CPH Post 5-23 October 2018

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On Stages: Looking ahead to an October rich in English-language theatre and musicals

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NEWS 11 shootings in 11 days sparks gangland civil war

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Doctor Death Toxicology professor’s doses a perfect fit for suicide

HIT: THE SKIDS

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Overseas job centres proposed BUSINESS Trillion kroner drain: Amount is now stratospheric

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Socialdemokratiet would like high-street agencies in the likes of Spain, Italy and France

S

OCIALDEMOKRATIET has been busy setting out policy ahead of the next general election, which could be called for this November, but is more likely to take place in May or June.

Its leader Mette Frederiksen has proposed an initiative to make it easier to attract and recruit labour from countries such as Spain, Italy and France, where the unemployment rate is 10-15 percent.

Frederiksen would like to see five temporary job centres set up in the EU where Danish firms can search for and find qualified workers.

Neither Africa nor Asia FREDERIKSEN emphasises

that it is important to get the balance right when it comes to the nationality of the workers.

“I’ll be completely honest and say that I think it would be wrong to import qualified labour from Africa and Asia.

That is the wrong way to go for Denmark,” she said.

“We have to make sure that we can keep up when it comes to integration.”

Minimum too high MEANWHILE, Dansk Industri has said it would like to see the minimum salary that some foreign workers have to earn in order to work in Denmark reduced.

At the moment, it is 418,000 kroner per annum for a person from a non-EU country. DI would like to see this reduced to 325,000 kroner.

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Wild ganga chase

Singing legend dies

TENS OF thousands of commuters were left stranded across Denmark on Friday evening as an unprecedented manhunt closed down a number of the country’s main traffic arteries, including the Great Belt Bridge and Øresund Bridge. But later it emerged the police had been chasing a man without a driving licence who fled because he had been smoking cannabis.

DENMARK’S most beloved singer, Kim Larsen, died at the age of 72 on Sunday in the company of his family. Despite a prostate cancer diagnosis earlier this year, the former Gasolin’ lead singer still managed to fulfil a number of appearances, including one at Smukfest in August. One of his best known songs, ‘Om lidt bli’r her stille’, is the nation’s favourite at funerals.

Hymns sevenfold faster

Aerial photo joy

ACCORDING to a study by Professor Ulrik Spang-Hanssen at the Det Jyske Musikkonservatorium, the pace of Danish hymns has increased seven-fold since the mid-19th century. Previously organ players were prone to inserting flourishes between lines to ensure slow readers were keeping pace. But then an 1853 book recommended a change in pace.

SOME 1.3 million pictures of Denmark taken from the air can now be viewed at skraafoto. kortforsyningen.dk. The aerial photos, which cover every inch of Denmark, are available free of charge – the first time this kind of material has been made available free anywhere in the world, according to the Ministry of Energy, Utilities and Climate.

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THE COPENHAGEN POST | CPHPOST.DK

Kayaks before kindergarten DRAGØR Municipality is prepared to shut down a kindergarten and cut funds earmarked for pensioners’ homecare so it can secure 3.5 million kroner to help build a 55 million kroner waterpark, reports TV2. The park will offer activities such as rafting, stand-up paddling, river surfing and kayaking, and could open as early in 2021.

City to host summit NEXT AUTUMN, Copenhagen will host the C40 Mayors Summit – a climate conference for representatives from 96 of the world’s most environmentally-conscious cities.

F1 dreams dying AROUND 18,000 people have signed a petition to protest against Copenhagen City Hall dropping its interest in hosting a F1 grand prix. Mayor Frank Jensen has apparently advised several ministers to forget about plans that could have delivered the first of three GPs in 2020 or 2021.

COPENHAGEN Police is looking for quiet, stable and brave horses that feel comfortable with a rider in close proximity to people. Preferably the horses should be aged 5-10 and 167175 cm tall.

Eleven days of gun violence in Greater Copenhagen brought to an end by 18 arrests

P

OLICE in the capital region have introduced visitation zones in innerNørrebro (until October 3) and Ishøj (until October 21) due to an ongoing gangland civil war between factions of the Brothas based in the respective areas.

Over 11 days up until September 25, there were 11 shooting incidents, mostly involving automatic weapons, in which nine people were injured but not critically, of which three were passers-by.

Mainly in two areas WHILE the shootings mainly took place where the gangs are based (Nørrebro/Nordvest and Greve/Hundige, near Ishøj), there were also incidents in Glostrup, Herlev and on the motorway outside Roskilde.

On September 26, the police made 11 arrests, taking their total number to 18 in days. It is believed the suspects will all remain in custody for at least 20 days.

Terror arrests IN UNRELATED news, Copenhagen Police and PET arrested two people in Copenhagen on September 26, who are suspected of being part of the Danish-based network acquiring drone equipment and sending it to Islamic State in the Middle East.

The pair have been charged with “participation in attempts at terrorism”, and a police tweet confirmed the charges are connected to “procurement and facilitation of objects – including drones – from Denmark to Islamic State”.

Supreme Court hearing looks unlikely

COPENHAGEN Municipality has been fining mentally-impaired people who forget to inform City Hall of a change of address within the two-week time limit. Last year, the municipality issued 7,170 fines of 1,000 kroner to late informers.

Jumbo idiot Shells empty, street empties

Man from 1987 FINALLY, in what has been a busy month for the city police, they had to deal with a more regular crime when a man drove through a red light, crashed into a taxi and then hit two men walking on the pavement on Gothersgade near Kongens Nytorv.

Things turned surreal when Copenhagen Police chief executive Henrik Stormer told media: “We have arrested a man in Vestegnen and we are talking about a man from 1987.”

It was unclear whether the description was the result of Stormer’s unfamiliarity with speaking directly to the media or his love of time-travel films. (BH)

T

CITY HALL has added Løvstræde and Valkendorfsgade to Copenhagen’s pedestrianised network. Both roads, which link Strøget’s main tributary Købmagergade to Niels Hemmingsen Gade, will be refurbished at the expense of 20 parking spaces and reopen next spring.

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There have only been two such cases since 1991.

Both need to agree BUT SUCH was the depravity of Madsen’s murder, and his subsequent disposal of her body, that the five judges (three professionals and two laymen) came to the conclusion that life should mean life.

As part of the judgment, the court ruled that Madsen should pay 328,246.14 kroner to Kim Wall’s parents and 150,000 kroner to Kim Wall’s Danish boyfriend.

ONLINE THIS WEEK Too quick to fine?

Madsen’s life sentence intact HE ØSTRE Landsret high court last week upheld the life sentence handed to submariner Peter Madsen at the Copenhagen City Court in April for murdering the Swedish journalist Kim Wall in August 2017.

His legal team had argued the sentence should be reduced to 14-16 years, as life sentences are very rarely handed out in Denmark to people with no prior convictions who have only killed one person.

Two more walking streets

Brothas civil war BROTHAS fought Loyal to Familia in last year’s Copenhagen Gang War, and their opponents have since been banned by the government, meaning that members or affiliates can be arrested for associating with them.

Nine have already been (five in Randers, four in Nivå), including several who were not even wearing LTF-branded items. It seems that sufficient grounds can include clothing brands associated with the gang.

HASSE FERROLD

Horses for ‘Morses’

New gang war grips city

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5 - 23 October 2018

A MAN ESCAPED unharmed after jumping into the elephant enclosure at Copenhagen Zoo on September 20. A witness told TV2 that the elephants looked “furious” and it was “miraculous” he survived. The police were called, but the man fled.

Stop shooting my cat!

A WOMAN in Farum northeast of the capital has alerted her neighbours to a triple shooting: of her beloved Siberian cat Pushkin. The poor moggy has been hit three times by airgun pellets near its home on Ingeniørvænget. One left a 9 cm trail through the cat’s body, narrowly missing its heart.

Shrink sent to prison A PSYCHIATRIST has been sentenced to 15 months in prison for having sex with a mentally-ill patient. The unprecedented case hinged on whether the patient was mentally-ill, and Glostrup City Court ruled she was at the time of the sexual encounters between 2011 and 2016.

No longer smiling. We are

Incinerator reopens

For the case to be presented to the Supreme Court, both the prosecution and defence must be agreeable, and it must then be approved by the Procesbevillingsnævnet, should it feel the case is unprecedented. (BH)

AMAGER Bakke incinerator, whose ski slope and smoke rings have become a fixture of the city skyline, is again producing heat and electricity after being out of action for 17 days. The closure was the result of a design fault.

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5 - 23 October 2018

English-language theatre community rocked by arbitrary eviction decision

BEN HAMILTON

I

MAGINE if the municipality of Milano suddenly threw AC Milan out of the San Siro.

“Sorry, this stadium’s going to be used exclusively by Internazionale from now on,” the municipality reasons. “We don’t have an explanation, although we don’t like the way you use the English spelling of our city in your name!”

Founded in 1899 as the Milan Foot-Ball and Cricket Club by two English expats (Mussolini changed the name to AC Milano during his tenure!), you’d be forgiven for imagining its Anglo past had finally caught up with it!

Roots ripped out WELL, a similar thing has happened recently in the heart of the English-language theatre community.

After a year of happily sharing the fourth floor stage at the Huset-KBH culture house with a Danish dramatics group, the House of International Theatre (HIT), which was formed in early 2017 to establish a permanent home for international theatre in the city, was given notice this spring that the space would now be used solely for independent Danish productions.

Just as the city’s first English-speaking theatre space had established roots, they were ripped out, leaving the community the theatre gathered out in the cold. And it was, it seems, all due to the decision of just one official! HIT was given no explanation, and the

decision-maker has already departed Huset-KBH to take up a similar position in Odense.

Bolt out of the blue THE NEWS came as a complete surprise to HIT and its supporters, especially since ticket sales had been gradually increasing and recognition too, while the Danish group sharing the space had been comparatively inactive.

Since HIT opened last year, it has presented an impressive range of more than 30 theatre productions including eight original HIT plays and awardwinning guest performances from London, Sao Paolo and New York. It has provided a welcoming home for tourists, expats and touring theatre groups that often struggle to navigate the Copenhagen theatre scene.

Its late-winter production of ‘Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike’ sold out most nights and picked up a CPH Culture nomination for Season’s Best New Foreign Piece, while its early-winter staging of ‘Slapstick Sherlock’ was also well received and shortlisted for a CPH Culture award.

Strong support “IT WAS a good space, and the centrality was a plus certainly,” lamented Ian Burns from That Theatre Company, who has established his own little corner of English-language theatre at Krudttønden in Østerbro, where his latest play, ‘The Woman in Black’, starts on October 24 (see page 21).

“Sadly, the trend towards isolationism in most countries is manifesting itself here too.”

HIT was backed by Copenhagen Municipality, and the then deputy mayor for culture, Carl Christian Ebbesen, did the honours on its opening day and

Esteemed company (left-right): Jeremy Thomas-Poulsen and Jana Pulkrabek’s guests included the then-deputy culture mayor, Carl Christian Ebbesen, actress Dina Rosenheimer and British playwright John Foster

HIT

After barely one year, the House of International Theatre is asked to pack its bags at Huset-KBH despite irrefutable success

The HIT space brought together a community, who have now been left out in the cold

continued to support the theatre through his final year in office.

HIT also established ties with many of the city’s embassies – most particularly the US Embassy, which was HIT’s biggest funding contributor ahead of its launch – partnering them on international projects while also welcoming them as regular theatre audiences.

Among the other financial backers were Copenhagen Municipality, the embassies of Britain, Czech Republic, Hungary and Austria, Nordea Fonden, the Opticon Foundation, Dansk Kulturinstitut the Hamburg Ministry of Culture and Media and the Czech Ministry of Culture.

Denmark in their debt BEYOND its undeniable local impact and expanding the range of English-language theatre in the city, HIT has also been a major influence on developing the capital’s status as a global player in international theatre – a reputation that is somewhat stilted.

Together with fellow resident group Down the Rabbit Hole Theatre, the German company Manusarts, led by artistic director Jana Pulkrabek, has been using its network these past three years to bring to Denmark performing artists at the very cutting edge of modern theatre.

HIT was only just getting started, according to Pulkrabek, who lives between Copenhagen and Hamburg, which she contends is a great springboard, not just for international groups in Denmark, but also for Danish artists.

“Hamburg advertises itself as the gateway to the world and, in regards to culture, the city indeed

provides a huge range of international activities,” she explained.

“Festivals like the Lessing Tage at Thalia Theater and the Summerfestival at Kampnagel have grown to provide Hamburg’s theatre-goers with an inspiring range of theatre from all over the world.”

A skilled networker PULKRABEK, an established name in Hamburg as the facilitator of cultural exchange projects and international cross-genre productions at the likes of the Kiel National Theatre and Opera House and the Altonaer Theater in Hamburg, uses her connections to approach international trailblazers, such as Miet Warlop (Brussels) and the Kafka Band (Prague), and bring them to Denmark.

Unfortunately, though, the applications for funding aren’t always successful, although she was responsible for the Republique production of ‘The Myth Kafka – World of a Visionary’, which opened CPH Stage in 2015.

A new challenge FINDING a new theatre space at such short notice has proved to be challenging for HIT, and with its future in jeopardy, HIT’s only option is to wildly improvise. “The current situation somehow shifts the mission,” conceded Pulkrabek With less of a chance to present and produce international work in Copenhagen, her current focus is on setting up MOVE THE NORTH, a cross-border festival between Hamburg, Copenhagen and Malmö to create closer cultural ties between Scandinavia and central Europe and give HIT the

ability to present local Danish productions abroad.

Inspired to continue JEREMY Thomas-Poulsen of Down the Rabbit Hole Theatre, the resident artistic director at HIT, was the other driving force behind its emergence as a serious contender over 2017 and early 2018.

