as to why Rasmussen does not believe that public safety should be a top priority,” she said. “Politicians should be careful not to politicise cases like this.”

Allerslev stressed that the Jewish group had only been recommended not to display the Israeli flag.

“This was advice, it was not a ban. It was done with the best of intentions,” she said.

W

ar veterans suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder marched on parliament last week on Tuesday in protest over rules about claiming compensation for workrelated injury.

Currently, veterans have to document that they are suffering from PTSD within six months of arriving home from a tour of duty in order to successfully claim compensation for a work injury.

But many argue that this is an impossible task, as it can take several years for the first symptoms to arise.

“We are fighting to the end,” Christian Ring, a veteran of peacekeeping operations in the Balkans, told Jyllands-Posten.

“When politicians sent us out, they expected action. Now it’s their time to act. It doesn’t just cost money to send soldiers out, it also costs money to get them home again.”

According to Jyllands-Posten,

72 percent of veterans suffering from PTSD are denied compensation, while in Norway 80 percent have their condition recognised as a work injury.

The employment minister, Mette Frederiksen (Socialdemokraterne), has already called for a study to determine whether PTSD can arise several years after returning from a deployment following reports that PTSD can take longer than six months to develop.

“If there are medical arguments in favour of changing practice and recognising PTSD according to work injury law, it would allow completed cases to be reassessed according to the new criteria,” Frederiksen told the Ritzau news bureau.

According to a recent report published by SFI, a social-welfare research organisation, one in six veterans is either diagnosed with a psychiatric problem, medicated for a psychiatric illness or treated for drug abuse.

In addition to participating as part of the peacekeeping forces in the Balkans, Danish soldiers served in Iraq from 2003-08, and have been in Afghanistan since 2002. (PS)

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NEWS

THE COPENHAGEN POST CPHPOST.DK

2 - 8 November 2012 SCANPIX

There’s something about

Obama

In a close race for the US presidency, a voting state of Denmark would undoubtedly give Obama a bump

HENRY BUTMAN The president would win Denmark by a landslide, if Danes could vote – but just because they love him, doesn’t mean they always agree with him

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deficit will grow out of control and the value of the dollar will fall. It will have a major impact on the entire financial system, and it just can’t handle that right now,” Sandberg said.

Other voters, such as Christa, an architecture student who declined to give her surname, said they felt more in tune with Obama on social issues than Romney.

“I think every Dane would vote for Obama. I think the Republican stance on abortion would be enough for most Danes; even most Europeans [to vote for Obama],” she said.

David Miller, the head of the Danish chapter of Democrats Abroad, echoed that sentiment.

“I like to say to Danes that if they lived in the United States, they’d all be Democrats,” he said. “Whether they vote progressive or conservative in Denmark, they all believe in universal healthcare and free university education, and most wouldn’t give up a woman’s right to choose or have any problems with same-sex marriage.”

Although finding a Romney supporter in Denmark proved as elusive as the polls indicate, those who do support

the Republicans often state economic concerns as their reason for doing so.

For Danish graduate students who travelled to the state of Virginia to campaign for Republican candidate Mitt Romney, the economy was very much on their minds. One of them, Morten Dahlin, thought America needed a new strategy in its economic competition with China.

“We need America to be the engine of growth in the Western world, and this is an election for us about who do we want to be the main economic factor in the world: China or the US,” Dahlin told The Huffington Post recently.

“We would prefer the US. But if the US keeps going down the road it is on now, it’s going to be China. We are very dependent on trading with the US in Europe. It seems the road that Obama is taking has not been a road with more free trade.”

While voter support for Obama remains astronomical, not all of his decisions have been universally applauded here. In July, he came under a whirlwind of criticism from MPs for his use of unmanned drones against military targets in Pakistan, Somalia and Yemen.

Rasmus Helveg Petersen, the Radikale foreign policy spokesperson, told Politiken newspaper at the time that the drone attacks “violated international law”, while Søren Pind, of the opposition party Venstre, added that the attacks are “much worse” than the torturing of prisoners under President Bush.

Even with these criticisms, most Danes would stand by Obama, according to former foreign minister Per Stig Møller (Konservative), who said Danish political beliefs tend to naturally align with those of the American Democratic Party.

“The impression is that the Republican party is against the welfare-state and collective responsibility. [Obama’s] healthcare programme is an example, and is certainly supported by most Danes,” he said.

Leading up to the election in 2008, Obama had to defend himself against claims his policies were socialist. Clearly, that’s a defence no American politician will ever have to make in Denmark.

Complete coverage of the US election results will be broadcast live on TV2 and DR1 starting at 9pm on November 6.

For Christa, the choice is in her right to it

Christoffer’s concerns for DK has him siding with Obama

SCANPIX

F DENMARK were the 51st state to vote in the upcoming US election, it would probably have as many electoral votes as a state like Minnesota – ten – a state with a population of 5.3 million settled in two dense urban centres and miles and miles of countryside.

And while US polls put the two candidates in a dead-heat going into the final week before the election, there’s no doubt which candidate would win Denmark. A Gallup poll released earlier this autumn showed that 96 percent of Danes would vote for President Obama over Republican candidate Mitt Romney.

Speaking with some would-be Danish presidential voters, it appeared that while many of those who backed Obama in 2008 had lost faith in his message of change, Danes were still confident he could live up to his promise.

Julian Fawaz, a master’s student at Copenhagen Business School, expected that come election day, many doubters would wind up voting for Obama.

“I think the American people are disappointed – they wanted an immediate change, and they didn’t get it. Hope went on a slide and hit a real low. But I think they still believe in that ‘change’.”

Fawaz predicted that Obama would wind up winning, and that he would use a second term in office to live up to his promises.

“The big changes Obama proposed in 2008 can’t be accomplished in four years, especially considering the mess George Bush left: the economic crisis, two wars.”

For other Danes throwing their support behind Obama, the reason for doing so had less to do with something as

fleeting as hope, and more to do with the hard realities of global politics.

China is the largest foreign-holder of US debt, owning over one trillion dollars, and as America’s deficit continues to grow, its economic stability depends increasingly on its foreign lenders. For Christoffer Sandberg, a student at the Copenhagen Business Academy in Lyngby, keeping Obama in the White House would prevent an ill-timed rivalry between the two countries.

“Romney is very critical of China, and it doesn’t seem smart to make moves that will weaken that relationship,” he said, adding that he thought a Romney-Ryan administration would mean more years of war for the US, with many implications for the Danish armed forces, who have already sent troops to Iraq and Afghanistan.

“I think with Romney, the US will be forced into war again, and that will sadly cost Danish lives,” Sandberg said.

The threat of war has consequences beyond the unfortunate loss of life, however, and Sandberg considers avoiding further conflict pivotal to the world’s economic recovery.

“If the US goes to war again, its

Obama and Thorning-Schmidt met in February to discuss US-Denmark relations

NEWS

THE COPENHAGEN POST CPHPOST.DK

2 - 8 November 2012

Two men are being questioned in connection with the theft of valuable documents about Danes who fought for Third Reich

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BIG CHUNK of Danish history has been rediscovered, after police recovered several boxes of Second World War documents during a sweep of Copenhagen flats last week on Wednesday.

Rigsarkivet, the state archives, had reported the documents missing earlier this year after officials there realised they had been robbed a number of times over the span of a decade.

The documents, including police reports, personal accounts and court papers, were reportedly taken from the archive in a systematic operation by two men, who are now in custody.

“These are no ordinary documents,” national archivist Asbjørn Hellum told Berlingske.

“We’re talking about invaluable and irreplaceable cultural blueprints of Denmark’s past that were taken.”

The two suspects are known Nazi-sympathisers, and the records in question refer to a Danish soldier named Kaj Buchardt, who enlisted and fought for the Third Reich’s Wehrmacht during the 1940s.

Although Buchardt is not

SCANPIX /NIELS AHLMANN OLESEN

BJARKE SMITH-MEYER

The PM and her husband, together here in London, but what about Denmark, rumour-mongers want to know

Accountant regrets gay remark about Kinnock The stolen documents contained information about Danish Nazis from the Second World War

widely recognised by most Danes, his personal story is one that has sparked plenty of debate in the past as an example of a Nazi sympathiser who served under the German banner during the war.

The debate was recently reignited on a closed internet forum called ‘slettet-af-rullen.dk’, which focuses on Danes who volunteered for the German division ‘Nordland’ and fought on the Eastern Front against Russia.

Both men are understood to have known Buchardt personally and were trying to cover up the fact that he had deserted, only to join up again in the final stages of the war. It has also been revealed that the two men, who have been strongly linked

to criminal rings in the past, were planning to sell the stolen documents to a single person, giving rise to suggestion that the suspects were stealing the documents on someone else’s behalf.

Rigsarkivet has drawn up a long list of other possible offenders, and the police have promised amnesty to anyone returning stolen items.

“These documents were taken bit by bit. Not only was it organised, but the suspects were going after documents relating to a specific person,” Hellum told Berlingske. “Considering the amount of time invested in this theft, it could have been done with inside knowledge of how we work here at the archives.”

Vice police commissioner Tomas Juhl has admitted that the evidence points to something larger than a simple theft.

“Not only was the content targeted, but the timescale of the theft also raises all sorts of questions about the motive of the crime. But it’s too early to get into specifics,” he told Berlingske.

The thefts were first discovered at the beginning of October. The police were immediately notified, but due to fears that the documents in question would be destroyed if the suspects become aware they were under surveillance, no immediate action was taken.

If convicted, the two men face up to eight years in prison.

European Commission: Denmark on track PETER STANNERS Denmark will live up to its EU budgetary obligations and reduce its deficit to less than the maximum three percent of GDP in 2013

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ENMARK MAY be struggling to get its economy in gear, but at least the European Commission (EC) is pleased with Denmark’s economic policies, financial daily Børsen reports.

“I don’t see any problems with the budgetary adjustments that will take place next year,” an anonymous commission source told Børsen last week on Wednesday.

The government is currently negotiating a 2013 budget it hopes will slash the 2012 deficit from 73.5 billion kroner (around four percent of GDP), to 36.5 bil-

SCANPIX

Nazi sympathisers try to rewrite history, by stealing it

5

lion (1.9 percent of GDP).

This would bring Denmark below the maximum three percent deficit-to-GDP ratio that EU states are obliged to comply with in order to keep a lid on spiralling debt.

“We might see a smaller margin than the three percent, depending on the rate of growth,” the source said. “But we largely agree [with the deficit forecast].”

The EC’s recommendations for the Danish economy will be released this month. Last year’s recommendations praised the reform of the early retirement programme, efterløn, which encouraged Danes to buy themselves out of the job market up to five years before the pensionable age.

The massive payout, 22 billion kroner, was one of the reasons behind Denmark’s high budget deficit this year, but it won’t be repeated because it was

a one-off payment.

Denmark entered an “excessive budget procedure” in 2010 after reaching a deficit of 5.4 percent under the former centreright (VK) government.

The procedure means that Denmark is forced to enact certain budgetary reforms in order to reduce the budget deficit to less than three percent of GDP by 2013 – a target that Denmark now looks set to reach.

According to Lars Andersen, the chairman of AE-Rådet, a leftleaning economic think-tank, Denmark ended up in the procedure because of political, rather than economic, reasons.

“We think that Denmark should never have been in the procedure,” Andersen told Børsen. “It was more the result of the VK government wanting to dump unpopular decisions on the EU. But now it binds the govern-

ment’s economic policy through to 2014”.

The news from the EC adds further credibility to the government’s economic policies after ratings agencies in September said they approved of the direction the Danish economy was going.

“The Danish economy has many structural strengths,” Maria Malas-Mroueh, an analyst from the Fitch ratings agency, told Politiken newspaper. “It is versatile, personal income is high, and there are robust economic, political and social institutions. A long tradition of sensible economic policies is reflected in a relatively low level of structural unemployment and a stable currency.”

The developments come after the government revealed in May that the budget deficit would be 26 billion kroner less than the 100 billion kroner forecast for the year.

Tax advisor says he made comment about PM’s husband as a ploy after PM refused to attend meeting about audit

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UMOURS THAT the prime minister’s husband is gay originated from the accountant who was assisting the couple at the time of a 2010 tax audit, but the accountant maintains he only did it for the couple’s benefit.

Frode Holm said he thought he was making a comment that would be treated confidentially by tax officials preparing an audit of then-opposition leader Helle Thorning-Schmidt (Socialdemokraterne) and her husband, Stephen Kinnock. Holm on Monday expressed his regret that he, in August of 2010, started the rumour by telling Erling Andersen, the head of the Copenhagen office of tax authority Skat, and caseworker Inger Sommer Hansen that Kinnock was “bisexual or gay”.

“I admit that I said that, but I never spoke with the couple [Kinnock and ThorningSchmidt] about it. It was only concerning the meeting and nothing to do with the audit. It was a mistake that I am still quite uneasy about today,” Holm told Berlingske newspaper.

