The Copenhagen Post | Nov 30-Dec 6

The wheels stop turning on mobile injection room

6

More and more take pay cuts to save their jobs

Bob’s waiting for you in the Black Lodge

16 G2, G3, G9

30 November - 6 December 2012 | Vol 15 Issue 48

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

NEWS

Pressed after high-profile doubleagent case, the justice minister calls for more control over PET

5

NEWS

It never gets old Don’t you love it when Copenhagen and Denmark top international lists? Two more to add to the tally

10 NEWS

Open up and say ahh!

Police continue search for the man suspected of killing Jonas Thomsen Sekyere, while friends pay tribute

8, 11

BUSINESS

SAS’s troubles aren’t over A group of 300 former cabin attendants are suing the airline for cutting into their pension payments

17

9 771398 100009

Price: 25 DKK

Calls for a nationwide DNA database are revived after recent crimes, but concerns abound over effectiveness and privacy

4

Danish projects jeopardised by EU budget breakdown PETER STANNERS Critics argue that cutting investment in infrastructure is counterproductive at a time when the EU is gasping for growth

E

UROPEAN leaders last week abandoned talks to hammer out the union’s next seven-year budget due to fundamental disagreements over how much money should be spent.

Talks will resume in the new year, but it is almost certain the budget will be cut from the European Commission’s initial 8.1 billion kroner proposal.

But trimming the EU’s budget won’t be without consequence for the EU’s 27 countries, and not just for the

countries that receive more from Brussels than they pay in.

The likely target of the cuts will be the Connecting Europe programme, which invests in developing European infrastructure such as transport, energy and high-speed digital networks. This is problematic as the slow economy has reduced private investment.

According to Lykke Friis, the EU spokesperson for opposition party Venstre, the cuts could affect funding for the planned Fehmarn Tunnel link to Germany and the Kriegers Flak windpark in the Baltic Sea, which would provide energy to Germany, Sweden and Denmark.

In addition to threatening the infrastructure projects, the breakdown of talks sent a bad signal, Friis said.

“We are in the middle of a debt cri-

sis,” Friis told the Ritzau news bureau.

“We are standing far apart from each other, not least on the banking union.

What we don’t need is a long-lasting budget crisis.”

The decision to target the infrastructure programme was also criticised because investment in European infrastructure is seen as a guaranteed way to create jobs.

“The government should make sure that the EU budget does not cut positions that support lasting growth,” Karsten Dybvad, the managing director of business lobby group Dansk Industri, told Jyllands-Posten newspaper.

He added that as the budget now looked, these investments were not given enough priority.

“Given the challenges faced by Eu-

rope, it’s unambitious,” he said.

At the heart of the budget negotiations is a conflict between countries such as the UK, which want the budget to be cut, and countries such as Portugal and Romania, which are pushing for increased regional investment to boost growth.

After talks broke down last week on Friday, Herman van Rompuy, the EU president, stressed that the budget needed to address Europe’s stagnating economy.

“That’s why in my proposal the spending on competitiveness and jobs is more than 50 percent higher than in the period 2007-2013,” Van Rompuy stated in a press release. “Here especially, this budget is not a zero sum game. Growth

EU budget continues on page 6

CBS ExEcutivE MBA Enhance your leadership skills Join a life-changing and career-enhancing journey Info meeting in Copenhagen on 4 Dec To sign up, call +45 3815 6002 or visit www.cbs.dk/embainfo

2

Week in review

The Copenhagen Post cphpost.dk

CPH Post Word of the Week:

30 November - 6 December 2012 THE WEEK’S MOST READ STORIES AT CPHPOST.DK

Opgradere (verb) – Upgrade. Where you heard it: On the day after this publication went to press, Denmark voted to upgrade Palestine’s UN status from ‘observer’ to ‘non-member state’. Norway and Sweden also voted in favour

Cold Danes need to warm up to expats, panel says

Scanpix / Keld Navntoft

First from a legend

Winter is coming Police hunt for fourth stabbing suspect Three arrested, fourth sought in law student’s death New bicycle laws tough to enforce

FROM OUR ARCHIVES TEN YEARS AGO. The Justice Ministry releases Chechen envoy Akhmed Sakajev, finding no grounds to extradite him to Russia.

FIVE YEARS AGO. Record numbers of wrong-way drivers may be due to malfunctioning GPS equipment.

ONE YEAR AGO. Figures released by the Employment Ministry reveal little difference between working full-time and living off the state.

The very first book written by HC Andersen, entitled ‘Ungdomsforsøg’ and written under the pseudonym Villiam Christian Walter, was sold on Tuesday as part of a collection of over 60 rare Andersen books. A foreign private collector bought the collection for 620,000 kroner

Standards’, in which it attempted to show its role in a changing world, appeared to backfire. It came under fire for callously exploiting imagery from the ‘Occupy Wall Street’ movement, and spoofs of the campaign flooded the internet. You can see a sample of them at newnormalnewstandards.tumblr.com.

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

Ban backlash

The Government’s decision to drop a proposed ban on sex purchases has led to a backlash. Socialdemokraterne’s executive committee has been speaking out against the decision championed by its own ministers. Furthermore, when the government voted against the ban, it pointed instead to its efforts to help wom-

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

en out of prositution through its 46 million kroner Projekt Exit Prositution. However, Politiken reported that those millions are only being spent on helping about 100-150 of the nation’s estimated 3,200 prositutues to leave the business and that the project thus far hasn’t been in touch with a single sex worker.

Editorial offices: Slagtehusgade 4 – 6 DK 1715 Copenhagen V Telephone: 3336 3300 Fax: 3393 1313 www.cphpost.dk News Desk news@cphpost.dk 3336 4243 The CPH Post welcomes outside articles and letters to the editor.

Letters and comments can be left on our website or at: comments@cphpost.dk

Scanpix / steffen ortmann

It’s SAFE to say that this hasn’t been a good week for Danske Bank. First, public broadcaster DR aired the documentary ‘Sikke en fest’, in which it detailed that the bank nearly collapsed in 2008 before being saved with tax payers’ money as a part of the bankpakke 2 rescue package. Then, the bank’s new ad campaign, ‘New

Scanpix / Sisse Stroyer

Danske Bank

New normal

CORRECTION Last week’s photo spread on page 11 about the screening of a computer games documentary had the headline: ‘There’s nothing the teachies like better than getting interactive’. It should have, of course, read: ‘techies’

School reform

As a key element in the government’s proposed reform of the public school system, students will have 510 extra hours of education from the time they enter school until they reach the ninth grade. The reform would see the minimum hours of learning rise from 6,960 to 7,470. That is expected to affect several councils,

Sales, Advertising and Marketing sales@cphpost.dk Subscriptions subs@cphpost.dk

who already have financial difficulty hitting the current minimum. The reform – the details of which are still being drafted – also aims to minimise the importance of children’s social backgrounds when it comes to receiving a quality education. It is said to have been inspired by similar success in Ontario, Canada.

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

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

The Copenhagen Post accepts no responsibility for the content of material submitted by advertisers.

The Copenhagen Post is published weekly by CPHPOST.DK ApS

Distribution distribution@cphpost.dk

All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part without permission is prohibited by law.

Printed by Dagbladet, Ringsted.

Founded in 1998 by San Shepard

Join our Expat Christmas Celebrations Sunday 9th December 2012 from 14.00 - 16.00

Scandia Housing is hosting the annual Christmas Event for Expats on 9th December 2012 from 14.00-16.00 We welcome you to join us for a few hours of FREE expat family fun Including the Danish Christmas tradition of gløgg and Ìbleskiver, a surprise for the children, and fun activities for all.

Please use the following link to register for the event: www.scandiahousing.com/winterexpatevent

4

cover Story

The Copenhagen Post cphpost.dk

30 November - 6 December 2012

The jury is out on nationwide DNA database Scanpix / Claus Bech

Colourbox

Peter Stanners Dansk Folkeparti revives the idea, leading to questions over whether a nationwide DNA database would help solve more crimes or simply be an ineffective drain on police resources

A

Ethical dilemma But while a comprehensive DNA database could reveal the identity of dangerous criminals, it also raises some complicated ethical questions. So much so that the government’s independent ethics commission, Det Etiske Råd, could not arrive at a consensus in 2006 when it was asked to investigate whether Denmark should introduce a comprehensive DNA database that covers all residents.

Danish police already have a DNA database containing the profiles of over 81,000 individuals. According to a 2005 law, only individuals charged or convicted of crimes that carry 18-month minimum sentences or those charged with possessing child pornography have their DNA profiles stored.

While all 17 members of Det Etiske Råd – who are appointed by the government on three-year terms – thought

While there have been advancements in DNA technology, many argue that the police are already successful using more traditional methods Colourbox

serial rapist on the island of Funen has so far attacked two girls. DNA samples from the attacks confirm it is the same perpetrator, but despite testing several men, the suspect remains on the loose.

While police continue to hunt for the man, opposition party Dansk Folkeparti (DF) argues that he could have been caught a long time ago if there were a comprehensive nationwide DNA database.

“If the police had a nationwide DNA database, the likelihood of finding a match would be greater,” DF’s Peter Skaarup told Berlingske newspaper.

“The database would lead to far more crimes being solved quickly. It would also lead to more serial criminals getting caught before they can commit additional crimes.”

The idea of establishing a comprehensive DNA database is not new.

In 2003, DF aired the same proposal.

Despite being roundly criticised at the time, DF’s revival of the database arrives at a time when DNA technology is becoming increasingly sophisticated and popular as a crime-fighting tool.

Last year’s conviction of Marcel Lychau Hansen – the ‘Amager Attacker’ – for a 1990 murder and six rapes over the past 25 years was largely due to DNA evidence. And recently, police forces across the country announced that they were reopening decades-old ‘cold cases’ in the hope that DNA evidence gathered at the time could produce new suspects.

Police chose not to extend CCTV in Copenhagen due to the high costs and low returns – would a DNA registry have the same results?

it was not feasible to force all Danes to join a nationwide DNA database, they were split on whether to establish a voluntary database. Many who opposed it argued that the voluntary database should be limited to those convicted of crimes. Other members argued, on the other hand, that it should accept samples from anyone charged with a crime.

But while DNA evidence has been used to find criminals, traditional police methods already produce a high crime clearance rate when it comes to violent crime.

“The database would have most effect in areas of policing that don’t have many resources, such as burglary, where there is a much lower crime clearance rate,” said PhD student Ask Risom Bøge, from the Department of Aesthetics and Communication at Aarhus University.

He added that the major issue with a comprehensive DNA database is the amount of manpower it would take to

run because linking a DNA sample to a suspect is not straightforward. Samples often provide links to several DNA profiles in the database – these are known as ‘hits’. But only once the hit has been confirmed by a forensic scientist can a ‘match’ be said to be made.

“The DNA samples quickly deteriorate if they are not stored properly, and samples taken from crime scenes can often contain multiple DNA profiles.

This can be a real mess of information that needs to be analysed. This means that you can end up getting many hits on potential suspects who have nothing to do with the crime,” Bøge said, adding that as the size of the database increases, so too does the number of hits the forensic scientists have to analyse.

“So the comprehensive database would require a lot of police manpower to handle the profiles, and also a lot of time investigating which of the hits are actually realistic suspects.”

As a result, Bøge argues that limiting the number of people in the database is the best way to ensure that it remains an effective crime-fighting tool.

“A good database is one that contains the profiles of the active criminal population, where the noise is more limited and a hit is a hit on a person that is already known to police.”

Value for money Given that only a small amount of crime is solved using DNA, and that the drain on police resources would be huge nationwide, Skaarup’s wish for a comprehensive database looks impractical.

But DNA testing is not the only crime-fighting technology whose benefits do not necessarily justify the cost.

For example, last year the police chose

The fear is that once the data has been gathered, its use won’t be limited to criminal investigations not to increase CCTV surveillance after a trial of 40 cameras on the walking street Strøget had no preventative effect.

Surveillance expert Peter Lauritsen from the University of Aarhus said that the return on investment of police CCTV is low.

“Once you start to use it, you face problems with where you place the cameras. And because crime is dynamic and moves around, once you start installing cameras, you have to keep on installing them in new places in order to keep up with the crime,” Lauritsen said.

Lauritsen added, however, that CCTV footage poses less risk to privacy than a DNA database would. CCTV surveillance gathers so much footage that there are simply not enough people to sit down and watch it all. A DNA sample, on the other hand, contains a vast amount of information about the individual, and it could be used for far more than simply the solving of a crime.

According to Jacob Mchangama, the director of legal affairs for the liberal think-tank CEPOS, this could be a potential risk of a nationwide DNA database.

“On paper, it looks attractive from a crime prevention point of view because it makes it easier to solve crimes and would make people think twice about

committing crimes if their DNA was available,” Mchangama said. “But the idea is also frightening, as some politicians have proposed taking the DNA of all newborns and foreigners. The fear is that once the data has been gathered, its use won’t be limited to criminal investigations. It will inevitably spread.”

Trusting Danes Not everyone is concerned about the infringement on privacy associated with allowing the government to store DNA profiles of innocent people or filming them shopping on a Sunday.

A study last year carried out by the domestic intelligence agency, PET, showed that the vast majority of Danes supported surveillance.

“In Denmark, people are positive about surveillance and want more because they trust the state,” Lauritsen said. “We think authorities will use the information meaningfully and positively. Maybe we’re naïve about surveillance, and we need to be more critical, but right now most Danes think it’s great and want much more of it.”

Indeed, while the UK’s expensive failure to introduce a national ID card system failed due to concerns over privacy, Denmark is one of the few European countries with a centralised social security database, the CPR system, in which residents are legally required to file an address.

It seems that, at least in Denmark, concerns over privacy are unlikely to affect the debate about the creation of a nationwide DNA database. The arguments will instead have to rest on finding an acceptable balance between the crime-fighting benefits of the DNA database and its costs and efficiency.

Online this week As Greenland mineral vote looms, concerns abound A law allowing companies to use underpaid foreign labour when building mines and other processing plants in Greenland looks likely to pass in the country’s parliament. Plans are already on the table for a 12 billion kroner iron ore mine that alone would increase the country’s population of 57,000

people by nearly four percent.

London Mining plans to use Chinese workers, paid at wages below what Greenlandic workers would earn, to establish the mine, as well as to build power plants, new roads and a port near Greenland’s capital, Nuuk.

Other infrastructure projects would follow the same model.

Huge drop in traffic accidents results in massive savings Between 2000 and 2011, traffic deaths dropped by 56 percent – an equivalent of 30,000 fewer incidents over the period. The Technical University of Denmark estimated that each traffic death or injury costs an average of two million kroner – which in turn has led to an eleven-year saving period of about 59 billion kroner.