Thomas-Poulsen has been living and working in Copenhagen for the past eight years, earning his breakthrough with the CTC staging of ‘Pygmalion’ in 2015 – a momentous year in which he helmed two other acclaimed productions. He has also worked in Danish-language theatre, as well as in Hamburg, Oslo and the US. “As an internationally working director, I recognise the challenges for foreign artists in Copenhagen and have felt privileged to bring the community together with their Danish colleagues by offering a venue for regular collaboration and networking,” said Thomas-Poulsen, who is currently directing international work in Malmö and touring some of his HIT shows nationwide.

“All of this international activity can increase HIT’s potential to offer this city a strong international platform for English-language theatre on a permanent basis,” contended Pulkrabek and Thomas-Poulsen.

“We have opened a dialogue with Copenhagen Municipality and are actively looking for a new venue.”

The commitment they found among the community of artists who supported them in their first year, they conclude, is an inspiration and driving force for finding new solutions.

sing room also with a French balcony. 35 kvm garage. droom with a French balcony connected to a bathroom through a dresleading to a terrace. First floor contains two rooms, a wc and a master be- 23 October 2018parquet flooring. All living rooms have French doors ce5 and herringbone great living rooms en-suite as well as a two-tiered living room with fireplahall with a staircase to the first floor, minimalistic and stylish kitchen, two with paned windows and green shutters. The ground floor has a beautiful street lamps. The estate was built in 1928 andSEPTEMBER appears well maintained ON 12, the EuroMagnificent British-inspired Danish government’s fundsvilla forlocated on a charming avenue with gas

Secessionists thwarted

Landmark decision?

pean Parliament voted in favour Beautiful Villa oninaGreenCharming airport improvements of a Avenue directive designed to ensure land could scupper independence Fabritius Alle 14 - 2930 Klampenborg artists are remunerated fairly, the bid ‘Directive on Copyright in the Digital Single Market’. However, ROSS MCPHERSON critics claim this could be the end of a free internet in Europe as the ENMARK has offered to legislation could lead to censorplough 700 million kroner ship of speech. into three airport projects in Greenland. If approved, DenFunds for crises mark will become a co-owner of refurbished and extended air- THE DEVELOPMENT minports in Nuuk and Ilulissat and ister, Ulla Tørnæs, has pledged a new one in Qaqortoq. to earmark 410 million kroner Additionally, Denmark is for humanitarian efforts in some open to guaranteeing a further of the world’s most serious flashloan of 450 million kroner from points. The funds will help aid the Nordic Investment Bank at crises in war-torn regions in Syra low interest rate. ia, Afghanistan, Yemen, South Sudan, Libya and Myanmar.

Unhappy secessionists GREENLANDIC secessionists Swine fever closer are unhappy, as they believe it might derail the island’s bid for AFRICAN swine fever has been independence. detected in Belgium, moving the Pro-independence party Par- potentially disastrous disease closer tii Naleraq has withdrawn from to Denmark, and officials have its coalition with Siumut as a already warned that more fences result, leaving PM Kim Kielsen might be needed than the one with a parliamentary minority. planned across the border between Germany and southern Denmark.

D

Kontakt 39656300 Sag 28201562 Opført/omb.

1928/1942 Rum/vær.

8/4 Bolig/kld.

233/86 m2 Grund 985 m2 THE MEDIA have jumped on Brt./Nt. 54.666/47.218 the case of Juan 9.532 Manuel Medina, Ejerudg.

625.000 aUdb. Mexican doctor with a PhD Pris Aarhus University 12.500.000 from Hospital

NEWS

Lingo not good enough

New A-Kasse rule

Failing on corruption

who does not meet the language E requirements to work independently as a specialist. Medina is understood by his colleagues, but not by the patients. Medina has vowed to remain and work as a medical officer.

ACCORDING to a government proposal, anyone who is a member of an A-Kasse insurance fund who wishes to apply for benefits will have to have been a legal resident in either Denmark, another EU country or a country in the EEA for seven consecutive years during the last eight. Exceptions will be made for people employed by Danish firms abroad and seafarers.

THE COUNCIL of Europe anticorruption body GRECO has castigated Denmark for not taking sufficient measures to prevent corruption. It accuses the country of only implementing one out of six recommendations issued in 2014, including the introduction of measures to prevent corruption with respect to members of parliament and the judiciary.

Asylum hide and seek

Warming up Kolding

Iran attack “heroic”

A STATE police report seen by Radio 24syv reveals that 2,835 ejected asylum seekers have disappeared. It is estimated that a number of them are living underground in Denmark, reports Politiken. Additionally, the whereabouts of 2,729 others, who are awaiting an for answer to their asylum requests, is unknown.

FORMER US President Barack Obama participated in an event at the University of Southern Denmark in Kolding last week as a guest speaker. “I think most people want a small sneak,” municipality employee Tina Mensel-Legald told DR. But her son Mads was disappointed by what he saw. “He didn’t raise his hand and wave,” he moaned.

A SPOKESPERSON for the Arab Struggle Movement for the Liberation of Ahwaz told media in Denmark, where he is an asylumseeker, that the attack on a military parade in southwest Iran that killed 25 people on September 22 was “heroic”. Denmark has come under fire from Iran for harbouring him and other supporters of the group.

Asylum spray sentences

Mayors welcome quotas

Genocide suspect extradited

DANIEL Stokholm, the ex-leader of the far-right party Danskernes Parti, has been given a 30-day suspended sentence, and three others fined 7,500 kroner each, for handing out cans of hairspray with the label ‘asylspray’ (asylum spray) on the tin in Haderslev.

A NUMBER of Venstre mayors have stated that the refugee situation is sufficiently under control in Denmark to the extent they can integrate quota refugees once again. But the mayors emphasise that the refugees who come here must be properly integrated.

THE HIGH court has ruled that the authorities can hand over a 51-year-old Danish citizen to their counterparts in Rwanda, where he is accused of participating in the 1994 genocide. The man is believed to have played a major role in killing 2,000 people.

Fabritius Alle 14 - 2930 Klampenborg

Beautiful Villa on a Charming Avenue Magnificent British-inspired villa located on a charming avenue with gas street lamps. The estate was built in 1928 and appears well maintained with paned windows and green shutters.

The ground floor has a beautiful hall with a staircase to the first floor, minimalistic and stylish kitchen, two great living rooms en-suite as well as a two-tiered living room with fireplace and herringbone parquet flooring. All living rooms have French doors leading to a terrace.

Sag: 28201562

E Fabritius Alle 14 - 2930 Klampenborg

Beautiful Villa on a Charming Avenue

Poul Erik Bech

Magnificent British-inspired villa located on a charming avenue with gas street lamps. The estate was built in 1928 and appears well maintained with paned windows and green shutters. The ground floor has a beautiful Vi floor, gør en forskeland forstylish dig og dit salg hall with a staircase to the first minimalistic kitchen, two great living rooms en-suite as well as a two-tiered living room with fireplace and herringbone parquet flooring. All living rooms have French doors leading to a terrace. First floor contains two rooms, a wc and a master bedroom with a French balcony connected to a bathroom through a dressing room also with a French balcony. 35 kvm garage.

5

Pris Udb. Ejerudg.

Brt./Nt. Grund Bolig/kld.

Rum/vær.

Opført/omb.

Sag Kontakt

12.500.000 625.000 9.532 54.666/47.218 985 m2 233/86 m2 8/4 1928/1942 28201562 39656300

First floor contains two rooms, a wc and a master bedroom with a French balcony connected to a bathroom through a dressing room also with a French balcony. 35 kvm garage.

Pris 12.500.000 Udb. 625.000 Ejerudg.

9.532 Brt./Nt. 54.666/47.218

Grund 985 m2 Bolig/kld.

233/86 m2 Rum/vær.

8/4 Opf./ombyg 1928/1942

Gentoftegade 72 2820 Gentofte Tel. 39 65 63 00 282@edc.dk

6

NEWS

THE COPENHAGEN POST | CPHPOST.DK

ONLINE THIS WEEK THE MINISTRY of Education has revealed that 61 public schools have received bonus payments of around 1 million kroner each for raising the exam scores of their weakest pupils in core subjects such as Danish and mathematics. In some cases, the schools recruited private companies to tutor the students. One of them, Edulab, signed a no-win, no-fee contract and was paid 500,000 kroner.

Rat-infested Domino’s THE TV2 show ‘Operation-X’ has exposed systematic re-labeling of expired food products, poor working conditions, rat infestations and terrible hygiene at Denmark’s largest pizza chain, Domino’s.

Operation-X recruited employees at the international chain to use invisible markers to keep a record of how old the food was and then recheck at a later date.

Cavalier attitude GOOGLE and Facebook could be looking over your shoulder if you have been on a number of municipal websites. Information compiled

by Ingeniøren reveals that 20 out of 85 municipal websites share everything from ‘likes’ to advertising cookies before the user has had a chance to decline, thus contravening the new EU data protection law introduced in the spring.

Circumcision vote MPS WILL vote on a possible circumcision ban for children – very possibly in November. It was confirmed over the summer that a citizens’ motion gathered the necessary 50,000 signatures from the public, but it still needed to be assessed whether a ban is possible within the framework of section 67 of the Constitution – and it is, according to the Lovsekretariat parliamentary secretariat.

Uber floodgates open THE SUPREME Court has confirmed the fines first handed out in August 2017 to four men who worked for Uber. The fines ranged from 40,000 and 486,500 kroner – figures based on data received from the tax authorities in the Netherlands. The judgment paves the way for the prosecution of another 1,500 Uber drivers already charged by the police.

S: immigrants must earn benefits

ONLINE THIS WEEK SHANE GLOBAL, FLICKR

Bonuses for schools

5 - 23 October 2018

Socialdemokratiet outlines plans to make 37 hours of employment, Danish lessons or job-seeking compulsory STEPHEN GADD

A

NEW PROPOSAL from Socialdemokratiet’s integration spokesperson Mattias Tesfaye would make it compulsory for Danish immigrants on social security or integration benefits to work 37 hours a week.

This could either be in employment, as a trainee, taking Danish lessons or in active job seeking. If they do not, they will not receive benefits.

Some 34 percent of people on benefits come from a nonwestern background, according to Danmarks Statistik.

The Catch 22 is that the lessons won’t be free ... or will they?

“Too many immigrants on benefits become passive and are supported by the system for years.”

Not tough enough THE POLICY will please the Nye Borgelige right-wing nationalist party, although its members advocate even tougher rules.

For example, the party believes that devout, practising Muslims should not be able to obtain Danish citizenship.

A newly-published opinion poll carried out by YouGov for BT reveals that 16 percent of Danes agree with the premise ‘completely’ and another 11 percent ‘partly’ agree, reports BT Metro.

not to emulate,” said Vermund.

“Four out of ten Muslims living here think that the constitution ought to be built up around the Koran’s teachings. If you think that, then you are not being true to the Danish welfare system, which you have to swear allegiance to when you become a Danish citizen.”

Backed by employers THE ARBEJDSGIVERFORENING employers federation described the idea as “ambitious” and “important”.

“As I read it, it is expressing a wish that we ought to be more ambitious when it comes to immigrants on benefits and we totally agree,” said the chief integration advisor for the organisation, Rasmus Brygger.

No to Sharia law PERNILLE Vermund, the head of Nye Borgelige, rejects the idea it is impossible to reconcile the constitutional right to religious freedom with the idea it ought to be impossible for devout Muslims to become citizens.

The poll also found that 45 percent of Danes would also like to see a new citizenship revoked in cases when a person has transgressed the criminal code, while 44 percent believe a new citizen should be expelled from Denmark if they are convicted of a crime.

“If you look at those countries where a large proportion of the population are devout Muslims – not secular or moderate – you can see it’s a society we ought

A figure of fun MEANWHILE, the lawyer Rasmus Paludan, a right-wing Islam critic and prospective MP who founded the party Stram Kurs (‘hard line’ or ‘tight course’) in July 2017, is under fire for his increasingly provocative means of drawing attention to himself.

Paludan’s modus operandi is to travel to a multi-ethnic area and hold an impromptu ‘demonstration’ – a Q&A that he records and then broadcasts on his YouTube channel.

Paludan has been accused of being deliberately provocative, and critics have questioned why the police are allocating resources to provide him with security at happenings that are clearly not demonstrations.

Nevertheless, his audiences tend to mostly consist of children who have seen him on YouTube and view him as a figure of fun. In one video, a child threw a ball of paper at him – to great hilarity as Paludan proceeded to tell the kids off like he was their teacher.

Insurers want register

Rise of private schools

At home at hospital

LAST YEAR, insurers were hit by 3,200 false claims to the tune of 530 million kroner, reports Finans. Insurers want a compulsory register to document claims like in Sweden and Norway, but it is believed only a voluntary one is possible under the data protection laws. In related news, many mentors are overcharging municipalities, reports DR. The sector is worth 900 million kroner a year.

SOME 17 percent of children leaving kindergarten will go on to private school, according to Danmarks Statistik. In 2017, 51,163 children started public school, while 10,518 began at private school. Since 2007, when 12 percent went straight to private school, 318 public schools have closed (down 20 percent), while the number of private schools has jumped by 50 (up 10 percent).

SOME 74 psychologically-ill patients were admitted to hospital the equivalent of 19 times each for psychiatric treatment last year, according to Ministry of Health figures reported

by Jyllands-Posten – a massive increase since 2010. In other news, it has been revealed that a careworker confused the dosage on a packet of Methotrexate in May, causing the death of an 80-year-old woman.

Inspired by Norway TESAFAYE had just visited the town of Ræling in Norway where they run a similar system and it opened his eyes, reports Kristeligt Daglbad.

“First and foremost it is about rewarding people who do the right thing instead of punishing them for doing something wrong,” said Tesafaye.

“You must work or be participating in education, and if you don’t find a job or a course of study we have a 37-hour scheme to which you are obliged to turn up. If you don’t, you don’t get any benefits.”