Holm said he purposely made up the rumour because Andersen was adamant that both Kinnock and Thorning-Schmidt should attend a meeting with Skat to discuss whether Kinnock, who worked in Switzerland and lived in Denmark at the time, owed taxes in Denmark.

If it had been true that Kinnock was engaged in extramartial affairs outside of Denmark, it would have been more difficult for Skat to argue that he owed Danish taxes since both his job and a significant part of his personal life would have been in Switzerland.

“I wanted Erling Andersen to

stop demanding that she [Thorning-Schmidt] show up with her husband. I had received a notice from Helle that she would not be attending the meeting,” Holm told Jyllands-Posten newspaper.

Holm indicated that while he was obliged to make Andersen understand that ThorningSchmidt would not be coming, he still needed to maintain a good rapport with him because he would be making the decision in Kinnock’s tax case.

“It was a ploy to get her out of a meeting she clearly didn’t want to attend, and it was successful in that respect,” Holm said.

Holm also contended that he had counted on Andersen to respect his duty of confidentiality. But while Kinnock’s case was closed a week after the meeting, rumours about Kinnock’s sexuality continued to thrive in the hallways of Skat.

Andersen told department head Peter Loft, who in turn informed the tax minister at the time, Troels Lund Poulsen (Venstre). Poulsen told his spin-doctor Peter Arnfeldt, and the rumour quickly found its way on to the front pages of the nation’s newspapers.

But according to Thomas Rønfeldt, who teaches law at Aalborg University, it wasn’t necessary for Holm to go to the lengths he did to prevent Thorning-Schmidt from attending the tax meeting.

“Tax-payers are free to decide whether or not they wish to attend a meeting with Skat,” Rønfeldt told Jyllands-Posten.

“The only thing you risk by not showing is that Skat may make its decision based on incomplete information.”

Erling Hansen, Inger Sommer Hansen and ThorningSchmidt have all declined to comment, though ThorningSchmidt this August confronted the rumour regarding her husband’s sexuality head-on by bringing it up before it was made public. (CW)

ONLINE THIS WEEK PM vows EU budget veto PM HELLE Thorning-Schmidt (Socialdemokraterne) has threatened to veto the 2014-2020 EU budget if Denmark doesn’t get the one billion kroner rebate it has already budgeted into its own spending plans. The budget must be passed unanimously by all 27 EU members. Experts called the move a “gamble” – receiving the

Sperm bank facing fine rebate has become imperative for the government after it calculated it into the funding for its 2020 economic plan. Denmark is one of the EU’s biggest contributors per capita, handing over 18.2 billion kroner in 2011, while at the same time receiving 11 billion kroner in payments from Brussels.

SPERM BANK Nordic Cryobank has been reported to the police by the Board of Health for acting too slowly to stop the use of sperm from a donor suspected of carrying a genetic disease. If it violated any laws, the company faces a fine, and the health minister, Astrid Krag (Socialistisk Folkeparti), expressed concern

Breaking up is more expensive to do that it could undermine faith in the safety of donated sperm.

Questions about Nordic Cryobank arose after public broadcaster DR claimed that nine of the 43 children conceived using the sperm had inherited the illness. Nordic Cryobank says it is only aware of five and maintains that it acted properly.

GETTING A divorce may become almost twice as expensive if the government presses ahead with a proposal to increase the fee from 500 kroner to 900 kroner. The measure is part of the government’s efforts to save 93 million kroner in all five of

Denmark’s regional administrations, statsforvaltninger, by 2015. The government now wants to allow couples to get divorced without being separated first. Couples who do separate will be required to pay an additional 900 kroner fee.

READ THE FULL STORIES AT CPHPOST.DK

6

News

The Copenhagen Post cphpost.dk

2 - 8 November 2012

colourbox

Nation now “increasingly vulnerable” to cyber-attack

Terror trial continued from front page

Following their arrest, the police linked the men to a string of other attempted and successful attacks including one against the same police academy in 2010 that resulted in two million kroner worth of damages.

Cannabis, Molotov cocktails and the Anarchist’s Cookbook

Cyber warriors: unknown assailants who can attack at anytime

Ray Weaver Parliament prepared to beef up cybersecurity capacity to keep pace with growth in threats facing nation

C

yberwarfare is now the greatest single threat to national security, according to a new threat assessment by Forsvarets Efterretningstjeneste (FE), the military intelligence agency.

Speaking in conjunction with the release of the 2012 Intelligence Risk Assessment, FE head Thomas Ahrenkiel said that as Denmark becomes more digitalised, “we become more vulnerable.”

Ahrenkiel said that both the public and private sectors face near constant attempts to steal intellectual property,

research or other sensitive information.

Most of these attacks are handled via internal security measures. “But, there are also more serious and targeted attacks,” he said.

As an example, he cited a paralysing computer attack on the Business and Growth Ministry last spring. The attack, which did not succeed in obtaining any information, went after user names and passwords.

With the growing threat against the nation’s computers, the Defence Ministry is expected to allocate significant resources to combatting digital attacks.

A proposal currently being considered by parliament calls for the creation of a ‘Centre for Cyber-Security’ under the control of the Defence Ministry, which would have a budget of 35 million kroner above and beyond what the ministry has already requested.

The centre’s funding would increase

annually, reaching as much as 150 million kroner by 2017. The money would be used, in part, to create a computer operations centre with the capacity to implement defensive and offensive military operations in cyberspace.

Earlier last month, Denmark joined other EU countries in participating in an exercise that simulated a major DDoS attack. DDoS attacks flood sites with automated traffic, causing a virtual traffic jam and rendering the site inaccessible for legitimate users. The technique is the preferred method of attack used by activist group Anonymous. The same group claimed responsibility for a DDos attack that shut down the website of trade union 3F earlier this year, although it is unlikely the group was involved.

In the report, FE pointed out that even though cyberwarfare was the country’s most pressing threat, the threat of terrorism had not subsided.

pes for how to make bombs using highnitrogen fertiliser.

During the questioning, the prosecution established that the three defendants had links to far-left groups in Copenhagen that are centred around the Ungdomshuset culture centre. They also established that PJ and TMH had previously been arrested by police during demonstrations linked to climate and pro-asylum activism.

FP refused to be questioned and instead read a statement in which, according to Berlingske newspaper’s court reporter, he said that it was unacceptable that he had been held on remand for almost 18 months.

“The system has been against me from the start, and I feel it’s useless participating,” he said. “I’m tired and I’ve become a little bitter. I don’t want to participate and be used as a scapegoat.”

The first trial day on Tuesday was spent questioning the five accused men and presenting the evidence against them.

The first man, identified only as PJ, admitted to making the 21 Molotov cocktails that were discovered in a freezer in their clubhouse. He said that the 145 flares that were also found in the build- Locked up but not convicted ing were bought in Christiania.

Two of the other men, TMH and All five were kept remanded for at AC, admitted to helping make the Molo- least a year, while PJ and FP have retov cocktails. But both said there was no mained in custody since they were arrestparticular reason for making them, add- ed in April and May 2011 respectively.

These long periods of remands are ing that they smoked a lot of cannabis while hanging out at Christiania and that not unusual in Denmark according had inhibited their ability to remember to Eva Smith, a professor of law at the University of Copendetails of anything hagen, though she they had done. argues that they are PJ, TMH and problematic.

AC all plead guilty to “The police argue the arson attempt at The system has been to judges that unthe police academy. less they are locked The fourth person ar- against me from the rested at the scene, start and I feel it’s useless up they will destroy evidence and make DHP, refused to be it difficult to prove questioned, however. participating. I’m tired the case,” Smith said, A raid on his room unand I’ve become a little adding that judges covered masks, metal had become used to and wooden clubs, and bitter. I don’t want to allowing suspects to pepper spray.

The fifth defend- participate and be used as be remanded for long periods of time. ant, FP, was arrested a scapegoat “It is a big probafter the first four and also refused to be questioned. A po- lem with the legal system that people are lice raid on the flat FP shared with his held for such a long time,” Smith said. girlfriend uncovered spray-paint, bolt “It’s a puzzle that we have these long pecutters, copies of the magazine ‘Resist- riods of custody because other countries ance Anarchist Paper’ and the book ‘The seem to be able to investigate and preAnarchist’s Cookbook’, which contains pare for trial without holding people on instructions for rudimentary terrorist remand for so long. It just seems to be the way things are done.” equipment.

Smith added that the men could On his computer it was found that be entitled to large sums in compensahe had searched “how to make homemade white-trash napalm” and “home- tion if they are acquitted or sentenced to made napalm”. In his college flat in terms that are significantly shorter than Odense, police found a computer with a the amount of time they were held on file called ‘fertilising fun’ that listed reci- remand.

ROJ TV dispute reaches high court Christian Wenande Defence hopes Kurdish broadcaster wil get a fairer trial than was the case in a Copenhagen court earlier this year

T

he Eastern High Court heard the opening arguments in the appeal of Copenhagen-based Kurdish TV-station ROJ TV, which was found guilty in January of operating as a propaganda instrument for a terrorist organisation.

The station is appealing against the 5.2 million kroner fine, which was handed down by the Copenhagen City Court after it ruled that the Kurdish separatist movement and terror organisation Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) had financed ROJ TV between 2006 and 2010.

Bjørn Elmquist, the defence lawyer representing ROJ TV, contended that he didn’t feel that the city court’s ruling was fair.

“We were denied the chance to produce certain witnesses and the opportunity of playing ROJ TV segments that we felt furthered our case,” Elmquist told Berlingske newspaper, adding that the high court had accommodated most of his requests to call witnesses and show examples of the station’s programming.

The court will now go through January’s 190-page decision and revisit various evidence entered by both sides. A decision is expected by June.

ROJ TV has been a thorn in the eye of the Danish-Turkish relationship in recent years, culminating in 2009 when Turkey opposed the candidacy of thenPM Anders Fogh Rasmussen as NATO secretary general.

Speaking to Reuters last month, Turkish PM Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Scandinavian countries share in the blame for the increased violence between the PKK and government forces in his country.

Factfile | ROJ TV timeline June 2005: Copenhagen Police transfer the case to the attorney general’s office because of its ‘precedentsetting nature’ and due to its public interest. It is sent back to the police in order to collect more evidence

tempts to gain Turkey’s support for his NATO candidacy, representatives from the Copenhagen Police and the attorney general’s office travel to Turkey to investigate the case further

November 2005: Turkish PM Erdogan refuses to take part in a press conference with then-PM Anders Fogh Rasmussen while visiting Denmark, because a ROJ TV journalist is present at the conference

March 2010: Danish officials contend that ROJ TV has illegally received 118 million kroner in financial support

February 2007: The attorney general’s office sends the case back to the police once again for further investigation

August 2010: The attorney general charges ROJ TV of being a terror organisation on the same day that Anders Fogh Rasmussen pays an official visit to Denmark as NATO secretary general

March 2009: As Rasmussen at-

January 2012: The Copenhagen City

Court convicts the two companies operating ROJ TV (ROJ TV A/S and Mesopotamia Broadcast A/S) of promoting a terrorist organisation from 2006 to 2010 and fines them 5.2 million kroner. The sentence is appealed to the Eastern High Court September 2012: The police arrest a group of eight Copenhagen-area men for sending upwards of 140 million kroner to the PKK and charge them with financing terrorism Spetember 26, 2012: Radio and TV oversight officials impose a twomonth broadcasting ban on ROJ TV for not living up to its responsibility to record and archive all its programmes

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8

OPINION

THE COPENHAGEN POST CPHPOST.DK

Terror is as terror does

2 - 8 November 2012

Where the Reds under the bed sleep easy LANDBRUG & FØDEVARER

Just because a terrorist attack doesn’t intentionally target people doesn’t somehow make it legitimate

W

HEN YOUNG Islamic men, born and raised in Western cultures, turn to radical interpretations of Islam and lash out at the society they live in, talk quickly turns to the spectre of the ‘home-grown terrorist’ and what responsibility we as a society, their community or their parents had in them being drawn to extremism.

Little of that talk seems to be present in the case of the five young men standing trial in Copenhagen for planning and carrying out politically motivated attacks against targets that symbolised state power, capitalism and animal exploitation. Instead, the discussion seems to be focused on whether the attacks live up to the legal definition of terror.

There is, of course, a vast difference between targeting people and targeting institutions. But, make no mistake, the consequences of these young men’s actions could have been just as tragic as any attack specifically targeting people. The 1995 Oklahoma City bombing, for example, was an attack against the US federal authorities yet still claimed the lives of 168 people.

The suspects have at least one successful firebombing at a police station on their conscience, and they were thwarted while carrying out a second. Meanwhile, an attack against the city headquarters of one of the country’s largest banks inexplicably failed. More attacks were reportedly planned. Any of them could have resulted in a loss of life.