“These are the direct expenses of the ambulances, paramedics and hospital stays from traffic accidents,” said Søren Troels Berg of Rådet for Sikker Traffik. “If you also included the costs of welfare and production that come from the injured person being unable to work, the overall costs would be even higher.”

New green energy initiative targets developing countries The creation of a new so-called ‘climate fund’ was announced last week, which will see the state invest in taking Danish ‘green’ energy technology to developing countries. The government is providing the first 150 million kroner, while private

investors are anticipated to help the fund reach its goal of about 700 million kroner by the end of 2013. It will be managed by the Investment Fund for Developing Countries (IFU), which has so far invested 100 billion kroner in 85 different countries.

Read the full stories at cphpost.dk

30 November - 6 December 2012

News

5

Justice minister seeks more control over PET

Jyllands-posten

Justin Cremer In light of the revelations from double-agent Morten Storm, the justice minister wants PET to report to parliament about the use of civilian agents

F

ollowing the uproar created by the numerous revelations from former PET secret-agent Morten Storm, the justice minister, Morten Bødskov (Socialdemokraterne), is now calling for parliament to have more control over the domestic intelligence agency.

In an interview with Berlingske newspaper last week, Bødskov said that he is seeking increased powers for parliament’s Kontroludvalg, a committee established in 1964 to oversee PET. The move comes in response to the many questions that have arisen about PET’s actions following Storm’s decision to contribute to a series of articles in Jyllands-Posten newspaper that chronicled his time as a PET double-agent. Storm says he assisted PET in tracking al-Qaeda terrorist Anwar al-Awlaki for the American intelligence agency, the CIA, which clearly had the intention of assassinating him.

Storm also claims to have arranged a Western wife for alAwlaki, who was sent to Yemen with tracking equipment placed in her luggage by PET without her knowledge. He also alleges that PET attempted to buy his silence by offering him 25,000 tax-free kroner a month for the next five years if he promised to keep quiet about his role in the hunt for al-Awlaki.

After Storm’s claims made an international splash, numer-

The stories from Morten Storm led to questions about PET’s actions

ous politicians and human rights organisations demanded investigations into PET. Among those wanting answers was Enhedslisten’s Pernille Skipper, whose party had called Bødskov in for an “open meeting” to discuss PET’s actions.

“This case is so complex that anyone can see that we need some answers,” Skipper told Politiken newspaper last month. “There are two central elements we need to have answers to. One is whether PET has helped the CIA with a plan to kill somebody rather than have him put in front of a court.

The other is now whether PET has also used an innocent person as live bait. That’s not just a violation of rules, it is completely morally reprehensible.”

Bødskov’s move would give Kontroludvalget insight into PET’s use of civilians as agents – something that elected officials have not historically had.

“It is important for the government to have some peace of mind around these questions in parliament,” Bødskov told Berlingske. “Therefore, as something completely new, we will see to it

that parliament’s Kontroludvalg receives notifications on PET’s use of civilians as agents.”

The Storm case is not the only controversy currently involving PET. Just last week, the intelligence agency was criticised for allowing one of its agents to sell two AK-47s to three men suspected of plotting a terrorist attack. Once the investigation in that case was handed over to Copenhagen Police, however, no grounds were found for pursuing any terror charges. One of the defence lawyers in the case said of PET’s actions: “Maybe it didn’t go over the line, but it went right up to it.”

In October, it was also revealed that PET withheld a potential alibi of one of the five men on trial for politically-motivated domestic terrorism.

Despite Bødskov seeking more parliamentary oversight of PET, in an opinion piece published by Berlingske, he praised the agency for its work in keeping Denmark safe from terror attacks and pledged that “PET has my full backing in [its] vital and necessary work.”

New bike laws proving difficult to enforce Bicycle advocates say it is virtually impossible for police to properly check for light compliance

B

icycle advocacy groups are criticising new bike safety laws for being difficult to accurately monitor and enforce.

The law, which came into effect on November 1, requires that lights are affixed to bike frames, that front and rear lights are visible from a distance of 300 metres, and that they have a battery life of five hours.

Failure to comply with the new rules is punishable by a 700 kroner fine, but Karsten Hansen, the head of bicycle dealership association Danske Cykelhandlere, told 24timer newspaper that there has been a lot of confusion over how to enforce the regulations.

“Are the police to stand 300 metres away and look at cyclists?

Will the police stand about for five hours?”

One of the other problems is that the light’s packaging should indicate whether it lives up to the new standards.

But Hansen would rather have the light itself marked, indicating that it satisfies the laws. Visible at 300 metres? Who really knows “As it stands, the cyclist can take their fine and out unwarranted fines because of take it to court, so it could be- light problems. come a bit of a disorderly jum“We have been informed ble,” Hansen told 24timer. by the police that they will apAccording to TrygFonden, proach the new law gently,” Brea charity that donates money to dal told 24timer. “They haven’t safety initiatives, every fifth cy- been running around from Noclist does not have proper lights, vember 1 handing out fines.” and more than half the serious This is the second time in accidents involving cyclists each two years that bike safety laws year occur between November have been changed. The 2011 and January. change saw fines for a variety of Cyklistforbundet, the na- infractions jump from 500 krotional association of cyclists, also ner to 700 kroner, and in some felt the police were having trou- cases, up to 1,000 kroner. Much ble enforcing the new law, but to the consternation of cyclists, spokesperson Frits Bredal said he it was the first increase in biking did not expect the police to hand fines in 12 years.

Colourbox

Christian Wenande

Fly Icelandair to 10 destinations in North America Second bag travels for free across the Atlantic

Take advantage of an Iceland stopover at no additional airfare. + Book your flight at www.icelandair.dk

6 End of the road for the fix on wheels News

The Copenhagen Post cphpost.dk

Emily McLean

Jessica Hanley As wheels stop turning for Copenhagen’s mobile injection rooms, organisers look forward to the future

A

t a gathering in Kødbyen last week on Friday, advocates celebrated the recent establishment of a permanent injection room in Copenhagen and the release of a new book detailing the long struggle for the facility. However , there was a degree of poignancy, as the occasion also marked the end of the road for the mobile injections rooms.

Operating out of two former ambulances, the rooms-onwheels had been in operation for a year. Run by the private organisation Foreningen Fixerum and staffed by volunteer healthcare workers, they offered a safe and hygienic place, off the streets, for drug users to inject. The City Council took over the project earlier this year when the long legal battle to legalise stationary injection rooms was finally won.

While the permanent facility will open at the Vesterbro community centre Mændenes Hjem (the men’s home) next August, a smaller, temporary location has been operating on Halmtorvet since October 1. Fixerum organisers, meanwhile, have sold the

The permanent parking of what became a common sight in Vesterbro is being celebrated with the release of a new book (inset)

ambulances to the City Council.

The opening on Halmtorvet marked a profound moment for organisers and advocates of the injection rooms, who have fought for a permanent location for years. But they’re not the only ones with reason to celebrate, according to Ole Hoff-Lund, a board member and public relations officer for Foreningen Fixerum. The injection rooms are already beneficial for the users and residents alike, he said.

“We hear from police and politicians, from the people living here, that everybody is very happy that drug users can now step aside in private, do their thing, have their high, and go out on the street again,” Hoff-Lund said.

“The drug users tell us that they’ve never wanted to be a nuisance for anybody,” he said.

“What they hate the most is to be in the middle of a fix and then catch the eye of two little kids and their mother coming home.”

Line Ishøy, an attendee at the book release and a student in environmental studies at Roskilde University, said the availability of such resources for users is an important component of city planning – one that is often overlooked.

“Usually a city is planned around the middle class and the richer people, but the lower classes and the outcasts are never really a part of that,” Ishøy said. She said it was important to establish a place where users can gain ac-

A little civil disobedience can solve some big problems ceptance as a human, rather than just an outcast.

It’s this message, according to Hoff-Lund, which is brought to light in the Foreningen Fixerum’s new book. Entitled Fixerummet der fik hjul: En historie om værdighed (Fix on Wheels: a Story of Dignity), the publication details the journey of the injection room movement and the drug problem in Copenhagen dating back to the 1970s.

As the City Council takes over where the Foreningen Fixerum left off, Hoff-Lund said the organisation wanted to document their work in print.

He hopes the book will act as a preventative tool for young people to avoid drugs, and as an inspiration to anyone interested in social welfare.

“I’d hope to inspire people not to be afraid to jump into deep water when they want to do a project that the government cannot lift themselves,” he said.

“A little civil disobedience can change some big problems in your own neighbourhood.”

30 November - 6 December 2012

Forced marriages targeted Increased punishment and the expulsion of imams among the efforts aimed at curbing forced religious marriages

T

he government announced a package on Tuesday aimed at curbing forced Muslim marriages.

The legalisation will make it easier to expel imams who carry out forced religious marriages and increase the punishment to four years for those found guilty of forcing others to marry.

Ahead of the proposal, TV2 News interviewed a Danish citizen of Moroccan decent, ‘Sarah’, who revealed how she had been taken to Morocco at the age of 15 and been forced to marry her cousin, who is ten years her senior.

“I was totally dead during that period; I wasn’t myself,” Sarah told TV2, adding that she was forced to engage in intercourse with her new husband on their wedding night. “My aunt told me that the guests would not go home until they saw blood on the sheets.”

Sarah warned, however, against associating forced marriages with Islam, saying that “in Islam, it says in black and white that one must not force a person to marry another.”

Still, her experience is one of the reasons the government is

pushing for tougher legislation.

“Everyone should have the same rights when they live in Denmark, regardless of whether they have Muslim parents,” the social affairs and integration minister, Karen Hækkerup (Socialdemokraterne), told TV2 News. “Everyone should have the same rights to freedom, and that is what we want to help people achieve.”

PM Helle ThorningSchmidt foreshadowed the proposal during her opening speech to parliament in October, saying that the government would increase punishments for forced marriages to “show the young people that we are on their side”.

Although it was reported earlier this year that there had not been a single conviction for forced marriages since the former Venstre-Konservative government increased the punishment in 2008, the incidences do seem to be increasing.

LOKK, the association of women’s crisis centres, said that the number of women seeking help – either because of a pending forced marriage or the threat of one – rose from 101 women in 2005 to 660 in 2010.

A representative for the Dansk Islamisk Center told TV2 that his organisation welcomed the government’s proposal. (JC)

Sweden urges city not to legalise cannabis New law allows doctors to EU budget make unemployed wait

continued from front page

File Photo

Lawmakers in southern Sweden have breathed new life into a smouldering Danish debate over decriminalising marijuana

Unions and elderly advocates worry about the potential effects of prioritising the employed when scheduling treatment

C

oncerned Swedish lawmakers are calling on Copenhagen mayor Frank Jensen (Socialdemokraterne) to abandon his efforts to decriminalise cannabis.

In a letter to the mayor, elected officials from 19 local councils in southern Sweden told Jensen they “were against all measures that involve a relaxation of our attitude towards narcotics in the Øresund region”.

Jensen and the City Council have pushed parliament to allow the controlled sale of cannabis as a way to wrest control of the drug trade from criminal gangs.

So far those efforts to persuade parliament have failed, and the Swedish letter makes it clear to the mayor that they feel he shouldn’t press on.

“You run the risk of more young people using the drug if you start selling it in Copenhagen in state-run dispensaries,” Anders Åkesson, the head of the green political party Miljöpartiet, and the president of the Scania regional government, told Sweden’s Sydvenskan newspaper.

The Swedish officials said that Jensen’s plan would “legitimise” the use of cannabis.

Jensen, like a majority of Danes, supports decriminalis-

A

A future promo for trips to Copenhagen? Officials in neighbouring Sweden fear that decriminalising cannabis will have dire consequences

ing cannabis. A former justice minister, Jensen describes police efforts to stop the open sale of cannabis in Copenhagen’s Christiania area as a “vicious spiral”.

“The way we have tried to limit cannabis over the years has not worked. For the past 20 years, we have made it the job of the police to stop the cannabis trade, but cannabis has never been bigger than it is now,” Jensen told The Copenhagen Post in an interview earlier this year.

Despite the support of his fellow City Council members, Jensen’s opinion is at odds with the position of the city’s police, who have recently revamped their efforts to crack down on the cannabis market in Christiania,

largely by targeting buyers rather than the organised crime that controls the market.

Jensen’s stance also puts him at odds with the Socialdemokratled national government.

Despite originally supporting the decriminalisation of cannabis, the prime minister, Helle Thorning-Schmidt (Socialdemokraterne), has admitted she has changed her mind on the issue since 2003, when she herself proposed legalising cannabis on a trial basis.

“I’ve seen how dangerous cannabis is, and the government’s position is crystal clear.

We do not support legalised cannabis,” she told the press earlier this year. (KM)

new law permitting doctors to consider nonmedical criteria such as employment status when scheduling treatment procedures is coming under fire from advocacy groups.

“It seems very odd, and we’re worried that our unemployed members will bear the burden of the change,” Johnny Skovengaard, the deputy chairman of 3F, a trade union, told JyllandsPosten newspaper. “Such decisions should be based on a medical decision alone.”

Currently, hospitals consider the severity of an illness and the amount of pain that the patient is suffering when planning treatment procedures. Those two criteria will still take precedence when the new law takes effect on January 1, but in instances where people are equally ill, hospitals will also be allowed to give treatment to an employed person first.

The law change will also relax a requirement that all illnesses must be treated within a month of being identified. Ældre Sagen, an advocacy group for the elderly, said it opposed the stipulation, which could see some wait up to two months for treatment.

“The way the law is worded makes it possible to give people

different coverage, and it should be removed,” the deputy manager of Ældre Sagen, Jens Højgaard, told Jyllands-Posten.

But the health minister, Astrid Krag (Socialistisk Folkeparti), maintained that the differentiated waiting times weren’t the same as giving better coverage to the employed.

“I have faith that the doctors are able to consider several aspects in their evaluation. They’re not only looking at a patient’s employment status,” Krag told Jyllands-Posten. “The emphasis will still be on whether the patient will suffer by waiting longer before being treated.”

While hospitals underscored that the sickest should always be treated first, they pointed out that such considerations already enter into their decisions.

“In some cases, it would make sense to prioritise the single mother rather than a married mother who had someone she could share responsibility with,” Mads Koch Hansen, the head of medical association Lægeforeningen, said.

The new health law follows PM Helle Thorning-Schmidt’s pledge during her opening address to parliament to implement a new guarantee that would result in a maximum treatment waiting time of two months and a diagnosis within 30 days. (CW)

in one country benefits all.”

Van Rompuy added that the breakdown in talks was not unusual given how many interests need to be balanced in the budget.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel also stressed afterwards that the talks were constructive and that, by the time they resume, there is a good chance a compromise will be found.

“There is a potential for an agreement,” Merkel said according to EU news website Euractiv.

“The unanimous view of the 27 leaders is that we can reconcile differences and bridge differences of opinion.”

