CPH Post Newspaper: 3 - 19 May 2022

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3 - 19 MAY 2022 VOL 25 ISSUE 06

DANISH NEWS IN ENGLISH | CPHPOST.DK ARMELLE DELMELLE

INDIAN PM NARENDRA MODI ON STATE VISIT

SPECIAL EDITION

LOCAL

NATIONAL

SPECIAL EDITION

SUMMER SCHOOLS

2022

INSIDE A timely overview of Danish-Indian relations and investment opportunities ahead of the official state visit of PM Narendra Modi this week

INDIA SPECIAL SUPPLEMENT MAY 2022

2 While plans are advanced to establish a Ukrainian village near Amager Strand, City Hall has a long way to go to hit its target of adequately housing 11,000

4 Most locals will tell you that your bicycle is never safe in Denmark, however securely you lock it, but did you know it has the lowest car theft rate in Europe?

INSIDE With the July holiday not far away, now is the time to book your children into a summer school to alleviate the pressure of filling their weeks

LOCAL THE COPENHAGEN POST | CPHPOST.DK

3 - 19 MAY 2022

FIRST ‘UKRAINIAN VILLAGE’ OF MANY?

BARTHOLOMEW SKALA

I

N THE WAKE of the ongoing arrival of refugees from the War in Ukraine, City Hall has confirmed it intends to accommodate 330 refugees in a large pavilion near Amager Strand, along with plans to house 2,000 more around the corner, which are subject to approval.

The city will refurbish an existing storage pavilion to create a mini-village for Ukrainians with lodging, daycare and offices.

The project will cost 71 million kroner, and it should be completed by the end of July.

Not our first time “IT WILL be a little reminiscent of the refugee villages established when Bosnians fled their war in the 1990s," Jens-Kristian Lütken, the new mayor of employment and integration, told TV2.

City Hall will take charge of recruiting staff, such as social caretakers and volunteer support.

The first 44 million kroner will come from two budgetary pools: one for unforeseen construction costs, and the other for unforeseen service costs. Remaining funds will likely be extracted from the city’s 2023 budget.

BEN HAMILTON

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HEN THEY’RE born, a panda’s average weight is 100 grams, so only 1/900th of their mother’s weight.

Humans, in comparison, are typically 1/20th.

And mating! Female pandas only ovulate once a year, which means the window for impregnation is barely 40 hours.

Sometimes copulation can go badly wrong and they end up killing each other.

COPENHAGEN received a visit from the‘Adventure Mermaid' in early April.

To mark Earth Day on April 2, British freediver Lindsey Cole, who considers herself a real mermaid, spoke to pupils at International School Hellerup about her environmentalism, and then had a swim near the Little Mermaid statue, where she read stories to a group of children.

Waters ever murkier

Short of spaces THE CITY has to date ‘permanently’ accommodated just over 1,000 Ukrainians out of a target of 11,000. The remainder, for the time being, are being housed by hotels and hostels.

Many have been housed by the Cabinn hotel chain, which Lütken is quite unhappy about: “At Cabinn there are four bunk beds and you have to back in. There is a need for places where they can talk to each other and meet across.”

More funds could soon be allocated to allow a further 2,000 refugees to settle in similar accommodation on extensive

THE GO-AHEAD for the Lynetteholm artificial island construction project was partly swayed by an environmental impact report based on questionable 1981 findings, reports DR. Huge amounts of sludge have been dumped into Køge Bay, much to Sweden’s dismay, and a huge duvet of thick foam is washing up at Margreteholms Havn on Refshaleøen, much to the dismay of locals.

grassland around the corner from the site of the village.

Cash handout MEANWHILE, in related news, City Hall is investigating the possibility of giving Ukrainian refugees a cash handout to support themselves while they wait for their temporary residency to come through.

A majority on its Employment and Integration Committee backed a proposal to investigate the possibility.

Enhedslisten has suggested 200 kroner every day per adult and 100 kroner per child.

It’s not uncommon for staff to be ready Needs wood ... not bamboo with water guns should it kick off.

IT MIGHT not help that hundreds of extra zoo visitors turned up in the hope they can add “I watched two pandas having Er … a peculiar vintage NEVERTHELESS, the odds of Xing Er it off ” to their bucket list. impregnating his companion Mao Sun As anyone who has seen ‘Boogie at Copenhagen Zoo have shortened Nights’ knows, not everyone can perconsiderably of late. form in front of the cameras. Peter and The weekend of April 23-24 was their Birte Brandt, a retired couple whose own third year of trying since arriving in 2019. On mating days are probably over, rushed previous occasions, Xing Er has been more out yesterday after they heard the news interested in sizing up the tastiest bamboo. on DR. But this year, urine from other male Should Mao Sun give birth, the zoo pandas has been sprinkled around the can expect to keep the young panda enclosure to give Xing Er reason to think for two years before it is shipped off he has competition. overseas.

Founded in 1998

by San Shepherd All rights reserved Published by cphpost.dk ApS. Printed by Dansk Avistryk A/S

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Visit to see Big Sis

In truth it's a desolate area that will benefit from fresh eyes

PANDAS: TWO TO BECOME THREE? All eyes were on Copenhagen Zoo over the weekend of April 2324 to see if Xing Er could finally successfully mate with Mao Sun

LINDSEY COLE

SKRÅFOTO/STYRELSEN FOR DATAFORSYNING OG EFFEKTIVISERING

A storage pavilion just down the road from Amager Strand is being repurposed to house 330 refugees, with further plans to accommodate another 2,000 just around the corner

ONLINE THIS WEEK

Ejvind Sandal

Hans Hermansen

CO-OWNER

CEO

Ben Hamilton EDITOR

Could Kødbyen be sold?

CITY HALL could sell Kødbyen, one of the city’s main nightlife areas, into private ownership. A recent Rambøll inspection estimated 1.2 billion kroner will need to be spent on maintenance over the next decade. The city mayor, Sophie Hæstorp Andersen, a long-time resident in the area, argues that Kødbyen includes a great many centres that look after vulnerable people.

New record for Metro

THE COPENHAGEN Metro smashed its weekly passenger record in Week 14 with 1.06 million users – 30,000 more than a record set in 2019.

Since the lifting of restrictions, passengers have returned in droves. In related news, the Metro intends to ban betting ads – a stance in line with Copenhagen Municipality’s pledge to ban betting ads on all public transport in the capital.

Harbour bus stops open

TWO NEW Copenhagen Harbour bus stops have opened at Islands Brygge Syd and Enghave Brygge, areas that operator Movia notes are developing quickly, but poorly served by transport options. Another stop, at Orientkaj in Nordhavn, is due to open later this spring.