Call for fag butt ban FOR THE 32nd year, the cigarette butt has emerged victorious as the most littered item in Denmark, according to International Coastal Cleanup. And now various organisations have had enough, with cancer society Kræftens Bekæmpelse calling for a filter ban. An estimated 2-3 billion butts end up in Danish nature every year, it claims.

Local tax hike probable AS COSTS rise, municipalities all over Denmark are having trouble making ends meet when it comes to providing services for children, the handicapped and the elderly and considering raising local tax levels to make ends meet, reports TV2 Nyheder. Last year, four municipalities broke ranks to raise tax levels, which is against government policy.

Driving licence app IT SHOULD be possible to have your driving licence on your smartphone as an app, the Finance Ministry has announced.

In other transport news, a brand new stretch of track from Copenhagen to Ringsted announced with considerable fanfare in 2012, which has cost taxpayers around 9 billion kroner so far, will only have two trains running in each direction per hour.

Oldies buck trend THE NUMBER of weddings amongst people over 60 has risen by 43 percent in the last decade, compared to a 27 percent decline amongst the general population, according to Faglige Seniorers Nyhedsbrev. In two-thirds of the marriages, the groom was older, according to Danmarks Statistik, and in a quarter more than five years senior.

Offensive costume ban FOLLOWING several complaints, the University of Copenhagen has banned “offensive” party costumes, citing the creation of “fundamentally racist undertones”. In unrelated news, Eva Kjer Hansen, the equal opportunities minister, has launched a campaign to remind young people that sending so-called ‘dick pics’ is illegal and carries a maximum penalty of 5,000 kroner.

ADVERTORIAL

5 - 23 October 2018

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Danish experts receive Chinese Friendship Award in Beijing’s Great Hall Joergen Clausen, the chair of Danfoss, and Professor Torben Mogensen from the University of Copenhagen honoured at ceremony

O

N SEPTEMBER 29, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang met with 50 foreign experts at this year’s Friendship Award ceremony held at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, China.

Joergen Clausen, the chair of Danfoss, and Professor Torben Mogensen from the University of Copenhagen were among them.

More foreign talents PREMIER Li spoke highly of the important contributions made by foreign experts to promote China’s economic and social development as well as exchanges between China and foreign countries, saying that China welcomes more foreign experts to play a bigger role in the country’s innovative development.

Li also expressed his hope that domestic and foreign talents would work closer together to promote innovation and progress in world science, technology and civilization, as well as a healthy development of economic globalisation.

He added that China will continue to implement a more active, open and effective talent introduction policy, promising to provide more convenience for foreign talents working in China.

Symbol of friendship THE CHINESE second vice-premier, Han Zheng, and the foreign minister, state councillor Wang Yi, also attended the meeting. Earlier that day, 50 foreign experts had been presented the Friendship Award at the Great Hall by the fourth vice-premier of China, Liu He. Established in 1991, the Friendship Award is an annual award issued by the Chinese government to honour experts who have made an outstanding contribution to China’s economic and social progress.

It is thus a great honour for experts to be invited to the awards ceremony, particularly as the invite not only came in recognition of the foreign experts’ contribution to China, but is also a symbol of friendship.

Up until today, 14 Danish experts have so far been awarded the Friendship Award.

China’s Premier Li Keqiang with KU associate professor Torben Mogensen at the award ceremony

JOB VACANCY Communications Officer

International School of Hellerup, an IB World Continuum School with over 550 students aged 3-19, is seeking a Communications Officer for a part-time, one-year maternity cover starting in November 2018.

The successful candidate will implement the school’s marketing and communications plan and will be responsible for raising awareness of the school’s brand, generating enquiries and delivering outstanding communications to our school community.

Responsibilities include the following: • • • • • •

Brand management Digital presence, including SEO, website and social media strategic content management Advertising/Public Relations Internal and external communications and relationship management, including alumni and corporations Programme and event management support Organise, manage and support school-wide marketing events

Please visit our website, www.ish.dk/employment, to read more about this role. To apply, please send your CV and cover letter to Ms Esma Guvenc, eguvenc@ish.dk, by October 31, 2018.

Jørgen Clausen from Danfoss recieving a CFA from Chinese vice-premier Liu Han

Jør

8

NEWS

THE COPENHAGEN POST | CPHPOST.DK

ONLINE THIS WEEK DANISH Aerospace Company is developing new high-tech exercise equipment for the European Space Agency to decrease the loss of muscle and bone density that results from astronauts living in zero gravity. In other news, the DTU will become the first Danish institution to introduce a quantum computer next year.

Infection compensation HOSPITALS have paid out 784 million kroner in compensation to patients infected in their care in the last decade – an average of 254,000 kroner per patient.

Up to 100,000 are infected every year. In related news, the number of salmonella outbreaks doubled in 2017. From 25 outbreaks, 1,067 people became ill.

Ingenious not isolated A NEW ANALYSIS carried out at Roskilde University suggests it is “creative and visionary” kids who have imaginary childhood friends, and that the invisible pals play a significant part in the child’s development, reports Videnskab. Popular wisdom tends to presume the kids are lonely.

Like it’s spring again LEAVES are sprouting as if it was spring again. However, the buds should be strong enough to survive the winter. Meanwhile, the drought looks set to deliver Denmark’s best Christmas tree harvest for nine years.

Detecting heart attacks SINCE September 1, an AI program designed to detect cardiac arrests has been saving lives by listening to our 112 calls and detecting heart attacks. It has a success rate of 90-95 percent.

The technology can also detect other life-threatening conditions, including blood clots and brain haemorrhages.

Low obesity rate DANISH adults have the lowest rate of obesity in the EU. Only 19.7 percent have a BMI of over 30 according to World Health Organisation figures.

Malta (28.9) led the way ahead of the UK (27.8).

Encouraging vs easing suicidal thoughts PIXABAY

Zero gravity aid

5 - 23 October 2018

A doctor has been chastised for detailing fatal doses in an online post at a time when children are becoming more vulnerable ROSS MCPHERSON

S

VEND LINGS, a retired Danish doctor, has been widely criticised for publishing a post on the Aktiv Dødshjælps website detailing the fatal doses of many prescription drugs and how to successfully commit suicide using them.

The ‘Suicide Doctor’ believed the publication would avoid the unnecessary suffering of suicide survivors, who may suffer permanent mental and physical debilitation.

Kim Dalhoff, an expert in toxicology at Bispebjerg Hospital, commented that the recommended doses, which have since been taken down from the website, do not guarantee death.

The chair of the Medical Association’s ethical committee, Lise Møller, additionally said that the act was “totally unacceptable and very inhumane’’ – particularly at a time when young people are increasingly having suicidal thoughts.

BørneTelefonen received more than 10,000 calls from the under-18 age bracket between 2013 and 2017, with the number of calls from children aged 10-12 with suicidal thoughts more than doubling.

ONLINE THIS WEEK One in five hates cats SOME 21 percent of Danes don’t like cats, while 65 percent do, according to a University of Copenhagen study. Some 72 percent of owners allow their cats to roam freely outdoors – a point of contention between neighbours. In related news, racoon dogs now live on Bornholm, according to excrement analysis. It is thought they stowed away on a ferry as opposed to swimming there.

I only went for a doctor’s consultation ...

Paved with gold

methods (such as hanging or shooting themselves) that tend to be more efficient.

Women, meanwhile, are inclined to opt for methods (pill overdose, slitting their wrists) that make it more likely they will be discovered and saved.

Nevertheless, numbers are falling. In 1995, there were 924 suicides, and in 2005 there were 631.

VEJLE Museum has confirmed that an amateur with a metal detector found a huge haul of gold and pearls on the island of Hjarnø in Horsens Fjord last year. The haul mostly dates back more than 1,500 years.

In related news, archaeologists excavating the streets under Ribe, Denmark’s oldest city, have unearthed thousands of items, including a lyre with tuning pegs.

Psychologists claim that increasing social and professional demands lead to them isolating themselves – often at home behind a computer.

Men better at it SUBSTANTIALLY more men are committing suicide than women. In 2016, the last complete year for figures, 426 men killed themselves, compared to 124 women, according to data from Sundhedsdatastyrelsens.

The figures do not reflect the total number of attempts, as men tend to be more successful at killing themselves, choosing

Stress and anxiety IT IS BELIEVED that one in four Danes suffer from high levels of stress, and ‘Åben og Rolig’, a new nine-week meditation program designed to decrease the costs of society, is getting rave reviews.

It has helped 3,000 Danes over the last five years, reducing the cost to society by around 2 billion kroner, and the National Board of Heath has recommened all municipalities should adopt it.

Anxiety among children is also on the government’s radar, as increasing numbers are not going to school because they can’t handle the pressure.

According to Aarhus Municipality at least 30 children regularly stay away, while another 70 are only at school half the time – a problem observed in all of Denmark’s major cities.

Tackling phone usage THE OVER-USAGE of mobile phones is also a problem, with psychologists now warning that they hurt vital early connections formed between parent and child, leaving children emotionally confused and more likely to misunderstand social signalling as adults.

“A strong and safe relationship is a prerequisite for understanding yourself and others,’’ warned Svend Aage Madsen, the head of research at the clinic of psychology at Rigshospitalet. It is doubtful whether the issue can be repaired later in life.

One in five public schools in Greater Copenhagen is fighting back by introducing a total ban on mobile phones, according to a DR survey of 78 schools in the municipality.

Dronninggårdskolen in Rudersdal told DR that it wanted to work on “students’ ability to immerse themselves, concentrate, and focus more on their learning and mutual understanding”, and also encourage them to practise social skills.

Rare fish found

Mild winter expected

Helping dyslexic kids

Kids hunting bacteria

A NORDIC beryx, a rare deepsea fish only documented three times in 65 years, has been caught by a sailor off the coast of Denmark. In related news, bluefin tuna are returning after a long absence, with DTU Aqua busy monitoring their activity; and Eva Kjer Hansen, the minister for fisheries, has called for a report on how many ‘ghost nets’ exist on Danish seabeds.

THE WINTER of 2018-19 will be mild, reports TV2 – the norm after a hot summer. Nevertheless, the first frost came early: on September 25 at Billund Airport. In related news, Denmark has had its first storm. ‘Knud’ brought hurricane-strength winds to west and north Jutland on September 21. Five days earlier, an earthquake measuring 3.4 on the Richter Scale shook central and west Jutland.

A PROPOSED government bill with a parliamentary majority will ensure there is more help for children with dyslexia at Danish schools, including testing for the condition in the fourth grade. At present, only three of the country’s 15 teacher training colleges offer courses to educate the students about the best way to teach dyslexic children, who can often go undiagnosed until their late teens.

A NOVOZYMES project is recruiting 35,000 school children to search for a new species of lactic acid bacteria on plants.

In related news, a new enzyme has been shown to initiate a hibernation survival program in disease-causing bacteria that allows them to survive antibiotic action, according to a University of Copenhagen study. .

Electric car subsidies?

THE GOVERNMENT will propose a subsidy of 50,000 kroner for each of the next 100,000 electric cars sold in Denmark, reports Berlingske. The proposal is one of several recommendations made by the Klimarådet climate council. Meanwhile, the state will reportedly demand a total phasing-out of petrol and diesel-driven cars by 2030.

Time to quit sausages?

AN AD FOR Simple Meat, which sells organic vegetablebased protein alternatives, compares eating meat to smoking. An ad for its ‘Time to Quit?’ campaign shows people smoking sausages, and Simple Meat has even set up a helpline!

NEWS

5 - 23 October 2018

Sheeran in a forest BRITISH singer-songwriter Ed Sheeran is playing a concert in the forest of Tusindårsskoven near Odense on July 28. Other announced concerts include The Eagles (Royal Arena, June 10), 4U: A Symphonic Celebration of Prince (Dec 7; Operaen), French rapper MHD (Jan 30; Store Vega), South African singer-songwriter Yoav (Feb 19; DR Koncerthuset), British metalcore band Architects (Jan 8; SV), British post-punk band White Lies (March 2; SV), German techno wizard Paul Kalkbrenner (Jan 26; DRK) and Genesis guitarist Steve Hackett (May 16; Amager Bio).

Euro boycott unlikely SOME 13 Danish celebrities have signed a petition to boycott the Eurovision Song Contest next year over the host Israel’s continued human rights violations in Palestine.

British newspaper The Guardian launched the petition and it has gathered a rather paltry 140 signatures. The most famous Dane to sign was James Bond actor Jesper Christensen.

Bendtner backed by lover NICKLAS Bendtner’s girlfriend has claimed the footballer was acting in self-defence when he got into an altercation with a taxi driver that left the DanTaxi employee with a broken jaw. The driver has also been charged by the police.

New deal for players THE MEN’S national football team have agreed a six-year commercial rights deal with the DBU football association that will permit individual sponsorship partnerships.

Shake-up for DR channels

Some are merging, and others going online, as part of massive cuts

D

R2 AND DRK are merging as part of the national broadcaster’s efforts to reduce its total spending by 20 percent moving into the next media deal – a saving of 773 million kroner a year.

Meanwhile, two other channels, DR3 and DR Ultra (for children aged 10-16), are going online, and the P6 Beat, P7 Mix and P8 Jazz radio stations are shutting down.

EPO

ONLINE THIS WEEK

confirmed on October 10.

While DR has conceded that cuts will be made in the areas of sport, entertainment and lifestyle, it is safeguarding drama series, documentaries and children’s programs. Another downsizing is due in 2021.

Too fast IT HAD been speculated that DR might drop one of its children channels – a decision that Ole Henrik Hansen, an associate professor from the Danish institute for pedagogy and education at Aarhus University, probably would have welcomed.

In a recent article in Kristeligt Dagblad, he claims that children’s TV programs are having a negative effect on their powers of concentration.