Many EU countries are fighting to have their contribution to the budget discounted, among them Denmark, which has already budgeted a one billion kroner discount into its national budget for next year.

In the run-up to the negotiations, PM Helle ThorningSchmidt (Socialdemokraterne) said she would veto a budget that did not contain the rebate, and after the dissolution of the talks, she conceded that she wasn’t able to secure her demand.

“We didn’t get a deal so we didn’t get a discount,” Thorning-Schmidt told the press.

“We talked mostly about expenses rather than income. We expected that; it doesn’t change our demand, which has been the same all along.”

Næstved

Køge

Nykøbing F

Roskilde

Slagelse

You still have a chance!

Did you miss out on the opportunity for the September 12 study start or did you simply make a wrong choice and want to restart in a new major?t Then Zealand Institute of Business and Technology, ZIBAT, can offer you this new opportunity for the February 2013 study start. Most of our programmes are open for admission for the study start in February 2013 as follows: ZIBAT Campus Roskilde: AP Marketing Management AP Computer Science Bachelor in International Sales and Marketing Management, top-up degree Bachelor in Web Development, top-up degree

Roskilde

ZIBAT Campus Køge: AP Leadership and Management (tuition fee applies for all students) Diploma in Leadership (tuition fee applies for all students) ZIBAT Campus Næstved: AP Commerce Management Bachelor in International Sales and Marketing Management, top-up degree ZIBAT Campus Slagelse: AP Service Hospitality and Tourism

Køge Slagelse

Næstved

ZIBAT Campus Nykøbing: AP Multimedia Design and Communication

Nykøbing F Application deadline is 1. December 2012 (or until all available seats are taken). Don’t miss out on this opportunity since only a few seats are available for the February admission.

You find us on www.zibat.dk

Make your choice

- ZIBAT

.dk

8

OPINION

THE COPENHAGEN POST CPHPOST.DK

In DNA we trust

30 November - 6 December 2012

Let us be inspired by Jonas SCANPIX/NILS MEILVANG

If we’re wary about letting Google keep our credit card numbers, why would we risk giving the state our biological blueprint?

W

ITH ALL the personal information we entrust to private companies and public agencies, it’s something of a paradox that resistance to DNA registries remains so staunch despite their apparent benefits when it comes to solving crimes and – possibly more importantly – proving people’s innocence.

Whether it’s pictures of our children on Facebook, our Google search patterns or our supermarket purchasing habits, we more than willingly give up information about ourselves to private companies under the pretext of making our lives easier. In essence, though, the information we volunteer is used by companies to create our digital profiles and, in the end, use them to earn money.

When it comes to registering citizens’ personal data, noone outdoes Denmark. Here, personal records ranging from tax information to library withdrawals are recorded using your CPR number. According to the office that manages the CPR database, the registry contains “fundamental information about every resident in Denmark”.

Now, following two recent stabbing deaths, as well as the Funen sexual attacks on two young girls apparently carried out by the same man, many are now beginning to ask whether that “fundamental” information should now also include our DNA. The arguments for and against are well-worn paths. Keeping DNA records would allow us to clear up crimes quickly and possibly even prevent a criminal from committing a second offence before the police have a chance to use traditional investigative methods to find the suspect.

The counter-argument is that while the intent may be benign, placing something as fundamental as our genetic blueprint into someone else’s hands could lead to its misuse. And with the pace of technological development, identity theft could take on a horrid new dimension should our DNA be hacked from official databases.

While both camps have strong arguments in support of their position, it’s worth questioning whether DNA registries are ultimately necessary. The recent spate of as-yet-unsolved crimes aside, crime clearance rates in Denmark, particularly for murder and other forms of gross bodily harm, are extremely high. And, contrary to how it is portrayed in popular fiction, DNA is not a crime fighter’s silver bullet. It is far from certain that a DNA registery would help solve more crimes than police do today.

Run properly, DNA registries would offer hope that crimes could be solved more quickly, particularly in cases in which it is feared the perpetrator will strike again. Given the chance for misuse, that seems like an uneven trade-off. Handing over our DNA to the state would just give us one more organisation we need to be suspicious of when they tell us they aren’t being evil.

Denmark’s only English-language newspaper

WE WANT TO HEAR FROM YOU

twitter.com/cphpost

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

BYPETER ANDERSEN AND AYO DEGETT

T

ODAY WE bury our dear friend Jonas Sekyere Thomsen who ten days ago was stabbed to death in a nightclub in Copenhagen. Peter, after resuscitating Jonas temporarily before the ambulance arrived, told him: “Jonas, you have not lived in vain. I will make sure that your visions become reality.”

We shall remember and live

by Peter’s words for the rest of our lives. Making Jonas’s visions a reality is, without doubt, the greatest task we have ever undertaken, and it is one we need your help to complete.

Jonas was in every way an exceptional young man. He fought for a better world, and he did so

acquaintance. It was late, and we had just returned home from a party. Suddenly, Jonas runs out from our courtyard, throws open the gate. Just on the other side, there was a woman surrounded by a group of young men apparently ready to attack her. She ran into the safety of the courtyard as Jonas slammed the gate behind her.

Astonished, Ayo asked him how he could have known there was a woman out there who needed help. All Jonas could answer was that he could sense that someone was in trouble out on the road.

From then on, it was clear to us that Jonas was something out of the ordinary.

Let us, together, make sure that Jonas’s mission in life is accomplished. Let us commit ourselves to each other, let us care about each other, let us put more energy and resources into helping the poor, let us do more to assist the victims of war, let us do more to make peace, let us do more to protect the social welfare system that embraces disadvantaged children. Let us promise each other that Jonas did not live in vain.

The authors were friends and roommates of slain law student Jonas Thomsen Sekyere. They wrote this on Wednesday 4 December

READER COMMENTS Bilingual students better mixed I’m so happy to be home. My son is half Danish and half American. He is in a public school in San Francisco with a circle of friends that consist of him, a Somalian, a Philippino, a Chinese, a South African, a Pacific Islander, an Afro-American, a MexicanAmerican, and one (gasp) American Caucasian of mixed indeterminate European heritage (a minority!). Between that bunch, they speak two or three flavours of English, Tagalog, Mandarin, Spanish, Somalian, and one of the other Polynesian languages.

They all go out to the lunch table and dump their lunch bags out, and begin the negotiating process on who is going to trade what.

Every day I throw enough chocolate chip cookies into my son’s lunch so that each kid gets one.

They are on their own with the rest of it. We all think this is all perfectly normal, and nobody’s test scores have gone down as a result of being bi- or tri-lingual or sharing ethnic food. Come on, Denmark. Stop with the silliness and let kids be kids. Guide them instead of bussing them. Encourage the mixing. The world, including Denmark, will be a better place.

Tom By website “Tremendous relief ” after SAS staves off bankruptcy

www.cphpost.dk

in every aspect of his life. He loved and was committed to his fellow human beings like no other. His aim was to create a world that was more tolerant of other people’s differences and allowed people the freedom to be who they were. He showed us that the essence of life is to take good care of those who are in need of help. This is what he devoted his short life to. This is why his life has not been in vain.

Reading his contributions to newspaper opinion pages, it is immediately evident that he was concerned about the world’s most vulnerable groups. He had a special place in his heart for Africa, the continent of his father’s birth, and he believed that the creation of a strong African union would contribute to the cohesion that is necessary for improving the lives

of people on the continent. He remained, to the day of his death, a strong advocate of intensifying our focus on the on-going conflicts of the Middle East, and he was deeply concerned about the most recent conflict in Gaza.

Jonas’s engagement with the world around him was special because he had an ability to always be attentive to those who were in his presence. He was always concerned about how his friends and relatives were doing, and he never turned them away when they needed his help. He had a great ability to take part in other people’s lives and to invite new people into his own life. He made everyone feel like they were someone special. He inspired his friends to live out their dreams, and he planted a seed of hope for our future.

There was indeed something supernatural about Jonas. He was endowed with a rare passion for life and an ability to care for others. In a way, he was too good to be true. And, somehow, it’s not surprising that he was only granted 21 years among us. He was not quite like the rest of us; he was something better.

That Jonas was something different from the rest of us became apparent early on in our

The party never stops. I am actually heartened to see that people are beginning to wake up to the public health problem that this drinking culture truly is. It’s nice to see something discussed, at

the very least, but there needs to be a radical change of attitudes, as evidenced by the bar/school promotion mentioned in the article. And seriously, an adult man drinking with underage students?

What?

HeidiakaMissJibba By website Drinking in schools is so ingrained into the culture. I just can’t fathom why drinking is ever allowed within schools, at school functions or on school trips. At my wife’s old gymnasium (she moved to a better one), there are even teachers that get drunk with the kids.

It’s a strange situation, and I don’t blame the kids, since kids will be kids (young adults, really). In my opinion, this is a question of weak authority that uses the past as an excuse to continue this dysfunctional behaviour. But well done to the handful of gymnasiums that have had the guts to introduce nodrinking rules.

Nebsy By website Shareholders agree to combine Jutland banks Smart move. Next will be the merger of Sydbank & Jyske Bank, which should in turn acquire this new bank. Then we’d have a properly aggregated banking sector in DK, while the remaining few mom-and-pop local banks follow the way of Tønder Bank.

The1youlove2hate By website Value politics in spotlight again after Christmas tree row Why do Muslims have to be Muslims first. Why can`t they be Danes or French or German

or wherever they were born or emigrated to and go about their religion in the quiet and dignified way that most other religions adopt when they are in the minority?

Danishkeith by website

I hope all parties can happily coexist with Danish culture as the mainstream.

Haydk By website

The majority did not want the tree. If the board is mostly Muslim, then that is also irrelevant because the last time I checked, housing boards are resident selected (at least in the one I am in). Just because hardly anyone bothers going to the AGM does not mean anything nefarious is occurring. I would take offence to a neighbourhood of American Evangelical Christians if they were using religious excuses for stopping me doing things. But if I couldn’t be bothered to turn up and speak at meetings, then I would have to live with the decisions made. However, there is no evidence that this was due to the Muslims saying “we don’t like Christmas trees.”

Anj Lawrence By website

So the tax that was introduced to help curb bad eating habits is now just clearly a need to tax.

Rhubidium By website

This is a very stupid move for the board to make. Even if the whole board consisted of Muslims, it wouldn’t mean it is right to deny a Christmas tree, while Christmas trees stand all over Denmark.

Why? Denmark has never been a Muslim country, but one with Christian beliefs. Axing Christmas is really not an integration move; on the contrary, it is a gesture of isolation, especially during the holiday season. I hope the Muslim association in Denmark, if there is one, will criticise such a move for making integration even harder. As a kind bystander,

Opposition condemns ‘secret’ tax increase

Sex purchase ban gets dropped It is unlikely that banning this activity will end it. On the other hand, most of those that “protect” prostitutes usually engage in all sorts of criminal arrangements. In fact, the added competition might bring them down better than any punishment.

Lastly, there are (I hope severe enough!) punishments in the books for those who engage in cartel activity, intimidation, tax fraud, blackmail, human trafficking, exploitation, enslavement and generally organised crime.

If it can be done for the sake of cleaners and waiters, it surely can be done for this job.

Loroferoz By website Yes, we all know that making something illegal puts an end to it, right? All that it does is remove the income from the people who choose to do it and like doing it.

I understand some girls make a very healthy living as escorts and for some, it’s their only income.

This whole thing is just another example of politicians being out of touch with reality and the real world.

Shufflemoomin By website

OPINION

THE COPENHAGEN POST CPHPOST.DK

30 November - 6 December 2012

Tak til Ralf Christensen

S

Still Adjusting

BY JUSTIN CREMER The CPH Post’s news editor, Justin Cremer, is an American who has lived full-time in Copenhagen since 2010.

Asked often if he likes it here, his usual response is “It depends on the day.”

Follow him at twitter.com/justincph

OMEWHAT overlooked amid the political wrangling over the 2013 budget and the headlinestealing elimination of the fat and sugar levies, was the government’s promise to invest 10.5 million kroner over the next two years to improve the handling of family reunification cases at Udlændingestyrelsen (Immigration Services).

The money was part of a larger effort to give foreigners “a better reception when they come to Denmark”. Stating that “a good reception and integration effort has a critical effect on a good start and with it a successful integration into the Danish society,” the package sets out ways to improve the seemingly-always-contentious relationship between Denmark and the non-Danes who call it home.

Among them were promises to provide better personal guidance and quicker processing for individual family reunification applications.

The cynic within me would be quick to point out that targeting the family reunification area is probably a direct result of the brouhaha when Ralf Christensen – a highly connected member of the Danish media – went public with the “degrading” and “inhumane”

treatment he and his wife received when applying for her family reunification in his scathing ‘Tak til Udlændingestyrelsen’ opinion piece. But having already made the argument on these pages that his story only created waves precisely due to who he was, I will now opt to let it rest and just be glad that improvements are allegedly coming.

Specifically, the government is promising to extend the opening hours at Udlændingestyrelsen, increase staffing at peak times and bring down the processing time for family unification applications from seven to five months.

The budget agreement also makes passing reference to providing individual guidance, which struck me as somewhat ironic considering a recent letter I received from the Justice Ministry.

Some readers may recall that at the outset of the year I had my first bid to renew my temporary resident permit tripped up by a ridiculous clause in the housing requirement. To first obtain a permit allowing me into the country, we had to show a lease period of at least three years. When, less than two years later, I had to renew my permit, I needed to show that I had a three-year lease

from the renewal date, despite still being under the terms of the original lease (you know, the one I had to make in order to get a permit in the first place).

Because it is completely illogical, and because we had received phone guidance incorrectly telling us that it wasn’t going to be an issue, my wife and I wrote a complaint.

Over ten months later, we finally received an answer. The Justice Ministry told us in part that in a March statement regarding our complaint, Udlændingestyrelsen declared that it “cannot via personal or over-the-phone inquiries ... give a binding advance commitment as to how conditions of the extension of a resident permit are met, but can only give recommendations on the rules”.

What that seems to mean, after being translated first from Danish to English and then from legalese to something understandable, is that if you call for assistance on something specifically related to your case, you’re not going to get it.

The Justice Ministry told us that it “finds that regrettable” and that it has “noted our opinions” on the fact that the lease conditions seem to defy the rules of time progression.

9

Oh, and that March statement from Udlændingestyrelsen that was referred to several times? Despite the letter saying it was “attached for our orientation”, it was nowhere to be found.

One can only hope that some of that 10.5 million kroner goes to their paper and stamp budgets so that vital documents can be printed and included.