More bridge repairs

A FURTHER 17 million kroner will be spent on Inderhavnsbroen, the Copenhagen Harbour by Nyhavn. Defects have been found in the mechanism that enables the bridge to be opened to allow large sea vessels to pass. The 180-metre long bridge opened in 2016.

Close to plane crash

AN INCOMING flight from Lisbon nearly crashed at Copenhagen Airport on April 8. Following an aborted landing, the engines did not have enough thrust to climb safely and came close to hitting the perimeter fence and nearby housing in Maglebylille.. The TAP Air Portugal Airbus A320, which was carrying 109 people, landed safely 20 minutes after the incident.

Hotels filling up again

JUST OVER 50 percent of hotel rooms in Copenhagen were booked in March, compared to 10 percent in the same month in 2021. According to Dansk Erhverv, the returning tourists are mostly coming from Germany and the Nordic countries.

70-year clean-up

WORK HAS started at Copenhagen Airport to free the area of PFOS and PFAS, two chemicals now considered global pollutants. Co-ordinated by Kemic Vandrens, the clean-up could take as many as 70 years. The source of the pollutants was foam used by firefighters – almost entirely in training exercises.

Ban on catching cod

THE VETERINARY and Food Administration has issued a proposal to ban anglers from catching cod in Copenhagen Harbour due to concerns the fish contain toxic levels of mercury.

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Christian Wenande

Stephen Gadd

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Lena Hunter

NEWS/LAYOUT EDITOR

CONTRIBUTOR

PHOTOGRAPHER

JOURNALIST

DANISH NEWS IN ENGLISH | CPHPOST.DK

Barbara Mensah SOCIAL MEDIA

INTERNATIONAL THE COPENHAGEN POST | CPHPOST.DK

3 - 19 MAY 2022

THE PRICE OF WAR: A HEAT PUMP

ONLINE THIS WEEK FACEBOOK/METTE FREDERIKSEN

FACEBOOK/UNHCR/MACEIJ MOSKWA

PM meets Zelenskyy

NATO contribution boost

PM METTE Frederiksen travelled to Ukraine on April 21 to meet Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Kiev. During her visit, she confirmed that Denmark would give a further 600 million kroner in military aid to Ukraine, taking the total past 1 billion. Additionally, Denmark will assist Ukraine in clearing out mines.

IN WAKE of the War in Ukraine, Denmark has decided to boost its military contributions to NATO. The size of its battle-ready battalion group in NATO will be increased to 1,000 troops, and Denmark will now have the option of providing a frigate and a number of military air contributions, as well as personnel to NATO’s HQ.

Macron “bad for Putin”

Swedish tax deal on table

PM METTE Frederiksen congratulated French President Emmanuel Macron following his election in April, as did her predecessor Lars Løkke Rasmussen, who wrote on Twitter: “Relieved over re-election for Macron and choosing against right-wing nationalistic populism.

Good for Europe, bad for Putin.”

THE ØRESUNDS Agreement, a Danish-Swedish tax agreement agreed in 2003, will be re-negotiated in the near future, reports News Øresund. Sweden has expressed a desire that a greater portion of border commuter tax funds be sent back to their land of residence.

English teaching permitted

"The country's lovely and everything, but does our pipeline need to be this big?"

Government will not financially support majority of gas boiler owners, who are expected to start making plans to switch over to electricity BEN HAMILTON

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Homeowners will have to pay FOR REMOTE households with no hope of switching to district heating, the cost will be immense. A heat pump generally costs 100,000 kroner to install.

Like it did with the high heating bills over the winter, the government wants to help, but while it has said low income households will be able to access subsidies, it still sounds like it will cost them a fair amount.

The government has proposed low interest loans to cover the cost of switching over, and already Finans Danmark has said it will forego many of the fees normally involved in such a purchase.

ultimately decrease.

While the future looks bleak for the 400,000 Danish households, ultimately it is good for the environment, as many oil and gas boilers will be replaced by green alternatives.

Good for environment NEVERTHELESS, the blue bloc would like to see more help provided.

Right bloc allies argue the switchover will make it cheaper for the homeowners in the long-term as their energy bills will

Prices increasing everywhere MEANWHILE, the electric car company Clever confirmed just after Easter that it will soon be raising some of its prices by up to 170 percent.

The purchase price of electricity, Clever explained, has risen from 0.66 kroner per kilowatt hour to 1.78 amid fears it might rise above 3.00 kroner by the end of April.

From June, Clever intends to raise its subscription cost and also introduce a supplementary surcharge, which will then be reviewed every four months until the end of the conflict in Ukraine.

One of the top passports

US military delivery via Esbjerg

Climate trip to Bangladesh

DENMARK’S passport is the world’s ninth best when it comes to visa-free travel, according to the latest Passport Index published by Henley & Partners. Meanwhile, the War in Ukraine has seen the value of the Russian passport tumble, and Ukraine’s soar. Topping the index were Japan and Singapore, followed by Germany and South Korea in equal third.

EARLY April saw the unloading of 300 armoured vehicles from a US military ship at Esbjerg Harbour, which were then taken by truck to Poland. The operation is an example of Denmark providing 'host nation support' – including security – to another NATO country. At 264 metres long, ARC Endurance is the longest ship to ever enter the port of Esbjerg.

IN COLLABORATION with the Royal Family, the government is dispatching a delegation to Bangladesh to take in first-hand accounts of climate vulnerability challenges. Led by the development minister, Flemming Møller Mortensen, and Crown Princess Mary, the delegation will also sign a co-operation agreement focusing on sustainable development.

HE DANISH government has confirmed it intends to help the 400,000+ Danish households solely reliant on natural gas to switch over to another energy source.

By the end of the year, households heated by a gas or oil boiler can expect to be notified about their best options: in most cases, whether it is getting a heat pump or switching over to district heating.

The target was outlined in the energy initiative 'Denmark can do more II', which also includes plans to step up production of Danish gas to cover the shortfall and ensure the country uses as little Russian gas as possible.

DANISH NEWS IN ENGLISH | CPHPOST.DK

MPS HAVE backed plans to allow teachers and daycare workers to deviate from the Folkeskole Law and teach in languages other than Danish for the purpose of Ukrainian children. Teaching in Ukrainian and English will be permitted.

Volunteer spike due to war

THE WAR in Ukraine has sparked an increase in volunteers at aid organisations. From receiving about two-five applications a week before Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24, Dansk Flygtningehjælp now receives 30 to 50, while Dansk Røde Kors’ numbers have doubled to over 10,000 since February 24.

Defence weakest in region

ACCORDING to a new report from organisation Folk og Sikkerhed, Danish Defence is weaker than its Nordic neighbours. As opposed to Sweden, Norway and Finland, Denmark lacks the necessary u-boats and ships needed to run military operations along coastal areas. And Denmark’s number of tanks, fighter jets and conscripted soldiers is also considerably lower.