ONLINE THIS WEEK Mags celebrates in style

Downsizing Resolution

Being inspirational HOWEVER, Morten Skov

Hansen, the head of children’s programming, contends the trend has been prevalent for some time now, and that the channels do a good way at being inspirational.

“Our motto at Ramasjang has always been that one hour of Ramasjang ought to be like 100 hours of play,” he said. “Our job is to speak to kids here and now, wherever they are in their lives, and enhance their curiosity, empathy and fantasy.” (CPH POST)

Female urinal at Roskilde?

Viggo’s Oscar buzz

Brotherly love

A NEW PINK urinal designed for women, which has been christened the ‘LaPee’, was on display at last week’s TechBBQ technology fair in Copenhagen.

“It was clear to us at the Roskilde Festival that it is really problematic for women to pee at outdoor events,” explained one of its two designers, Alexander Egebjerg, to TV2. There is a chance it could make its debut at Roskilde 2019.

‘GREEN Book’, a dramedy starring Viggo Mortensen, is generating Oscar buzz after winning the public award at the Toronto International Film Festival – an award many former Best Film winners have won.

Mortensen stars as the driver of an African-American pianist in 1960s America – so a little bit like ‘Driving Miss Daisy’, but in reverse. Peter Farrelly directs.

NIKOLAJ Coster-Waldau missed out on the Emmy for best supporting actor in a drama series, but got a mention in the acceptance speech by the winner, his co-star and onscreen brother Peter Dinklage. “I love you and I share this with you because you are an amazing, handsome brother,” Dinklage told the Dane.

Meanwhile, filming has wrapped on the final season of the series.

Danes shine in Ryder Cup

Next stop Miss World

Nordic ‘Falling Down’

THE PLAUDITS have been raining down on Thomas Bjørn for captaining the victorious European side in the Ryder Cup – and also rookie Thorbjørn Olesen who crushed Jordan Spieth in the Sunday singles.

CELINA Riel finished fourth in Miss Danmark 2018 despite missing the upper part of her left arm. The winner, Louise Sander Henriksen, will now travel to China to compete in Miss World on December 8.

‘BAKERMAN’, a new homegrown, independent movie filmed in Denmark by the Irish director David Noel Bourke – which has been described by reviewers as a Nordic ‘Falling Down’ – has been faring well since its release on Vimeo.

400 redundancies THE CUTS will result in around 400 redundancies, of which 25 will be managers, and as of late September some 60 employees had accepted a voluntary redundancy package. The rest of the redundancies will be

9

IT HAS been confirmed that Kevin Magnussen will continue driving for Haas for another two seasons, and he celebrated the news with a creditable eighth place in the Russian Grand Prix on Sunday to take his 2018 points tally up to 53, which leaves him seventh in the drivers’ standings. Haas, meanwhile, sit fifth in the constructor standings.

On the Oscar trail ‘DEN SKYLDIGE’ (‘The Guilty’) has been selected as Denmark’s official entry in the 2018 Best Foreign Language Film Oscar category. Gustav Möller’s film will learn sometime in December whether it is on a nine-film shortlist for the award, and then on January 22 whether it has made the final five-movie list. Next year’s Oscars are on February 24.

FCK open with draw FC COPENHAGEN travel to Bordeaux on Thursday having drawn their Europa League group stage opener at home to favourites Zenit St Petersburg 1-1.

FCK are marginally favoured to qualify for the last-32 ahead of their French opponents and Slavia Prague.

Like that Lukas?

BOTH LUKAS Graham and Take That have announced additional Copenhagen dates after their first shows sold out quickly.

Lukas Graham are playing at Royal Arena on January 30 and 31, and Take That at KB Hallen on June 21 and 22.

4 ––13 OCTOBER 2018 BÅDTEATRET

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SLAPSTIC SLAU K GHTE

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”Imagine Monty Python performed by Statler and Waldorf from The Muppet Show, repeatedly establishing and puncturing an air of portentous pomposity.” The Stage

TEATERBILLETTER.DK

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11-13 OCT FILMSCREENING: WASHED UP Feat. Desperate Men. washedupfilm.com

Supported by Statens Kunstfond & Københavns Scenekunstudvalg Presented by Helsingør Teater

10 BUSINESS

THE COPENHAGEN POST | CPHPOST.DK

ONLINE THIS WEEK DANISH energy giant Ørsted has sold 50 percent of its shares in the Hornsea Project, a massive offshore windfarm in the North Sea, for 37.5 billion kroner to Global Infrastructure Partners. The project will be the largest windfarm in the world when finished. Already it produces an astounding 1,218 megawatts of energy.

Tryk takeover deferred THE COMPETITION and consumer authority has deferred Tryk’s acquisition of the insurance company Alka. It is concerned about the effect of the transaction on the dynamics of the Danish insurance market. The acquisition would boost Tryk’s market share in Denmark to more than 20 percent.

Bank pursues takeover SPAR NORD has purchased a 27.05 percent stake in Danske Andelskassers Bank for 236 million kroner with the intention of opening up a dialogue for a full takeover. The bank paid 6 kroner per share, and the share price then rose from 3.78 to 5.36 kroner on the next day of trading.

Angel goes belly up ANGEL Holding, the group that operates Danish housing company May Fortis and clothing company Fipo Group, has filed for bankruptcy after years of decreasing profitability. The group currently employs 128 people and had a turnover of 442 million kroner last year.

Whistle-blower rise THE NUMBER of whistleblowers in the Danish financial sector has steadily increased since the Financial Supervisory Authority implemented a whistle-blower program in 2013. In 2017, 107 people came forward with information connected to money laundering – 101 more than in 2013.

Record revenue for JYSK JYSK HAS announced record turnover of 16.1 billion kroner for its 2017-18 fiscal year. The retail chain, which mostly specialises in furniture, operates 1,249 stores in 20 countries, of which 82 have opened in the last year.

Danske Bank laundered over a trillion Multiple investigations launched in the Europe and the US

B

ARELY an hour goes by without another revelation about the Danske Bank money-laundering scandal, which has seen around 1.5 trillion kroner pass through its Estonian branch to line the pockets of criminals, rogue governments and crooked politicians.

Danske Bank chief executive Thomas F Borgen resigned on September 18, and shortly afterwards the bank said it intended to donate 1.5 billion kroner to a fund that fights international economic crime, including money laundering, but that did little to deflect the attention.

Within a week the EU Commission, along with three US authorities – Justice Department, Ministry of Finance and the American Financial Supervisory Authority – all declared their intention to investigate the matter, as well as Britain’s National Crime Agency.

ONLINE THIS WEEK FINN ÅRUP NIELSEN

Ørsted makes huge sale

5 - 23 October 2018

Novo to lose 400 PHARMA giant Novo Nordisk is laying off 400 workers in R&D roles in Denmark and China to enable it to increase its investment in transformational biological and technological innovation, for which it will establish four research units this year in Denmark, the US and the UK.

Banknote’s days numbered

This shabby shell was a trillion kroner operation, it transpires

FSA warnings ignored THE EU Commission also intends to investigate the Danish Financial Supervisory Authority (FSA), and it has enlisted the help of the European Bank Public Authority.

The FSA might feel aggrieved

as it warned Danske Bank and Russia’s central bank in 2007, 2009, 2010, 2013, 2014 and 2015 about the suspicious transactions, during which time an estimated 1.5 trillion kroner was laundered – a sum that is 215 times the original estimate of 7 billion kroner reported in March 2017.

Also on the scent was the Estonian Financial Supervisory Authority, which uncovered systemic violations of the law in a 2014-15 audit that proved the branch knowingly did not act against money laundering and suspicious bank transfers.

Net is widening MEANWHILE, Deutsche Bank and Citigroup are also facing some heat over allegations they have been involved in the Estonian money laundering.

A US law firm, Bronstein, Gewirtz & Grossman, is preparing a lawsuit against Danske Bank on behalf of some of the bank’s US-based shareholders.

And the Danish Parliament has agreed to tighten money laundering regulations, including an increase in fines by 700 percent and a pledge to persecute anyone directly linked to the crime. (CPH POST)

Elderly embrace e-commerce

Region’s costly executives

Cost of foreign cards

THE NUMBER of elderly people using e-commerce has increased over the last ten years.

In the last three months, 55 percent of 60 to 74-year-olds purchased goods online – three times the number a decade ago.

Meanwhile, Danes are buying more products from foreign e-commerce sites than domestic companies. E-commerce accounts for 23 percent of all retail sales in Denmark.

CENTRAL Midtjylland’s decision to lay off three of its executives will end up costing it 8 million kroner, reports TV2.

Regional head Jacob Stengaard Madsen, for example, will be paid another 12-and-a-half months of salary (2,416,667 kroner) along with a handshake of 2,230,769 kroner. The settlement is in line with what is stipulated in the Central Agreement for Regional Employees.

PAYMENTS using foreign credit cards end up costing society ten times as much as Danish ones, according to a study by Nationalbanken. Just the transaction itself, 2.40 kroner compared to 13.70 kroner using a foreign one, is considerably cheaper. Nevertheless, many banks continue to push foreign cards onto their customers instead of Danish ones, the report concluded.

Bank head fears crisis

Vestas to let 400 go

Coop casts off teenagers

NATIONALBANKEN chief executive Lars Rohde is calling for a legislative increase in mortgage prices to bolster defences against a future financial crisis, suggesting an increase in premiums and the required liquidity reserves. Rohde said the increase could be funded by a decrease in shareholder dividends.

DANISH wind turbine producer Vestas intends to let 400 employees go in an effort to streamline its business in response to challenges in the global wind energy sector. Vestas, which employs over 24,000 people globally, said that 75 percent of the lay-offs will be in northern and central Europe, of which 60 percent will be in Denmark or Germany.

SUPERMARKET owner Coop will no longer employ workers aged under 16. It has called upon its 1,200 stores to let go 2,000 employees – some of whom were as young as 13. Coop blamed the ever-increasing cost of fines and injunctions following a tightening of working environment rules regarding young employees.

BANKS interest organisation Finans Danmark has recommended withdrawing the Danish 1,000 kroner note from circulation due to its widespread usage by criminals. Parliament recently ruled that it will no longer be possible to use 500-euro notes in Denmark.

Startup central A STUDY conducted by the Iris Group consultancy has found that DTU students have created more than 2,200 startups over the last 20 years – so two startups a week.

Many more postal depos POSTNORD is opening 100 new package pickup and drop off points throughout Denmark, raising its total to around 1,550.

Trade war woes DANSKI Industri chief executive Peter Thagesen predicts the trade war between the United States and China will decrease Danish exports.

Widespread cancellations SOME 14,000 Danish debit cardholders’ details were stolen on several unnamed websites in midSeptember, leading to widespread card cancellations as a result.

Rynkeby creates jobs AN INVESTMENT by food and drink giant Rynkeby Food into a new juice pressing plant has created 50 new jobs. The company attributed the decision to consumers’ growing focus on healthier foods.

Stock exchange takeover THE FINANCIAL Supervisory Authority has taken control of the Copenhagen Stock Exchange following claims of money laundering. It has accordingly removed the executive board.

BUSINESS OPINION

5 - 23 October 2018

NEIL SMITH DANISH CAPITAL IN 2018 Neil is a Scottish-educated lawyer with 15 years’ experience in corporate structuring and general commercial matters. Based in Copenhagen, he primarily advises on international deals.

Out of the office his interests include sport and politics. His column explores topical international financial and economic issues from a Danish perspective.

Foregone conclusion?

STANDARD logic has it that the US will ‘win’ (this word may be relative) the tussle, given that it imports around three times as much from China as it exports there. China would therefore seem to have more interest in reaching a deal, and it has already run out of space to apply dollarfor-dollar tariff responses. There are, though, four major caveats.

Firstly: ALTHOUGH China is a lot more export-orientated than large Western economies, it is much less so than a decade ago. Exports are only half as

DAVID PARKINS 21st CENTURY ALCHEMY 21st Century Alchemy is a column for career-minded professionals, entrepreneurs and small businesses written by David Parkins, a business (re) development specialist, company culture strategist, career coach and IMCSA speaker (ep3.dk)

NEXT ISSUE

Mind over Managing

Weather the storm FLOYD Mayweather Jr is considered the greatest boxer of his era. He was undefeated as a professional and a five-division world champion, winning 12 world titles. But he didn’t throw a lot of punches. He had the third lowest average of punches/ round and eighth lowest average of power punches/round.

When he did, it mattered that

important as they were then (as a percentage of GDP) and the tens of millions of middle-class Chinese people in the crucial domestic market are now pivotal. So the tariffs could have less effect than expected, particularly if the effect can be ameliorated through finding alternative export markets, or even a depreciation of the yuan.

Secondly: TARIFFS can also hit US producers given that Chinese suppliers are also part of their product chain – Apple, for one, has publicly announced that US consumers can expect to pay more for some products.

Thirdly: PUTTING to one side the philosophical drawbacks, China could have a tactical economic advantage in not being a democracy.

Whereas President Trump must consider voters in the mid-terms and subsequent presidential election, China can take a longer-

Tariffs have replaced torpedos

term approach. We have already seen a public outcry leading to the US taxpayer effectively indemnifying soya bean producers – having set this example, will the Trump administration follow suit for other affected groups?

Fourthly: CHINA has an overtly mercantilist policy and is open to using its foreign policy for commercial purposes. So, although it has little scope to increase tariffs on US goods, it could have other possibilities, for example by ensuring

an embargo on neighbouring North Korea is less effective.

No, far from certain!

OVERALL, this suggests that an American victory in this trade war is far from certain.

Rather than taking a unilateral approach, the US may have been better served approaching the matter together with its major allies in Canada, Europe and Japan, who mostly share their concerns, particularly over Chinese reverse-engineering of valuable intellectual property.