And, if I may, one final note about the budget deal. Despite all of their nutty talk about revolutions and incest, Enhedslisten (EL) still used the budget negotiations to burnish their credentials as the party most genuinely interested in improving the lives of foreigners. In successfully fighting to stave off proposed cuts to Danish language classes, EL’s public face, Johanne SchmidtNielsen, argued that “one needn’t be a professor of integration to see that it is precisely these Danish lessons that are essential for effective integration”.

One needn’t be a professor either to know that throwing a pile of money at a problem won’t make it go away. But while we were all busy with the fat tax, Christensen’s squeaky wheel got a little bit of grease, and for that the government deserves some credit.

Same procedure as last year, Denmark

S

Crazier than Christmas

BY VIVIENNE MCKEE Vivienne McKee, Denmark’s best-known English entertainer, is this country’s most beloved foreign import. Over the last 30 years, hundreds of thousands of Copenhageners have enjoyed her annual Crazy Christmas Cabaret show at Tivoli, marvelling at her unique, wry Anglo wit and charm.

AME procedure as every year James” is the reply given by elderly Miss Sophie to her butler in the famous TV sketch that has become part of the Danish New Year tradition. Every Danish man, woman and child eagerly watches television on the last night of the year and howls with laughter at the familiar lines that they know by heart. This is a perfect example of Danes in their comfort zone. It is all about ‘sameness’.

My Danish audiences tell me that Christmas is not Christmas unless they come every year, with their whole family or their colleagues, to see my Crazy Christmas Cabaret and, ever since we moved into Glassalen when Tivoli opened its first Christmas Market 15 years ago, my show has become a regular feature of the Danish winter season.

We perform the show from November through January to 60,000 people a year and, of course, I am delighted to be considered an integral part of the Danish Christmas, especially as my comedy show is performed (as indeed is the TV sketch) in English

and is very much English humour.

There is nothing more important to Danes than consistency and predictability when it comes to their annual events. Imagine then, their reaction this year, when I stand on stage every evening and announce that, as it is my 30th anniversary, I have decided to do a new style of show. I explain that I do not want to present my usual crazy comedy but instead, I shall be giving them an adaptation of a long-lost Hitchcock screenplay. The usually quiet, reserved Danes respond with a loud and lusty “BOO”, and then happily shout, with my fellow actors’ encouragement: “What a cock up!”

After 30 years of writing the shows, I wanted to try something different, but my Danish audiences will not accept that. They want the show they expect to see, with the usual elements I have been giving them for years: the telephone chat with Queen Margrethe, the panto ‘dame’, lots of audience participation and the oddball Dane, Doctor van Helsingør from Elsinore. Of course I end up giving it to them. It’s Christmas after all!

The one criterion for Christmas in Denmark is that it must be the same: the same height of Christmas tree, the same professionally wrapped presents that can be returned the following week, the same Christmas songs, the same menu, the same candles and (grandmother’s) home-made decorations on the tree ... in short, the same procedure as last year.

Familiarity is a Dane’s comfort zone that he can cling to during the endlessly long dark days of December.

Backstage at the theatre one evening before the show, I asked my Crazy Cabaret team: “What is the first thing that comes into your head when I mention the word ‘Christmas’?” Their quick-fire responses included, in roughly this order: eating, shopping, drinking, songs and decorations. My young stage manager, with a endearing smile, said: “Family”.

I continued: “And now what is your first negative thought? He said immediately: “Family”. They all laughed. This quip was inevitably followed by a list of negatives: over-eating, insane shopping, excessive drinking, ghastly julenisser and those endlessly repetitive Christmas

songs. But they wouldn’t change any of it for the world.

When a Dane wants something exciting and different, he travels abroad.

At home in Denmark he wants to surround himself with what is familiar and makes him feel secure. For a country that does not display much family intimacy throughout the year, why do the Danes rush home to cook and eat and drink and dance around the Christmas tree with the family on Christmas Eve? For a country that is not particularly religious, why are the churches full at Christmas? Because that is what they always do. In this tiny Nordic country where the sun disappears at 3:30pm for many months of the year, this consistency is comforting and possibly not such a bad idea.

So bring on the same ol’ Danish jul with its julemand, julekalender, juletræer, julehjerter, julehygge, julegløgg, julemad, julefrokoster, and skillemadinke-dinke-du, bar´det altså snart var jul. Kan ikke vente”...

We can’t wait – for the same procedure as last year!

CPH POST VOICES

THE WORDS OF ÖZ

THE LYNCH REPORT

YOU’RE STILL HERE?

TO BE PERFECTLY FRANK

BRICK BY BRICK

GRAIN OF SAND

MACCARTHY’S WORLD

CHRISTIAN VALUES

Özcan Arjulovski

Stuart Lynch

Kelly Draper

Frank Theakston

Stephanie Brickman

Tendai Tagarira

Clare MacCarthy

Christian Wenande

NEXT WEEK

IN 2 WEEKS

IN 3 WEEKS

IN 4 WEEKS

10

NEWS

THE COPENHAGEN POST CPHPOST.DK

30 November - 6 December 2012

Panel: Cold Danes need to warm up to expats Debate participants tell icy countrymen to change their ways if they want to avoid foreign skilled workers from slipping away

D

ANES HAVE to take a hard look in the mirror and attempt to answer the question of why Denmark remains an unpopular destination for foreign workers, journalist Martin Krasnik said at a debate last week examining Denmark’s treatment of expats.

“We Danes need a real kick in the arse,” Krasnik told The Copenhagen Post. “It’s not enough to simply point the accusing finger at foreigners and say it’s them that need to change, not us.”

The event, held at the Dansk Design Center, featured a fourperson panel who all agreed that something within Danish society had to change if the country is to have any chance of attracting skilled foreign workers.

“Skilled workers found outside of these borders don’t steal Danish jobs. They create them,” panellist Tine Horwitz, the head of the Consortium for Global Talent, told an audience of 120.

“If we don’t do anything to try keep them to, we risk getting left behind.”

Horwitz is not alone in this opinion. The country’s economy minister, Margrethe Vestager (Radikale), recently voiced her concern about Denmark’s failure to hold on to skilled foreign workers. At a similar event in September, Vestager told a crowd of business leaders that Danes “need to be less pretentious” in their attitudes to foreigners.

Anne Knudsen, another

The panel included (left-right) Nivedita Ramula Eskesen, Tine Horwitz, Torben Møller-Hansen and Anne Knudsen

panellist and the editor-in-chief of Weekendavisen newspaper, insisted that it’s not the Danish stereotype of being cold that’s turning foreigners away, but rather the country’s cultural obsession with structure.

“The Danish workplace is a quiet one. People get on with their job and try not to disturb anyone,” Knudsen argued. “Then when the clock strikes five, we Danes get up and go home. Foreigners may see this as impersonal, but we see it as natural.”

This lack of a collegial atmosphere at work is one that is unfamiliar to many foreigners. Panellist Nivedita Ramulu Eskesen, who moved to Denmark 12 years ago from London, pointed out that colleagues were encouraged to socialise with each other and develop a sense of camaraderie. Knudsen, on the other hand, argued that it would generally be perceived as insincere amongst Danes.

“Why else would you make

the effort to go out drinking with your boss, if not for getting a legup in your career?” Knudsen said.

Knudsen went on to contend that expats are not aware of this attitude and therefore assume that their Danish colleagues are deliberately ignoring them. This in turn makes foreigners feel ostracised and look to other expats for company, which results in the formation of small social groups in which Danes are separated from non-Danes.

Panellist Torben MøllerHansen, the head of Foreningen Nydansker, an association promoting integration, said that the recent Christmas tree controversy is a perfect example of a communication breakdown between Danes and foreigners.

“How do we expect foreigners to adapt to our culture, if it’s our culture not to communicate with others?,” Møller-Hansen asked the audience. “Should we really then be surprised if our cultural views clash with theirs?

Of course not.”

The debate encouraged the audience to consider why expat savoid sending their children to Danish schools, or why so many leave the country after only a few years. Knudsen argued that it has less to do with a foreigner’s reluctance to integrate and more to do with Danes’ resistance to accommodate. She insisted, however, that it’s not that Danes are difficult to approach, but that their extreme sense of modesty makes them unwilling to help foreigners integrate.

“We seem to think that information shouldn’t be shared unless specifically asked for,” Knudsen said. “In our minds it’s only a snob who offers information to unsuspecting individuals who haven’t asked for it in the first place.”

The general conclusion of the event seemed to be that Danes should be encouraged to break out of their sociallyconstructed shells in order for the country to retain its expats, but also that those expats in turn should be taught that they should ask questions rather than wait to be told what to do.

The Copenhagen Post questioned Krasnik as to why the event itself had been held in Danish, and not in English so that foreigners could actually be included in the discussion.

“It’s about picking your battles,” Krasnik said. “We’re considering holding another event like this one in English. But today was about showing Danish companies what has to be done to attract, and keep, skilled expat workers. Once we’ve finished with that battle, we can move on to the next.”

JESSICA HANLEY

COLOURBOX

BJARKE SMITHMEYER

BJARKE SMITH-MEYER

Country gets ‘smart’ with new international rankings Sustainability and quality of life are the latest areas to receive international recognition

D

ENMARK has swept the statistical rankings yet again, this time topping two new international lists.

According to recent findings from Co.Exist, an innovationrelated website from the magazine Fast Company, Copenhagen ranks as the overall smartest city in Europe.

The survey pointed to six key components as indicative of a ‘smart’ city. Of those, Copenhagen soared to the top in both the ‘smart people’ and ‘smart environment’ categories. While the people category emphasised an inclusive society with citizens who value creativity and highquality education, the environmental category cited green buildings, energy and urban planning as top factors.

That sustainability is attractive to more than just Danish citizens – it’s drawing more international visitors than ever before. Wonderful Copenhagen recently reported that a record 56 international conventions have been booked in the city in 2012 alone – up almost a dozen from the 2011 count. And these visitors are flocking to the capital in increasingly large numbers: many of those conventions boast upwards of 2,000 attendees.

How is Copenhagen beating out its European peers so easily?

No surprise here – booking officials again suggested that the city’s green profile – especially

Bicycle bridges: what a smart idea

in regard to the availability of eco-friendly hotel facilities and meeting venues – leads to organisers choosing the Danish capital.

And perhaps those convention attendees can be persuaded to stick around a while. Denmark has also sailed into the top five of the world’s best countries for having a child, according to a recent index from The Economist. This particular survey compared quality of life indicators such as income, health of family life and trust in public institutions in determining which countries offered the healthiest and most prosperous future for a baby born in 2013.

But, alas, Denmark can’t win them all. The highest scorers for quality of life also scored the lowest in the ‘yawn index’ – the extent to which a country might be undeniably boring, despite having other advantages.

So apparently, while those Danish babies can look forward to a bright future of sustainable cycling and 21st century education, they may not lead the most thrilling childhoods.

ONLINE THIS WEEK Westergaard’s Mohammed drawing stolen A MOHAMMED drawing by cartoonist Kurt Westergaard that pre-dates the 2006 Cartoon Crisis has been stolen from a Skanderborg art gallery. An international search for the stolen drawing is underway, with Galleri Draupner, a gallery in Skanderborg that displays Westergaard’s work, offering a 10,000

Unhappily married ready to speed-divorce

dollar reward for its return, and Frederikshavns Kunstmuseum offering to purchase the piece for 50,000 dollars. The drawing was made by Westergaard some five to six years before a similar drawing from the cartoonist was published by Jyllands-Posten newspaper, hurling Denmark into the middle of an international crisis.

A story of dairy projects, dirt roads and developers, values and water pumps, solidarity, successes and shortcomings – and a few white elephants

PARLIAMENT has introduced a proposal that will enable people to get a divorce without the mandatory six-month separation period. “For people facing a strenuous divorce, it can be right not to drag the process out,” Simon Kollerup (Socialdemokraterne) told JyllandsPosten newspaper. “For others

Order the publicatiOn fOr free

it will be better to have a break to think, and we’re not forcing people to get a quick divorce, only the opportunity to do so.”

According to a Rambøll/Analyse Danmark/Jyllands-Posten survey, almost 65 percent of Danes are in favour of the move. The laws have not been altered since 1992.

Life in Copenhagen to become even more of a beach DENMARK may be in for subzero temperatures and snow, but there is some good news for all the beachbums impatient for summer to come again. By 2015, Copenhagen hopes to build a new beach in the Kalveboderne area, at Valbyparken, which is

expected to provide a recreational area for the 100,000 people living in the Valby district. The project was agreed upon two years ago and now looks to be secured after the 18 million kroner needed for its financing was successfully raised.

READ THE FULL STORIES AT CPHPOST.DK

roads and developers, values and water pumps 50 years of development from the Danish perspective

to order danida 50 years send an email to: distribution@rosendahls.dk 1962-2012

NEWS

THE COPENHAGEN POST CPHPOST.DK

30 November - 6 December 2012

Police hunt for fourth stabbing suspect Police are searching for 27-year-old Omar Hassan Sheik Muse in connection with last week’s fatal stabbing of Jonas Thomsen Sekyere

A

T THE time of going to press, Copenhagen Police continued to search for the man they believe is behind the fatal stabbing of law student Jonas Thomsen Sekyere on November 17.

On Sunday, following the arrest the day before of three men suspected of the stabbing, police released the identity of the fourth suspect, 27-year-old Omar Hassan Sheik Muse.

The three other suspects were released on Tuesday, and all denied involvement in the 21-year-old Sekyere’s death from stab wounds at a Copenhagen nightclub.

Reports suggested that there was more than one knife involved in the attack by the toilets of the nightclub Bakken, and that Sekyere had also been stabbed in the back as well as the chest.

Three knives were found by police at the addresses of the three arrested men. However, on Tuesday, police did not attempt to extend their custody and said that the three men – aged 20, 20 and 22 – were no longer regarded as suspects in the killing.

“The three young men are still formally charged with complicity in the killing, but our

POLITI/SCANPIX

PETER STANNERS

The 27-year-old suspect Muse

investigation for now suggests that the killing was a very unfortunate and tragic result of a sudden and brief confrontation.

And we believe there is only one perpetrator,” Copenhagn Police’s Jens Møller Jensen said.

The police statement indicated, however, that the three knives found would still be undergoing further examination.

Police say that their search for Muse has so far yielded no results, which is why they decided to release his identity.

“Of course we have looked for him at several different places, such as at his and his family’s addresses,” Jens Møller told Ekstra Bladet over the weekend.

“He knows we’re looking for him, but because he has chosen not to turn himself in of his own free will, we have chosen to release his identity.”

Members of the public with any information about the location of Muse are asked to contact the police by calling 114.

Arson suspected in Sydhavn school blaze Officials are uncertain whether the new 800-student capacity school will be able to open in April as planned

F

IRE-FIGHTING authorities in Copenhagen suspect arson to be the cause of a powerful fire that broke out on Monday night at the construction site of a new 430 million kroner school.