Getting them on their bikes

AROUND 1,900 Ukrainians have signed up for the Giv en cykel (give a bike) scheme since its launch on March 11, and over 750 bicycles have so far been donated via givencykel.dk to help give the new arrivals mobility.

Swedish transit deal agreed

DENMARK and Sweden have agreed upon a joint declaration of transit in the Øresund Region, which will result in a more free and fluid transport corridor to Bornholm, Kastrup Airport and up through Sweden. However, the countries will still be able to usher in travel-related restrictions in future pandemic situations.

Helped by TV2 journalists

TV2 JOURNALISTS recently helped a Danish man to track down his exwife after she abducted their son and fled abroad. The result is 'Den falske rugemor på flugt’ (the false surrogate mother on the run), which can be viewed on TV2 Play. The trail eventually ended at a shopping mall in Dubrovnik, Croatia.

Russian ‘diplomats’ expelled

THE GOVERNMENT expelled 15 Russian intelligence officers from Denmark in April. The 15 individuals, who were working under diplomatic cover at the Russian Embassy in Copenhagen, were given two weeks to leave.

The foreign minister, Jeppe Kofod, said they were “a risk to our national security that we cannot overlook”.

Hosting a NATO test centre

IN THE wake of the NATO 2030 agenda, Copenhagen will soon host a test centre and acceleration site for quantum technologies. It will be hosted at the Niels Bohr Institute and will see contributions from DTU, AU and the Danish National Metrology Institute.

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NATIONAL THE COPENHAGEN POST | CPHPOST.DK

3 - 19 MAY 2022

EUROPE’S LOWEST CAR RATE THEFT

ONLINE THIS WEEK VISIT DENMARK/MICHAEL FIUKOWSKI & SARAH MORITZ

FACEBOOK/UNHCR/MACEIJ MOSKWA

Fewer people cycling

Church turbine veto lifted

FEWER people in Denmark are cycling, according to a DTU study conducted last year. Only 15 percent of over-6s regularly cycle, compared to 19 percent in 2016.

The fall in cyclists is blamed on an increase in car owners.

THE MINISTER of the interior and housing, Kaare Dybvad, recently lifted a Viborg Diocese veto against the construction of six wind turbines, and it is believed it will set a precedent. Since 2017, the church has exercised its veto – to object to anything that might disrupt a view from a church, providing it is within 3 km – on ten occasions.

Bunkers in disarray

UP UNTIL 2003, the municipalities were legally obliged to make sure their bunkers could be used with 24 hours notice. Since then, they have fallen into disarray, DR reports.

Some, such as Hvidovre and Albertslund, have space for all their residents, but others fall a long way short. Dragør only has a place for every 29th resident.

Easier to fund charging

"If you push both buttons at once, it will open ... I promise"

Sweden has 5,320 percent more, apparently!

to a new report from Confused.com, we can rest easy, as Denmark has the lowest theft rate in the whole of Europe.

This equates to 455 reported thefts a day. Only Italy, with 474, has a higher number.

ENMARK has a serious bike theft problem. In 2020, there were 40,642 bicycle thefts nationwide, of which 14,429 were in Copenhagen.

And that’s just the reported ones. A City Hall survey last summer revealed that 20 percent of Copenhageners had a bicycle stolen within the previous year.

But when it comes to cars, according

D

Italy worst in Europe LAST YEAR, there were just five thefts per 100,000 people, which equates to just one a day.

At the other end of the ranking is Italy, the continent’s worst country for car thefts.

It experiences 276 thefts per 100,000 people, which is 5,520 percent more than Denmark!

Sweden worst in Nordics HOWEVER, Danes should be wary when they head north, as Sweden is the third worst country.

Last year it had 266 thefts per 100,000 people – 5,320 percent higher than Denmark.

Sweden’s figure was 91 percent worse than Finland (139) and 138 percent worse than Norway (112).

Smoke-free plans ‘illegal’

DMI 150 years old

Eliminated from inquiries

THE GOVERNMENT'S plans to make it illegal for children born after 2010 to buy tobacco have received a setback.

The EU Tobacco Products Directive confirms the proposal cannot be legally implemented. The health minister, Magnus Heunicke, suggests Denmark could gradually raise the legal age to buy tobacco products to fulfil its goal.

WHEN THE media tells you that it’s the warmest, coldest, windiest or wettest since records began, the date in question is 1872, the year that Danmarks Meteorologiske Institut (DMI) was founded. Accordingly the weather forecaster celebrated its 150th anniversary on April 1, the exact date it was launched – with just four employees. Today it has a team of 300.

ONE OF the 36-year-old men charged with the February murder of 22-year-old Mia Skadhauge Stevn, who was then subsequently released from jail, had nothing to do with her disappearance or death, police in Aalborg have ruled.

The other 36-year-old man remains in custody. Just before Easter, he voluntarily agreed to extend his detention by a further four weeks.

BEN HAMILTON

THE AFI Law has come into force, providing municipalities and regions with a better framework for co-financing electric car charging stations. Applications are now welcome for funds from a pool of 100 million kroner to cover 50 percent of all costs. A further 65 million was allocated in March.

Double-trailer pilot

MPS HAVE backed plans for a pilot scheme to test out double-trailers on the motorway running from Aarhus to Høje-Taastrup. Should the pilot be a success, it will enable individual lorries to transport far more goods whilst saving CO2 emissions: an estimated total of 22,000 tonnes per year. Minor adjustments are needed to roads in relation to bends.

Pensioner freeze

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DANISH NEWS IN ENGLISH | CPHPOST.DK

LAST YEAR’S increase in the state pension age from 66 to 66.5 resulted in nobody becoming a pensioner during the first six months of 2021, accordingly lowering the number of pensioners aged 65-69 from 233,100 to 203,400 over the course of the year. In total the country had 1,062,000 pensioners at the end of the year.

Country road menace

COUNTRY roads experience the most serious road accidents in terms of serious injuries and fatalities, according to a study carried out by Rådet for Sikker Trafik and Wilke. Youngsters are the worst offenders: one in four drivers aged 17-24 regularly exceeds 100 km/h on roads where the limit is 80. The average is one in six.

Master’s suggestion

A GOVERNMENT-APPOINTED commission suggests the state could switch from a grant to a loan system for master’s degree students. Master's students, reasons the commission, are more likely than those who stop following their BA, to land a well-paid job, and the savings would be reinvested in education.

Less emphasis on average

UPPER-SECONDARY students favour a proposal from the Reform Commission to place less emphasis on the average grade score. For example, doing badly at music should not hurt your chances of becoming a doctor, they argue. Good grades in the subjects the students are applying to study should be the ultimate focus, not the average.