PIXABAY

I

T DOESN’T matter what you’re facing, how hard it’s been, or how long you’ve been at it. There will and should always be times when you reach that breaking point when you whimper and perhaps even cry out “I can’t take it anymore!”

Though you may continue to go through the motions on the outside, on the inside you’ve quit. That’s the feeling of being punched. That’s what a knockdown feels like.

PIXABAY

F

OLLOWING the recent American announcement that tariffs will be applied on 200 billion US dollars of Chinese imports, we are now entering a fully-fledged trade war. More than half of US imports from China look set to be hit, with rhetoric suggesting the rest could also be covered before long.

they hit their mark. He was #1 for the percent of total punches connecting and #3 for power punches connecting. And, of course, he was hard to hit, finishing #2 for opponent punches connecting and #1 for power punches.

The obvious lesson is don’t throw punches unless they count and don’t let your opponents touch you.

Persistence is the key BUT THERE’S another subtle lesson behind these numbers. Everything we’re taught about how to be successful is about what you NEED TO DO. But a lot of the time, what you NEED TO DO is to take a punch and not throw one.

Everyone faces defeat at some time, and it is a stepping-stone or stumbling block, depending on the mental attitude with which it is faced.

There have been times when I’ve been arrogant enough to

IN 2 ISSUES

11

Learn how to take a punch

believe that I could waltz into success on my talent. Sometimes it works, but most of the times it doesn’t. Genius won’t either – unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Or education – the world is full of over-qualified failures.

Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent. As President Calvin Coolidge said: “Nothing can take the place of persistence.”

The bigger the dream …

I DON’T know what your

IN 3 ISSUES

dreams are. Nor do I know the obstacles that are standing in the way of achieving them.

But what I do know is that the obstacles are always proportionally bigger and more numerous than the size and scope of the dream. So if you dream big, then expect bigger and more frequent obstacles.

So, learn to take a punch, be ready for knockdowns, and keep getting up – again, and again, and again.

IN 4 ISSUES

Living in an Expat World

Union Views

Startup Community

The Valley of Life

Give Yourself a Chance

Economics Explained

12 OPINION

THE COPENHAGEN POST | CPHPOST.DK

5 - 23 October 2018

Tuesday was the big day

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Not-so-great expectations LESS ATTENTION was given to the expectations for the PM’s opening speech. Only once in 1960 has this been used as a call for a general election, and it was not expected to happen this time either. However, everybody knows that we are closing in on March/April 2019 as the latest date an election can be held.

In May 2019 we will vote for candidates to the European Parliament and, because of Brexit, Denmark gets an extra member.

Candidates are popping up, but all the attention is on domestic affairs.

The big issues will be welfare and health. The environment and immigration are no longer the big issues like they were at the last election.

The economy is booming and industry is demanding skilled labour, and although the EU could provide it, the big reserves are in countries outside the EU – but they are barred by bureaucratic barriers. Here there is a split: the blue parties want

A Dane Abroad

to liberalise and the red parties are focused on the 400,000 unemployed Danes who will need a qualifications brush-up and motivation schemes, but who are still important voters.

Everybody is preaching green agendas, but in very vague ways.

The PM has declared that electric cars will replace fossil fuel cars in 2030, but this kind of talk is cost-free as this will be an EU issue.

Draw or stalemate THE ABSENCE of divisive big issues means that Enhedslisten on the left and Nye Borgerlige on the right can tip the balance, but Dansk Folkeparti holds the central position. Polls indicate that their supporters are blue and since their position on tough immigration policy is common ground, it could be a question of government portfolios, but that remains to be seen.

The latest polls indicate a draw between the red and blue blocs. Konservative has learned from the last election that it is not wise to air ultimatums connected to their political targets, such as the removal of inheritance tax.

The only snake in Paradise is the gang shooting spree and repeated police actions in Christiania – all due to the popular demand for drugs and the fighting over markets.

There are openings in the political consensus towards medical cannabis. Prohibition has failed and we are waiting for a political move to make cannabis a taxable commodity. We may be wiser on Wednesday after the debate, but that is probably too much to hope for. (ES)

Born and raised in Denmark and a resident of New Zealand for over 14 years, Kirsten has lived a pretty nomadic life since her early 20s. A physiotherapist, yoga teacher and keen home cook, she is passionate about food, good living and natural health.

Follow her on Instagram @kirstenlouiseyoga PIXABAY

HE FIRST Tuesday in October heralds the opening of the new session of the Danish Parliament. All the traditions are there: a royal presence and a church ceremony for all – even non-Christians.

The constitution states that Denmark is a Lutheran country and Her Majesty is head of the church – and so a member of the church. Some atheists protested by not showing up and all the Socialistisk Folkeparti MPs boycotted the ceremony.

This has drawn some attention for mixing politics and religion.

KIRSTEN LOUISE PEDERSEN

A sea of options lies before us, but only by following our inner-guidance can we make the right choice

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E HAVE never had better or faster access to information on health (or anything else for that matter) than we do now.

Information overload MAGAZINES, the TV entertainment screen at the doctor’s office, Instagram, Facebook, the news, endless blogs and vlogs, and the ever-infinite World Wide Web – the sources seem as varying in quality as they seem many.

We are constantly being exposed to a plethora of options that promise to improve our health: you can take supplements, go Paleo, sleep on magnets, do intermittent fasting, do yoga, go on health tourism holidays, do a liver cleanse, listen to binaural beats, drink Kombucha, go vegan, have a colonic, eat alkaline, use a Fitbit, go Ketogenic, steam your yoni (go on, have a Google!), etc.

So, how do people figure out what is healthy for them, when presented with this bottomless pit of information?

Too many choices SOCIAL psychology professor Dan Gilbert argues that human beings rarely thrive when there is too much freedom of choice.

Based on his experimental trials, he concludes that unlimited choice, and the ability to change our selections along the way, can

lead to significant dissatisfaction, and not the liberation and happiness than we might expect.

Have we got to the paradoxical point where the huge amount of ‘health’ information available everywhere and all of the time is actually impairing our ability to make good choices?

Human beings are getting fatter and more inactive across the globe, despite all the information at hand. As a health professional I have observed information-overload being the cause of confusion, hopelessness and a lack of trust in inner decision-making skills.

Could this be responsible for a backlash in which people are making even poorer health choices because they are completely overwhelmed?

Time to refocus ACROSS most of the western world we are not taught about the power of the mind, let alone how to use it as the wonderful tool it was designed to be. For millennia enlightened beings have acknowledged the importance of training the mind in order to cultivate clarity, inner-peace and self-awareness. To a yogi, an untrained mind is like sitting in a driverless carriage with the horses bolting and the reins flying.

Constant feeds of tips, advice, other people’s opinions, trends and even pop psychology can become

a distractor rather than an aid – and end up frazzling the mind.

When our focus is scattered, our connection to our own inner-knowing is weakened. The unfiltered information stream of today will continue to flow uncontrollably like lava – what we need to do is learn how to navigate it, so as to not get swept away and overwhelmed by it.

Building inner-peace LIMITING the amount of information we receive by being selective about our sources will greatly reduce the amount of needless processing our minds have to do. Switching off automatic/constant update feeds is a good place to start.

Engaging in mind-discipline activities like meditation makes the mind calmer and clearer, strengthening the ability to discern what is true and right for oneself. Building inner-peace and awareness is the only sustainable solution to getting overwhelmed, as our attention will continue to get pulled off-centre by an everaccelerating world.

Most of us do not need any more information about health and wellness. We need to begin sorting what we already know, deflecting the white noise, and reconnecting back with ourselves to allow inner guidance to start directing what is really most appropriate for us.

OPINION

5 - 23 October 2018

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NEXT ISSUE

ZACH KHADUDU

Straight Up Zach Khadudu is a Kenyan by birth and a journalist by choice. He is a commentator and an activist with a passion for refugee and human rights. He may share a heritage with a certain US president, but his heart lies elsewhere – in the written and spoken word.

Mackindergarten ADRIAN MACKINDER

Straight, No Chaser STEPHEN GADD IN 2 ISSUES

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An Actor’s Life IAN BURNS

Living Faith REVD SMITHA PRASADAM IN 3 ISSUES

The Road Less Taken JESSICA ALEXANDER The team were in place in New York ... if only international concerns were as pressing at home

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HE 73RD SESSION of the UN General Assembly took part last week in New York City.

Themed ‘Making the United Nations Relevant to all People: Global Leadership and Shared Responsibilities for Peaceful, Equitable and Sustainable Societies’, the assembly was part strategy, part self-aggrandisement – particularly as far as the big powers were concerned.

While Trump seized the moment to remind everyone of his ‘bigly’ accomplishments – which are “more than almost any administration in the history of our country” – our European comrade Emmanuel Macron was in no mood to take prisoners.

He fired back at the Trumpian doctrine of nationalism, calling for multilateralism – especially in diplomacy and trade.

Seen to care for next-gen WHILE plenary duels stole the headlines, sideline events were largely underreported, like the youth agenda panel for instance, which our main man Lars Løkke Rasmussen attended.

Titled ‘Working for and with Young People’, the panel praised Løkke for Denmark’s support of the UN youth agenda. Fair game; Denmark can be found at the forefront supporting several

UN undertakings – particularly youth-related ones. Asked why Denmark commits to youth engagement, the premier quipped: “It is not very difficult to answer that question, as it is about the future, and right now we have the biggest youth generation in the history of the world.” Easy.

Blowing his own trumpet, he further reminded all and sundry of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) adopted at the UN summit in 2015 that he chaired. He noted that the SDGs were basically a “contract between generations, between regions and between genders … and there is no way we can achieve the SDGs unless we engage the next generation”. Pause right there, Mr Prime Minister.

Denmark first, unis last WHILE internationally Denmark may be seen as a champion of youth, globalisation and multilateralism, affairs back home are not necessarily on par. Just this August the education minister announced a significant cut to English language programs at Danish universities. It is a nobrainer that this will greatly impact Denmark’s attraction of international talent and competitiveness.

In the case of the University of Copenhagen, its rector Henrik C Wegener noted that “the

University of Copenhagen is already working on getting more international students to find jobs in Danish companies. But the university’s English-language programs are part and parcel of being an international university with international top researchers who can research and teach for the benefit of Danish students.”

Cut universities’ international engagement, and the loss is ours.

Blame it on Bogeyman WHILE Trump is the undisputed king of isolationism, Løkke’s gospel according to ‘Denmark First’ is not far off, whether it is education cuts, toughened refugee policies, inhibiting family reunification laws or rigid Danish citizenship statutes. Clearly, Donald Trump, Victor Oban and their ilk have admirers.

And if anything goes wrong, make sure you’ve got a scapegoat ready. Danske Bank’s moneylaundering scandal, which has been described by the European Commission as “the biggest financial scandal in Europe” right now, has led to the resignation of its chief executive Thomas Borgen.

And he just happens to be a Norwegian. While Borgen is not personally implicated, the buck stopped at his desk. Another scandal, another foreigner. Bro! We messed up again! These foreigners!

Mishra’s Mishmash MRUTYUANJAI MISHRA IN 4 ISSUES

Crazier than Christmas VIVIENNE MCKEE

Early Rejser ADAM WELLS

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ABOUT TOWN

5 - 23 October 2018

PHOTOS BY HASSE FERROLD

Among the ambassadors gathered at the Nepalese National Day celebrations at Asia House on September 19 were (left-right) Toshiro Suzuki (Japan), Muhammad Ibnu Said (Indonesia), Vaidotas Karvelis (Lithuanian deputy), Yiliam Sardinas Gomez (Cuba), Muhammad Abdul Muhit (Bangladesh), Uğur Kenan İpek (Turkey), Choi Jai-Chul (South Korea), Zulfiqar Gardezi (Pakistan), Amadou Tcheko (Niger), and the host, Yuba Nath Lamsal (Nepal)

German ambassador Andreas Meitzner was the host of a concert at DR Koncertsal on October 2 to mark the Day of German Unity (Tag der Deutschen Einheit), a national holiday that marks the anniversary of the 1990 reunion of East and West Germany. It included a performance by star violinist Frank Peter Zimmermann. Among the ambassadors in attendance were Zulfiqar Gardezi (Pakistan), Aud Kolberg (Norway), Laura Lochman (US deputy) and Leo Peeters (Belgium)

Air India hosted a reception on October 1 to celebrate its first anniversary since establishing an office in Copenhagen. Among those in attendance were (left-right) Peter Taksøe-Jensen, the Danish ambassador to India, Air India chief executive Divya Gauba and Indian ambassador Ajit Gupte

The new Mexican ambassador Carlos Pujalte was the proud host of the Mexican Cultural Festival at Blaagårds Plads in Nørrebro on August 15, which included a great array of activities, including children striking the Mexican ‘pinata’ – a venture uncannily similar to the way Danish children hit the cat out of the barrel at Fastelavn

Music Confucius Institute hosted ‘China Day’ at the Royal Danish Academy of Music on September 29

The Japanese and Italian embassies co-hosted a concert at Istituto Italiano di Cultura in Gentofte on September 10

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5 - 23 October 2018

THE COPENHAGEN POST | CPHPOST.DK

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Heritage Day at the South African Embassy in Hellerup on September 20 had particular resonance as this year marked the centenary of the birth of Nelson Mandela. Among those present were several ambassadors – Ginte Damusis (Lithuania, left), Choi Jai-Chul (South Korea, third left), Janine Finck (Luxembourg, fourth left), Kristof Altusz (Hungary, fifth right) and Eusebe Agbangha (Benin, fourth right) – as well as former BBCD president Mariano Davies (third right) and KUKS president Kaj Larssen (right)

PM Lars Løkke Rasmussen, Crown Prince Frederik, out and about after his slipped disc, and a host of ministers and big names from the world of business were in attendance at DI Topmøde at TAP1 on Amager on September 18. Among the ambassadors in attendance were (left-right) Ginte Damusis (Lithuania), Henk Swarttouw (Netherlands), Morteza Moradian (Iran) and assistant, Eusebe Agbangha (Benin), Ayman Alkaffas (Egypt), Amerley Awua-Asamoa (Ghana) and Carla Sands (the US)

The new ambassadors (clockwise from top left) of Slovenia, Hungary, Italy and Cyprus are Edvin Skrt, Kristof Altusz, Luigi Ferrari and Penelope Erotokritou respectively. May we wish them in that order: dobrodošlica, üdvözöljük, benvenuto and kalosórisma! For a full guide to the ambassadors serving in Denmark, check out this issue’s Diplomacy Magazine

The queen was greeted by Pia Kærsgaard, the speaker of Parliament, at the grand opening on October 2. In his opening address, PM Lars Løkke Rasmussen first paid tribute to the late musician Kim Larsen, before revealing spending plans affecting the elderly, refugees, the health sector, defence, foreign aid, the climate, vulnerable neighbourhoods and Brexit

KRUDTTØNDEN Oct 24 - 24 Nov Ian Burns & Benjamin Stender directed by Barry McKenna

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A ghost story by Susan Hill adapted by Stephen Malatratt

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• TEATERBILLETTER.DK • 70202096 • WWW.THAT-THEATRE.COM •

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THE COPENHAGEN POST | CPHPOST.DK

performance of ‘Oliver!’ in 2016, are returning to MusikTeatret Albertslund for another run from October 12-14 (see page 21 for more details about this and other performances coming up this month).