In order for an act to be defined as terrorism, it does not – neither in the Danish legal code nor in the dictionary definition of the word – need to involve the loss of life. Groups such as the IRA and ETA even went as far as warning police that they had planted a bomb in a given area. Yet few objective observers would hesitate to brand these groups as terrorist organisations.

Denmark is no stranger to politically motivated crime. In the 1970s and 80s, the group known as Blekingegadebanden carried out a number of robberies and gave the money to foreign left-wing groups. The group was active before the term ‘terrorism’ came into fashion, but were they active today, their crimes would fall under the same category.

Their successors, the defendants standing trial in Copenhagen, may just be young men from homes with loving parents who have been left wondering what went wrong. But the same could also be said of many of the Islamic fundamentalists who have faced the same charges. It’s true that boys may be boys, but we’ve also seen that boys can also be terrorists. (KM)

Denmark’s only English-language newspaper

BY LARS CHRISTENSEN

M

O G E N S LYKKETOFT, Denmark’s finance minister from 1992 to 2000, once promised regarding his plan to radically increase taxes that: “Even after this tax reform, there will still be capitalists left in Denmark.” His statement is very telling of his rather low view of capitalism – that the Danish society should move towards “more state”, not less, and that capitalists were a minority who should simply be tolerated.

The majority of Danish politicians intuitively believe that capitalists are an unpleasant necessity to generate the revenues to fund the social welfare state.

Denmark has the highest total tax pressure in the world and is towering far above the European average. It also has the smallest private sector in Europe – one that supports one of the biggest public sectors. Add to that a generous entitlement system, which allows unemployed and unemployable citizens an income well above that achieved by full-time employees in the private sector in many European countries, and you will observe a need for tax revenues nearly unmatched anywhere else in the world.

This is not surprising, since

Hallow’d be thy theme

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changes.

So is there really any hope for reforms, rationality, courage and capitalism in a welfare society?

The answer is no, not under the current leadership. Some neighbouring countries have pursued more responsible policies in recent years – notably Sweden and Finland. In a benchmarking of best practices, both countries have a more efficient use of money in the public sector, better value for money in education and healthcare, fewer people permanently placed on social welfare, and a more friendly rhetoric towards business, growth and job creation. Both of these countries must be considered traditional social welfare states but at least show some degree of moderation in their socialist practices.

So if there is no hope for reforms of the welfare society, the next question must be whether capitalism can exist or co-exist in the long-term in a social welfare state. Essentially, the answer has to be no. A social welfare society that wants to embrace and benefit from some form of real capitalism in the long run will need to: set very stringent parameters for the amount of welfare available to its citizens as a percentage of GDP; set a maximum limit for taxation and government debt levels; secure strong fundamental incentives written into a constitution; and secure basic negative rights for its individual citizens.

In addition, it will need to embrace a different rhetoric and give up on equality of outcome as a key objective. It needs to welcome, encourage and praise large contributors to the economy rather than vilify them and berate them for populist purposes. It needs to demand responsibility from the citizens for their

own economic situation and be very firm on abuse or exploitation of public support or services. It needs to stop victimising large groups of the society and stop pricing them out of employment through minimum wages and similar initiatives. It needs to stop its politicians from corrupting the democratic process through bribing particular voter groups to gain power.

According to the 2012 Economic Freedom of the World Report, America’s economic freedom has declined so greatly that it has plummeted to 18th place, even trailing behind Denmark.

Now more than ever, America’s capitalistic society is threatened by burdensome government and a bloated entitlement state. Increasing amounts of regulations continue to come down the pipeline, making it harder for entrepreneurs and small businesses to create value.

Growing up in Denmark, I’ve seen this picture before. If America doesn’t want socialism, its people must wake up and heed the lessons being played out in counties around the world – like Denmark. If America doesn’t want socialism, it must seek politicians and policies that allow the individual to have more liberty and freedom. If America doesn’t want socialism it must act now.

But America must first answer the question … does America want socialism?

Lars Christensen is founder CoCEO of SAXO Bank. He recently finished a five-day speaking tour of the United States organised by the Leadership Institute.

The above was first published on Forbes.com and is extracted from a speech given to the Mont Pelerin Society.

READER COMMENTS

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more than half of the adult population is either working in the public sector or living on some form of social transfer payment.

Out of a total population of 5.6 million, a little more than 2 million are pensioners, unemployed, sick or on social transfer payments for other reasons. Around 800,000 are employed in the public sector. There are only around 1.8 million that are not directly dependent on state payments in some shape or form.

But even among this group, there is high focus on cheap, subsidised childcare, free healthcare, child bonus payments, subsidised housing and an infinite number of other ways to secure some additional income from the state.

The recent rise of socialists who continue to hand out huge public expenditures combined with the broadly supported tax reform is going nowhere in terms of really moving the dial between the public and private sectors.

Even more, it highlights the fundamental challenges of a social welfare society and the extreme vulnerability of business and capitalism operating within it.

In order to undertake a friendly business policy, one would need to gain the support of an overwhelming majority that in the short-term would have to accept lower public expenditures and cut back on many of their perceived ‘rights’ and entitlements. But rather than implement actual changes to the system, both voters and politicians like to create the illusion of reforms and security. The reality is that this is fundamentally an effort to create a feeling of reassurance that the current system can be upheld without any serious cutback, sacrifices or

I am shocked by your cavalier use of the LORD’s Prayer. In fact, I AM OFFENDED. I would like to know if you would do this with important parts of the Koran?

Mrs R Vestbirk by email Gay penguin pair become couple Companionship is not to be confused with homosexual relationships per se as in humans, which seems to be the case in this article. Male parenting is a common occurrence in the animal kingdom. I am all for gay rights, but this particular comparison comes out in bad taste. At least to me, it gives a strong impression of an opportunistic PR stunt or a pathetic justification. I don’t think there is any need for gays to look for PR or any justifications, at least in the Western world.

Buddha_in by website This would have been a great opportunity to draw another kind of parallel to the human world

– namely to fathers who have been discarded by the mothers of common children and have been degraded to a child-support fund with no rights to spend time with their children. In Scandinavia, this is a little less of a problem than in the Anglo-Saxon world and in German-speaking Europe, where laws make abandoned fathers bleed and authorities keep them away from their children.

Many of them suffer like hell from the loss of their offspring without ever having done anything wrong, except marrying in the first place.

Edgar Müller by website You’d expect sodomy from birds that engage in prostitution and are prone to insanity. These dangerous foreigners need to be deported before they contaminate the native Danish ‘verdens beste’ avian population.

Cliff Arroyo by website ‘Swipe and pay’ fee to hit customers If they implemented a rule that made the businesses pay the fee,

then THAT might encourage them to keep the machines running, but why in the hell would stores here care about the customer having to pay more? They don’t care about my bank balance with their prices – they’re not going to care about another 7kr. All I know is that if a business tells me to swipe and I know I’m going to have to pay the fee, I’ll just walk away. If the store wants to punish me by not maintaining their equipment, I’ll simply move the punishment onto them by having them lose business for that sale and all future purchases I might have made. shufflemoomin by website Bizarre and ridiculous! The fee may not be much, but this is just totally unethical. Can someone explain the logic of the fee being legal if it’s only for credit card use and not debit cards?

Lucy Jordan by website Regulation to favour the world: the renowned Dankort!

Thorvaldsen by website I think this happened to me

about twice in the last year. That’s a lot of venting for something that will cost you $3 if it ever gets implemented.

TheAuthorities by website Solar panels damaging homes The ‘gubmint’ policy is: stop the subsidy, slap on a tax! Simple. theoldjanus by website I remember looking into solar power some time ago (in the UK). It’s an average of seven to 12 years to pay back the outlay. If the panels are looked after (more expense), they can last up to 40 years, but on average they last between 20-30 years (not including pumps and associated parts). So you may get 15 years of cheaper power/heating – if you stay in that house. The energy companies consider you to be stealing from them because you are getting cheap power/heating, and the government probably thinks the same as you are not paying their beloved tax. As others have said, you can bet on being informed of a new, magical tax.

Rugratzz by website

OPINION

THE COPENHAGEN POST CPHPOST.DK

2 - 8 November 2012

What does it take to make someone Danish?

E

NOUGH IS ENOUGH, I’ve had it. I am part of a generation that is called ‘second-generation immigrants’, and ‘we’ are often judged by how well we are integrated into Danish society. Each time one of ‘us’ gets in trouble, politicians and others point fingers saying that he (or she) must be poorly integrated. I don’t believe this any longer makes sense.

‘We’ do not need to integrate! You would think that we were some kind of alien from outer space who needs

The Words of Öz BY ÖZCAN ARJULOVSKI Özcan Ajrulovski was born in Sweden but has lived in Denmark since he was five years old. His parents came to Denmark in the late 60s from the Turkish part of Macedonia. He has a passion for writing poetry and has written political columns for metroXpress and other publications.

See more at www.ozcana.com.

Well you people make a lot of trouble, so that must mean you aren’t a part of our society? to learn what it is to be human. We are human beings! We are Danish citizens! DANISH CITIZENS! How are

you going to integrate a generation of young people into their own society? We were born here, we are part of society, our thoughts are usually in Danish and we go to Danish schools. There may be some elements of our heritage that are different, but that does not mean we are not also fully-fledged participants in Danish culture.

Denmark is a democratic and liberal country (last time I checked at least).

In Denmark, we are allowed to belong to the culture of our choosing! I would prefer that we completely leave out the term ‘second-generation immigrant’, since it labels us as people who are not from Denmark, even though we were born here. I would prefer it to be called first-generation Danes, since ‘we’ are the first generation to have the best of both worlds. It is simply a new culture. It is better to focus on what we are now, and not what we used to be.

When I was growing up, I did not know that I was a second-generation immigrant. I only found out after I started watching TV and began following the news. It is often forgotten in the debate in Denmark that my generation is a part

When I was growing up, I did not know that I was a second-generation immigrant, I found out after I started watching TV of this society too. ‘We’ are part of Denmark. What pushes ‘us’ away, is the way other people talk about ‘us’. As if ‘we’ are some kind of outsiders who need to be integrated into an exclusive community.

Some will of course say: “Well you people make a lot of trouble, so that must mean you aren’t a part of our society?”

And it is on this point, we just have to make ourselves clear.

Let me paint an example for you: A young boy is having some problems in school and is getting into trouble in his community. He gets kicked out of several schools and has a criminal record.

The boy is a minor. If this boy is named Jesper and living in Nørrebro, then this

9

is a social problem. But if the boy’s name is Ahmed instead, then it’s not a social problem, but a cultural one, and the root of it will be that he and his family aren’t very well integrated.

If you constantly have to point your finger and tell ‘us’ that we need to be integrated, you immediately pressure ‘us’ with your expectations. For many of ‘us’, it will be the same as society saying: “You should be like this!” This only leads to ‘us’ rebelling and doing the exact opposite of what you say. It may also be the reason why, for someone living in Nørrebro, being ‘integrated’ is an insult.

Think about it this way: if I go out and steal a car, then I’m just another unintegrated immigrant. But if I go on to become a big-time tennis superstar, then suddenly I am a Dane. Dissagree?

Ever heard of Caroline Wozniacki? She is a ‘second-generation immigrant’, she belongs to my generation, and she is one of the best tennis players in the world.

She has never been mentioned as an immigrant before. The difference between the car thief and the tennis player? Success. Maybe that’s the secret to being Danish?

Kate and her feminist breasts

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The Lynch Report

BY STUART LYNCH 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.

HEN THE DUCHESS of Cambridge – née Kate Middleton – was photographed topless with the Hubble Telescope from a road in the south of France this past August, it prompted the Danish editor-in-chief of the intellectual, highclass media journal Se og Hør to state that Kate herself must accept some responsibility for “willingly revealing her breasts towards a public road”.

Perhaps he should have gone one step further. Perhaps he should have said that it is in fact her responsibility to show her breasts. I suggest this not from the point of view of sexual titillation, but from the consideration of the amount of money that we, the people, spend on our respective Danish and English royal families. Is it not reasonable to expect a naked parade every so often?

Please, I mean no disrespect. The naked display should not be some hardcore, full frontal three-way with a dwarf, dominatrix and a donkey – or a corgi in the case of the English queen – but more as a political protest and show of support for the quite excellent Ukrainian feminist group Femen, who use nakedness to pro-

test against sexual exploitation and patriarchal domination.

They believe that protesting naked allows for the reappropriation of their own bodies in opposition to pornography or the snatched paparazzi photographs of a male-dominated media. I think Kate could learn a thing or two here. I believe she should join Femen’s first International Training Camp in Paris.

Femen’s training is not only ideological but also physical. Not only would Kate learn to use her naked body to attract attention to the plight of women worldwide, but as Femen advocates running, boxing and weightlifting, she would be getting into shape for her forthcoming queenly duties, where the aforementioned skills would be invaluable – I have it on good authority that the queen can benchpress close to her own bodyweight!

Regardless of whether Kate joins Femen, or injects steroids to improve her bench-pressing skills, I am writing now to understand the furore around her breasts and indeed breasts in general. What is so special about the human female mammary glands? Why the obsession?