Trafficking action

THE GOVERNMENT has confirmed a new 118.2 million kroner action plan to combat human trafficking until 2025. Efforts will be made to strengthen government efforts and to ensure better services for victims of human trafficking. The action plan is the sixth since 2002.

CULTURE THE COPENHAGEN POST | CPHPOST.DK

3 - 19 MAY 2022

ONLINE THIS WEEK

TIVOLI BURSTS AT THE SEAMS FACEBOOK/TIVOLI

Busy in his workshop

Lego-mad couple

DANISH sculptor Jens Galschiøt contends that the Chinese authorities made a huge mistake by removing his work ‘Pillar of Shame’, which depicts the Tiananmen Square massacre in 1989, from outside Hong Kong University last October, as he has been inundated with requests for replica versions.

A STORY is currently doing the rounds about a Danish couple so obsessed with Lego that it provided the main theme of their wedding in the north Zealand town of Frederikssund, where instead of rice, guests threw Lego bricks as they left the ceremony. In total, Line and Jannick own 1,200 sets – 700 and 500 respectively.

Super tall tower at zoo

The Tivoli spring procession had no place to go

Gates closed as half the city turns up to attend FredagsRock BEN HAMILTON

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HO KNEW everyone wanted to go to a concert so bad! It’s not like the whole city’s been cooped up at home for two whole years climbing up the walls!

Well, certainly not Tivoli, which was blown away by the interest in its concert on April 22: the second of its FredagsRock series – almost literally, but the walls held

firm once it decided to close its gates.

Police called into action PANDEMONIUM reigned outside Tivoli as huge numbers were told they could not be admitted.

Many spilled out onto the roads, disrupting transport, while others looked for weak spots to obtain entry, targeting a fence that sustained damage. The police were required to take action.

No fights this time THE CONCERT in question, featuring

singer Andreas Odbjerg and rapper Artigeardit, was free with entry to Tivoli, so the themepark had no idea how many might attend. The answer was half of Copenhagen.

Tivoli accordingly intends to take action by using a new booking system, so concert-goers can register their interest ahead of attending.

Meanwhile, at least the concert passed without incident. A week earlier, a performance by the rapper Icekiid was interrupted for several minutes when fights broke out near the stage.

DANISH NEWS IN ENGLISH | CPHPOST.DK

IF YOU thought the giraffes had the best view at Copenhagen Zoo, then think again. From June 9 until August 28, visitors will be able to climb the 'Zoo Skyliner', a 81 metre-high mobile tower placed just outside the main entrance. The tower was originally constructed as a lookout tower used in the fight against poachers in Africa.

Golden aspirations

'HOLY SPIDER', a Danish-produced film about a serial killer in Iran, is in contention to win the Palme D'Or at the Cannes Film Festival (May 17-28). Two Swedish films with heavy Danish input, Ruben Östlund's 'Triangle of Sadness' and Tarik Saleh's 'Boy from Heaven', are also in contention, while Danish film 'Godland' is shortlisted in the Un Certain Regard category.

150 not out for podcast

THE COPING in Copenhagen weekly podcast celebrated its 150th episode on April 22 by recording it before a live audience.

Irish co-founder and co-presenter Eoin O Sullivan told CPH POST it was “amazing to finally see the audience and hear their thoughts and reactions”. Since the first episode aired in September 2018, the show has had over 100 guests.

Naples in Copenhagen

PIZZERIA Luca, which has three outlets in the capital region, has been ranked 35th on this year’s 50 Best Pizzas In Europe list compiled by Big 7 Travel. Its pizzas are Neapolitan-inspired – a common theme among the entries. Bæst in Nørrebro, second last year, ranked seventh.

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SCIENCE THE COPENHAGEN POST | CPHPOST.DK

3 - 19 MAY 2022

CORONA SAFELY IN BACK WINDOW

ONLINE THIS WEEK PIXABAY

VPEREMEN.COM

Dawn of the universe

RESEARCH led by the Niels Bohr Institute and DTU Space has identified a new type of cosmic object dating back to the dawn of the Universe. They used the Hubble space telescope to sight the light-intensive quasar at the centre of a galaxy, a precursor to a super-heavy black hole born 750 million years after the Big Bang some 13.8 billion years ago.

She gave it to Teddy, but he's forbidden from speaking about it

It would appear Denmark got off lightly in terms of excess mortality and how many young people suffered CHRISTIAN WENANDE

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ANISH children and young people have had a relatively easy time coping with the coronavirus, and then recovering from it, according to a University of Southern Denmark study.

Academics thought the study necessary in light of scare stories from overseas but found little to be alarmed about.

The study compared the after-effects experienced by 74,611 Danish children and young people who tested positive for corona up until 1 October 2021, with 900,000 who did not.

Interesting findings IT MADE several interesting findings: firstly, the PfizerBioNTech vaccine reduced the risk of testing positive for the Delta variant by 93 percent among 12 to 17-year-olds.

It deduced that 0.5 percent of all corona-stricken children needed to visit hospital within a month of infection, 0.01 percent were admitted to intensive care and 0.05 percent developed MIS-C. Finally, it concluded that corona-infected children were just 8 percent more likely to visit their GP within six months of being infected.

were registered.

The development has also left its mark at hospitals – there were 662 new hospitalisations in Week 15 compared to 837 in Week 14, while the mortality fell from 142 deaths to 77.

In terms of excess mortality, only Australia and New Zealand have better records than Denmark’s 1,454 per million people (1 March 2020 to 27 March 2022, according to Our World in Data).

Low excess mortality CORONA cases have been in freefall of late. There were 12,737 new cases registered in Week 15, down from 17,854 cases a week earlier and a 84 percent decrease on Week 10, when 80,651 cases

Fewer flu cases too MEANWHILE, a similar trend can be seen with influenza cases. In Week 15 there were 1,201 cases, compared to 2,186 a week earlier.

In total, 1.7 million people were vaccinated against influenza this season – 800,000 more than the number vaccinated in the 2019-2020 season, making it the highest uptake in history.

Less burping ladies

Green energy tech support

Landing pad has lift-off

ARLA AND Royal DSM have announced a pilot project in which farmers across three European countries will test the methane-reducing feed additive Bovaer on 10,000 dairy cows. It is believed the usage could reduce methane emissions by around 30 percent. Arla’s current CO2 emission rate for every litre of milk is already low at just 1.15 kilos.

DET ENERGITEKNOLOGISKE Udviklingsog Demonstrationsprogram (EUDP), a program that aids the development and demonstration of new green energy technologies in Denmark, received a total of 236 applications for support in 2021 – the highest in its history. EUDP was able to fund 86 of the applications to a total value of 753 million kroner.