Now, we’re not implying that Rearview Theatre,

the brainchild of Russell and Christina Anthony-Collins (the director and Nancy), the co-founders of the SkeneKunst drama school, have been begging, but they have a bigger budget this time around – chiefly thanks to a very generous donation of 75,000

ALL PHOTOS:CENEKUNST

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EMEMBER this lot? ”There’s not a crust, not a crumb can we find, can we beg, can we borrow, or cadge!”

Well, the workhouse boys and girls (left), and the rest of the gang who put on a showstopping, Danish-language

5 - 23 October 2018

OUT AND ABOUT

kroner from the Spar Norden Fund (second left).

The extra funds have enabled Rearview to hire even more professional actors and musicians than last time.

It’s made the cast and its English director very happy.

“Even if your Danish is not

Culture Night 2018 is a great opportunity to explore Copenhagen’s museums, churches, historic buildings and libraries as the city opens to the public for one day alone. Buy a 95kr culture pass to have full access to the vibrant city’s events (Oct 12, all night; children free adm)

Danish culture and design are growing more popular around the world. Join American author/creative consultant Austin Salisbury’s presentation of his new book ‘Nordic Art of Creative Living’ at Books and Company (Oct 10, 19:00-21:00; Sofievej 1, Hellerup)

The UCAPS fair gives PhD students the chance to explore what Copenhagen-based organisations have to offer. No matter what your profession, this fair will put you in touch with the right union and answer all employment-related questions (Oct 6, 16:30-23:55; Købmagergade 52, Cph K; free adm)

ERWERWER

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KU.DK

ITU.DK

CTC

ENGLISH COEMDY NIGHT

Are you unsure about what to do after high school?

Are you interested in IT? If so, this IT University event will inspire you (Oct 15 & 16; 09:00-16:00; Rued Langgaards Vej 7, Cph S; sign up at itu.dk)

The CTC is hosting the perfect opportunity for you to test your poems, stories, music or comedy in front of a live crowd (Oct 19, 19:00-21:30; Cafe Cadeau, HC Ørsteds Vej 28; free adm)

CPH English Comedy Night returns with headliners Adam Fields and Neville Raven. It is sure to garner a huge laugh (Oct 13, 20:00; Dubliner Downtown, Ny Østergade 14, Cph K; 120kr at door)

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IXABAY

Watch the Champions League at Studenterhuset with other passionate football-lovers. Cheap beer and enthusiastic shouts all around (Oct 23-24, 20:45-22:30; Købmagergade 52, Cph K; free adm)

This Children’s Flea Market is the perfect place to buy or sell old toys, giving unused fun a new home while supporting the local community.

Stands cost 50 kroner (Oct 20, 10:00-14:00; Sønder Boulevard 73, Cph V; free adm)

Sit down after a long week at work with a beer and good company to draw a live model. Ask for help from your fellow artists to improve your croquis skills (Oct 5, 20:00-22:00; Tårnværelset, Absalon Church, Sønder Boulevard 73, Cph V; 50kr)

Come and celebrate Ada Lovelace Day at the University of Copenhagen, where women in natural sciences or tech share their stories with the academic community (Oct 9, 16:00-19:30; Holmens Kanal 7, Cph K; sign up necessary)

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FORT A.P. HILL

COMING UP SOON

great, you’ll be able to follow the story through the wellknown characters and plot,” enthuses Collins (right).

“Lots of dancing, singing and a live professional orchestra will ensure a great evening’s entertainment.

BEN HAMILTON

The International House CPH event will help foreigners to navigate the complicated and ever growing Danish real-estate market (Oct 11; 17:3019:00, Gyldenløvesgade 11, Cph K; sign up required)

Byens Bedste winner Improv Comedy Copenhagen again presents ‘Murder of Crows’, a night of comedy inspired by film noir (Oct 5, 20:00; Frederiksholm Kanal 2, Cph K; 100kr) ROSS MCPHERSON

5 - 23 October 2018

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Special Offers from Small Danish Hotels Ans

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Three amazing days beside the Gudenå

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BENNIKSGAARD HOTEL

Kongensbro Inn dates from 1663 and is a bargee’s stopping-off place on the Gudenå river. It was granted the Royal Warrant as an inn and for more than 50 years has been run by the Andersen family – now by the third generation. The inn offers a cosy atmosphere north of Silkeborg in a contemporary but carefully restored building, a beautiful garden that stretches right down to the Gudenå and a renowned kitchen. ‘Inn food is good food’ is the title of a cookery book written by Else Andersen, the grandmother of the current owner, and the superlative cooking traditions are still very much in evidence at Kongensbro Kro. A visit to the inn is an experience of historic dimensions and whatever time of year you choose, the landscape around the inn provides an unforgettable experience.

Right in the middle of the hilly countryside of southern Jutland with a view across Flensborg Fjord and only 5 km from Gråsten where the Danish Royal Family have their summer residence, is the cosy Benniksgaard Hotel, surrounded by a rural idyll and with a completely relaxed atmosphere. Previously, Benniksgaard Hotel was a typical Danish farmhouse but in the summer of 2000 the transformation started. Since then, all the buildings have undergone a total renovation. Today, the rooms are concentrated in the main house and old stables. The area can boast rich natural and cultural experiences, and a shopping trip to Flensborg would be an obvious day out.

The offer includes: • 2 x overnight stays • 2 x breakfast buffets • 1 x coffee/tea and home-made cakes, first day • 1 x 2-course inn menu, first day • 1 x 4-course gourmet menu, second day

The offer includes: • 2 x overnight stays • 2 x breakfast buffets • 2 x 2-course menu/buffet put together by the chef • 1 x waterbed massage

A supplement of 150 kr per person per night is payable on Fridays and Saturdays.

Arrival is possible Sunday to Thursday during the whole of 2018.

Arrival is possible every day in 2018.

Price-code: L30b

Price-code: L62a

Discount code: 4441

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Can only be booked through Small Danish Hotels via www.smalldanishhotels.dk/cphpost or at +45 7080 6506.

Should you prefer to book by telephone, you are asked to please use the discount code 4441

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THE COPENHAGEN POST | CPHPOST.DK

5 - 23 October 2018

Commemorating a century of communication to bring an end to conflict DAVE SMITH

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SU-DK, the Danish branch of the English-Speaking Union, has just celebrated 100 years of peace and understanding through the use of the English language.

After World War I, several visionary people in London, including Evelyn Wrench and Winston Churchill, wanted to ensure that the world would never see such a conflict ever again.

Exactly 100 years later their work is still being carried out at ESU branches all over the world.

Face-to-face communication, meeting, speaking and listening is the only way to understand each other – whether in high politics, or diplomacy, or merely within a family. Being able to speak and understand the same language goes a long way towards the founders’ goal of global peace and understanding.

Sumptuous Sunday at Sølyst SINCE the introduction of electronic communication in the mid-1990s, the need for face-toface, personal contact has become infinitely easier. Messages fly around the world so quickly now that a need is arising to control them. But getting together and sitting down to eat, talk and listen remains the most productive and enjoyable way to get things done.

This is why the board of the ESU-DK decided to celebrate, and to celebrate in style, with its members and friends. And a Sunday lunch at Sølyst is about as stylish as it gets! The members were encouraged to dress up and the female ones to wear a hat – which they did!

On a gloriously sunny day the arriving members walked up a red carpet from whey they could look straight through the beautiful building across a green lawn to the bright blue Øresund – a view framed by huge oak and beech trees. It was extremely picturesque and a delightful experience to stand on the terrace with a glass of champagne in hand and meet friends and acquaintances who all share a love of English.

A delicious, high-quality four-course luncheon was served to the members and guests in the mansion’s music room, which has a grand but welcoming ‘hyggelige’ atmosphere.

ESU royalty ESU-DK chair Claire Clausen (top) welcomed guests and spoke of why the founders’ vision remains so vital today. She described the activities of the Danish ESU and how uplifting and motivating it is to see young Danish students who are keen to participate in the ESU’s annual Public Speaking Competition, of which the winner gets to spend a week in London and have the chance to take part in the international finals.

She spoke of the initial trepidation she felt when she introduced English-style debating to Danish gymnasiums six years ago and how wonderful it has been for the board to note its success. Several young participants are now so ‘bitten by the debating bug’ they have started their own organisation, which the ESU-DK intends to support.

There was no representation from the UK head office, but the international president, Howard Kroch (second top), and his wife travelled from Hamburg to celebrate with ESU-DK. He spoke of how the international groups need to stick together and support each other.

The ESU patroness, Countess Alexandra of Frederiksborg (centre), a stalwart supporter of the ESU-DK, agreed to speak ‘off the cuff’ and mentioned the importance of a common language when coming to a new country.

As a newcomer there is comfort in being able to relax and speak freely and effortlessly to like-minded people. Countess Alexandra attends both the public speaking and debating finals every year and continues to be astonished at how, each year, the standard of the English used by the young Danes improves exponentially.

Good Friday experience A FAITHFUL ESU-DK supporter since her first year in Denmark is the Irish ambassador Cliona Manahan (second bottom). As the key-note speaker she emphasised that her job is bridge building – and the sooner the bridges are built the stronger the links become.

She herself is from a family that was divided by politics, geography and religion – like many Irish families. As a young high-school student it was her diminutive but powerful English teacher who taught her to value the English language and to realise it has been greatly enriched

over the centuries by Irish writers.

Mrs Higman (to whom everyone raised a glass) brought value and delight in language to life.

“I was so impressed by the ESU debates that with the ESU’s support I arranged for the Irish winning team of the annual Concern Debate (which involves north and south of Ireland) to visit Copenhagen and participate in the ESU training and debates,” said Manahan.

“This program was an inspiring example of how together we are ‘Building Bridges’. The visit, arranged by the ESU with Concern, was a significant collaboration, and created a unique ‘Bridge’ enabling our young people to train, debate and collaborate together. Today, I invite you to consider whether you would like us together to bring the 2018 Danish ESU-winning team to Ireland?”

It was her dedication to bridgebuilding in her own country and abroad that led her to a career in diplomacy, culminating in her being the only woman on the negotiating team of the Belfast/Good Friday Peace agreement in 1998.

Manahan’s later career has taught her that we need to get to know each other better. How do we do this? By talking and listening. The old adage of “one mouth but two ears” is as valid today as ever.

Celebrating humanity THE FINAL speech was a short talk given by an extremely eloquent young man, Arnulf Snedker-Nielsen (bottom) from Næstved, who won the competition in 2017 and has been a primus motor in setting up the new debating association.

He spoke about how much the week in London had meant to him and how valuable the friendships he made there continue to be for him. He would have won the competition again had he been competing. Instead he won the hearts and minds of all present.

As Ambassador Manahan said: “At this time of anniversaries, let’s recall the words of peacemaker John Hume: ‘All conflict is about difference, whether the difference is race, religion or nationality. The European visionaries decided that difference is not a treat. Difference is of the essence of humanity and should be respected, celebrated and even cultivated.”

Coffee and chocolate provided a fitting end to the afternoon and the start of another 100 years of work towards peace and understanding.

ALL PHOTOS: HUGH MAYO

The English-Speaking Union marked 100 years with a lavish tea at Sølyst

ESU-DK chair Claire Clausen

ESU international president Howard Kroch

ESU-DK patron Countess Alexandra of Frederiksborg

Key-note speaker Irish ambassador Cliona Manahan

2017 ESU-DK Public Speaking Competition winner Arnulf Snedker-Nielsen

COMMUNITY BUSINESS

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Walk on the welcome side: with a survivor who knows the way Welcome Group Consulting founder Karey-Anne Duevang has learnt better than most how to thrive as an international in Denmark HEATHER GARTSIDE

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FEW WEEKS ago I attended Welcome Group Consulting’s free workshop in English at Cafe Cadeau in Frederiksberg. Eager to learn about enhancing my CV, cover letter and interview techniques for working in Denmark, I wandered in with a droopy old mindset, the product of feeling passed over by Danish work culture for years. So imagine my surprise when I strode out with a shiny new set of tools and a very much brighter and proactive attitude.

Bradford upbringing I WAS PARTICULARLY intrigued by the dark-haired British lady who delivered the presentation with such aplomb.

Karey-Anne Duevang blazed with a rare blend of energy, professionalism and internationalism – hers was a ‘can do’ approach that I found so refreshing.

I hung around afterwards and we went for coffee where we shared stories and laughed.