Are the breasts, as psychologists say,

Please! Breasts and arses can stand down fertility signalling devices, indicating that the female human is eternally sexually receptive, unlike for instance the female Gelada baboon whose breasts swell in accordance with her sexual availability?

Or should we subscribe to my personal favourite: the ‘genital echo theory’. This proposes that the pendulous nature of the breast developed when humans went from all fours to two, thus shifting attention from the rear to the front or, to put it more crassly, from doggy to missionary.

Whatever the reason, these two small bags of fat wield and have wielded great power. The American Society of Plastic Surgery performs an average of 340,000 breast augmentation procedures a year, making the operation the most commonly performed surgical procedure in America.

Huge businesses have been built, empires have fallen and family wills changed, all in the name of the breast.

As breasts do nothing for me, I’ve been discussing the whole phenomenon with as many as I can. I was particularly interested in whether my lesbian friends found breasts stimulating. I was pleasantly surprised, as it turns out I am a bit of a lesbian. Breasts do not rank highly, while my favourite body part does. To my delight the lower leg, or calf muscles, seemed to be quite popular. Yes, show me a pair of beautiful lower legs where the soleus muscle undulates and glides smoothly beneath a bulging, yet pert gastrocnemius and watch as it attaches ohso perfectly to a tight, yet supple achilles.

Please! Breasts and arses can stand down – give me a pair of oil-covered cruciate ligaments any time.

I am sorry to say, dearest Katie, that your naked photographs would do nothing for me. However, I do have three pieces of advice for you. First, join Femen and work on those calves. Second, call the media’s bluff. Make a naked DVD with our own princesses, Mary and Marie – all proceeds going to charity of course. And third, please do not spend the ridiculous amounts of public money you are about to fighting their publication.

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Kelly Draper

Frank Theakston

Stephanie Brickman

Tendai Tagarira

Clare MacCarthy

Christian Wenande

Justin Cremer

Vivienne McKee

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Bjarke Smith-meyer

10

NEWS

The Copenhagen Post cphpost.dk

2 - 8 November 2012

Ink on, ink off: the shady side of the tattoo removal industry Wikipedia DK is becoming meaningless Bjarke Smith-Meyer

With under 200,000 articles on offer, and fewer than 7,000 contributors, Denmark’s Wikipedia lags behind those written in similarly-sized languages

W

Andrea Skovgård (left) couldn’t stand her birdcage’s view anymore. She will soon visit a laser clinic, like Jannick Jeppesen’s (right), for a removal and salvation

Bjarke Smith-Meyer

before then, the skin was surgically removed or sanded down in a procedure called dermabrasion, but the success Experts call for tighter regulations rate always varied), and since then it has to protect consumers from clueless experienced a boom.

However, according to Jeppesen, amateurs and unsafe clinics who also owns a parlour in Aarhus, “business is slowing down”. While the ine black lines on white skin rewards are lucrative – the reputable immediately catch the eye as she parlours tend to charge their clients pulls down her sleeve to reveal 10,000 kroner per removal – the market place has become oversaturated. the empty birdcage on her arm.

“The industry is still growing,” “I don’t like where it is. The size is wrong and it’s too exposed. The design continued Jeppesen. “It’s just that the doesn’t suit me either.” The list goes on. recession has created an unhealthy form “It felt wrong from the start, and I con- of competition. Granted, laser removal stantly asked people what they thought is an expensive procedure, but these days you can buy of it, because I just wasn’t a cheap piece of convinced.” Andrea Skovgård equipment straight seems lost in her thoughts of out of China over regret as her stern eyes examine the internet and the tattoo. “Yeah, I dunno.” She start your own reslides her sleeve back over her These days you can business.” arm. “I just want get rid of it.” buy a cheap piece of moval J e p p e s e n’s Fortunately for Skovgård, there’s a way out. Unluckily for equipment straight views are shared by Tatto-Liz, a tattoo Skovgård, it’s an expensive way out. It’s mistakes and regrets out of China over the artist who used to own a laser removal such as these that have allowed internet, and start clinic. “There are the tattoo removal business to two types of clinic develop into a growing industry your own removal now,” explained over the past ten years around business Tatto-Liz, who the world.

As tattoos have become an accepted today works at a private hospital in accessory of society, their popularity as Glostrup, where she provides cosmetic a fashion statement has grown substan- tattooing services to cancer victims. tially. So much so that 13 percent of the “There are the ones who take it seripopulation admit to having ink on their ously, and those who do it for quick body. That’s over 700,000 people: dou- profit. Right now there is no form of ble the population of Aarhus. And with regulation in place. I’ve been trained more tattoos comes a greater demand and certified to carry out these types of for their removal. But where there’s removals. But there’s nothing stopping growth in industry, there’s also competi- you from buying a cheap laser and settion. And while generally speaking that ting up shop. Absolutely nothing. And that has to change.” might be healthy, there is a flipside.

It’s not like these problems aren’t well documented. Recently, politicians High demand … and saturation called for tighter regulation in the tat“Ex-girlfriends’ names, ex- too industry after DR’s consumer affair boyfriends’ names, tribal tattoos, Asian programme ‘Kontant’ exposed the dancharacters that have different mean- gers of amateur work. But as long as the ings to what was thought ... ” Jannick prices of laser surgery remain sky-high, Jeppesen, the owner of the Spectra re- it would appear that many are prepared moval clinic in central Copenhagen, has to take the risk. seen plenty of customers pass through his doors since opening in 2006. The in- Worth the expense? troduction of the ‘Q-Switched Laser’ in the 1990s brought credibility to the tat- Ashley Annis, though, is not going too removal industry (lasers have been to make the same mistake twice after an used for removing tattoos since 1958; amateur tattooist made a complete mess

F

of the work on her foot. “I really wanted indirect supervision of a doctor – in this tattoo. And one day I met this Dan- other words, a doctor who they can ish guy who said he could design and contact should anything go wrong. tattoo it for me without it getting too Tatto-Liz feels some form of medical expensive. But it looked terrible,” she knowledge is just as important as the right kind of training. remembered.

Jeppesen doesn’t agree. “Me? A “I hated it right away. I just hated it. It looked like a third grader trying to medical education? No,” he said. “I’m write. And sadly it’s not exactly some- no doctor, but I take my practice very seriously. I’ve done the training and thing you can get away from.” worked hard on branding For the time being, a professional business.”

Annis, who is underBut he does agree standably wary of seeking that some clinics need cheap laser treatment, is to raise their standards. stuck with it because she cannot afford to go to a So if you find a laser “There are many who don’t take this industry clinic. “It’s too expensive.

I had five sessions done clinic that offers low as seriously as I do,” he said. “I’ve been doing with the laser in Canada, rates, alarm bells this since 2006 and know but the prices in Copenexactly what I’m doing. hagen are more than dou- should be ringing But there are plenty of ble.” straight away people who know nothAn average sized tattoo (8x8cm) will cost you between ing about lasers. And legally speaking, 9,000 to 12,000 kroner to remove. they don’t need to either. Something has “The cost is a reflection of the quality to change. And it’s not just a problem of the equipment,” Jeppesen explained. in this business; the same goes for tat“So if you find a laser clinic that offers toos. I mean, you can tattoo someone’s low rates, alarm bells should be ringing eyeballs, for Christ’s sake, and no-one will be running up to you to tell you straightaway.”

The risks associated with low laser differently.”

Thus far, the dangers of an unregurates are serious. Not only is there a real risk of infection from poorly maintained lated tattoo removal industry are largely equipment, but the resulting scarring unknown to society. While the risk of and skin damage can be irreversible and using an amateur is obvious, many are lead to medical bills far greater than a unaware of those associated with using a clinic. professional removal.

Meanwhile, Ashley Annis can’t afford to get rid of her faded markings, The lesser of two removers? and Andrea Skovgård is currently lookAnd there are some who argue that ing for a laser clinic to remove the many of the ‘reputable’ clinics need birdcage from her forearm. Both face greater regulation, as well. Tatto-Liz, difficult decisions that won’t become who is a registered nurse, questions the any easier until the government takes current rules that stipulate that a clinic decisive action to regulate the tattoo recan operate a laser providing it has the moval industry.

Ashley Annis’s tattoo: now you see it and now you can still see it

ikipedia may be a worldwide sensation, but its Danish counterpart is lagging behind other Scandinavian versions of the user-maintained encyclopaedia. In fact, most northern Europe countries have been able to develop national versions that have comparatively more content than the Danish version.

Currently, there are only 6,500 registered Danish Wikipedians – the name for those who help maintain Wikipedia content – which is half as many as there are in Norway and Finland, which both have smaller populations than Denmark. In the Netherlands, which has three times as many people as Denmark, there are four times as many Wikipedians administrating the Dutch version.

In addition, the number of Danish articles that have been published on it are at a regional low, with no more than 170,000 pages up and running, whereas the Swedes, who outnumber the Danes two to one, have 500,000, and the Dutch have well over a million pages on offer.

Ole Andersen, Wikipedia’s spokesperson in Denmark, said the relative lack of Danish content could be chalked up to the fact that many Danes over-estimate their ability in English, and this may influence their choice of Wikipedia version. The English version of Wikipedia is far more popular amongst Danes than it is with its Scandinavian neighbours.

The Danish preference for the English site means that the quality of Danish entries tends to lag. Without regular traffic, aspects such as fact checking are neglected.

“We try to look through the uploaded articles in order to determine what’s right and what’s not, but obviously that process would be a lot quicker with web traffic helping you out,” said Andersen.

One solution could be to allow Danish users to directly edit content on the site, but any useability changes need to be made by the Wikipedia Foundation, the US-based non-profit organisation that operates all versions of Wikipedia, and that would take a lot of time.

Nevertheless, Andersen knows where to begin.

“What we first need to do is to find articles that need editing the most – such as those relating to contemporary personalities – and install them with an ‘edit’ option,” Andersen said.

The Danish Wikipedia only has 37 administrators and 24 ‘patrollers’ to keep an eye on the site. If they find anything they deem to be inappropriate, they can directly block users by locating their IP addresses, and blacklisting them from the site.

LIFESTYLE: WINTER FOOD THE COPENHAGEN POST CPHPOST.DK

2 - 8 November 2012

A plan for all seasons

BY DITTEMARIA SØNDERGAARD

A self-confessed “food passionist and organic geek since forever”, Dittemaria Søndergaard is the assistant manager at BioMio, Copenhagen’s best known and biggest organic eatery. Founded in 2009 , and located on the always interesting Halmtorvet just outside the vibrant Kødbyen, its finger is on the pulse of what Copenhageners want on their plates: seasonal fare straight from the source with nothing in between.

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

You’re best off hibernating!

H

ERE’S A plan for December, January and February, and it’s a simple one. Make a big pot of rich and thick hot chocolate. Not that powdered rubbish.

Make it with a good quality chocolate and eat a piece while you’re at it. Tuck yourself into a big fluffy wool blanket. Place yourself comfortably on the couch and stay there for three months.

For non-bovines …

BUT, IN CASE you’re not a bear and able to hide away for 90 odd days, you need to have a back-up plan. And even if you have the option to stay tucked up on your couch, I highly question how healthy it would be for you. Regardless of the circumstances, let’s look at alternative ways to make it through the winter.

PHOTOGRAPH PETER STANNERS

Winter veggies SINCE your health and well-being influences your body and mind, let’s make this a column about how to take care of that, starting with how to nourish your body with a vitamin, mineral and fibre-packed diet.

All three months offer kale, carrots, Jerusalem artichokes, chicory, celeriac, onions, potatoes, parsnips, Hamburg parsley, Brussels sprouts, leeks, beetroots and apples.

Furthermore, December is good for pumpkins, scorzonera, kohlrabi, garlic and, of course, red cabbage, which we use in our traditional Danish Christmas meals − mostly served pickled. In February, you’ll get the first taste of spring courtesy of the Lamb’s lettuce.

Go raw INSTEAD of always eating your red cabbage pickled, try to make a salad with raw red cabbage instead. It’s

fresher and crisper. At BioMio we’re serving our Crispy red cabbage with hazelnuts and pieces of oranges tossed in tahini/raspberry vinaigrette. The thought of this salad is even enough to cheer me up over the arrival of winter. Any readers who have been following these columns will know that takes a lot.

Go raw with your Brussels sprouts as well, particularly with apples or oranges and almonds. Now I don’t know how you feel about these little bastards, but my feelings towards them have always been a bit strained. I remember how they were always served boiled – and have often wondered since if the smell of mushy boiled Brussels sprouts are solely responsible for traumatising an entire generation into never trying them (and other green vegetables) again. It wasn’t until I saw a recipe a few years ago, where they used them raw, that I softened up and started eating them.

Pamper yourself THE COLD Danish winter almost screams for nourishing, rich and filling winter soups.