Energy crop rethink

Green tax on the way

A NEW PILOT project, the SDG Landing Pad, will enable Danish innovation to provide more solutions to global challenges. The collaboration, which will focus more on drawing input from small and medium-sized Danish companies, is keen to offer solutions in the areas of sustainability and the green transition, healthcare and health crises, and digitalisation.

MPS HAVE postponed plans to lower the energy crop limit in light of the need to reduce the dependence on Russian gas.

Crops such as maize, which are bad for the environment because they overly absorb nutrients and emit CO2 and nitrogen, can continue to account for 12 percent of arable land until August 2023, at which point the limit will become 6 percent.

THE GOVERNMENT has proposed a new green tax reform to cut the country’s dependency on fossil fuels. CO2 tariffs ranging from 375 to 1,125 kroner per tonne will help Denmark to cut emissions by a further 3.7 million tonnes by 2030 - on top of the 70 percent cuts already pledged. Some 7 billion kroner has been set aside for a green transition fund to help companies likely to struggle.

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AARHUS University, the University of Copenhagen and DTU are onboard with Arla, Dansk Industri and the Ministry of Education and Research, among others, for FOODHAY, a lab platform to produce the food of the future: healthy, sustainable options that seek to eliminate waste. A 51.5 million kroner donation from the ministry has been matched by some of the partners.

Special service to aid babies

THANKS to 7.5 million kroner in funding from the Møller og Hustru Chastine Mc-Kinney Møllers Fond, Rigshospitalet can launch Babylancen 2.0, a new mobile baby intensive care unit that offers quick care to recently born babies. For example, should a premature baby be suddenly born, specialised treatment can begin from the moment the infant is picked up.

Lakes less effective

Birch pollen season starts

UNIVERSITY of Southern Denmark biologist Henning S Jensen warns that Danish lakes are losing their effectiveness at binding carbon due to climate change – particularly the shallow ones. Citing an 11-year study, Jensen says more binding mrthods must be found.

THE BIRCH pollen season has started. Counts can be particularly high, often affecting new arrivals who had never previously suffered from any kind of hay fever, but so far the season has been pretty mild. It tends to finish around the start of June.

Eyes on clever laser chip

DTU SPINOUT company Octlight has developed a laser chip that can carry out 3D measurements of the eyeball. Similar to the chip that performs face recognition in mobile phones, it can improve diagnostics and surgery used to treat eye diseases.

Liver disease breakthrough

RESEARCHERS at the University of Southern Denmark and Odense University Hospital have developed a method employing AI that detects liver fibrosis before it becomes lethal. With 99 percent certainty, it excludes all individuals not at risk, recommending the remainder have a scan or biopsy.

Around 300,000 people in Denmark are thought to be at risk.

Green transport pool

MPS HAVE approved a pool of 250 million kroner for the green public transport sector: 50 million a year for the next five years. The main aim is to introduce more green buses.

Record year for patents

Novo boost for WHO

DANISH companies submitted a record 2,642 patents last year, according to the European Patent Office – an increase of 9.2 percent on 2020. Wind energy, medical equipment (such as hearing aids) and life science accounted for around 40 percent. In Europe, only Switzerland and Sweden managed more patents per capita.

FOLLOWING on from donations of 55 million kroner, the Novo Nordisk Foundation has given a further 25 million kroner to support the World Health Organization's emergency preparedness in Ukraine and neighbouring countries welcoming refugees. Novo Nordisk, meanwhile, is donating insulin to help any diabetics among the refugees.

DANISH NEWS IN ENGLISH | CPHPOST.DK

Eliminating waste

Major iodine order

THE SUNDHEDSSTYRELSEN health authority has announced it intends to acquire 2 million iodine tablets as a preventative measure in case of radioactive fallout hitting Denmark in connection with the War in Ukraine.

Children, pregnant and breastfeeding women, health workers and emergency personnel will be first in line.

Hepatitis scare among kids

THREE children under the age of ten have been hospitalised since the beginning of the year with a rare type of hepatitis. The cause is unknown. While the children were seriously ill, none of the three required a liver transplant. Similar cases have also been seen abroad.

Backing for spraying ban

MPS HAVE backed a spraying ban that will outlaw the use of a fair number of toxic pesticides.

Glyphosate, which is found in the world’s most widely used pesticide, Roundup, was singled out as being a particular threat to groundwater. A sales ban will start next year ahead of a spraying ban from 2024.

Funding for conversion

THE VILLUM Foundation has awarded an 80 million kroner grant to the DTU to help it set up a new innovation centre to fast-track the development of Power-to-X projects, which convert green energy into green fuel, with a view to getting the tech on the market as quickly as possible.

SPORT THE COPENHAGEN POST | CPHPOST.DK

3 - 19 MAY 2022

CHEAPEST, SMALLEST, GREENEST

ONLINE THIS WEEK PIXABAY

World Cup rights shared

Superliga down to the wire

TV2 AND DR will share the rights to televise the men’s 2022 World Cup and women’s edition a year later. It’s bad news for internationals who tend to shun TV2 because most of its content is Danish-centric. Despite being a pay TV channel, TV2 enjoys privileges normally only granted to free-to-air platforms, such as heavily discounted major championship rights.

THE DANISH Superliga is braced for an exciting finish in the coming weeks. FC Copenhagen had a ninepoint lead just three weeks ago but two defeats in three games have opened up the title race. FC Midtjylland are now just three points back with four games remaining. And FCK face arch rivals Brøndby away in their next fixture.

Pirates crowned champs

Rune wins first ATP title

AALBORG Pirates have been crowned Danish men’s ice hockey champions following a 5-1 victory over holders Rungsted Seier Capital in the fifth game of the finals to triumph 4-1 – the club’s fourth Danish title in history and third since 2018.

ON MAY 1, Denmark’s top men’s tennis player Holger Rune became the first Dane to win an ATP tournament since 2005. Rune won the BMW Open in Munich, beating the world number three, Alexander Zverev, on his way to the final.

Once there, his opponet Botic van de Zandschulp retired through injury in the first set. The win pushes Rune up to a career-best 44th in the ATP Rankings.

Handball talent dead

Five rings, five Lakes, five fingers, five letters in each part of its name ... but still a 555/1 shot

Copenhagen culture mayor has different Olympic motto in mind ahead of possible bid to host 2036 Summer Games BEN HAMILTON

H

ELSINKI did it in 1952. And Stockholm in 1912. And while Oslo hasn’t hosted a Summer Olympics, Lillehammer held the winter edition in 1994.

The closest Copenhagen has got to hosting five rings is its famous City Lakes, and they’re not exactly circular.