It took around 55 firefighters two hours to quell the blaze at the school in the Sydhavn dis-

trict that was supposed to open in April.

“Fires normally start in one place, but in this incident there were several smaller blazes that indicates that it was the result of arson,” Copenhagen Police spokesperson Mads Firlinger told Politiken newspaper.

The 800-pupil capacity school was partially constructed, which explained why the flames spread so quickly.

“It was a strange fire because it is an open concrete construc-

tion that was partially fitted,” Bo Skov, a spokesperson for the Copenhagen Fire Brigade, told the Ritzau news bureau. “So it is open to the elements, and that allowed the fire to spread so quickly. The walls were not finished, and the doors had not been installed.”

Skov added that the partially constructed building had suffered damage from smoke and soot, and that the heat had caused a gas cylinder to explode.

The school’s future headteacher, Morten Biering, told

Politiken that it had yet to be determined whether the fire had also damaged the building materials on the construction site.

He said he would now be trying to find an alternative school for the pupils to attend should the Sydhavn school not open as planned.

“This is unsettling,” Biering said “It’s not fun, and it’s very, very disappointing for those parents that had looked forward to enrolling their children in the school”. (PS)

Copenhagen International Family Christmas Party

11

Councils pressurising women into abortions, claim lawyers “Grotesque” practice of advising low-income women of the consequences of having another child blurs legal lines

P

OOR pregnant women are being pressurised into getting abortions by social workers from their councils, according to lawyers that specialise in helping at-risk citizens.

Simone Jørgensen, 21, said that she was pressurised into pursuing an abortion when she became pregnant in September of last year.

“My social worker told me that if I wanted to keep the daughter I already have, then I had to get an abortion,” Jørgensen told DR News.

Several lawyers confirmed that councils have pressurised other young women like Jørgensen into getting abortions.

“I get a call every other month from a woman in this situation,” Lars Buurgaard Sørensen, a lawyer from Brønderslev, told DR. Sørensen called the practise “grotesque”.

Rasmus Hedegaard, a lawyer from Aarhus, said he gets at least one call every month from women being pressurised by their council.

“It is offensive to threaten a mother that the state will take her child if she does not get an abortion,” said Hedegaard.

I get a call every other month from a woman in this situation Hedegaard said that social workers should be offering young mothers security, not threats.

What the social workers are doing is against the law, claimed one expert.

Trine Schultz, a social law professor at Aalborg University, told DR that while the law does give social workers the right to advise families of the potential consequences of having more children, “that is a long way from telling women that they should have an abortion.”

Schultz said that abortion was a health issue and that only health authorities should offer advice in that area.

Peter Brügge, who supervises social workers in Randers, Jørgensen’s former council, said that he felt that the social worker was within their rights to mention abortion to Jørensen.

“I think it is fine to talk about abortion as an option,” he said. “That doesn’t mean we should push anyone, but they should understand the possible consequences of having more children.” (RW)

NGG International School Teacher Vacancy Grade 4 Primary Teacher

SURPRISES FOR ThE KIDS

ÆBELSKIVER & GLÖGG

ChRISTMAS MUSIC AND ChOIR

Teacher vacancy is a Grade 4 class teacher position of 24 lessons per week. The position is from February 18th through to June 30th

MAKE YOUR OWN DECORATIONS

Interested applicants are invited to inquire with a cover letter and current CV to: Vice-Headmaster Karen Johansen on jo@admin.ngg.dk Applicant must be a native English speaker with relevant teacher qualification, preferably with knowledge and experience of the international Primary Curriculum.

cHristMas

Music

Qualified applicants should apply by deadline December 7th 2012

organised by EvEryonE is invitEd & attEndancE is frEE When: sunday, december 9 from 14:00 to 17:00 Where: Marriott Hotel, Kalvebod Brygge 5, 1560 copenhagen v sign up at christmas@cphpost.dk in co-operation with

supported by

NGG ID Cirklehuset Christianshusvej 16 2970 Hørsholm +45 45 57 26 16 www.ngg.dk

Ansættelse sker i henhold til organisationsaftale af fællesoverenskomst mellem finansministeriet og Lærerne Centralorganisation. Skolen bestyrelse har besluttet, at ansættelse sker under forudsætning af ren straffeattest.

12

COMMUNITY

THE COPENHAGEN POST CPHPOST.DK

30 November - 6 December 2012

Three cheers for Celtic: 30 years and several million beers

BY BJARKE SMITH-MEYER

You’d normally associate Celtic with a Glasgow team in Scotland. But not here! In Copenhagen the Celtics are a predominantly Irish club of football enthusiasts (pictured here: two Englishman and an Algerian) who like to drink beer. These men don’t need high salaries, trophies or international caps. All they want is to bark empty orders at their friends, name-call their opponents and perhaps celebrate the odd goal. And what started off as a bunch of Irish and British lads eager to kick a football around has now turned into a not-so-professional club. On November 17, Copenhagen’s Celtic celebrated its 30th anniversary, which it celebrated in style by handing out a few plastic trophies as well

These ‘professional’ footballers were treated to a three-course meal, served between speeches, stand-up comedy and awards

The event was held in a god-forsaken church, which is just as well, seeing as the profanity and drinking alone would have caused the Virgin Mary to blush

Past and present athletes attended the dinner. The young blood will definitely bring joy to older generations (left to right: Marco Rivea, Jussi Paarmas, Bruno Pais and Henrik Zimmer) …

What would the football world be like without its WAGs? Nille Presskorn and Ruth Hjelm, for example, were two trophy wives proudly brought along to the event

Another member of The Copenhagen Post made it to the event: Christian Wenande (centre) proudly showed off his impressive Movember moustache while enjoying a drink or two with Anders Nash (left) and McCurdie

Especially for the ageing footballers who are probably about to hang up their football boots and focus on the drinking days that usually follow retirement (left to right: Kjartan Rist, Phelim McCabe, Peter Streader and Simon Sheard) …

And what would a party be like without the girlfriends? However, the football world is a cutthroat one, as Hassan Lassoued well knows, holding tightly onto Katrine Andersen as Coogan made his rounds

As the evening wore on, Coogan saved the best for last as he announced the official winners of this and last season’s cheap back-alley awards, which any man would proudly show off on their mantelpiece

Such as club founder Coogan, who started the club in 1982.

Coogan, who once played sober but can’t remember when, bragged about the impressive wig he wore for Celtic’s first ever club picture

Others, however, were content with the talent already on offer. The Copenhagen Post’s Ben Hamilton (right) enjoyed a few drinks with fellow club member Davie McCurdie (left)

Russell Collins, who is the owner of youth drama school ‘Scene Kunst Skoler’, picked up the award for veterans player of the season. He didn’t seem to be surprised that he won. Competition must be fierce

Others, however, were very surprised and happy to share the spoils, as was evident with ‘Deano’ (left) and ‘Jonesy’ (right)

13 ABOUT TOWN COMMUNITY

THE COPENHAGEN POST CPHPOST.DK

30 November - 6 December 2012

PHOTOS BY HASSE FERROLD UNLESS OTHERWISE STATED

The French Embassy on Tuesday held an open day at Det Thottske Palæ in Kongens Nytorv to reveal more about the renovation of the historic building. Pictured here (left-right) are Frédéric Didier, the project’s chief architect who is also responsible for the preservation and maintenance of Versailles, French ambassador Veronique Bujon-Barre, and Mogens A Morgen, an architect from MAA, who is also involved in the restoration

The Best Western Hotel City hotel was the venue on Tuesday for a meeting of the International Club Copenhagen that invited German ambassador Michael Zenner (speaking) and members of the German-Danish Chamber of Commerce to learn about and discuss German-Danish relations and our common responsibility in European and international policy

A new book about Danish and Cypriot relations authored by George Kazamias from the University of Cyprus (second right) was the guest of honour at a reception hosted by the Cypriot ambassador George C Kasoulides on Monday at his residence. ‘Danmark-Cypern.

Da vikingerne mødte Afrodite’ (when the Vikings met Aphrodite) is only available in Danish and Greek

A traditional Swedish bazaar, which celebrated its 100th anniversary at Svenska Gustafskyrkan over the weekend, welcomed special guest Princess Benedikte to open proceedings. Pictured behind her is Swedish ambassador Inga Eriksson Fogh

This year’s Christmas Tables at Royal Copenhagen have been decorated by famous singers, including (left-right) Marie Carmen Koppel, Caroline Henderson and Julie Berthelsen

COMING UP SOON Creating value networks

Rambøll, Hannemanns Allé 53, Cph S; Tue Dec 4,17:00-19:30; free adm; register at ww.bccd.dk/Events, event@ bccd.dk or 3118 7558 The British Chamber of Commerce is pleased to invite you to this meeting with Christopher Barrat, who is a leading international speaker and consultant, a senior European sales manager and a director of purchasing. He will discuss the advantages of adopting internal and external networking business models as a means to expand a business’s market and improve its employees’ performances.

Scandia Christmas Party

Sun Dec 9, 14:00-16:00; free adm, register at www.scandiahousing.com/winterexpatevent Scandia is once against hosting a Christmas party for expats and their families. The occasion will include gløgg, æbleskiver, a surprise for the children – we wonder what that could be!

– and “fun activities for all”. You will need to sign up to find out the location.

Refugee Work Group Meeting

St Nikolaj Pub, Nikolajgade 18, Cph K; Sun Dec 2, 14:00-17:00; www.meetup. com/Copenhagen-Social-Catalysts Helping refugee kids is one of the best ways to celebrate Christmas and to begin the New Year. Join this meeting to make a difference while finding new international friends. Listen to their achievements and propose your ideas for 2013.

Christmas Concert in Malmö

Sankt Johannes Church, Kapellgatan 6, Malmö; Sun Dec 2, 17:45; 120kr; www. meetup.com/malmo-internationals/events Spend a night with fellow Meetup internationals at the Monday Night Big Band concert, where a jazzy big bandmedley of well-known English carols will be mixed with newly-composed music by Nils Lindberg.

Family Christmas Party

Marriott Hotel, Kalvebrod Brygge 5, Cph V; Sun Dec 9, 14:00-17:00; free adm, sign up at christmas@cphpost.dk In the mood for some holiday hygge?

Craving a glass of gløgg or a handful of æbelskiver hot off the stove? Then come on down to the Marriott for this year’s Family Christmas Party! Elves and enthusiasts young and old are invited to join us around the tree at The Copenhagen Post’s traditional Danishstyle party, which we are organising in co-operation with DTU and Expat in Denmark. A choir will spread the cheer, as will DIY decoration-making – with both English and Danish instructions – for those looking to deck their halls with some festive fare, as well as a raffle with prizes. No raffle luck? Never fear!

Rumour has it that a special surprise guest will be making an appearance later, and he won’t be coming emptyhanded. If all the presents still don’t get you into the holiday spirit, other spirits await at the Marriott’s Pier 5 bar, boasting 50 percent off drinks all night (and sodas for the little ones), making this event a sure holiday hit for natives and internationals of all ages. Skål to that!

Sunday Movie

Falkoner Biografen, Sylows Allé 15, 2000 Frederiksberg C; Sun Dec 2, 18:00 ‘The End of Watch’ starring Jake Gyllenhaal and America Ferrara will be unreeled for you and your international friends in the dark room of the Falkoner Biografen. Take the chance after the show to discuss interesting features of the movie while drinking a pint or coffee.

Hiking in Malmo

Ottos Runda, Ängelholm Train Station, Ängelholm; Sat Dec 1, 11:15; www. meetup.com/malmo-internationals Join this international group and discover the wonder of the Scandinavian natural landscape and share a picnic lunch and coffee!

Body Language: Romans and Gender Politics

Det Humanistiske Fakultet, University of Copenhagen, Room 23.0.49, Njalsgade 76, Cph S; Wed Dec 5, 15:15-16:30; www.hum.ku.dk Body language varies according to culture, space, time, gender and status. This lecture aims to explore how it was regarded by the Romans and its cultural emphasis on their politics.

Plato on Body and Soul

Det Humanistiske Fakultet, University of Copenhagen, KUA, 14.2.50, Njalsgade 76, Cph S; Mon Dec 3, 14:15-16:00; www.hum.ku.dk Follow this seminar and deepen your knowledge regarding the everlasting questions about body and soul and how they influenced the Athenian philosopher’s way of thinking, which went on to radically affect Western civilization.

Tango y Vinos

Argentinsk Vinbar Tango y Vinos, Herluf Trolles Gade 9, Cph K; Sat Dec 1, 19:00 Copenhagen is a cold city, but it has a warm heart, particularly when it beats to the Argentinian rhythms of the Jazz By Heart Band. Enjoy their music paired with wine and tapas.

Merry Xmas Stand-Up Englishlanguage Comedy

The Dubliner, Amagertorv 5, Cph K; Thu Dec 6, 19:00; tickets: 80kr until 17.00 (table reservation available), 100kr from 18:00, 3332 2226, 5030 7497; www.wisecrackers.dk, www. meetup.com/americans-in-cph Enjoy comedy in English from an international line-up that includes comedians from Denmark, England, Canada and America. Among the headliners are Peter White, Brian Jordan and Joe Eagan.

MARIA ANTONIETTA RICCI

AN ACTOR’S LIFE A resident here since 1990, Ian Burns is the artistic director at That Theatre Company, and very possibly Copenhagen’s best known English language actor thanks to roles as diverse as Casanova, Oscar Wilde and Tony Hancock.

To leave or not to leave

D

EAR READER, hope this finds you well. As I write this, I have only four performances left of what’s been a truly memorable experience performing Harold Pinter’s ‘Old Times’. Small nuances have changed the way we and the audiences have responded to it. Fifty percent of our audience is students of one form or another. They get the chance to study the text in advance and maybe even to act out some scenes themselves before they come to the intimate theatre that is Krudttønden. Teachers, who have taken this path and ask to have an informal chat with the actors after the show, say that it really helps their students’ understanding of how English is used in conversation.

It helps with their confidence, which as we all know is such a fragile egg.

It’s one thing to read a play and another experience to see the words coming to life from real pretend people who are virtually in the same room.

Pinter, though, isn’t everyone’s cuppa tea. Some people must have seen some awful

productions in which it was all Cue a Pinter pause. taken too seriously, or in which the actors treated these famous They still had no idea what was to Pinter pauses like they were jump out at them. I wonder what religious dogma that must be they were thinking as they looked obeyed, regardless of whether at the set and heard the pre-show there was nothing going on in music? I’ll probably never find the minds of the charout, but as the play started acters. Seeing people with Pinter’s fragmented internally counting to and funny dialogue, I five for a pause and could hear them saying then 15 for a silence Sorry, just things like: “What’s this is deadly. I know. I’ve not for us! all about?” Or words to seen it and, because I’m that effect, without adda considerate person, ing the expletives interhave left at a suitable moment jected into their short sentences. during the proceedings.