I left on a caffeine and creative high, keen to spread the word about her enthusiasm for connecting people, exchanging skills and actively putting people before profit in the Copenhagen international community.

Duevang has walked the walk, which makes it easy for her to talk the talk. She grew up in Bradford, Yorkshire in a home sandwiched between two of the

city’s roughest housing estates.

But instead of falling through the cracks of society, she chose to thrive and become the first from her family to attend university, where she studied law and obtained a first-class degree with honours.

She learnt when she was very young to speak up in the face of injustice or wrong-doing, and she worked for a while as a youth support worker. The environment of her youth gave her insights into the subculture of criminal gangs, joy riders, drug abusers and victims of racial hatred, and she ended up specialising in profiling and understanding people and their needs through psychology.

Adaptable living IN HER 20s she passed on the chance to become a barrister and travelled the world instead. She worked at the Maltese Embassy in Turkey for a while, but the diplomatic life of limousines was not to her taste and she moved on to India where she learnt the art of living, compassion and love in the warmth breath of the sub-continent.

It was here that she met a blue-eyed Dane, and they returned together to Denmark to enjoy the earthly delights of the Roskilde Festival in the summer of 2003, after which he resumed his studies at Copenhagen Business School and she met with her first wall: the difficulty of finding a job that matched her qualifications and expectations.

All her years of prolific adaptability petered out, and so she made a u-turn and commuted to a job in the UK instead.

Her adaptability was commendable. In order to continue

on her journey, she could not accept defeat. She had to fight and actively apply herself – it’s a situation many of us have found ourselves in Denmark career-wise – to a lesser or greater degree. A job at Hertz car rentals followed and, although it looked like a downturn, she rose through the ranks to become a station controller.

Motherhood followed for the first time, and then for the second, as Duevang continued with her unusual career trajectory, enhanced by her fluency in Danish, working as an office manager and then as the PA for the CEO of the V Ships shipping company.

But despite her comfortable life and home, she realised she was bored and headed back to university to study global nutrition and health at Metropol University, Copenhagen. Little did she know that her biggest challenge lay around the corner.

Bouncing back NOT LONG after starting her studies, she was faced with divorce and the loss of her home.

It was once again time to be adaptable: to understand the provisions made for single parents in Denmark, survive and thrive! Many people helped her along this hard road, opening doors that she couldn’t locate in her despair and confusion, helping her to fill out forms, locate an apartment, translate official documents, and hold her hand and say that it would be all alright.

Duevang hasn’t forgotten their help and she honours them with her desire to give back. Since hitting that low, she has once again risen up to

excel in business. She smiles as she recalls the night when a taxi driver dropped her off at her new apartment in Sydhavn – all floorto-ceiling windows glinting with harbour lights and success – and innocently asked her what her husband’s job was.

As Duevang climbed the stairs, she realised that she was indeed fulfilled as the financial controller for fashion brand Malene Birger – a position she took after spending two years in a similar position at IC Companies – and had achieved the illusive triangle (Maslow’s hierarchy of needs) of a secure foundation, a roof over her head and good finances. And there was a husband to share it with: her soulmate Tony Duevang!

Giving back to her own THE URGE to give back and become a better person drove her to start her own business: a company to actively help people by imparting knowledge through all that she’d learned – the hard way.

Welcome Group Consulting (WGC) was formed in January 2008 and it’s thriving! Its fundamental goal has been to supply people with the tools to help themselves. Services are aimed at international people who are thinking of coming to live in, return to or study in Denmark.

It takes care of everything they might need, from a good network and advice on schools, to getting your CPR number and making the cultural adjustments needed to settle. Additionally, WGC offers help to those already here and in need of special assistance with their taxation, the law, childcare, housing or entering the job market.

Karey-Anne Duevang

Duevang is well aware how frequently foreign professionals and their families end up leaving Denmark feeling unhappy with their experience of not being welcomed by Danish society, or at odds with the culture.

Danish politicians continue to scratch their heads over how only 38 percent of the foreigners who enter the Danish workplace annually choose to stay. Meanwhile, Denmark’s reputation as the happiest country in the world has started to take a tumble lately.

Duevang strongly feels that Denmark shouldn’t have a parallel society for foreign settlers, and she accordingly advocates a shift in mindset regarding how we integrate, coupled with helping Danes to understand how to facilitate integration.

Duevang has a mission to help international talent and their families settle, stay and have a fulfilling life in Denmark.

She’s been there, and she promises to be with her clients every step of the way.

20 HISTORY

THE COPENHAGEN POST | CPHPOST.DK

5 - 23 October 2018

Drain-spotting: for manhole cover junkies who like their art underfoot

RON GRAYBILL

A

MANHOLE cover featuring a leafy tree and five birds is a regular on the pavements and streets of Copenhagen. It was created by designer Anne Mette Dixen for the HOFOR utility company in 2013. Few people know that for Dixen, the cover has a special meaning, as the bird standing on the bottom edge of the cover is a representation of herself. Just above her fly three other birds: her son and two daughters. And way up in the tree is a little bird – a baby she lost years ago.

Withstanding our weight HER COMPANY Dixen Design has created many prizewinning logos and designs for businesses and cities. Her ‘Five Birds’ cover comes in two styles.

On many of the covers, the tree and the birds create the raised surface. But that style proved a little rough for bicycles to cross, so a negative copy was made with the birds and tree depressed into the surface. These are installed on bike paths and elsewhere. It’s just one more way Copenhagen promotes cycling.

The cast-iron manhole covers, mostly circular, protect water, electrical and sewer lines while allowing access for workers from HOFOR. Most of the covers show geometric designs. In the street one might see a ‘40’ in the centre of some covers. These are super-strong covers built to withstand the weight of a 40-tonne truck. The covers on the train platform at Nørreport have a much lower rating. They only

ALL PHOTOS: RON GRAYBILL

Why settle for talked-about craftsmanship when it can be walked above? From ‘Elephant’ to ‘Five Birds’, we’ve got you covered!

have to carry the weight of some hefty travellers.

Never forgotten art NEAR HANS Christian Andersen’s statue beside City Hall, two covers illustrate his story of ‘The Steadfast Tin Soldier’. They show Andersen in his top hat, the tin soldier, a twirling ballerina, a rat, and the fish that swallowed him. On some copies the one-legged tin soldier is missing – prised off by selfish souvenir hunters. A ‘Tin Soldier’ cover on Strøget, not far from City Hall, is encircled by an iron ring featuring eight mermaids.

Andersen’s tale of the ‘Shepherdess and the Chimney Sweep’ graces 14 little drain covers at the bottom of the downspouts along the street-side wall of Rosenborg Castle. And favourite Andersen hangout Tivoli, which inspired him to write ‘The Nightingale’ after he attended its 1843 grand opening, has two charming covers of its own.

Line drawings of 20 elephants march around on another set of manhole covers. They’re not out by the Carlsberg brewery where one might expect them, but in front of Hotel d’Angleterre on Kongens Nytorv and beside Holmens Kirke, near the canal where the tour boats pass. Both the Tin Soldier cover and the elephant cover were created by Peter Hentze (1943-2017), an accomplished Danish sculptor, painter and graphic artist. When Hentze died last year, his funeral was conducted in the chapel of the Holmens church graveyard.

It is fitting that a copy of his elephant cover rests beside that church.

Base motifs FEAR NOT as Hentze has some worthy successors. In 2007 Copenhagen’s sewer system was

The tree of life and death: Anne Mette Dixen with her ‘Five Birds’ cover

celebrating 150 years of making the city’s water cleaner and cleaner to the extent the harbour is so clean people can swim in it. A contest was announced challenging children to design a manhole cover.

The winning 11-year old schoolgirl, Fiona, drew a simple version of the three towers from the city’s coat-of-arms and sketched some waves below, adding flowers, fish and raindrops.

Fiona is a university student now, and one can still see her manhole covers near the Round Tower and in front of the Design Museum.

A coat of arms is also the inspiration for a splendid cover near the zoo. The three depicted

hawks come from the coat of arms of the city’s Frederiksberg section.

Cover versions COPENHAGEN’S Metro system put a big ‘M’ in the middle of their iron covers, but they fastened photographic prints of other manhole covers on the floors of some stations. The one on the platform at the Kongens Nytorv station is a picture of Anne’s ‘Five Birds’ cover. Most travellers will never notice that the cover is fake. Looking closely, one can see the cracks between the paving stones running right through the cover.

All over the world people are creating artistic manhole covers

and creating art from the covers.

Sometimes they are inked then used to block-print t-shirts or tote bags. Sometimes rubbings are made of them. Any number of YouTube videos respond to a search for ‘manhole cover art’.

In Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Jason Lempieri, who studied art in Copenhagen and elsewhere, uses his RethinkTank website to sell an array of cork coasters with images of covers from all over the world. His Copenhagen set of four features the Tivoli, Elephant, Metro and Five Birds covers.

Many of the covers around Copenhagen are made by iron foundries in Norway – either Furnes or Ulefos. Others come from Germany or China.

ON STAGES

5 - 23 October 2018

21

Is becoming the complete actor the new black?

HASSE FERROLD

HERBERT BAUMEISTER

BEN HAMILTON

I

S TAKING a part in a play and then returning to try an older role a number of years later just a gimmick?

Heathers to Hamlet THE CASTING of the awful Shannen Doherty in the HBO flop series Heathers – a nod to her role as one of the three title characters in the original 1987 film – certainly was. Her part was peripheral and there was no sense that she was in any way bridging the works or completing an arc.

Michael Caine’s decision to play alongside Jude Law in the 2007 version of Sleuth was more meta-theatrical. Caine had played Law’s role in the 1972 original opposite Laurence Olivier, and thanks to his stellar performance and a knowing screenplay by playwright Harold Pinter, we were given the sense that the films were woven into a larger tapestry. And it would appear to be a favoured course for many Shakespearean actors, such as Derek Jacobi, who played Hamlet in the 1980 BBC yawn-fest to then return as King Claudius in the 1996 Kenneth Branagh version – offering proof, of course, that they are the complete actor.

And even the gimmicky cross-pollination casting decisions can resonate, particularly when actors play roles in conflict with one another: from Charlton Heston’s appearance in the original Planet of the Apes as the marooned astronaut to his cameo as an ape in Tim Burton’s 2001 remake, to Gregory Peck and Robert Mitchum swapping peripheral sides for the 1991 remake of Cape Fear, having

played the protagonist and antagonist in the 1962 original.

The woman is back “ACTORS I think enjoy the challenge of playing different characters in well written plays and of returning to such a play,” contends Ian Burns who has uttered every line of That Theatre’s autumn play, Susan Hill’s chilling The Woman in Black (Oct 24-Nov 24 at Krudttønden, tickets: 175kr; that-theatre.com), playing both the young and old versions of the same character.

“I know for example that I’ll be slightly different this time as Arthur Kipps [incidentally the name of the lead character in Half a Sixpence as well], the haunted man trying to exorcise his past in the telling of his story – and selfish even in his desperation to have to tell this tale for his own sanity.”

For Burns this will be his second outing as Kipps in five years, having played the actor/ young Arthur, the role occupied

by Benjamin Stender again, in a That Theatre version in 2004.

Barry McKenna will again direct after taking the helm in 2013, and the pair will of course be joined by a certain woman with a fondness for dark clothing (easy to cast – could be any Dane).

“The Woman in Black for me represents all that can be brilliant and exciting about theatre.

With very little at our disposal the actors have to engage the audience’s imaginations. Once they have drawn people in then it only takes subtle changes of lighting, a musical chord or stillness to create a collective sense of ‘something’s going to happen’. I love that,” enthused Burns.

“We have got a few more technical tricks up our sleeves

with this production, but the intimacy that Krudttønden provides makes this story even more frightening than playing it in a 1,000-seater, as there’s quite simply nowhere to hide.”

Kit Kat Krudttønden IT WILL be a busy October at Krudttønden as the Copenhagen Theatre Circle is staging Cabaret (Oct 3-6 & 10-13; tickets: 220kr; ctcircle.dk), the 1966 John Kander musical made famous by the 1974 film starring Liza Minneli.

Traversing a 1930s Berlin rapidly filling up with Nazis, a young journalist discovers the seedy delights of the Kit Kat Klub, as one of the CTC’s largest casts for years takes on the classic.

The director Christina Hildebrandt is in no doubt that this is a huge endeavour and one of the reasons why the CTC has only attempted one other musical in recent times: Godspell in 1998.

“There are 21 people on stage (14 actors and 7 musicians who are present at all time) and the logistics of placing them all in Krudttønden has been a bit of a challenge,” she confesses.

“Having a live band creates extra challenges as the fine tuning of the tempo, sound, and interpretation has to be done hand-in-hand with the actors and this takes extra time.”

Not many people realise that Joel Grey, who plays the Master of Ceremonies in the 1974 film, is the father of Jennifer Grey from Dirty Dancing (possibly because they presume he is gay … and he is), and this CTC production has its own piece of parent-child trivia.

“Casting Fraulein Schneider was hard and Bente Frederik-

sen was found at the 11th hour, although she is absolutely wonderful and was worth the wait,” reveals Hildebrandt.

“And as a strange coincidence, her daughter Charlotte Cumberland was cast as one of the Kit Kat girls. Mother and daughter have different surnames, and it was not until they were at our first rehearsal that they told me they were related.”

It has everything THE DIRECTOR and leading lady in Oliver! (Oct 12-24; MusikTeatret Albertslund, Bibliotekstorvet 1-3; 195-245kr at billetlugen.dk) are also related, but it’s a less of a coincidence as husband and wife Russell and Christina Anthony-Collins are the co-founders of the SceneKunst drama school for children, and in October they will be taking audiences back to Dickensian London for a second helping of Lionel Bart’s crowd-pleasing musical after a well-received show in 2016.