But according to Mia Nyegaard, the city’s culture and leisure mayor, 2036 has a nice ring to it.

Enough of the sceptics!

“I HAVE previously been met by sceptics who have said: ‘It cannot be done, and it will be too expensive.’ I have been a little provoked by that, and therefore I say now: What if we can do it well? What if we dare to put it as our vision and then see if it can be done,” she told Berlingske.

Nyegaard envisages Copenhagen holding "the cheapest, most sustainable, and smallest Olympics ever”.

To be fair, she’ll have a hard job matching the frugality of the 'Austerity Games' held by London in 1948.

A slender chance HENRIK Liniger from Berlingske tells the newspaper that a bid is “leaning on the

unrealistic side” in terms of all the facilities needed: an Olympic stadium, an Olympic Village, and countless venues as multiple games need to be held simultaneously in the likes of football and handball.

Nevertheless, he concedes that a sustainable bid could hold some appeal.

After all, restrictions are not as stringent as in previous years, and the hosting is normally carried out by the whole country, not just the city.

“So compared to before, it may have become more realistic, but it is still a huge event that will cost a lot of money and require a great number of facilities – which I cannot see in Denmark today,” he said.

Golf’s getting sustainable

Wrestler takes gold

Nadim dropped from role

A NUMBER of capital-based golf clubs are pursuing a more sustainable fairway thanks to ‘Sustainable Bottom Line 2.0’, a EU-financed project that helps companies in the Copenhagen area develop a more circular business model. Electric robot lawn mowers, digital scorecards and more LED lighting are among the solutions.

CHECHNYAN-BORN Danish wrestler Turpal Bisultanov emphatically defeated Romanian wrestler Nicu Ojog to win European Championship gold in early April.

Following in the footsteps of big brother Rajbek, who also won gold in 2019, the 20-year-old did not concede a single point in the whole tournament. Next up is the World Cup in Belgrade in September.

DANSK Flygtningehjælp, the Danish refugee council, has dropped Nadia Nadim as one of its ambassadors in response to her taking up a similar position with the men’s 2022 World Cup in Qatar. It noted her new role was “not in accordance with the human rights values w ​​ e at Dansk Flygtningehjælp fight for every day”. Nadim claims she last represented the council in 2019.

DANISH NEWS IN ENGLISH | CPHPOST.DK

DANISH handball is in shock and mourning following the news of the sudden passing of 19-year-old talent Matthias Birkkjær Pedersen. The Bjerringbro-Silkeborg under-19 player had made four appearances for the first team and been called up to several Danish youth teams in the past.

Ehlers commits to Worlds

WHEN DENMARK embarks on its IIHF World Championship campaign in May, they can count on one of their best players lacing up in Finland.

Winnipeg Jets winger Nikolaj Ehlers has confirmed he will take part in the tournament for the first time in years after his side missed out on the NHL playoffs for the first time since 2017.

Boxer’s winning return

IBF WORLD champ Sarah Mahfoud has made a winning return to the ring, defending her title against German fighter Nina Meinke. Mahfoud is undefeated in 11 bouts as a pro.

Top Billing

DANISH international Philip Billing has been named in the English Championship Team of the Season following a solid campaign for AFC Bournemouth.

Women close to World Cup

SHOULD Russia be unable to overturn its FIFA suspension in time, the Danish women’s football team have qualified for the 2023 World Cup. A 2-0 win over Azerbaijan on April 12 sealed the deal.

Russia have two games in hand, but trail Denmark by nine points and a goal difference of 20.

Outdoor sport boom

FOLLOWING corona, outdoor sports have been steadily attracting more participants, but indoor activities are still feeling the pinch.

Football is the most popular sport, while golf, tennis, surfing and rafting have all seen participation numbers grow.

K-Mag in points again

DANISH driver Kevin Magnussen has continued his successful return to F1 by once again getting among the points – this time at the Emilia Romagna GP in Italy. Magnussen finished in ninth, securing two points to sit 10th overall in the F1 standings with 15 points.

7

BUSINESS THE COPENHAGEN POST | CPHPOST.DK

3 - 19 MAY 2022

WHY PUTIN IS BIFF TANNEN

ONLINE THIS WEEK Danfoss under investigation

Ørsted takes joint approach

DANFOSS has been asked to explain why a seized Russian military vehicle contained one of its solenoid valves – one of several parts derived from various Western companies. Danfoss has denied contravening sanctions, suggesting the valve is relatively old.

The Danish Business Authority has launched an investigation.

ØRSTED is involved in a pan-European response to Russian gas giant Gazprom to refuse to pay its gas bill in rubles. Ørsted is contractually obliged to pay Gazprom for its gas, but in dollars or euros – and this is reportedly the case with 97 percent of all major European customers. Meanwhile, Vestas, Velux, Aarsleff and Hempel are all withdrawing from Russia.

Richest on the Forbes list

"This time I'm taking you all back to 1985"

The last time inflation was so bad, Denmark favoured a Volvo 850 over a DMC DeLorean, but there’s no easy route ‘back to the future’ today BEN HAMILTON

I

T’S HARD to believe that Denmark was a hotbed of stagflation in the 1970s and 80s.

Like most countries hit by economic woes, it was OPEC’s surprise decision to limit their members’ supply of oil in 1973 that started the rot.

And then for the next 15-odd years, Danish governments, mostly unsuccessfully, employed short-term policies to address the high levels of unemployment, personal and government debt, and inflation.

Denmark’s healthier economy in recent times owes much to more successful longer-term policies implemented in the 1980s and 90s.

Still making losses though

LUXURY electronic goods manufacturer Bang & Olufsen may have declared a double-digit growth rate for the seventh quarter in a row, but it still made a loss in the third quarter of its 2021-22 fiscal year. It anticipates a loss of 26 million kroner on turnover of 1.9 billion for the entire year due to spiralling costs, high inflation and the knock-on effects of global uncertainty.

8

Similar journey to McFly's BUT TODAY Denmark can turn the clock back to May 1985, which is ironically the same year that Marty McFly travelled three decades back in time from in 'Back to the Future'.

Denmark’s Biff, like every other country in Europe right now, is Vladimir Putin and the effect his War in Ukraine has had on fuel and food costs, which had already been rocketing due to the pandemic.

Inflation for March was 5.4 percent – the highest rate since May 1985 – up from 4.8 percent in February, according to Danmarks Statistik.

Denmark, back then, favoured a Volvo 850 over a DMC DeLorean and took the long road to recovery, but it’s hard to see an easy way out right now.

Up 8.1 percent in one year INFLATION isn’t the only economic indicator off the dial right now.

Since March 2021, total consumer prices have risen by 8.1 percent – the highest annual increase in the consumer price index since January 1983.