After ten minutes, they decided It was a course of action that they’d made a mistake and that three young Østerbro almost apologetically collectively hoodies didn’t take earlier this stood up and walked out. “Sorry, week. They must have been out- just not for us!” one said as they side the theatre just before 8pm left. and saw lots of teenagers piling A part of me admires them in. “What’s going on in there?” for being curious in the first they must have thought and place and for having the bottle decided to find out. They came to chance it, to find out what in at the very last minute, tell- was going on. You can’t please ing the person on the door that everyone, as someone much they were with one of the stu- wiser than yours truly once said. dent groups. This ruse worked Indeed, you will drive yourself and all of a sudden they found mad if you try to. themselves in a dark room with If you came to see it on your 97 other people. There were own accord, then thanks. If you three places left by chance, didn’t, maybe we’ll see you for the which they duly took. The seats next production. were in the front row.

All the best, Ian.

14

COMMUNITY

THE COPENHAGEN POST CPHPOST.DK

30 November - 6 December 2012

Cakes and pies for good old boys drinkin’ whiskey and rye CHRIS LONDON

JULIE RALPHS Imagine a pudding that makes you sing: “This will be the day that I die … happy, because ‘American Pie’, a new cookbook by two American expats, has got hundreds of them

A

MERICAN PIE’ is a new Danish-language cookbook by two American expats in Denmark, filled with loads of mouth-watering recipes and photos that will transport you back to all those warm and fuzzy Kodak moments from your childhood. It’s the perfect stocking-filler for a taste of home this Christmas.

One glance at this deliciously designed book − with its sumptuous recipes and images of homemade pies, cakes, cookies and sweet treats − and don’t be surprised if you feel like you’ve died and gone to heaven. ‘American Pie’ is all about the love of baking − and giving.

It conjures up memories of Christmas, New Year’s, Valentine’s Day, your birthday − hey, any excuse to immerse yourself in the flavours, smells and other sensations of home sweet home.

Authors Grace Wilson Løvig and Erin Eberhardt Chapman are walking-talking success stories, having already made a name

This is one American Pie you won’t be saying “Hej hej” to at Xmas

for themselves in Denmark.

Løvig is the owner and producer/ creative director of her own production company, GraceLand Productions. And Chapman is the owner and creative director of her own ad agency, Sweet Creative. Their passion for culinary arts led to the co-creation of this cookbook, which has just been featured on Danish TV and is appearing in other high profile venues as we speak.

Løvig hails from Hawaii and is a trained sous chef. She’s worked at upscale hotels like the Ritz Carlton on Hawaii, was the catering director at the Campton Place Hotel in San Francisco, and earned a reputation as the coolest coffee shop baker in Seattle.

“I grew up with a mom who rarely followed a recipe,” she explains.

“She has this incredible, innate ability to combine ingredients and make the most outrageously delicious creations, like bread pudding with whiskey sauce, chocolate fudge and the Mauna Loa coconut cream pie most kids only dreamed of. She taught me how to use my senses as a ‘GPS’ for baking. I was also inspired by my grandmother, who owned a family-style restaurant, where I had the privilege of working as a teenager under her watchful eye. When I later moved to Denmark and met Erin, we both missed authentic American food. We also missed something else – the true spirit

BRITISH CHAMBER OF COMMERCE IN DENMARK

of giving.”

Chapman grew up in the farmlands of Illinois and the north woods of Wisconsin.

“My earliest memory of wanting to bake my own goodies was the feeling of extreme jealousy when my friends next door got a new ‘Easy Bake Oven’ – a popular children’s toy that ‘baked’ small cakes with the heat of a light bulb,” she remembers.

“For some reason, I never got one and felt really frustrated.

In our house, we equated food with love. Especially pies. The women baked it, the men ate it, and the men loved the women for it. When I was little, my mom let me ‘help’ her in the kitchen, which meant that I got to lick the spoons when she was finished mixing. My biggest baking accomplishment was when I met my future Danish husband.

I quickly discovered he had a major sweet tooth (yay for me!) and after about three weeks of dating, I made him a deep dish, double crust apple pie. Let’s just say it definitely ‘sealed the deal’.”

Løvig and Chapman’s mutual affection for baking has been the single most important ingredient in their friendship.

“Baking has been our virtual way back home during the long, dark winters in Scandinavia,” claims Løvig. Their gift for giving has proven to be the key to opening the hearts and minds of

everyone they’ve encountered.

‘American Pie’ is their response to the overwhelming joy and enthusiasm that their gifts of pies, cakes, cookies, cupcakes and other goodies have brought to their Danish recipients. “All of our recipes have been tested by our friends, tasted by our children and then added to our ‘American Pie’ recipe box to share with Scandinavia,” smiles Chapman.

If the mere mention of lemon meringue pie, rocky road bars, peanut brittle and snickerdoodles brings a nostalgic tear to your eye, then run don’t walk, and order a copy for yourself – or as a gift. And if your Danish partner has never really experienced iconic American treats like apple pie, key lime pie, New York cheesecake, triple layer dark chocolate cake or Mississippi mud pie, now’s your chance to enlighten the uninitiated.

Be warned though, particularly if you’re from the States. All the quantities are given in metric, although there are some handy shopping tips as to where to find the ingredients locally. And while the language barrier won’t prohibit you (with perhaps a little help) from using the recipes, many English speakers might struggle to appreciate their endearing introductions, anecdotes and short references to the cultural roots of each treat.

MOVEMBER UPDATE Kevin

Peter

Christian

Ray

Creating value through internal and external networks Do you want to know more about how networking can help businesses grow?

Learn something about the way some leading firms organise their networking both internally and externally ?

Hear about new approaches to building a network?

Gain a few simple tips on how to network?

Then join us at this meeting, which is being organised together with Dansk Industri’s Expat in Denmark professional network.

Christopher Barrat, a leading international speaker and consultant, who has a lot of experience in the real world of business will both speak at and moderate this meeting.

Having been both a senior European sales manager and a director of purchasing he has a unique insight into ‘both sides of the table’. Christopher has already spoken several times in Denmark, and to real acclaim. His style combines sharp insight, a wicked wit, and a great ability to engage with an audience on the issues that are important to them.

Venue 4 December 2012 17:00-19:30 Rambøll Hannemanns Allé 53 2300 København S (Ørestad)

This event is free of charge.

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

If you would like to attend then please send us an email (event@bccd.dk) or call +45 31 18 75 58 • official media partner Denmark’s only English-language newspaper

T

HIS WEEK will conclude the month of moustaches. But it’s not a time for mourning, rather a time for reflection and bragging. Especially amongst The Copenhagen Post’s ‘Movember’ers’, who as a team are close to finishing in the top 40 in the Danish Movember charts.

Christian Wenande looks set to settle for second place with 1,190kr to his name. In third place is our editor-inchief, Kevin McGwin who has managed to raise 901kr. Trailing at the back are Peter Stanners, and Dima Paranytsia who currently have 725kr and 125kr respectively.

But the number one Movember man is Ray Weaver, who has managed to raise an incredible 1,297.50 kr in a week to put him in 98th place in Denmark.

But there are still two days left in which anything can happen.

Search for ‘The Copenhagen Post’ team on dk.movember.com, and help us with the final push!

SPORT

THE COPENHAGEN POST CPHPOST.DK

30 November - 6 December 2012

15

No Indian summer, but just try stopping the sub-continent’s answer to rugby BJARKE SMITH-MEYER As Denmark prepares for the start of its first ever Kabaddi World Cup on Saturday, the head of its federation predicts a bright future for the wrestling-based contact sport

T

HE SPORT of kabaddi is not exactly well known in Europe. Nevertheless, Denmark is putting its final preparations together for the national team to compete in the third Kabaddi World Cup in Punjab from December 1-15. A modest 15 teams (that include Norway, Italy, England and Scotland) will compete for the title, which comes with it a healthy 500,000-dollar first prize.

That’s a lot of cash for a sport that no-one seems to have heard of. However, it is not the first time Europe has been exposed to the incognito activity. It first emerged at the Berlin Olympics of 1936 where it was showcased before being named an official sport at the Calcutta Indian Olympics two years later.

Since then, kabaddi has only really thrived in Asia, but with great success. So much so that it was named the national game of Bangladesh in 1972. However, in Europe, the game never seemed to catch on. It was in fact only discovered two years ago by Allan Bo Jakobsen, the first ever head of the Danish Kabaddi Federation.

“It was all very haphazard,” Jakobsen explained. “I was in Iran on business and was randomly invited to a kabaddi game. But the minute I saw it, I was completely captivated.”

What drew Jakobsen to the sport was the game’s mix of simplicity and high strategy. Circle kabaddi − one of the many variations of the sport, which is the type of kabaddi preferred in Punjab − can almost be described as an adult form of ‘tag’.

Two teams of ten are separated by a line running across a circle that has a circumference of 30 metres, and they take turns (as ‘raiders’) to run into the opposing side to ‘tag’ an opponent and sprint back into their own half without getting wrestled to the floor.

“Yes, it looks simple on the

“Touch me and I will take you down. That’s a promise.”

surface,” Jakobsen admitted.

“But when you start to take raider techniques into account and how to counter them, it very quickly becomes a tactical game of deception.”

Another deceptive aspect of kabaddi is that the sport is actually played all over Europe. But, as the head of Danish kabaddi points out, you just have to know where to look.

“I looked into it when I got back from my Iranian trip, and I found to my great surprise that the game was played by a great number of Asian immigrants in this country,” Jakobsen said.

Introducing Danes to the grassroots sport proved problematic to start with, but it wasn’t long before kabaddi’s popularity started to grow, especially among women. So much so that, out of the ten athletes travelling to Punjab with the woman’s kabaddi team, only two of them are ethnically Asian. The rest are blonde and blue-eyed Danes. Half the men’s team are also ethnic Danes.

However the real success in Jakobsen’s eyes has nothing to do with how many ethnic Danes

are on the team. To him, it is the simple fact that the game is culturally merging different nationalities together through the common love of the sport.

“We live in a globalising world,” Jakobsen explained.

“And while some focus on the differences between cultures, I focus on the similarities. And sport is one big similarity we all seem to share.”

But while Jakobsen firmly believes in the utopian power of Kabaddi, he also admits that the sport would never have gained the momentum it has in Denmark, had it not been for him.

“No. Kabaddi would probably not have had the same success here, had it not been run by a Dane,” Jakobsen said. “If I were Pakistani or Iranian, the sport would most likely have been ignored by other Danes.

It’s sad but true.”

No sport exists without controversy. And while breaking cultural barriers may be difficult enough as it is, the plethora of doping cases against athletes at last year’s Kabaddi World Cup left an ugly smear on the growing sport.

At last year’s Kabaddi World Cup, a total of 53 out of 220 athletes tested positive for performance-enhancing drugs. This revelation caused India’s national anti-doping agency to publically announce it was “shocked by the high number of positive cases”.

Players from Britain, the US, Italy, Spain, Australia, Norway, Germany, Argentina, India and Pakistan were all accused of doping and barred from further participation in the event.

“That was a very unfortunate thing to have happened,” Jakobsen admitted. “But I can state with total confidence that Denmark’s national men’s and women’s teams are 100 percent clean.”

However, when asked if he, as the head of the Danish Kabaddi Federation, routinely carried out doping tests amongst his Danish athletes, he said no.

“We don’t have the financial means to carry out those types of check-ups,” Jakobsen confessed. “But all professional Danish kabaddi athletes have signed contracts in which it’s made very clear that any form of drug-taking is completely illegal.”

Then again, with Scandinavians been statistically ranked among the tallest in the world (according to the Journal of Annals of Human Biology), Danish players may already have an unfair advantage over their international opponents.

“Not at all,” Jakobsen said.

“Technique is what rules in kabaddi. Size doesn’t matter.”

With the powerhouses of kabaddi competing in the forms of Pakistan, India and Iran, Jakobsen doesn’t feel that the men’s team has much of a chance. However, Jakobsen is quietly confident that the women’s team has an outside chance of competing for top honours.

“I think we can really create a stir at this year’s World Cup, but it’d be a dream to win it,” Jakobsen said. “However, we’re no tourists. We know what we’re doing and will look forward to every game. But it’s also about keeping your feet firmly planted on the ground.”

As for the future of European kabaddi, Jakobsen feels that its growing popularity will continue but insists that fans will have to be patient. For,

while the sport is making some headway in Denmark, Jakobsen thinks other countries haven’t tried hard enough to integrate the sport into local culture.

“Norway for example hasn’t really been able to get an ethnic mix of Asians and Norwegians in their team,” Jakobsen said. “And that’s a shame. If we don’t use these kinds of sports to help integrate a society, then we’ll only end up with small foreign teams in foreign countries. That’s not integration. That’s isolation.”

An astute observation, perhaps ... or maybe just the first signs of a Scandinavian rivalry seeping through ahead of the World Cup?

FCK’s bid still alive

Under-19s impress

Shakhtar cheat banned

Trio on top

A WINNER 14 minutes from time against Norwegian outfit Molde last week on Thursday ensured FC Copenhagen remain in contention to qualify for the knockout stage of the Europa League. The Lions will now need to beat group leaders Steaua Bucharest, who lost 1-5 to Stuttgart, at Parken on December 6 by a better result than the 1-0 loss they suffered in Romania.

THE UNDER-19 men’s national football side will await the draw for the elite round, the final round of qualifying for the 2013 European Championship, with confidence after ensuring they enter it as one of the top seeds. A 3-0 win on Monday against Finland was enough to top their group with maximum points. Lithuania will host the finals between July 20 and August 1.

UEFA HAS banned Shakhtar Donetsk striker Luiz Adriano for one game after finding him guilty of a “violation of the principles of conduct” when he scored a goal from an uncontested drop-ball against FC Nordsjaelland last week on Tuesday in the Champions League.

Rinat Akhmetov, the owner of Donetsk, had earlier called the action “unacceptable” and said he was “deeply disappointed”.

FOLLOWING on from the recent exploits of footballer Viktor Fischer, 18, for Ajax, two other young Danes are also excelling.

Golfer Thorbjørn Olesen, 22, has broken into the world’s top 50 for the first time – an achievement that will see him invited to all the majors should he remain there. While Olympic gold medallist Lasse Norman Hansen, 20, has been named the Danish cyclist of the year. “It’s f**king great,” he told media.

None of the Danish broadcasters currently have plans to show the Kabaddi World Cup, but streaming is possible via PTC News at www.ptcnetwork.tv/ptcnews, and also www.livekabaddi.com.

The men’s first game is against England on Sunday at 11:30am.

Anyone interested in getting involved in the sport should contact Allan Bo Jakobsen on 4733 3498 or visit the Facebook page Kabaddi Denmark.