And even though the selection of those three months is small, you can make some gorgeous soups, pies, raw salads and juices (kale, carrots, beetroot and apples are all very suitable for the juicer − and remember to use the pulp either for a pie, salad or fruit stew). Or just bake some root veggies in the oven.

My favourite winter day is when it’s really cold, not much wind, some snow on the ground and the sun is shining brightly. It’s SO wonderful. It’s a true win-19 • The Bosch building • DK-1700 Copenhagen V Halmtorvet

Caroline Cain

Naturopathic Nutritionist & Reflexologist

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

Tlf: +45 33 31 20 00 • hej@biomio.dk • www.biomio.dk

11

ter treat for your body and mind. I really encourage you to get outside on these days. By encouraging you guys to do so, I commit myself to do the same. It really makes a difference.

Food

Stick to the golden rule NOW I’M very well aware of the fact that the winter is not always snowy, windless and sunny. After all, I do have 31 years of experience. And the days when it’s rainy, grey, stormy, on the edge of being depressive, THAT’S when you curl up on your couch with the fluffy blanket and the hot chocolate, favourite tea or coffee, or perhaps a glass of the classic Christmas gløgg.

Stick to the golden 80/20 rule. Eighty percent of the time, go for the nourishing seasonal veggies, go out when the sun is shining and remember to exercise. And 20 percent of the time, make like the bears and hibernate.

Good luck I HOPE you all got some ideas to make it through the winter and make the most of what these three months have to offer. I’ll see you in the next column: the spring edition.

Sport Next week

Garden Health

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

BioMio is Denmark´s largest 100% organic restaurant.

Flavoured with love, passion & purpose

GET YOUR OWN PERSONAL SPORTSGUIDE – FOR FREE! www.medarbejdermotion.dgi.dk/SportsGuides

Get your own personal guide to the local sports clubs and maybe the beginning of a Danish network Mail: CONTACT: morten.graff@dgi.dk

12

COMMUNITY

THE COPENHAGEN POST CPHPOST.DK

2 - 8 November 2012

ABOUT TOWN PHOTOS BY HASSE FERROLD UNLESS OTHERWISE STATED

Anne Hedensted Steffensen, the Danish ambassador to the UK since September 2011, was the special guest speaker at the BCCD’s October lunch. Steffensen spoke about her experience of the Danish RU presidency, and after her address was pictured with her opposite number, British ambassador Vivien Life – a rare photo call indeed! Photo: Hugh Mayo

The Bond girls and baddies were out in force for the premiere of Skyfall last week.

Prince Joachim upstaged his wife, Princess Marie, and British ambassador Vivien Life with a Dr No-inspired costume

Lily Li-Wen Hsu, in the orange dress, is the new representativeat the Taiwan Representative Office, which marked the celebration of its 101st national day at the Scandinavia Hotel Copenhagen with food and a puppetry performance. Ni hao!

The new ambassador of the Philippines, who is actually based in Norway, is Bayani S Mercado. Kumusta kayo!

Austrian ambassador Daniel Krumholz and his wife last week on Friday held a reception at their residence to celebrate their country’s national day with fine food and wine

The Christmas Seal has been unveiled for 2012. Pictured at the big reveal were Princess Mary, the patron of Julemærkefonden, and the artist Carl Bergquist-Moller

AT WORK AND AT PLAY

Isabelle Valentine’s husband works at a video game company and gets to play at work. She also wanted to play for a living so she started the Montessori International Preschool. She moved to Frederiksberg in May 2008 where she lives with her young family.

I

There was a great turnout from the diplomatic corre at the performance of ‘Swan Lake Revisited’ at Det Kongelige Teater, an initiative of India Today - Copenhagen Tomorrow, a cross-nation cultural project, which in co-operation with the Indian Council for Cultural Relations invited an Indian-France group, Rhythmosaic Dance Company, to perform. Pictured here (left-right) are Armenian ambassador Hrachya Aghajanyan, US ambassador Laurie S Fulton, Argentine ambassador Raúl Alberto Ricardes, Indian ambassador Ashok Kumar Attri, and Danish church minister Manu Sareen

The South Korean ambassador Geun-hyeong Yim and his wife hosted a celebration to mark their country’s National Foundation Day with food and tents in the garden at their residence. Pictured here (left-right) are Slovenian ambassador Bogdan Benko, Bulgarian ambassador Valentin DePcher Poriazov, Chinese ambassador Li Ruiyu, Yim, former prime minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen, Lithuanian ambassador Vytautas Pinkus , Swedish ambassador Inga Eriksson Fogh, and Bosnia-Herzegovina ambassador Kemal Muftic

n general, nepotism has a level of trust. They have very bad reputation, and espe- large networks and they are cially in certain countries happy to share connections where it is common practice with people who would benand where it is often associ- efit from the introductions. ated with corruption and un- From my own experience, I feel that people in general deserved favouritism.

However, in Denmark, trust others, until they are I have noticed that at many proven otherwise.

Being half-French, I companies the hiring relatives know that this of employees is is not the case not uncommon, in France, for and it seems to example, where work quite well.

This explains why people will not I know of a few trust you until places where em- nepotism works you can prove ployees’ parents yourself absoare working in here, as people lutely trustworthe accounting know that if one thy. French peodepartment for example, or their refers their sister for ple do not open their networks siblings have a job, it’s because easily, and you been hired. It would have to does not seem to they have the the godfather create problems proper experience be of the favourand it certainly ite nephew of does not have and skills for it. the CEO of the the same effect as when a politician hires their company in order to have any son or daughter to be in a po- chance of being referred for sition of influence, without any favour or job.

Whereas in Denmark, any experience or merit.

I believe that this can be people will introduce each explained by the fact that peo- other to their networks, trustple in Denmark have a high ing that everyone will make

good use of the new people they meet and that only positive connections will be made.

I have certainly had this experience while I was starting my preschool. I got introduced to a lot of people who were either willing to help out or give advice, or who were very happy to refer me to someone else in their network who might be able to help.

For me, this explains why nepotism works here, as people know that if one refers their sister for a job, it’s because they have the proper experience and skills for it.

And this trust is extended to friends and spouses as well.

And that is why networking is so important, as it is in all countries, but here the advantage is that it works quicker and goes further, even if you are a newcomer.

So work on your networking skills and get to know more Danes: they are actually pretty open people!

13 Release your inner entrepreneur – this country needs you!

COMMUNITY

THE COPENHAGEN POST CPHPOST.DK

2 - 8 November 2012

BJARKE SMITH-MEYER An event being organised by Entrepreneurship in Denmark, for both internationals and expats, hopes to uncover the business owners of the future

T

IMES ARE tough. Employment numbers are down and poverty has increased as more welfare benefits have been cut. On top of that, councils have also indicated that more layoffs should be expected in 2013. But while it’s hard enough for natives to find work in this country, it’s even more challenging for expats.

That’s why there’s a drive to encourage unemployed Danes and internationals alike to stop applying to businesses and start their own. And that’s exactly what the ‘Entrepreneurship in Denmark Award 2012’ is about.

On November 13, Entrepreneurship in Denmark is opening the doors of the Axelborg convention centre in the city centre to host an event for everyone and anyone who wants to start a business.

“You don’t have to be Danish to be a success,” said Karsten Buddom-Olesen, who’s closely involved in setting up the event.

“We especially want to attract international people to this event so that they can use their international links to help jumpstart the Danish economy.”

Other than workshops, speeches and lectures that are set to occur throughout the day, participants will also witness the crowning of the ‘Best International Entrepreneur of the Year’ among a selected group of new businessmen and-women all fighting for the title.

Currently, there are ten nominees for the award, which will soon be narrowed down to a top five. One of the hopeful businesswomen in the running is an Australian named Lauren Bowey, who founded her company, called ‘The Green Suitcase’, around the notion of recycling and sustainability.

“When I first came to Denmark, all I heard from other expats was how difficult it is to find work,” Bowey said. “So I told myself that the best way to tackle being unemployed in a new country is to hire myself.”

Bowey decided to take Australia’s latest obsession with sustainable products and sell the idea on to Danes, whom already see vintage objects as must-haves in their lives.

“Retro has been ‘hot’ down under for a while now. And with

COMING UP SOON Harry Burton discusses Harold Pinter

Simon Kimbangu

Harry Burton, an actor and director who was a close acquaintance of the late, esteemed playwright Harold Pinter, will be visiting Krudttønden theatre for a special event (with a buffet dinner no less) to talk about his friend and colleague and answer any questions afterwards. The event is being put on by the British Chamber of Commerce in co-operation with That Theatre Company & Why Not Theatre Company, whose joint production of Pinter’s Old Times will follow the talk and is included in the price of the evening.

This presentation will analyse the life and achievements of Simon Kimbangu, a key influence on the Congolese national identity building process.

Krudttønden, Serridslevvej 2, Cph Ø; Wed Nov 7, 18:15-20:00; register at www. bccd.dk, event@bccd.dk, or 3118 7558

Centre of African Studies, University of Copenhagen, Købmagergade 46, 4th, Cph K; Aud. 12; Thu Nov 8, 15:1517:00; www.teol.ku.dk

Irish Comedy Night

Southern Kitchen, Östra Förstadsgatan 24, Malmö; Sat Nov 3, 20:00; prices: 70kr, student 40kr; 040 939 759 to book a table, www.meetup.com/LundSocial-Group

An Irish comedy night for the second time in the space of a week. The identities of the four Irish comedians is a secret.

A Christmas Carol

Laser Gaming

Christmas will come early at this event where you can taste hot coffee and delicious cookies for free and listen to the warm sound of the familiar words of Charles Dickens’s famous tale ‘A Christmas Carol’.

Meet fellow internationals … in the dark … at this laser gaming event.

Østerbro Library, Dag Hammarskjöld Avenue 19, Cph Ø; Wed Nov 7, 17:30; www.meetup.com

Fun with Refugee Kids

Sankt Nikolai Restaurant & English Pub, Nikolajgade 18, Cph K; Sun Nov 4, 13:00-15:00, www.meetup.com/Copenhagen-Social-Catalysts

Refugee kids need your enthusiasm, energy and joy to help them enjoy November and December.

Join this group and help plan lots of fun activities and educational events.

Reflections on European Liberalism

European Research University of Copenhagen, Annex B, Bispetorvet 1-3, Cph K; Tue Nov 6, 15:15-17:00

A lecture in English about the history of European liberalism between 1945 and 1970.

Laserdome, Drottninggatan 1, Malmö; Thu Nov 8, 19:30; 120sk; www.meetup.com/malmo-internationals

The Chinese Opportunity

Dansk Erhverv, Danish Chamber of Commerce, Børsen, Slotsholmsgade 1, Cph K; Tue Nov 6, 12:30–16:30; register by email via jrp@danskerhverv.dk; www.bccd.dk

The British Embassy, in partnership with the international law firm Eversheds, is staging a seminar for those interested in retail business chances in China.

The topics include the country’s economic situation and Chinese worker regulations.

Little Actors

Grunnet Casting & Speak, Rothesgade 6. st., Cph Ø; 4010 4900, siev@nypost.dk www.grunnetcasting.com

Grunnet Casting is searching for English-speaking girls and boys, aged nine to 12, to perform voiceovers for Danish companies.

reusable things being constantly thrown out everywhere in the world, I thought this is something I can also do in Denmark,” Bowey explained.

But Bowey hasn’t forgotten her roots. Before she set up shop in Scandinavia, she spent three months in her home country networking with designers and other businesses, which she could then use when she move back to the northern hemisphere.

Bowey’s business strategy is a prime example of the type of expat initiative that this event is trying to promote. Soulaima Gourani, a lecturer, business advisor and author who will play host to the event’s opening ceremony, says that it’s young entrepreneurs like Bowey that can help kick-start a frail economy.

“Award ceremonies like this are vital to encourage new innovative businesses in Denmark,” Gourani said. “The system in place is old-fashioned and outdated. We need more creativity.

We need the industry to be more sexy. And we need new young faces to help drive us out of this recession.”

Aside from the celebration of business-minded individuals, Gourani also points out that the event is especially unique because it offers potential inter-

Taxes Havens

Danish Institute for International Studies, Main Auditorium, Strandgade 71, Cph K; Mon Nov 5, 14:00-16:00

Become a business star of the future at the EID event

national upstarts free advice on how to succeed in the Danish market.

“Being an entrepreneur in this country is difficult,” Gourani said with a sigh. “High taxes make it hard to employ a workforce. So it’s important that people get advice on how to succeed here, and you can get ample of it at this event.”

Buddom-Olesen agrees and says that the workshops on offer will be especially there to match previous challenges that international businesses have gone through but that have not been well-documented.

“We have a great opportuni-

ty to show people how the wonders of the internet can make anything possible. Especially if you have an international background,” he said. “The internet allows global networks to thrive in a way that wasn’t fathomable 15-20 years ago, and that’s where being an expat is a real advantage.”