Fuel is the biggest culprit. Both electricity and gas prices have risen considerably, resulting in the cost of transport rising by 10.2 percent (compared to a 7.8 percent increase in February).

There have also been increases in the cost of housing and utilities (up from 6.7 to 7.0 percent), and restaurants & hotels (up from 4.7 to 5.8 percent).

Overall, electricity and gas prices have risen by 44.6 and 82.6 percent over the last 12 months.

More compo for commuters

Loan shark warning

THE GOVERNMENT intends to raise the work transport tax deduction – the 1.96 kroner per km compensation given to commuters who drive between 24 and 120 km to and from work every day – as a result of rising petrol prices. The compensation, which is designed to encourage people to live outside the cities, will ultimately be decided upon by the Skatterådet tax body.

FORBRUGERRÅDET Tænk chair Anja Philip wants more action to prevent consumers from falling prey to loan sharks on Facebook. Legislation introduced in 2020 ruled that loans can only carry a maximum annual interest rate of 35 percent, causing half of all quick loan companies to leave the Danish market.

Previously some loans came with a rate of 700-800 percent.

DANISH NEWS IN ENGLISH | CPHPOST.DK

ANDERS Holch Povlsen is still the wealthiest person in Denmark, according to the Forbes List. He ranked 135th in the world with wealth of 91.6 billion kroner – almost 3 billion kroner and 26 places higher than last year. The owners or heirs of Coloplast, Lego, Nordic Aviation Capital and LINAK also ranked highly.

Bullish March for SAS

SAS SERVICED 1.14 million passengers in March – a 360 percent increase on the same month last year and the highest since the pandemic started.

The passengers travelled a total number of 1.71 billion km – a 538 percent increase. To capitalise on the boom, SAS is introducing more direct routes this summer – mostly to the Med. Royals stick with Ecco

THE DANISH Royal Family has decided against kicking footwear company Ecco off its list of official court suppliers. However, it is “monitoring the situation closely”. Ecco has been active in Russia since 1993, where it employs over 1,800 people at around 250 outlets. Russian revenues accounted for 1.3 billion kroner in 2020.

Maersk back in the skies

MAERSK is returning to the skies with a new air freight service. Maersk Air Cargo will launch at Billund Airport sometime in the second half of 2022.

Initially, the company will employ five aircraft and aim to handle a third of the company’s annual air tonnage of freight. A former operation, Maersk Air, ran from 1969 to 2005.

Frustrated by red tape

DANSK Erhverv wants Ukrainians with job offers to be fast-tracked when it comes to being allocated a CPR number or temporary residence permit. Jysk is among the companies frustrated by the slowness.

FLSmidth shamed

A DANWATCH report exposes how Vale, a Brazilian partner of Danish cement producer FLSmidth, is paying less in corporate tax in relation to its coal mine in northwest Mozambique than its employees are contributing in income tax. Located in a suburb of Tete, FLSmidth contributes equipment and maintenance to the mining company’s operations.

A seventh caught in crisis

DANMARKS Statistik figures confirm that 412,000 homes, a seventh of the nation’s total, have a central heating boiler fired by natural gas, thus underlining the extent of the energy price crisis that has hit many people this past winter. The gas boilers are particularly popular in north and east Zealand.

Bumper Easter for rentals

THIS YEAR has smashed the record for holiday home ‘Easter’ rentals.

Because Easter’s date is never fixed, Danmarks Statistik has instead compared reservations in March and April to previous years and concluded that 2022’s total of 63,000 booked weeks is an all-time high. Germans, who accounted for 48,000 of the total, often take two weeks off for Easter.

BUSINESS OPINION THE COPENHAGEN POST | CPHPOST.DK

3 - 19 MAY 2022

SØREN BREGENHOLT THE VALLEY OF LIFE As the chairman of the Medicon Valley Alliance – the gold-labelled Danish-Swedish life science cluster organisation – Søren will address current trends and challenges in the sector.

Conference tourism reboot BUT FEW will be aware that Wonderful Copenhagen is a key partner of the Medicon Valley life science cluster. It works tirelessly to specifically attract life science-related conferences to the region.

Obviously, it is a boost to tourism when thousands of doctors, researchers and other life science specialists fly in, book accommodation and spend time and money in the region.

Meanwhile, a post-pandemic reboot of the conference sector, which is dominated by life sciences, is sorely needed. It is a sector that previously had a turnover of around 1.1 billion kroner a year, employing the equivalent of 1,500 full-time employees.

GARETH GARVEY UK - DK TRADE Gareth (gareth@bccd.dk), who has a passion for creativity and innovation in business, has been the CEO of the British Chamber of Commerce in Denmark since the start of 2017. Gareth has a background in management consultancy working for Price Waterhouse, PwC Consulting and IBM, and he also teaches at Copenhagen Business School.

NEXT ISSUE

Just Say It As It Is

Poor form at the forum WHILE we have quickly adapted to the time, travel and business attire-saving world of Teams and Zoom and attended many online meetings, many of us picked up several bad habits.

Ask yourself the following questions. How many meetings and webinars did I sign up for but not attend? Did I send my apologies? When I attended online meetings, was I present or was I multitasking? Did I make the same contribution I would have made at a physical event? What did I miss?

To attend or not to …

WE ARE relieved we can now

IN 2 ISSUES

Walking among us YOU MIGHT not recognise the thousands of conference delegates. After all, doctors don’t wear

Much bigger fish than you would find in the Øresund

lab coats or a stethoscope outside ‘the office’. But don’t be surprised if you bump into a few life science conference participants this year.

In May, up to 5,000 guests are expected to visit Copenhagen to participate in the Meeting of the European Society for Radiotherapy & Oncology. In early June, 10,000 visitors are expected in connection with the Annual European Congress of Rheumatology and, a little

later that month, the European Federation of Periodontology will host a conference at Bella Center with 8,000 expected participants.

All these visitors will spend a substantial amount of money, but perhaps more importantly, they are likely to become ambassadors for our wonderful city, helping to attract not only even more tourists, but possibly also more life science talent.

hold physical meetings again, but it is an excellent time to take stock and learn from the experiment as individuals and organisations.

Ask yourself if you need to attend. Think about what you expect and want from the meeting, event or conference. Is it about exposure to ideas and learning something new? Is it about meeting some new people and building your network?

Is it about profiling yourself or your business? People who do not need to participate should have an opportunity to excuse themselves without losing face.

Focused BCCD events AT THE BCCD, we hold many events. It is great to see a long attendance list and meet people we have not met before.

However, it is even better for everyone if all attendees are genuinely interested and are engaged in the discussion.

Committed attendees improve

PIXABAY

W

E HAVE all been part of the ‘Future of Work’ experiment for two years.