The Danish-language show features SceneKunst students and professional actors and singers playing the adults, and the director is convinced internationals will enjoy it if they give it a chance – it is after all a well-known story.

“Even if you Danish isn’t great, you’ll be able to follow the story through the well-known characters and plot. Lots of dancing, singing and a live professional orchestra will ensure it’s a great evening’s entertainment,” he promises “Oliver! is a beautiful story and my focus is to simply tell that story by creating memorable characters and relationships, and to develop the story through great acting. Add to that fantas-

tic choreography, singing and music and hopefully our audiences will be able to sit back, lose themselves in the story and be entertained.”

Across the city ELSEWHERE on the stage this month, we’ve got three great operas to look forward to: Mozart’s masterpiece The Marriage of Figaro (ends Oct 21; Gamle Scene; 100-725kr; kglteater. dk), Verdi’s Il Travatore (ends Nov 20; Operaen; 150-925kr, kglteater.dk) and La Boheme (ends Nov 20; Operaen; 150925kr, kglteater.dk).

October’s ballets include Carmen (ends Nov 1; 100-725kr), Dans2Go (Oct 23-March 18; 200-260kr), Ghosting (Oct 26Nov 10; 200kr) and Napoli (Oct 31-March 7; 80-625kr). All of the performances are at Gamle Scene, while the tickets can be ordered via kglteater.dk.

It’s never too early to get in the mood for Christmas, so make sure you book your tickets for Vivienne McKee’s Crazy Christmas Cabaret (Nov 13-Jan 5; Tivoli Glassalen; tickets: 170385kr, londontoast.dk), which this year is called ‘Fogg’s Off’ – a departure from the Donald Trump-inspired romps that have delighted audiences for the past two years.

And look out for Slapstick & Slaughter (Oct 4-6 & 11-13, times vary; Bådteatret, Nyhavn; tickets: 135kr, teaterbilletter.dk), a touring British production performed by Desperate Men (actors Richard Headon and Jon Beedell) – a show that has been compared to Monty Python being performed by Statler and Waldorf from The Muppet Show.

If portentous pomposity sounds like fun, you’re in luck.

22 INOUT: MUSEUMS CORNER THE COPENHAGEN POST | CPHPOST.DK

5 - 23 October 2018

When visiting, it must be a museum with a view NIKOLAJ HØJ KRISTOFFERSEN

T

HE GREAT things about museums is that they tend to have good views.

After all, many like the Palace Museum in Beijing and the Museum of the History of France near Paris are located in former

palaces – the Forbidden City and Versailles respectively – and the royals weren’t going to settle for a vista spoilt by squalour, smoke or Slough city centre.

Most of Denmark’s palaces are occupied, unfortunately

(maybe not for arch-royalists), but the country still manages to offer many museums with mesmerising views.

Behold the rooftops of the capital, and the masterly art of Mother Nature.

A SHAKESPEAREAN SIGHT Kronborg Castle, Kronborg 2C, Helsingør; open daily 11:0016:00, no admission in final 30 mins; 90kr, under-18s free adm; kongeligeslotte.dk

T

AKE A TRAIN from Copenhagen along Zealand’s beautiful coastline to one of

A HIDDEN GEM

Hirschsprung Collection, Stockholmsgade 20, Cph Ø; open Tue-Sun 11:00-16;00, closed Mon; 95kr, concessions available; hirschsprung.dk

A

DJACENT to Østre Anlæg park, a romantic rendezvous established on the

Europe’s most important renaissance castles, Kronborg Castle.

Home to Shakespeare’s Hamlet and Danish legend Holger Danske, the castle in Helsingør has deep roots in Danish and international culture. From the castle’s many windows visitors can see the seas Kattegat and

Øresund and all the way to Sweden’s coast. The train ride also offers an idyllic sea view and a great opportunity to enjoy a snack and a cup of coffee.

twisted roads and hilly terrain on the old ramparts, you will find the collection put together by tobacco manufacturer Heinrich Hirschsprung. He started his collection in the mid-1860s and continued it up until his death in 1908. The beautiful museum houses a great collection of Dan-

ish art from the 19th century with masterworks by Vilhelm Hammershøi, Theodor Philipsen and Danish Golden Age master CW Eckersberg. In the museum you will also find many works by the Danish Skagen painters, who were known for their special understanding of light and nature.

ON TOP OF COPENHAGEN

Christansborg Palace, Jørgens Gård, Cph K; open Tue-Sun 10:00-17:00, closed Mon; 150kr, under-18s free adm; christiansborg.dk

THE VIKING VIEW Viking Ship Museum, Vindeboder 12, Roskilde; open daily 10:00-16:00; 130kr, free adm for under-18s; vikingeskibsmuseet.dk

T

HE PALACE is located in the heart of Copenhagen and houses, the Danish Parliament Folketinget. Built over three periods, the current neo-baroque palace is from 1928, replacing the first ba-

T

HE VIKINGS from Scandinavia are world famous for their barbaric raids and use of advanced ship technology. The Viking Ship Museum in Roskilde, 30 minutes from Copenhagen, contains the re-

roque structure from 1738. The palace was built upon the ruins of Absalon’s Castle from 1167, which can still be seen today in the subterranean excavations.

The largest and oldest ruin is the curtain wall that protected

the castle from pirate attacks. In 2014, a viewing platform in The Tower was opened to the public with free entrance. The Tower is the tallest viewing platform in Copenhagen and from here you can see most of the capital’s

landmarks, such as the Marble Church, the Tivoli Gardens and the Round Tower. Take a trip through the rich history of Copenhagen from down below to high up in the sky.

mains of five original Viking ships. The museum focuses on everything related to ships and seafaring from the times of Vikings. Built in a controversial architectural style in 1962, the aesthetic judgement will differ

from visitor to visitor, but one thing that will definitely please the eyes of everyone is the great window frame that opens up onto the waters of Roskilde Fjord. Should the theme of Vikings and seafaring inspire

you, it is possible to go sailing in the fjord in the museum’s reconstruction of a real Viking ship and see the museum from the sea as well as the idyllic area of Roskilde.

helped to shape Denmark’s history and development from the Middle Ages to the 21st century.

The castle also has two stunning gardens representing two different perceptions of nature: the baroque and the romantic. The baroque garden with its linear lines and deep desire to control nature offers a spectacular infinite view of a carefully curated

and constructed park. For more uncontrolled and unpredictable nature, the romantic garden is worth a visit. It is also possible to sail on the mesmerising lake in a small boat or hike around the stunning castle area. At any rate, a visit to Frederiksborg encourages visitors to let their eyes wander through history, nature and culture.

A ROYAL ROOM WITH A VIEW Frederiksborg Castle, Hillerød; open Mon-Sun 10:00-17:00 from Nov-March 11:00-15:00; tours for 1,000kr, until mid-October, free guided tours every Sat and Sun at 11:30; over-15s: 75kr, under-15s: 20kr, under-6s: free adm; dnm.dk

I

F KRONBORG has evoked your interest in renaissance castles, the Museum of Na-

tional History, Frederiksborg Castle is definitely worth a visit. A tour of Frederiksborg Castle’s many beautiful rooms is a journey through 500 years of Danish history. The story is told through portraits, paintings, furniture and decorative arts, and on the way you will meet kings, queens, nobles amd the bourgeoisie – all of which have

FOR MORE INSPIRATION FROM THE MUSEUMS, VISIT COPENHAGEN MUSEUMS & ATTRACTIONS AT CPHMUSEUMS.COM

ON SCREENS

5 - 23 October 2018

23

Why your next favourite film might only be on a small screen BEN HAMILTON

I

F YOU’RE reading this in ye olde newspaper, you probably don’t have Netflix (if online: far more likely) and are unaware of what’s happening: namely that big budget, award-friendly films made by reputed directors that you like, starring some of your favourite actors, are no longer making their way to the cinema.

A case in point could be the next Martin Scorsese gangster film, The Irishman, which is due out next year, reuniting Robert De Niro with Joe Pesci and a ‘who’s hoodlum’ of Sopranos and Boardwalk Empire goons. Ask any fan of this genre whether they would want to watch this film for the first time on a small screen, and the No will be fatter than Big Tone after he’s eaten yesterday’s manicotti for breakfast.

This isn’t well publicised outside the Netflix universe – either the way the streaming service is spending ever-increasing sums of money on blockbusters, or the films themselves, which tend to rely on word-of-mouth more than the word of the media. Besides, even the most dormant subscriber doesn’t escape the dreaded ‘Recommended because you liked Bambi as a kid’ algorithm, which is less accurate than a Danish weather forecast.

Utøja revisited FOLLOWING on from Annihilation, Alex Garland’s keenly-anticipated follow-up to Ex-Machina, which only enjoyed a limited cinematic release in the US, Netflix has scooped another big ’un this month. 22 July (Oct 10; Netflix) is the second film this year to dramatise Anders Breivik’s

mass murder of 68 young Norwegians on the island of Utøja in 2011, so a handful of people (mostly twats who think it’s a worthy subject for art) would read the drivel he refers to as his manifesto.

This film, a passion project scripted and shot by British director Paul Greengrass (Captain Phillips, Bourne films), has more scope than Utøja 22. juli, which focuses solely on the horrors on the island. Like with his best film, United 93, the real-time account of the doomed 9/11 plane that crashed after passengers stormed the cockpit, Greengrass has recruited no big name actors, instead choosing to cast a mainly Norwegian cast, even though the film is in English.

The action starts with Breivik’s detonation of a bomb in central Oslo, which killed nine people two hours before his slaughter on Utøja, and ends with his trial – mainly focusing on one survivor’s determination to see justice done in a country that is more sympathetic to mass murderers than refugees. With 20 million dollars to spend, and very little of that being spent on the cast, there are high hopes Greengrass has made a formidable film – such a shame, therefore, that it will mainly be seen by grown-ups on small screens.

Scot to be a hater THAT DESCRIPTION was chosen carefully to contrast with the kiddies glued to the big screens to watch Christopher Robin (59 on Metacritic; Oct 11), which alongside the latest Warner Bros animation Smallfoot (58; Oct 4) has been timed to coincide with half-term.

If we told you that Winnie the Pooh creator AA Milne was in-

spired by the stuffed toys of his son to write his books, and that CR went on to mostly forget the magic of his youth (beaten out of him in boarding school, of course), you could probably write the rest, throwing a requisite that only a Scottish actor like Ewan McGregor could play the repressed Englishman with the degree of self-loathing he deserves. Discounting the Trainspotting sequel, or would it be easier to forget it, when was the last time McGregor played a Scot?

Originality abounds BUT THEN again, when was the last time Chris Hemsworth or Russell Crowe played an Aussie?

This acting lark: it might require you to adopt an accent or even pretend you have superpowers.

The pair front a strong cast in Bad Times at El Royale (66; Oct 18), a spooky thriller that has divided opinion – firstly because of Crowe (some journos never forget), and secondly due to its self-indulgent fondness to present multiple versions of the same scene.

A new kind of superpower has been entrusted to Tom Hardy in the Marvel movie Venom (Not Released Worldwide; Oct 11) – the ability to grow toxic slugs out of his back. Confusingly, this is the first film in Sony’s Marvel Universe – so distinct from the Marvel Cinematic Universe. If you’re confused and you care, you probably deserve the pain.

Talking of different universes, we’re returning to the original, original one in Halloween (NRW; Oct 11), which with the same title as John Carpenter’s 1978 original brings back original stalkee Jamie Lee Curtis to take on cinema’s original slasher killer Michael Myers – again. This is the tenth

“If I don’t make it, make sure some twat makes some art out of this”

Halloween film since the first, and you might remember that Curtis returned in Halloween H20: 20 Years Later to do the same. So is she going to come back in 2038 as well? For the purpose of both films, 1998 and 2018, they discounted all previous films bar the original.

But why not discount that too, so we can all sleep easy at night. This is anything but original.

All eyes on Herve THE HORROR continues on TV with drama series The Haunting of Hill House (Netflix; Oct 12), which looks really good, and a new season of Making a Murderer (S2; Netflix; Oct 19).

And then the jeopardy continues in two high school dramas.

Spanish-language murder mystery Elite (Netflix; Oct 5) probably has the edge over ‘the wrong side of the tracks kid coming to play football in Beverley Hills’ plot offered by All American (HBO Nordic; Oct 11).

But if we had to plump for just one new series to add to your list ... it wouldn’t be Camping (HBO Nordic; Oct 15). Despite Jennifer Garner and David Tennant on

board, this is cringe without the humour. Sometimes it’s better to stick to what you know, whether that’s Daredevil (S3; Netflix; Oct 19), Loudermilk (S2; HBO Nordic; Oct 17), Into the Badlands (S3; HBO Nordic; Oct 17) or Supergirl (S4; HBO Nordic; Oct 15).

And there are also plenty of strong documentaries. Maggie Smith and Judi Dench, who were both born in December 1934, recall their careers with two other octogenarian veterans in Nothing Like A Dame (87; Oct 11), while Kusama: Infinity (73; Oct 18) and Searching for Ingmar Bergman (NRW; Oct 18) recall the careers of two true artists.

Finally, we’ve kept the best for last: My Dinner with Herve (HBO Nordic; Oct 21). Starring Peter Dinklage as Hervé Villechaize (the dwarf actor in Fantasy Island, The Man with the Golden Gun), this TV movie has a great cast and director, so our hopes our high.

But while HBO might have a worthy cinematic challenger, it could learn a thing or two from Netflix about the art of making a blockbuster.

FOUR NORDIC COUNCIL FILM PRIZE NOMINEES October 13th and 14th experience four nominees for the Nordic Council Film Prize with receptions, Q&As and introductions: ‘Winter Brothers’, ‘Ravens’, ‘Thelma’ and ‘Euthanizer’.

We present some 50 films with English dialogue or subtitles every month.

See what’s on at cinemateket.dk or visit us in Gothersgade 55

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