Business has changed. As Gourani points out, starting a company used to be solely about making a profit and nothing else. Now, on the other hand, more industries are being set up with the intention of making a difference in people’s lives and the environment around us.

“Yes, money is important, but scale is vital,” Gourani stressed. “And we’re increasingly seeing ‘feel-good’ businesses jumping up all over the place that are just as much about personal ambition as they are about making a living. We want to help guide that ambition to success. All you have to do as an entrepreneur is to turn up to the event.”

Living in a recession is not easy. Starting a business in a recession is even harder. However, with expert advice on how to succeed, it might not be the worst time to start a business but, in fact, the best time.

MOVEMBER UPDATE Kevin

Peter

Dima

Ray

This lecture will explain the role and function of tax havens in the global financial system as one of the most powerful instruments of globalisation.

Building expats job opportunities

Symbion Fruebjergvej 3, Cph Ø; register

by Nov 20 via 2855 5688, novum@ novum-net.dk, forlob@novum-net.dk; www.novum-net.dk

Novum’s clarification programme will help you understand how it bridges the gap between companies that want to expand into the global market and the highly educated newcomers residing in Denmark, and the untapped resources that they can offer. Apply by sending your CV no later than 20 November, with ‘forlob’ and your city of choice in the subject line.

Copenhagen Cultural Dinner

Østerbro Biblioteket, Dag Hammarskjölds Allé 19, Cph Ø; Fri Nov 9, 17:30-20:00; 3538 1648, register via rsmith@kff.kk.dk; www.bibliotek.kk.dk

Cook your favourite national dish and join this event. You will meet people from all over the world and taste their countries’ food during the dinner.

US Election Night Event

Cafe Globen, Turesensgade 2B, Cph K; Tue Nov 6, 21:00; free adm; www. meetup.com/americans-in-cph

Cafe Globen offers you the chance to enjoy election night on its big screen. Free hotdogs and chips, and the lowest priced microbeer in town, for both the losers and winners.

MARIA ANTONIETTA RICCI

T

he dawn of men’s health issue charity ‘Movember’ is upon us, and the war cry of moustache growers has sounded through the offices of The Copenhagen Post. Four have answered the call as Denmark prepares to embark on a crusade of facial hair, all in the name of

saving lives. These brave souls are known amongst us as Chief Kevin the Editor, Mighty Peter the Writer, Christian the Half Dane and last but not least, Ray the American.

These men of beards fell upon their shaving razors on Wednesday night: they are clean-

shaven and fit for service. Their ultimate goal is to bring the message of prostate cancer to the unknowing, while raising many a gold coin. Help these o’brave men of the paper by saluting their cause on dk.movember. com and searching for The Copenhagen Post.

14

sport

The Copenhagen Post cphpost.dk

2 - 8 November 2012

Bjarke Smith-Myer Prominent journalist argues that Morten Olsen needs to leave imminently and that the Danish FA should search abroad for a replacement

G

etting the sack as a football coach in the modern game seems to be inevitable unless you win, well, everything. That’s what makes Morten Olsen’s 12year tenure at the Danish helm all the more impressive.

Olsen’s national coaching career started strongly as he led Denmark to the last 16 of the 2002 World Cup and the quarter-finals of Euro 2004. However, he then failed to qualify for any international tournaments until the 2010 World Cup, in which Denmark disappointed in the group stage, as they did in Euro 2012.

Yet, Olsen is still in charge despite announcing in 2010 that he would step down in 2012.

Only he didn’t, and with Denmark’s qualification for the 2014

World Cup in Brazil looking increasingly precarious, Danes are starting to call for his head.

One of them is Jan Jensen, who for over two decades has been the main sports correspondent for Ekstra Bladet. He thinks that even Denmark’s international players are starting to lose faith in Olsen.

“The team who drew with Bulgaria a couple of weeks ago was completely unrecognisable,” contended Jensen. “I’ve never seen such an unmotivated group of players in all of the 12 years Olsen’s been in charge. He just needs to leave.”

But the search for Olsen’s successor isn’t a particularly easy one. International tournaments no longer carry the same prestige they used to. Jose Mourihno (arguably the most sought-after coach in football), for example, stated in 2010 that the Champions League “is more important” than the World Cup. It’s a point that Jensen concedes, but he argues that it makes international tournaments all the more important to Denmark.

“The Champions League?

MICHAEL LAUDRUP Age: 48 Odds: 2/1 Employer: Swansea City CV Highlights: As a player, Laudrup won league titles in Spain (five straight: four with Barcelona, one with Real Madrid), Italy and the Netherlands. As a coach, he has worked in the top two leagues in the world – the English Premier League and Spanish La Liga – and also a major club: Russia’s Spartak Moscow. Additionally, he was Morten Olsen’s assistant for the 2002 World Cup campaign. His managerial highlight came in 2007, when Getafe reached the final of the Copa del Rey and quarterfinals of the Europa League.

For and Against: Laudrup, the fans’ favourite, is the most obvious choice. If he proves to be a success at Swansea this season, it’s difficult to see how he won’t be offered the job should Olsen step down next October, no matter how reluctant he is about taking it.

colourbox

Denmark expects, but would any domestic coach do their duty?

Take it easy boys, it is only over when the fat lady sings

That’s for dreamers,” he said.

“We’ll never have a domestic team good enough to win that.

But as far as the World Cup or Euros go, we have a fighting chance. We did it in ’92, and we can do it again. But only with someone else in charge.”

Jensen has a long list of qualifications that he would like to see the successful candidate have, but is he being too ambitious? They’re qualities few inter-

FRANK ARNESEN Age: 56 Odds: 5/1 Employer: Hamburg SV CV Highlight: Just like Mourinho, Arnesen learnt his trade working for Bobby Robson as his assistant coach at PSV from 1991-94 before becoming the club’s director of football. It was a job he filled until 2004, when he left to take up the position at Tottenham and then Chelsea (2005-2010) before becoming the director of football at Hamburg in 2010. He’s been credited with discovering talents like Brazilian striker Ronaldo, and Dutch players Japp Stam, Ruud van Nistelrooy and Arjen Robben.

For and Against: Although Arnesen has only ever held caretaker coaching roles, it is his record in youth development that will interest his prospective employers. Given the current crop of talent ripe to make a strong challenge at the 2018 World Cup, Arnesen could be the man to get the most out of the young stars.

national coaches would possess, particularly as in recent times, international jobs have mainly been given to ageing coaches close to retirement, or retired footballers keen to kick-start a managerial career.

The likes of Marco Van Basten, Jorgen Klinsmann and Slaven Bilic, for instance, had little coaching experience when they were first hired to run their respective national teams.

MARCO VAN BASTEN Age: 48 Odds: 80/1 Employer: None CV Highlight: Managed the Netherlands from 2004-08 with a win rate of 67 percent. Out of 52 games, he won 35 and only lost six.

However, at both tournaments, his sides fell at the first hurdle in the knockout stage. Euro 2008 was most disappointing as the Dutch had thrashed the 2006 World Cup winners and runners-up, Italy and France, 3-0 and 4-1 in the group.

For and Against: There isn’t very much that can be said against Van Basten’s candidacy. He proved during his four-year stint managing the Netherlands that he has what it takes to succeed on the world stage. Though he walked away from the Dutch job in 2008, it was reported that the Dutch FA wanted to extend his contract by another two years. His status in footballing history would ensure instant respect.

Whereas ageing managers, who are keen to retire in style perhaps, include Roy Hodgson, Marcello Lippi and … well …

Morten Olsen.

“The Danish squad is still one of the top 20 football teams in the world,” Jensen said full of pride. “So the job still holds prestige and should attract talented managers with something on their CV.” Prestigious or not, Jensen feels that the most important criteria the country’s next manager should possess is a foreign passport.

“Forget Danish coaches,” Jensen said dismissingly. “We need to look outside our borders for new talent. Bringing in someone who’s been educated within Danish football won’t bring us any success.”

A bold statement perhaps, and one that completely goes against the current betting. According to Bet 365, the top ten candidates are all Danish bar two (Wolves manager Ståle Solbakken, a 9/1 chance, and Swedish national coach Erik Hamren, 14/1), while the favourite is none other than Michael La-

STÅLE SOLBAKKEN Age: 44 Odds: 11/1 Employer: Wolverhampton Wanderers CV Highlight: Had plenty of success coaching FC Copenhagen, winning the Superliga five times before moving to the German Bundesliga in 2011 to coach 1. FC Köln. However he failed to make much of an impact there and was sacked halfway through his first season. He later quipped that “Jesus and José Mourinho would have struggled together at that club.”

For and Against: Solbakken knows Danish football inside and out, and no matter where you are, winning a league five times is impressive.

Although as Ekstra Bladet’s Jensen points out, he might not be the kind of manager Denmark needs at the moment. However, if Solbakken manages to take Wolves up to the Premier League, then surely he will have done enough to be considered seriously.

udrup (2/1).

“Laudrup?” Jensen shook his head. “I doubt it. I’ve spoken to him about it, and he’s so vague and reluctant about the position, I can’t imagine him going for it just yet. The media attention would just be too much for him.”

But are Jensen’s wishes any more likely? Denmark may be 18th in the FIFA world rankings, but that won’t necessarily attract any world-class coaches.

International football may still hold weight in this country, but its image amongst the elite leagues in Europe is perceived more as an unnecessary distraction than a point of national pride. Until that attitude changes, the Danish FA are better off hiring a young hungry manager who has something to prove, a Henrik Larsson maybe, than they are trying to attract a football heavyweight like Pep Guardiola.

Reaching for the stars is fine, but it’s more important that Denmark remains realistic and keeps its feet firmly planted on the ground. Even if that means hiring another Dane.

The Dark Horses Steve McClaren (60/1): England’s ex-coach, aka ‘wolly with a brolly’, failed to take England to Euro 2008, but has since won the Dutch Eredivisie title with FC Twente.

Peter Schmeichel (70/1): Not only is he the most capped Danish international ever, he is arguably the best goalkeeper of all time. No managerial experience though.

Sven Goran Eriksson (80/1): Another ex-England coach, but a proven qualifier. He took England to three consecutive quarter-finals.

Currently unemployed after being sacked by Leicester City.

José Mourinho (300/1): ‘The Special One’ would rather win the Champions League than the World Cup. But who in Denmark would hold that against him?

Rank Outsider: The Copenhagen Post tipster Ben Hamilton reckons former Finland and FC Copenhagen coach Roy Hodgson could be a good bet, should he lose the England job in October 2013.

Sports news and briefs Bendtner brings it

World class … kabaddi

FCK astray away

First ride for Kev

Eriksen on shortlist

Saxo status doubts

Juve striker Nicklas Bendtner marked his first Serie A start on Sunday with an assist in a 1-0 away win at Calcio Catania. His low effort in the 57th minute was parried into the path of Arturo Vidal, who duly scored. “I’m happy with my display,” Bendtner told Tuttosport.

“I missed a decent chance but Vidal scored. Usually I don’t miss easy opportunities.”

Ahead of Denmark competing in its first ever Kabaddi World Cup (December 1-15), the head of the South Asian sport’s Danish governing body, Allan Bo Jakobsen, is confident Denmark can host a future World Cup, providing the main sports bodies help develop and promote the sport. The World Cup will be the sport’s third – India won in 2010 and 11. Italy, Norway and Scotland are also sending teams.

FC Copenhagen lost their first game of the season on Monday, losing 0-1 away at AC Horsens. The result was Horsens’ first home win of the season and sees them climb to seventh in the Superliga table, ten points below FCK, who lead AaB by three points thanks to eight wins from 14 games. There are six more rounds of the Superliga to be played ahead of the start of the winter break on December 10.

Kevin Magnussen, 20, the son of former Formula One driver Jan Magnussen, continues to make progress at McLarenMercedes, where he’s part of the Young Driver Programme. The F1 team on Friday confirmed that Magnussen would be one of their three drivers in the ‘Young Driver Test’ in Abu Dhabi from November 6-8 – the Dane’s first ever chance to drive a contemporary F1 car.

Christian Eriksen is in contention to win the Premio Golden Boy Award, an annual prize handed out to the continent’s best under-21 player by Italian newspaper Tuttosport. He is one of 39 nominees and will face stiff competition from Alex OxladeChamberlain (Arsenal) and last year’s winner, Mario Götze (Borussia Dortmund). Founded in 2003, its previous winners include Lionel Messi and Wayne Rooney.

Danish cycling team Team Saxo-Tinkoff is in danger of not retaining its UCI ProTeam status for next season. An International Cycling Union assessment of the prospective teams’ sporting values ranked it 20th. Only the top 15 are guaranteed one of the 18 places, so the team will now face another assessment. A final decision is expected from the UCI Licence Commission on December 10.

Business

The Copenhagen Post cphpost.dk

2 - 8 November 2012

Peter Stanners Staff levels at Danske Bank will be significantly reduced as the bank opts for fewer branches and more online services in order to boost profits

D

anske Bank will fire 3,000 employees by 2015 according to a new cost-cutting strategy unveiled on tuesday.