SPORTS NEWS IN BRIEF Swimmingly good THE NATIONAL swimming team have for the second successive year finished second in the medal table at the European Short-Course Championship – not bad for a group who learnt just ten days ago that their coach, Paulus Wildeboer, is quitting the set-up in January to take up a similar position in Australia.

Their medal haul of six golds, four silvers and two bronzes was bettered only by the hosts,

France. Jeanette Ottesen matched her performance of 2012 with three golds (two relays and the 50m butterfly) but was outshone

by Rikke Møller Pedersen, who won one relay and two individual events: the 100m and 200m breaststroke. Lotte Friis won the 800m freestyle, meaning that once again, there were no golds for the men. Indeed, Viktor Bromer, second in the 200m butterfly, was the only man to medal.

16

Business

The Copenhagen Post cphpost.dk

30 November - 6 December 2012

Ray Weaver

More and more workers are settling for lower wages just to hang onto their jobs

W

hen SAS employees recently made the tough decision to accept pay cuts and longer working hours in order to keep the airline flying, the negotiations were followed breathlessly by the national press. SAS workers, however, were not the first employees at Danish companies to agree to salary cuts.

This year has seen workers at several well-known companies agree to go down in pay, and experts say that more is coming.

Bente Sorgenfrey, the head of the union blanket organisation FTF, said that encouraging members to take a pay cut is sometimes the only option.

“Wages are certainly not something that we like to cut, but if the alternative is a closed workplace, a reduction in pay is a necessary solution,” Sorgenfrey told Information newspaper.

Sorgenfry helped broker the deal between cabin crews and SAS that kept the airline flying … for now.

Flemming Ibsen, a labour researcher at Aalborg University, said that the lower wage trend could continue into the foreseeable future.

“It used to be that workers would rather quit than take a pay cut, but more and more Danes are accepting lower pay and longer working hours as the new real-

ity,” Ibsen told Information. and we can see that our wages Last month, employees are very high when compared to at retail giant Jysk agreed to a those of our trading partners.” deal that would see new hires Jan Villadsen, the head of start working at 25,000 kroner transport sector at trade union less per year than those already 3F, however, said that cutting on the job. Current employees, wages is the wrong way to go. meanwhile, will receive no raise “I do not think that wage until those new hires make up cuts are the solution to anythat difference in salary. Work- thing,” he told Jyllands-Posten ers also gave back their paid newspaper. “We have seen comlunch break. panies experiment with pay cuts, Last summer, employees and it hasn’t helped. SAS has at Inspiration stores agreed to tried this several times.” across-the-board wage cuts that The leadership of the labour the company – which has been confederation LO said that part operating in the red for several of the problem is that too many years – said were necessary if workers do not even understand they were to stay in business. how their salaries are negotiated.

Even the sacred hot dog Seventy percent of Danes stand isn’t believe that wages safe from are fixed at the hard times: political level, acemployees at cording to a sursausage maker Our wages are very vey conducted by La n g elæ n d er the confederation. r e l u c t a n t l y high when compared LO and its affilitook a ten perated unions have to those of our cent cut last launched a camspring. paign that aims trading partners Over 40 to increase knowlpercent of edge about colDanes queried in a recent sur- lective bargaining agreements vey said that they would be will- and to increase support for the ing to take a pay cut if it meant unions. saving their job.

Professor Henning Jørgensen Mads Lundby Hansen, the from Aalborg University said that chief economist at the liberal Denmark does not have a minithink tank Cepos, said that job mum wage. Wages are established cuts during the financial cri- during negotiations between sis have left those still working trade unions and employers’ ormore willing to take a reduction. ganisations. Things get compli“Many jobs have been lost cated, he said, when government during the crisis, both skilled and leaders get involved in those talks. unskilled, which creates downThe finance minister, Bjarne ward pressure on wages,” Hansen Corydon (Socialdemokraterne), said. “Danes are sensible people has been under fire for what

Job seekers getting desperate Flood of applicants vie for jobs created by government employment package

A

s a result of the government’s recently-passed emergency legislation to create 12,500 jobs, employers are getting bombarded by applications, according to the weekly newsletter A4.

A job advert seeking someone to do odd jobs in the kitchen, cafeteria and offices at Lise Hall in Varde generated 130 applications.

The head of Lise Hall, Henning Mernø, said he had expected just a handful of applications.

“Of the 130 applicants, 100 are unemployed and about to fall out of the benefit system,” Mernø told A4.

Around 38,000 Danes will lose their unemployment benefit, dagpenge, next year when a reform kicks in that halves the length of time that the unemployed can claim dagpenge to two years. The reform also doubles the length of time they have to be in full-time employment before being entitled to the benefit from six months to a full year.

Recently-passed legislation earmarked 115 million kroner of next year’s budget to finance an akutjobpakke, a jobs package

designed to tackle the problem by allowing the long-term unemployed to have first crack at the jobs created in both the public and private sectors, and by paying employers 25,000 kroner for every job created specifically for someone who has run out of dagpenge.

Paul Henry Dyrvig, the owner of Solo Rengøring, a cleaning company in Fredericia, said his ad for an opening for cleaning help attracted over 100 applicants.

“I received applications from as far away as Copenhagen and from candidates with advanced educations,” said Dyrvig. “The desperation that the unemployed are feeling right now really hit me.”

Only three out of every ten jobs created by the package are currently in the private sector, according to A4. Since the first job available under the new programme was advertised on November 4, a total of 589 jobs have come online. Only 179 of those are with private companies.

DA chief consultant Jørgen Bang-Petersen said that more private sector jobs are on the way and that “the balance between public and private jobs should even out by the end of the year.” (RW)

Colourbox

Downwardly mobile

Better to have a little less in your pockets than to have no job at all, many are reluctantly accepting

many saw as improper behaviour during the recent SAS negotiations after he sent an SMS to union officials telling them that “it would be tragic if SAS doesn’t survive.”

But it’s not just politicians.

Hans Nicolaisen, a small business owner in Horsens, believes that both workers and unions are part of the problem when it comes to wages in Denmark.

“Wages have been too high in Denmark for too long and the unions have too much power,” Nicolaisen told The Copenhagen Post. “If a business owner makes a mistake paying a worker, instead of just paying the worker whatever the difference is, the union wants a 50 or 60 thousand kroner fine on top of it. They are running businesses out of Denmark.”

Nicolaisen said that it is easy

for the government and the unions to promise high salaries and pay for things like snow days and higher pensions, but the money has to come from somewhere.

“You have no rights as a business owner; workers have all of the power,” he said. “They can steal from you, and if you fire them, they will find a way to have the union kick you in the balls.”

Sorgenfrey expects that companies will continue to trim wages, and that unions will have to struggle to maintain Danish salaries at their current levels.

“Wages are one of the major costs of doing business, so it is natural to look at them as something to cut,” she said. “I am not sure it is the right way to go because lower wages reduce an employee’s purchasing power.”

Ibsen said the pay cuts could be felt at every level, but unskilled

and low-paid workers have the highest risk of being forced to take cuts in the coming years if they want to keep their jobs.

“We are already working more hours because of the new closing laws,” a 16-year old Rema 1000 employee who did not want their name in this story told The Copenhagen Post.

“Now they come to us and say that there will be a meeting after the first of the year to discuss cutting our hourly pay.”

Hansen said the gap between those with high and low incomes will grow in the coming years.

“Wage increases among the highly educated will be larger, while wage growth among lowskilled and unskilled workers will be lower,” he said. “We must adapt so that we can preserve jobs that otherwise would not be here.”

UK and Denmark discuss shared energy market Peter Stanners Energy ministers explore connecting UK and Danish energy networks through an eight billion kroner undersea cable

T

he UK and Denmark are in negotiations over the possibility of laying a powerful electricity cable between the two countries under the North Sea. The cable was on the agenda during a high-profile meeting of energy ministers from several north European countries in Copenhagen last week, who met to discuss the creation of a fullyintegrated green energy market.

Speaking to Berlingske newspaper following the meeting, the head of the UK’s Department of Energy (DECC), energy secretary Ed Davey (Liberal Democrat), said that linking the UK to the north European energy network was vital.

“We are only in the preliminary phase and the cheque has yet to be signed,” Davey said.

“But this form of energy infrastructure is very important for maintaining energy security.”

Denmark is connected to the energy networks of its neigh-

bours via cables through which electricity is imported or exported based on demand.

For example, on windy days, Denmark’s offshore wind farms can produce more electricity than the Danish market can use and so the surplus is then exported. And on days when Norway produces high levels of hydroelectricity, cables beneath the Skagerrak strait transfer this surplus energy to Denmark.

The plan to connect the UK to Denmark with a North Sea cable would enable the two countries to benefit from each other’s surplus green energy – the cable would be able to transfer around 700 megawatts, which is enough power for 700,000 homes.

Seen from a wider perspective, however, it is only one of many new connections that are needed to upgrade Europe’s ageing electricity network, which according to some estimates needs about one trillion kroner of investment.

A more secure and green European energy network can be achieved if the hydro and wind power from the north can be linked to the solar power and nuclear energy in southern and central Europe.

The switch over to green energy sources will become more economically sound as it increases in value “Many countries, especially in central Europe, are concerned because they are reliant on relatively few sources of energy,” Davey told Berlingske. “By ensuring better connections, we can minimise this fear, and that will point us in the direction of a more ambitious climate policy.”

Denmark’s energy minister, Martin Lidegaard (Radikale), also hopes that a more integrated energy network will help bring down energy costs.

“I envisage Danish consumers in ten years going on the internet and buying their electricity from a supplier in the UK,” Lidegaard told Berlingske. “A larger European energy market will benefit all European consumers.”

Lidegaard and Davey argue that the larger energy network will increase competition be-

tween suppliers and drive down prices. But Peter Østermark Andreasen, the CEO of Energinet.dk, warns that it’s not quite that simple.

“The base price of electricity is higher in the UK than in Nordic countries, and that could raise prices for Danish consumers,” Andreasen told Berlingske.

“On the other hand, the switch over to green energy sources will become more economically sound as it increases in value.”

While Davey is enthusiastic about connecting to Denmark’s wind energy, the UK energy minister sitting beneath Davey in the DECC, John Hayes (Conservative), recently stated that the UK didn’t need any more windmills.

In an interview with the Daily Mail, Hayes said that “enough was enough” and that “we can no longer have wind turbines imposed on communities.”

Hayes’s statements exposed the scepticism towards renewable energy by many influential figures within the UK Conservative party. The Danish policy on renewable energy is more positive, however, following its government’s announcement to take Denmark entirely off fossil fuels by 2050.

Business

The Copenhagen Post cphpost.dk

30 November - 6 December 2012

17

Saxo Bank cuts workforce by 266

Former employees to sue SAS

Bjarke Smith-Meyer

Christian Wenande

S

axo Bank on Tuesday laid off 266 employees in a move that the company said would allow the Copenhagen-based investment bank to remain flexible in the face of ongoing global financial instability.

“The financial markets are currently at a standstill, and it’s only a matter of time before that starts to have an effect,” Ditte Buchwald, Saxo Bank’s head of human resources, said in a press release. “We have therefore decided to adapt to the situation, which sadly comes at a cost.”

Buchwald said the bank would do everything in its power to help support its former employees.

By noon, 168 had received their severance packages and were walking out the door that meeting we were told 168 of us would be laid off within the next few hours, which is exactly what happened. By noon, 168 had received their severance packages and were walking out the door.”

Kasper Esbjørn, Saxo Bank’s spokesperson, confirmed that sequence of events.

“We didn’t want to drag it out,” Esbjørn said. “It’s a strategy we’d planned for ahead of time, and we wanted it to be done as effectively as possible.”

Online this week ID theft protection offered Lighting company accuses China of protectionism Insurance company Alm Brand has become the first in the nation to offer its customers an insurance policy that will help in the event of identity theft. “We can see that [identity theft] is a problem that is on the rise and something we have to react to,” Pia Holm Steffensen, an executive with Alm Brand, told Jyllands-Posten newspaper.

A Danish lighting company is accusing China of using needlessly strict safety regulations to delay the approval of foreign products in the Chinese market. Chinese policies require that foreign factories producing goods for China meet strict safety regulations. Foreign

products must also be sent to China for testing in laboratories before they are approved for sale. But Louis Poulsen Lighting’s CEO, Søren Schøllhammer, is accusing China of implementing excessively strict safety regulations to protect its domestic producers.

Read the full stories at cphpost.dk

Former cabin attendants to bring class action lawsuit over pension payments

A

group of 300 former cabin attendants have received the approval of Copenhagen City Court to bring a class action lawsuit against SAS on charges that their former employer illegally reduced their pensions three years ago.

The group indicated that SAS failed to live up to a binding responsibility to make pre-agreed monthly payments into the pensions of its former employees.

On average, each of the employees has lost 25,000 kroner of their pension – a total of 7.5 million kroner.

Fonden Live, the organisation representing the group, said it is basing its case on documents allegedly showing that SAS gave

ployees, while SAS has until December 5 to respond to the summons.

The case started rolling in the spring of 2011 when seven former heads of the A group of 300 former cabin attendants are suing Cabin AtSAS for cutting into their pension payments tendants Union (CAU) began going through a binding pledge about pension agreements, accounts and laws as part of a review of members’ pensizes and annual adjustments.

Per Espersen, the chairman sions. The group identified seriof Fonden Live, believes that ous errors by SAS. The pension case comes hot even more former SAS cabin attendants will join the case now on the heels of a hectic period that it has been cleared to go for- for SAS, as current employees ward. However, people consid- have had to agree to wage reducering joining must do so before tions as well as increased working hours in order to save the the deadline on December 14.

Hanne Magnussen – from airline from going bust.

Fonden Live expects that the the law firm Mazati-Andersen, Korsø Jensen and Partners – will courts will take more than a year head the case for the former em- to find a verdict in the case.

Scanpix Sweden

Investment bank lays off 20 percent of its employees, including 168 in Denmark

The cuts, equal to about 20 percent of the company’s 1,400 employees, come despite Saxo Bank posting earnings of 190 million kroner before tax this year and a reported 21 percent increase in customer deposits.

Saxo Bank said that, even with the job cuts, it was planning on introducing new services in 2013, and that its international growth was also set to continue as planned.

Some 168 of those who lost their jobs on Tuesday worked at the company’s headquarters in Hellerup.

A Saxo Bank employee who wished to remain anonymous told The Copenhagen Post that the process took no longer than four hours.

“We got an email [on Tuesday] morning at 8, asking us to gather for a meeting at 9:30am where we’d receive an important notice,” the employee said. “At

Exchange Rates 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

5.79

5.63

7.35

0.07

0.18

0.83

6.08

9.07

5.64

Buy

6.31

6.09

7.59

0.07

0.20

0.87

6.28

9.43

5.91

Price in kroner for one unit of foreign currency

Date: 28 November 2012

18

culture

The Copenhagen Post cphpost.dk

30 November - 6 December 2012

Bjarke Smith-Meyer

T

he Danish Royal Theatre has cancelled its plans for a play about Amy Winehouse, citing a “lack of permission” to use the late singer’s music.