The announcement increases the number of expected job losses by 1,000 from the bank’s previous statements as the bank closes more branches and relies more on automated and online services.

The bank explained that the move was in response to a changing market in which customers were increasingly choosing to conduct their business online.

The bank justifies the move as necessary to bring down costs and become more competitive “If we want to become a

good and effective bank, we cannot maintain the old structures that the customers aren’t using,” Eivind Kolding, Danske Bank’s chair, told Finanswatch. “We have a duty to adjust the structure, and customers have already chosen the online channels.”

The bank’s New Standards strategy hopes to get more of its customers to consolidate their business with Danske Bank instead of buying different services from different banks.

“Not all customers take advantage of our full product portfolio, but we have plenty of services that could be of interest to them, and we can make it advantageous if they use them.

Customers who want to do more business with us will be given special advantages. It will be a fair solution for all, but it will also be fair for the bank. The income and costs have to add up.”

Danske Bank’s move online means that customers will only be able to receive personal consultation “when it is needed”.

The bank justifies the move as necessary to bring down costs and become more competitive.

But customers will also be able to do more from home and, according to Kolding, the application process for 90 percent of the loans it offers will be possible entirely online.

“While major changes are not always welcome at first, we

Thomas Lekfeldt/ scanpix danmark

Danske Bank cutting another 1,000 jobs

Despite positive third-quarter results the airline needs to cut an additional five billion kroner

S

AS released its third quarter results ten days early on Tuesday after intense media speculation led to the Nasdaq stock exchange suspending the trading of the airline’s shares.

Trading resumed after SAS’s announcement, which confirmed rumours that the troubled airline would be embarking on a new round of spending cuts.

In a press release, the company said it hoped to cut an additional 2.6 billion kroner and also raise another 2.6 billion kroner by selling off non-core assets.

While the savings plan has yet to be finalised, reports last week suggested that SAS had demanded many employees would

be asked to reapply for their jobs and take pay cuts of up to 25 percent, while others have been offered voluntary redundancies.

“I think SAS has incredibly sharp leadership at the moment,” SAS expert Richard Björnelid told Berlingske newspaper last week. “There is talk of a 25 percent pay cut. That is the information I have received from a centrally-placed source. I suspect SAS’s leadership will simply say: ‘This is what matters: take it or leave it.’”

One of the main financial challenges SAS faces is changes to the way that pensions are accounted, which means it faces a multi-billion kroner bill in 2013.

The new round of savings comes a year after the airline implemented another savings plan called 4Excellence. But while the new round suggests 4Excellence did not cut deep enough, SAS argues it has benefited from it.

“In a very difficult and com-

Productivity a national problem

D

Danske Bank chairman Eivind Kolding said it was the bank’s duty to adjust its structure

remain fully committed to attaining a high level of customer satisfaction,” the bank stated in the press release.

The bank also announced that it would be keeping its pension and investment arms, Danica and Danske Capital respectively, and that it would sell off its poorly performing Irish portfolio when market conditions permit.

Danske Bank also plans on raising 7 billion kroner by issu-

SAS forced to announce new savings plan Peter Stanners

15

petitive industry environment, the positive development in Q3 is proof that the implementation of the 4Excellence strategy has proceeded according to plan,” SAS stated in the press release, adding it would provide further updates as the developments occur.

SAS managed to increase passenger revenues by nine percent and reduce the cost per passenger per journey by six percent after implementing 4Excellence.

The company also announced third quarter pre-tax profits of 491 million kroner.

According to the Ritzau news bureau, it was rumours that negotiations had failed between SAS and the company’s creditors that led to Nasdaq suspending trading of SAS shares. This, in turn, forced SAS to release its third quarter figures early.

In the press release SAS writes, however, that it is still negotiating the 4.7 billion kroner loan with its creditors.

Exchange Rates

ing new stock, though it said that it will not be offering a dividend payout this year – a move intended to strengthen its capital base.

“It is the group’s ambition to resume dividend payments of about 40 percent of net profit as soon as it is justifiable.”

Last May, two of the most powerful rating agencies, Standard & Poor’s and Moody’s, downgraded Danske Bank. The bank now hopes to improve its credit

rating by one notch as soon as possible in order to improve access to short-term money markets and its position in relation to its Nordic competitors.

The announcement on Tuesday followed the bank’s announcement of pre-tax profits for the third quarter of 2.2 billion kroner, a significant improvement on the 10 million kroner it posted for the same period last year.

BRITISH CHAMBER OF COMMERCE IN DENMARK

UK Market Access Seminar The UK is a large and close market which is attractive to many Danish businesses. Although Denmark and the UK are close trading partners, there are still differences in the way business is being conducted in the two countries and it is important that these are understood and overcome. Would you like to hear more about some of the challenges Danish companies have faced, and overcome, when entering the UK market? Are you interested in some practical advice about how to conduct business in the UK? Two events will be held jointly with the Danish UK Chamber in Aarhus and Copenhagen. Join us, and get insight into the current British business climate and how you could succeed in this market. The major considerations regarding export and capital when setting up in the UK will be outlined and some possible solutions offered. The forum will focus on sharing the experiences and knowledge gained by people and companies who have tried it. Plus, it will also be an excellent networking opportunity!

This event is free of charge for everyone. Please specify which day you would like to attend. Please note the deadline for registration is 4 November 2012.

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

5.73

5.58

7.35

0.07

0.18

0.83

6.06

9.09

5.64

Buy

6.25

6.03

7.59

0.07

0.20

0.87

6.26

9.46

5.91

enmark has a productivity problem. This is the first finding of a commission established by the government this spring to find ways to make the nation more competitive.

Known as the Productivity Commission, its first report also found that if productivity had been the same as Sweden’s since 1996, the government would have had enough money to offer free public transport or hire twice the number of public school teachers for grades 1-5.

“Productivity affects us all,” the commission’s chairman, Peter Birch Sørensen, told the Ritzau news bureau. “If Danish productivity had kept pace with Swedish productivity over the past 20 years, the average Dane would be earning 20 percent more without having any effect on Denmark’s competitiveness. That would have also increased public income considerably.”

Sørensen added that if Denmark were doing as well as Sweden there would be an additional 30 billion kroner available for tax relief or for increased public spending.

Venues 14 November 2012 Delacour Dania Lille Torv 6 8000 Aarhus C Denmark 15 November 2012 Delacour Dania Langebrogade 4 1411 Copenhagen K Denmark Speakers Laura Thorborg, The Royal Danish Embassy, London Hans Monberg, UKTI, Copenhagen Bent Bang Haulrik, KapitalBørsen Martin Williams, European Business Solutions Preben Paulsen, Planova

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

If you would like to attend then please send us an email (event@bccd.dk) or call +45 31 18 75 58

Date: 30 October 2012

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

16

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

SPOUSE: Monika Sysiak FROM: Poland SEEKING WORK IN: Greater Copenhagen / eastern Zealand QUALIFICATION: Master degree in Environmental Engineering from Cracow University of Technology. Major in Water Supply, Sewage and Waste Treatment and Water Quality Protection.

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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

PARTNERS:

2 - 8 November 2012 SPOUSE: Lorena Augusta Moreira FROM: Brazil SEEKING WORK IN: Great Copenhagen QUALIFICATION: Interior Designer.

EXPERIENCE: + 3 of experience with interior design and sales of furniture and decoration products.

LOOKING FOR: Position in an Organization/Company in the fields of: Interior design, lay-out and organization of vitrines, sales and assistance management.

IT EXPERIENCE: Microsoft office (word, excel, outlook, access and power-point) access to internet.

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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.

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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.

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SPOUSE: Maihemutijiang Maimaiti FROM: China SEEKING WORK IN: Aarhus area, Denmark QUALIFICATION: M.Sc. In Computer Science, Uppsala University, Sweden; Bachelor of Engineering in Computer Science, Southwest University.

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EXPERIENCE: PhD from UCL (UK) in GIS and road safety, Assistant Professor at University of Canterbury, New Zealand for 3 years, Assistant Professor in GIS at University of Queensland for 1 year, Research Fellow at University of Hong Kong for 3 years. I have experience in project management and working in both the private and public sector. I have taught up to Masters level and have design courses and taught extensively.

LOOKING FOR: Research, teaching, consultancy positions.

LANGUAGE SKILLS: English, French (small amount), Chinese (beginner), I am enrolled at Danish language school IT EXPERIENCE: ArcGIS, MapInfo, GeoDa, Global Mapper, GWR, Python, Image J, SPSS, Excel, Work, PowerPoint, Access, Dreamweaver, Adobe, SAS, open source GIS programmes.

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

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

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

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

CONTACT: nina.chatelain@gmail.com, Tel: +45 29707430

SPOUSE: 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: Dr Shivanee Shah FROM: India SEEKING WORK IN: Copenhagen QUALIFICATION: Homeopathic Medicine Doctor, Medical transcriptionsit, Medical auditor for medical insurances.

EXPERIENCE: 5 years of experience of running own clinic, medical transcription, medical audits with national level scheme LOOKING FOR: Full time/part time opportunity with pharmaceutical company, as assistant doctor, medical transcription, medical bill audits for insurance companies, data entry related jobs.

LANGUAGE SKILLS: English, Hindi, Danish class to commence shortly CONTACT: pranavdsc@yahoo.com. Tel: +45 71841109 SPOUSE: Anisha Kanjhlia FROM: India SEEKING WORK IN: Arhus in Teaching/Training/Administration/Media/Public Relations QUALIFICATION: Post Graduate in Advertising & Communication.

EXPERIENCE: 6+ years of professional experience in Training, Customer Service, Promotions, Brand Marketing, Content Analysis and Team Management. Strong experience in planning and executing initiatives. Extensive training experience and influencing skills that will assist me in building a high potential, motivated and an effective team. Hands-on training in soft skills like crucial conversations and people management Branch Manager & Head of Training for Cosmo Aviation Training School in New Delhi, India. Proficient in analysing market trends to provide critical inputs for decision making and formulating training strategies.

LOOKING FOR: Part time or full time in Aarhus.

IT EXPERIENCE: Comfortable with all the basic computer knowledge like Excel, Word, Power Point, Internet browsing.

CONTACT: anisha.feb@rediffmail.com, Tel: 4522305837 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

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.

The Copenhagen Post cphpost.dk

2 - 8 November 2012

17

We teach Danish to adult immigrants.

We also provide courses in Danish culture and society.

We work together with local authorities and businesses.

LOCAL AUTHORITIES

Language Centre Vejle is a local authority language center working actively in partnership with the local authorities and social workers who refer students to us. Students can be referred either under the Integration Act, the Danish Education Act or the LAB-law

LANGUAGE CENTRE VEJLE Klostergade 4, 7100 Vejle Tel.: 76 81 38 00 E-mail: sprogcentret@vejle.dk Web: www.sprogcentervejle.dk EANnr: 5798006361366

BUSINESSES

Our Enterprise and Development Department works with the business sector. Our Enterprise and development consultant is always available for a chat about your organisation’s learning needs and skills upgrading requirements.

SPROGCENTER FREDERICIA Prangervej 111, 7000 Fredericia Tlf.: 76 81 38 63 E-mail: sprogcentret@vejle.dk Web: www.sprogcentervejle.dk EANnr: 5798006361366

18 Amy play derided by dad – he say “No, no, no” cover story

Linn Lemhag Danish theatre group is planning a production based on deceased singer’s career and personal life, despite disapproval from her family

A

my Winehouse, Britain’s best selling artist of the 21st century, is making a comeback from the grave in a newly planned production by Copenhagen theatre group Det Røde Rum, a facet of the Royal Theatre.

The theatre claims the production, entitled simply ‘Amy’, is a collage of Winehouse’s fastpaced career, her struggle with her demons and the destructive

love affair between her and her boyfriend Blake Fielder-Civil”.

The announcement, however, was met with hostility from Winehouse’s father, Mitch Winehouse.

“It doesn’t matter to them whether it’s too soon [after her death]”, he told Yahoo News.

“They’re only interested in making money and nothing else bothers them.”

Winehouse doesn’t think the play will be much of a success either.

“It will be like any of these unauthorised biographies that are made about her – they can’t use the songs so it won’t be worth seeing,” he said. “We can’t do anything about it if they do want to go ahead, but I think it will be a load of rub-

scanpix / AFP PHOTO/BEN STANSALL

The Copenhagen Post cphpost.dk

It is too early to make a play about Winehouse, says her father

donned Winehouse’s characteristic beehive hair-do and heavy eyeliner, as being in “bad taste” on his Twitter account.

The actress who will portray Winehouse, Johanne Louise Schmidt, previously played Alanis Morissette in Det Røde Rum’s ‘Jagged Little Pill’ and

bish.”

Mitch Winehouse has previously expressed disapproval about his daughter’s image being used for commercial purposes. He described John Paul Gaultier’s Amy Winehouseinspired 2012 Spring/Summer collection, in which models

claimed that the show would in fact be using Winehouse’s music.