Koda, the Danish music rights management organisation, withdrew its authorisation, but declined to give a reason.

The play, the creation of the Copenhagen theatre group Det Røde Rum that had previously made a similar play using the music of Alanis Morissette, was intended to premiere in Copenhagen in early January. It was expected to portray Winehouse’s life, her relationship with drugs and her destructive love affair with Blake Fielder-Civil.

Mitch Winehouse, the singer’s father, had expressed his disapproval in October, saying it would be “a load of rubbish”, according to Yahoo News. “They’re only interested in making money and nothing else bothers them,” he claimed.

He correctly predicted that the theatre group would not have permission to use any of his daughter’s songs, despite claims to the contrary from the actress, Johanne Louise Schmidt, who was lined up to play the lead.

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

But in the end, Daddy knew best. (JH)

T

he country has been left in mourning as Sunday night saw the season and series finale of ‘Forbrydelsen’ (‘The Killing’).

Although the rest of the world, who have only just started to follow detective Sarah Lund’s final venture, are still gripped by ignorance and suspense.

Nevertheless, the unsuspecting viewers outside of this country can take heart from the Danish media’s heavy praise for the final episode. Yet they will fear the risk of spoilers leaking out, which are lethal to any storyline that follows a ‘whodunnit’ scenario. One Danish newspaper, metroXpress, on Monday upset thousands of commuters who were waiting until later to see the series by publishing a picture of the murderer on its front page.

It wouldn’t be the first time a popular franchise has been ruined. David Letterman, for instance, managed to let slip the ultimate conclusion to Christopher Nolan’s Batman trilogy on live television. And there was that prank pulled on Harry Potter fans by a group of American teens in 2006, who ruined the surprise ending of the franchise’s sixth novel, by yelling the spoiler at fans who had just bought the newly-released book.

linn lemhag We spent nine weeks with Sarah in the darkness, but now the truth is out

The British media demonstrates just how popular the series has become outside of Denmark. Leading publications have scrambled to get interviews with the show’s stars and are already asking the big questions now that ‘The Killing’ is firmly underway in England. The Guardian, for example, has even speculated on whether Lund will live to see out the conclusion.

Whatever the ending, broadsheets Berlingske, Jyllands-Posten and Politiken awarded the episode high ratings, with Politiken describing it as a “great way to end the

The Nutcracker HHHHHH

www.tivoli.dk

A few cracks, but still magical Franziska Bork Petersen

show” and Berlingske as “fantastically suspenseful”. However, the Danish public didn’t agree, taking to Denmark’s twittersphere to voice their dismay at the way Lund’s final journey ultimately ended. @Nørgaard22, for example, tweeted: “That was probably the worst ending I have ever seen to a series,” while @ananaddoush said: “The Killing isn’t great to watch when you pine for happy endings.”

Tabloid newspaper EkstraBladet seemed to be the only publication in tune with this opinion, calling the show a “waste of Sunday evenings”

Rikke K Mathiassen

D She’s not a preadolescent child, but she sure can dance

duction chooses a dancer. But her childlike looks make her fit so perfectly into the group of pre-teenage party guests that the suggested romance between her and the adult Nutcrackerturned-Soldier seems odd. The choreography is nothing special, and the dancing far from flawless.

And the greatest disappointment is that Tchaikovsky’s fantastic music is played from speakers, instead of by an orchestra.

All this nagging aside – for most the key question will be: do kids like it? And the kids at the 14:00 performance I saw didn’t seem to take offence at the taped music or the weird age dynamics and were mostly watching in awe.

In part, they must have been dazzled by the scenography and costumes by Queen Margrethe.

If not her most original décor, it is beautiful, fun and in many cases shows a great love for detail. The Stahlbaums’ furnishing in the first act looks a little droll, and it is amusing to call to mind that this is a queen’s imagination of a bourgeois living room. In the second act, a hot air balloon flies Clara to a Tivolidreamworld that features all the obligatory sparkle.

And the beautifully glittering spectacle continues after the performance: at least for the few minutes that the ‘Nutcracker’ audience make their way from the theatre through the Russian/ Scandinavian Christmas-themed Tivoli to the exit.

The Nutcracker is playing at Tivoli until December 22. See page G2 in InOut for more details.

thanks to “an ending that offered no sense of explanation or conclusion”.

Polarised opinions will probably confuse the international audience, but the mixed reactions will also keep people curious. The Copenhagen Post won’t spoil the ending, as Time Magazine did after revealing the whole premise behind ‘The Matrix: Reloaded’ before the film’s release.

However, it is advised that fans of the show should avoid Scandinavians like the plague and make up their own mind as to whether their Sunday nights have been wasted or not.

New film to tackle ugly past Land of Hans Christian Andersen also a nation of slavers, says director

T

his year’s version of ‘The Nutcracker’ at Tivoli moves the story of Clara Stahlbaum and her Nutcracker to Copenhagen in the 1870s.

Famous Danes of the late 19th century gather at the Stahlbaum family’s Christmas party, including HC Andersen, the ballet master August Bournonville and Tivoli’s director from 1868-85, Bernhard Olsen. In the second act, instead of to the original Land of Sweets, Clara is transported to Tivoli.

This new context for the Christmas ballet’s core story works well: the illustrious guests give Clara Christmas presents that later come to life in her Tivoli dreamland, and some of them take over the parts of the original ‘Nutcracker’ characters.

But the production struggles with a challenge that all versions of the ‘Nutcracker’ have to face: is young Clara played by a child – which normally means she can do less complicated dancing – or is an adult ballerina cast in the role, which makes her playing under the Christmas tree unconvincing, to say the least.

Casting Teele Ude, this pro-

Who is …

Kim Larsen?

DR/Bjarne Bergius Hermansen

The Danish public screams dissatisfaction, the press praises the series finale and the rest of the world waits in fear of spoilers

DR/Tine Harden

Amy play’s Forbrydelsen’s finale (Warning: No spoilers here) cancelled: No-go show!

enmark’s participation in the slave trade is the focus of a new film being made by Daniel Dencik, an acclaimed documentary maker, whose most recent feature, The Expedition To The End Of The World, closed CPH:DOX earlier this month.

“The Danish mentality is that we abolished slavery, that we are so good and that we are such a small country with Hans Christian Andersen,” Dencik told Screen International. “It is not true. We were one of the major players in slavery. Denmark was a really big, important and hostile nation.”

The film will be called ‘Wulff’ and be set in the 19th century.

Dencik, who describes it as a Danish period answer to Francis Ford Coppola’s ‘Apocalypse Now’, is currently applying to the Danish Film Institute for development funding.

Dencik is the brother of David Dencik, the only actor to appear in both the Swedish and American versions of ‘The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo’.

Niels Arden Oplev, the Danish director who cast him in the

original, recently revealed that he is resisting the temptation to move permanently to Hollywood. Although he is currently Stateside with Colin Farrell shooting ‘Dead Man Down’, he has confirmed that his next film will bring him home.

“In the US I might make a film every third year and make three times as much money as in Denmark,” he told Ekko film magazine. “But I hope that I can alternate between making a large production here and a small intense movie at home.”

Once Oplev has called it a wrap on his current film, which once again saw him team up with Noomi ‘Lisbeth Salander’ Rapace, he will return to Denmark to begin work on a film of Morten Kirkskov’s acclaimed novel ‘Kapgang’ (Race Walking), which he is co-adapting with another Danish author, Bo Hr Hansen. The film is a loose follow-up to his 2006 film ‘Drømmen’ (‘We Shall Overcome’), exploring similar teenage themes like puberty and self-expression.

Oplev, meanwhile, remains very much in demand. The script for ‘Dead Man Down’ was one of 250 he read before choosing to work on it. His choice to alternate between Hollywood and Denmark is increasingly becoming a standard among Danes working in the industry. Mads Mikkelsen is a notable example.

He is a 67-year-old Danish rock musician who caused a media frenzy last week when he compared the Danish authorities with Nazi Germany during a TV interview on DR. So who is this guy?

Larsen, most often seen with a flat cap and cigarette hanging out of his mouth, is a legend within the Danish music industry, having sold almost 3 million records throughout his career. That’s no small feat considering Denmark’s population is only 5.5 million.

And what did he say in this interview?

Larsen compared the Danish troops in Afghanistan to the Nazi occupation of Denmark during the Second World War. Obviously, this hasn’t gone down too well with many politicos. A spokesperson for the opposition party Venstre called Larsen a “political fool”. (But not before calling him a “fabulous singer”. Everybody loves ‘Jutlandia’!)

He might just have a point …

This isn’t the first time Larsen has dabbled in political disparagement … or Nazi comparisons for that matter. In 2008, he spent hundreds of thousands of (his own) kroner on a campaign to protest against the newly-introduced anti-smoking laws that banned people from smoking in bars and restaurants, claiming it infringed on people’s freedom of choice. The campaign slogan read: “Congratulations on the smoking ban – health makes you free,” which was a play on words on the concentration camp slogan ‘arbeit macht frei’.

So he’s a sensitive guy!

Obviously! Larsen has previously said he doesn’t believe second-hand smoke is dangerous, or that those working in bars or restaurants should have any trouble with people smoking inside. He claims never to have met a bartender who doesn’t smoke. We can add well-read and open-minded to the list too then!

The Copenhagen Post cphpost.dk

19

C W Eckersberg

30 November - 6 December 2012

You could say they were surrounded. If it had been a game of Risk, Denmark would need 1,000 sixes in a row to win

Pompeii’s downfall was a volcano, Portugal’s an earthquake, and Denmark’s the Royal Navy Sean Coogan It was an ill-advised move to join Russia by backing the French in the Napoleonic Wars against Britain. It cost Denmark 1,500 buildings, 400 lives and ultimately its status as a prosperous European nation

I

t is eight o’clock in the evening on 2 September 1807 and Copenhagen is ablaze. British firebombs mercilessly strike the city’s roofs like comets crashing from the sky.

More than 30,000 British troops surround the city as their artillery – both on the ground and at sea – send bombs towards the Danish capital. Copenhagen has just become the first European capital city to be struck by a terror bombing, and the British are waiting for it to surrender.

The British destruction of the French navy at Trafalgar in 1805 had made the Danish fleet the second biggest in the world.

Whilst the great nations of Europe spent vast resources on waging war, the Danes profited from using their ships for merchant purposes.

Back in 1801, the world’s largest navy, Britain’s Royal Navy – led by Hyde Parker and Lord Nelson – had demonstrated

their dominance by overpowering the Danish forces in just four hours, thus forcing the Danes to quit their alliance with Russia and a number of other countries who were trying to form a strong alliance of neutral nations.

But by 1807, the British were grumbling over Denmark’s involvement in an alliance once again. Up to their necks in the Napoleonic Wars (1803-15) against their French arch-enemy yet again, in the summer of 1807, a decision made in Russia dragged Denmark into the arena with the raging British bulldog once again. The Russians agreed to ally themselves with the French and threatened neutral Denmark to join forces with Napoleon and boycott Britain, or else.

The British quickly responded by sending approximately 50 warships towards Denmark with a declared mission to force the Danes to hand over their navy. This would prevent Napoleon from making use of the vast Danish fleet, help the British gain power in the Baltic Sea and serve as a warning to the Russians.

On 16 August 1807 – after a two-week naval blockade – 30,000 British troops invaded Zealand from Vedbæk and Brøndby without meeting

any resistance. Within a short time, they had surrounded Copenhagen, forming a cresent stretching from Svanemøllen to Kalveboderne, near Valby. However, the Danes refused the British demands to hand over their proud fleet and declared war on Britain.

Thanks to some excellent canon-heavy artillery batteries in Amager, Copenhagen Harbour

themselves about that.

The British infantry began readying its artillery near Svanemøllen, which could strike the city from four kilometres away. The Danish naval forces damaged one of the British artillery batteries with their gunships, but a second more powerful artillery battery was soon put into place by the strong British forces. The Danish in-

It’s always raining, but even DMI couldn’t have forecast this one

and the heavily-fortified Citadel (often referred to as Kastellet), Copenhagen was almost impregnable from the sea. But the British didn’t have to concern

fantry then tried to advance from Kastellet to move through Østerbro and push the British troops away from Svanemøllen, but without success.

After two weeks of seige, the British sent their last ultimatum: hand over your fleet or else. The Danes did not budge and the first terror bombing of a European capital began at 7:30pm on 2 September 1807.

Some 13,000 Danish troops did what they could to withstand the attacks, but their defence posts were outdated and they were heavily outmatched by the 30,000 experienced British troops and their almost 50 warships. Also, the British used newly-improved firebombs to strike Copenhagen with disregard for civilian losses. The civilian population of Copenhagen, which numbered more than 100,000 people, was targeted to speed up the process of surrender.

The people of Copenhagen ran for cover as a bombardment of unseen proportions scarred the city centre as roof-tops were set alight. After 12 hours of bombardment, the British held their fire. The people of Copenhagen, who had sought hiding during the night, had a chance to catch a breather and take a look at the damage caused to the historic city.

But at around dinner time on September 3, the bombings started again. Within long, the city’s cathedral, the Church of Our Lady, collapsed after the

steeple was struck and crashed down onto the church. The British had been aiming for the towering spire from the beginning as it was visible from a great distance.

More and more civilians left their homes, which hindered the fire-fighting efforts in the burning city. A large fire spread through the university district around the Round Tower – it was only due to a huge effort from the Danish soldiers that the famous observatory survived the blaze.

The Danish capitulation came on September 6. By that time, an estimated 6,000 fire bombs and grenades had rained down on the city, damaging 1,500 buildings and killing 400 Danes. They surrendered their entire navy and its equipment to the British victors.

At the end of October, the British convoy of more than 300 vessels set sail towards the British Isles, leaving Denmark without a navy to uphold their dominant merchant status at sea. Copenhagen lost its status as an important city for trade, and the Danish decision to back Napoleon in his war against the British would cost Denmark the ownership of Norway in 1814 as Denmark’s territory, and status abroad, continued to diminish.

Learn Danish Start the weekend with instructive and efficient language learning

A Danish course at IA Sprog on Saturdays offers: • A combination of classroom instruction, self study and online learning • The newest technology and learning tools • Professional teachers • Speed and level tailored to each student

Busy working or studying during the week?

Try IA Sprog: Contact: 3888 3233

IA SPROG

Hejrevej 26, 2nd floor 2400 Copenhagen NV Phone: 3888 3233 Mail: info@iasprog.dk web: www.iasprog.dk