“We’ve been given access to all her material,” she told the Ritzau news bureau. “We can use all her songs, notes and recordings.”

Royal Theatre artistic director Emmet Feigenberg refuted Mitch Winehouse’s accusations about the intent of the production, which is set to premiere in January.

“It is fair to say that the production will not be used as a cash-cow,” he told Yahoo News. “Ticket prices will be as low as possible, and ‘Amy’ will be performed only 13 times on one of our smallest stages in a small-scale and intimate production.”

A delightfully fitting tribute lies in wait Henry Butman

of whom deploy their best impression of Waits’s raspy voice.

Though the voices of LODHO aren’t as interesting or appealing as Waits’s on their own, varying vocalists (which the orchestra did throughout the night) gave the songs multiple shades of Waits − his true colour permeated the evening without ever displaying itself exactly.

But Waits’s allure extends beyond the dark emotionality of his vocal tones and into the production of his sounds, which took a sharp turn in his 1983 album ‘Swordfishtrombones’ to include a wide range of instruments and non-instruments that created, according to Waits, more “nightmarish and dreamlike” sounds.

LODHO captured that fantasy feeling well: during one song, a man wears a helmet with a golf club attached to it, turning his head in beat so the club clangs dully against a frying pan

Tom Waits Tribute Concert HHHHHH

M

any words have been used to describe Tom Waits, the iconic rock ‘n’ roll legend who has been winning hearts and fans since the 1970s with his deeply emotive gravelly voice and stunningly simple piano riffs.

Waits is quick to call himself a storyteller and to call his songs ‘travelogues’ about people he’s encountered in everyday life.

And with their tribute to Tom Waits, currently showing at Republique Theatre’s Stor Scene, the L’Orchestre d’Hommes-Orchestres (LODHO) tries to visually, musically and artistically tell a story about Waits himself.

It is unlikely we’ll see a creative and musical talent like

We’re wagering Waits would wallow in it

Waits ever again, and LODHO is more aware of that than most.

They don’t try to recreate Waits; they don’t try to ‘do’ Waits.

They are six diversely talented musicians who, as obvious fans, have taken it upon themselves to try to exhibit precisely how talented Waits is. It’s almost as if LODHO have attempted to recreate on stage the inside of Waits’s mind, exploring the fragmented forms of sight, sound and daily life that influ-

ence his music.

The result is a two-hour adventure that carries you through moments of spirited laughter to equally spirited melancholy, through moments of quiet intimacy to blown-out intensity.

LODHO opened with their rendition of ‘Rains on Me’, a song from Waits’s 2006 album ‘Orphans’, which encapsulates a depressive theme in his music (‘Everywhere I go, it rains on me’). Three men sing, two

held by another man, singing; in another a man bends and wiggles a saw, producing an eerie, wobbly, Twilight Zone-like sound; in a third, two women twist and uncork liquor bottles, generating a squeaking, popping effect and audience laughter as they swig repeatedly from the opened bottles; while the longest solo of the night was whistled with a turkey baster.

There’s clearly more to the man and his music than meets the eye and ear, and LODHO brilliantly pay tribute to that fact by imagining exactly what that ‘more’ looks, sounds and, in the end, feels like too. For fans of Waits’s music, this is a must-see. For all others, it’s an example of how to properly pay tribute.

The final Tom Waits Tribute Concert takes place on Sunday. For more details, see G3 in InOut.

Linn Lemhag

Old Times

I

HHHHHH

n preparation for reviewing That Theatre Compnay and Why Not Theatre Company’s current production of ‘Old Times’, this reviewer decided to do some research on You–Tube clip, where she came across a 2009 production starring Alan Rickman. His deadpan delivery and unmistakable baritone voice made for some comedic viewing. So when I entered the intimate Krudttønden theatre in Østerbro on the opening night of Barry McKenna’s production, I was ready for a night of amusement. Potential audiences be warned though, because this piece is not for the faint-hearted hoping for a wry

laugh, but a tense drama that will leave you pondering the disconcerting fate of the characters long after you have left the theatre.

That Theatre Company’s leading man Ian Burns and Why Not Theatre Company regulars Sue Hansen-Styles and Angela Heath-Larsen make up the small cast. Deeley (Burns) and Kate (Heath-Larsen) have been married for 20 years, and as the first scene opens, we come upon them in their home: a minimalist staging with a makeshift bar, two doorframes, two movable chaise lounges and an armchair.

As husband and wife discuss their expected guest, Anna (Hansen-Styles) stands with her back towards us. This seemingly intimate moment between man and wife is the only glimpse we get of their life together, as the imminent arrival of Anna

plunges the three of them into the depths of a memory-based battle.

Styles’s Anna is fragile to the point of ethereal. Her movements and voice are fluid and almost anesthetised, which stands in stark contrast to the controlled and dynamic sparring of the other two characters.

This makes for an all-the-more chilling final scene in which her amiable passivity is masterfully turned into an authoritative anger.

The famous Pinter pauses were numerous and frequent, some as effective as the textheavy moments that preceded them, leaving the audience reeling after the tense power struggle on stage. Director Barry McKenna, a self-proclaimed Pinter enthusiast, compared Pinter’s work to that of Shakespeare, calling the former “the

Mark Jones

So chilling you won’t notice the autumn frost

2 - 8 November 2012

Who is …

Allan Hyde

linn lemhag He is a 22-year-old Danish actor, best known for his turn as vampire Godric on HBO’s ‘True Blood’.

Godric?

His character claimed to be older than Jesus, and was Eric the Viking’s (played by Swede Alexander Skarsgaard) maker. He yoyoed in between behaving like a bloodthirsty tribal imp and a reformed hippie. He was probably a bit bitter that Skarsgaard got all the Scandinavian cred from the show.

Was? So was he wooden-staked off the show?

His character got killed in the second season, but he does make appearances during flashbacks in the more recent seasons. He hasn’t been all that busy since ‘True Blood’, so he probably laps up the guest spots as hungrily as a vampire salivating over a burns victim.

What has he done since?

Not much. He was in a Danish film called ‘You & Me Forever’ that came out this year, but that’s pretty much it. He was in a Danish five-minute indie short called ‘Please Stay’, which went viral around the same time he was in ‘True Blood’, in which he played a young man scorned by his lover.

The film has a warning that reads: “Dear YouTube. This is fiction.

The penis is not real. Thank you.”

Say what?!

Rest assured, it needs to be seen to be believed, but we can’t promise it will be understood. Also, make sure you don’t watch it at work – your co-workers will think you’re odd.

Heath-Larsen, Burns and Hansen-Styles: three’s a crowd

heir to the king of blank verse”.

In light of the actors’ control and restraint of language, this is a fair comparison. Deeley and Anna’s verbal sparring was especially effective.

Harold Pinter’s metaphysical domestic dramas are famous for their austerity and openended conclusions. McKenna’s production is no exception, and the final scene closes on an ambiguous note. There is

something a little frustrating about a production that leaves so many questions unanswered.

But therein also lies the beauty of a production that has not simply entertained you for 80 minutes, but stays with you on your journey home.

‘Old Times’ will continue playing at Krudttønden in Osterbro until November 24. See page G3 in InOut for more details.

Thanks for the warning!

Hyde seems to have a penchant for obscure YouTube shorts. Last New Year’s Eve, he was in an Abba video replica, and he starred in a web sitcom called ‘ALLA SALUTE!’ What a stepping stone ‘True Blood’ was!

Unfortunately it wasn’t the springboard for him that it was for others, like Skarsgaard. But at least he’s still acting – everyone needs an updated ‘Happy New Year’ Abba video every now and then.

DENMARK THROUGH THE LOOKING GLASS THE COPENHAGEN POST CPHPOST.DK

2 - 8 November 2012

19

Sitting in a tin can, and profiting from them too SEAN COOGAN A badly-defended, neutral Denmark spent the First World War worrying about its borders, although the Goulash Barons found time to make a fast buck selling food supplies to armies

T

weake n e d Danish kingdom. The wounds from the defeat in 1864 were still fresh. On the other hand, how could they forget the British bombardment of Copenhagen in 1807, which left the proud capital crippled and hundreds of civilians dead.

The bombardment had followed similar Danish attempts to stay neutral, while the strong European nations waged war on each other.

The Danish king, Christian X (1912-1947), who had a number of relatives in the British royal family, was against laying mines in the Danish seas, but was convinced otherwise by the navy chief, Vice-Admiral O Kofoed-Hansen, and in the end, the Danish government complied with the German

demand. The Danes then telegrammed the Brits to inform them of their decision and hoped for the best. The British reply was simply: “Quite reasonable”. It left the Danes extremely relieved.

Less than a week after the

German ‘suggestion’, all of Storebaelt was mined. Parts of Oresund and Lillebaelt followed without British protests, despite the fact that Denmark, according to international law, was obligated to keep its seas

open.

While the Danish government did what it could to stay out of the bloody mess that the World War was turning in to, some Danes saw an opportunity to make money – primarily by supplying the participating nations with products that they needed, but didn’t necessarily have the resources to produce.

The First World War is remembered as being the first war to be a business opportunity.

Initially they thought it would be over by Christmas, but then it dragged on. Millions of soldiers were called up. Millions were killed. So millions more were called up. Seldom had

the world experienced armies of such great sizes. Worldwide, an estimated 65 million soldiers were mobilised. And they all needed to eat. And it wasn’t just in the trenches, as the two nations also battled it out at sea, where naval blockades and submarine warfare were part of the attempt to isolate and starve the opponent out.

So as the war put pressure on the two nations’ reserves, Denmark became both Britain and Germany’s bread basket. Danish agriculture boomed as large amounts of bacon, cheese, butter and live-

stock were e x por ted to the t w o fighting nations.

It wasn’t without risk though. Supply missions through dangerous seas led to 275 Danish vessels being sunk, claiming the lives of 722 sailors.

Canned food was in particularly high demand. The amount of Danish factories producing canned meat products exploded from 21 to 148 to meet a demand that had increased 50-fold since the start of the war. The suppliers, who became known as the ’Goulash barons’, mainly sold to the German army. They favoured quantity over quality – so the tendons and guts were put to good use – and didn’t concern themselves too much with the source. In October 1915, a Copenhagen businessman with his eye on the pie bought three buffalos from Copenhagen Zoo and then swiftly sold them to a Goulash baron.

Nevertheless, Denmark’s military action record wasn’t entirely earned by delivering canned food.

As Denmark had lost vast parts of Jutland to Germany in 1864, a large Danish minor-

ity was under German rule in Schleswig and southern Jutland.

Some 30,000 men in northern Schleswig with Danish backgrounds, therefore, fought for the Germans. Many of them were men from southern Jutland, who were conscripted, and approximately 3,900 of them died.

The German surrender finally came at 11am on the eleventh day of the eleventh month of 1918. Almost 10 million people had been killed – 4,622 of them Danish. As a result of the following peace agreement, a referendum was held regarding the Danish-German border that saw southern Jutland returned to Denmark.

Meanwhile, the positive experience of neutrality would come to affect Danish foreign policy for decades to come.

THE NEW YORK TIMES, PUBLISHED: NOVEMBER 7, 1917

he assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand on the streets of Sarajevo at the end of June 1914 was enough to spark a European military bloodbath of unprecedented dimensions.

The murder, which was carried out by Serbian nationalists, started a domino effect of incredible proportions. AustriaHungary declared war on Serbia, Germany declared war on Russia and France, and Britain declared war on Germany as soon as the Germans invaded poor little Belgium. Soon most of Europe had been mobilised as the continent’s nations sent their sons off to the front line to a probable death in the sodden trenches or on the bloody, muddy battlefields.

However, the Danes chose not to mobilise their army.

Denmark had no interest in taking part in the conflict and did everything possible to stay neutral. The Danish defeat to Prussia and Austria in 1864 had changed the Danish mentality, and by 1914 it was a predominantly defensive one that was modest about its military prowess. This was reflected in the military strategy, where the goal was simply to withstand siege until foreign aid arrived.

However, while Copenhagen had a number of fortifications, the progress of military technology and the increased range of artillery had left them too outdated and the city vulnerable to attack. So when 58,000 Danish reserves were called up, most of them were deployed to man Copenhagen’s fortifications, which were further boosted in 1915 by a new line between Køge and Roskilde.

Despite its neutrality, the Danish government viewed its aggressive southern neighbour as its biggest threat, and from the outset it decided to ‘keep its enemies closer’ − without ever actually allying itself to Germany. And it didn’t take long for the Germans to come calling

with a ‘suggestion’ – more of an ultimatum really – in August 1914, just after Britain had declared war on Germany, to lay mines in its coastal waters. The Germans wanted to deter a potential British invasion through the Danish seas.

The pressure on the Danish leaders to lay the mines was enormous. The politicians agreed that any involvement in the Great War could mean the end of the already

october 2012

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