As we, at least in Denmark, return to physical meetings, conferences and events, it is a time to reflect on what we each have learned from the process.

Supreme networking IT IS NOT just about the money.

These conferences are also levers for creating long-term positive impact for society.

They help to put Denmark, Danish life sciences and the Medicon Valley on the global map, which is also a key element of the national Danish life science strategy.

Furthermore, the conferences achieve scientific cross-fertilisation, ensuring that both public and private life science research and development and innovation is cutting edge.

Smaller local life science companies – including those located across the Øresund in Sweden – get the opportunity to tap into the global research and investor community more easily than would be the case if the conferences were located elsewhere.

DIGILEADERS.COM

I

GUESS most people are familiar with the song ‘Wonderful Copenhagen’ sung by Danny Kaye in the 1952 film ‘Hans Christian Andersen’ – and that the title was taken as the name of the capital’s official tourism organisation.

Ah, a new variation of the 'camera isn't working' lie

the quality of the networking afterwards.

Our events have therefore be-

come more focused. We continue to learn from the ‘Future of Work’ experiment. Check us out.

IN 3 ISSUES

IN 4 ISSUES

IN 5 ISSUES

Startup Community

Danish Capital in 2022

Union Views

Fit For Business

Give Yourself a Chance

Get Your Biering's

Stress Wärnings

Winnie's World

DANISH NEWS IN ENGLISH | CPHPOST.DK

9

OPINION THE COPENHAGEN POST | CPHPOST.DK

3 - 19 MAY 2022

SILENCE BEFORE THE STORM?

T

HE WAR in Ukraine has gone into sleep mode.

Clearer picture emerging THE RUSSIAN campaign to take Kyiv was forceful but faded and ended in a victory for the Ukrainians: militarily as well as morally.

The western world held its breath as the Russians approached in 50 mile-long columns of armored vehicles.

They stopped, suffered heavy losses and were finally withdrawn, leaving mass graves behind them – the result of massacres of civilians by frustrated troops.

What is clear now is that Ukraine will remain a free nation. But what the end game will look like, given Putin’s need for a victory, remains to be seen.

Heavy weapons are now being supplied to the Ukrainians from the US and others, and Putin will soon have to face critics at home over the more than 20,000 soldiers killed or wounded, on top of the humiliating loss of the ‘Moscow’ missile cruiser.

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Facing challenges together PUTIN, climate change and the waves of migrants are the challenges – and with the Russian leader’s hand over the lever ready to turn off Russia’s gas supply, it is certainly going to be a very interesting year.

Forgotten now is the pandemic along with the initial shock that Putin could invade Ukraine.

Our world is shaken: inflation is sky-rocketing and solutions are needed – in solidarity with our fellow Europeans. The invasion of Ukraine has shown us that nobody can be safe on their own. Future support for NATO and EU seems assured.

So maybe there will be no storm at all, but only some cleaning up after the disorder.

VIVIENNE MCKEE

Crazier than Christmas Vivienne McKee, Denmark’s best-known English entertainer, is this country’s most beloved foreign import. For the last four decades, hundreds of thousands of Copenhageners have enjoyed her annual Crazy Christmas Cabaret show at Tivoli, marvelling at her unique, wry Anglo wit and charm.

O

NE OF THE many terrific things about running an English-language theatre in Denmark for 40 years is that many actors and directors have come to work with me, and it is fascinating to see the city and its culture through their eyes .

Right now I am performing the one-woman play ‘Shirley Valentine’ at the Sorte Hest Theatre in Vesterbro, and my director, Helen Tennison, is a big fan of everything Danish. I asked her why …

A walker’s paradise “COPENHAGEN has been my favourite city since I first performed in the Crazy Christmas over 20 years ago. It’s fabulous to experience Danish ‘hygge’ again. At the lovely Sorte Hest theatre we start our rehearsals with coffee and pastries and candles are lit even in the morning! This would be unheard of in England, where candles are mainly used for power cuts.

The Danes know how to make life cosy!

Helen has observed quite a few changes since she was here 20 years ago: most particularly in terms of getting about.

“There’s been a lot of development since

I was last here: particularly down beyond Nyhavn, which is a beautiful place to hang out now,” she notes.

“I love walking, and Copenhagen is a walker’s paradise. Having spent a lot of time in Florida, where there is a distinct lack of pavements, I really appreciate the ability to walk around and soak up the city atmosphere. It’s a small city and safe too, as long as you don’t get knocked over by the hordes of Vikings on bikes.

In London, biking is something you do to be sporty at weekends, wearing lycra. Here it’s just another way of getting around. Talking of which, the Metro is a big change in the city. The driver-less trains are really clean and it’s so easy to get everywhere now.”

Where I can be a better ‘Me’ IS IT STILL the same ‘party city’ that you remember, I ask “London Toast Theatre and Copenhagen were both a huge part of my youth.

We had a lot of fun back then and I’ve walked past a few bars now that I remember – or perhaps that I should forget!” she recalls with questionable clarity.

“I am not so much a party girl now, and nowadays my Danish friends invite me to their homes. I appreciate this, as eating out is still as expensive as ever! In many ways Copenhagen is to me what Greece is to Shirley Valentine – a beautiful place where I feel like I can be a better version of myself.”

Succeeding like Shirley THAT SOUNDS like a cue to lure you back to work with me again in Copenhagen!

“Yes please! It’s incredible that so many of the same people are still working with you, Vivienne. You have creative collaborations that have been nurtured over decades. Some of your English actors have stayed here, learned Danish and changed their lives. It’s inspiring what you have built up,” she enthuses. “‘Shirley Valentine’ is the perfect play to celebrate this – it’s all about living your best life. It’s very easy to compromise as we get older: to give up on parts of ourselves. Shirley encourages us to live our lives to the fullest – to go for it. And what better place to do that than here – in wonderful Copenhagen.”

HASSE FERROLD

Turnaround in attitudes SOME 4.5 million Ukrainians have fled the country, of whom 25,000 have now arrived in Denmark.

In spite of the general negative attitude towards foreigners for years, it’s astonishing to see the open arms and reception committees that have greeted the Ukraine refugees. The authorities have been ordered to remove the red tape and organise schools for the kids and work permits for the adults – mostly mothers.

Really it’s a remarkable turnaround– maybe because deep inside the Danes are ashamed of how Inger Støjberg could not wait to engineer another atrocity to throw at the refugees.

Now we have to wait to see if we are to export the asylum-seekers to central Africa while their application for asy-

lum is processed. Let us hope that the remarkable European solidarity shown during the War in Ukraine can spill over concerning the migration issue.

With Macron still in business in France and Stoltz showing some character in Germany, it may come to something: anything to prevent more desperate migrants trying to cross the Mediterranean in rubber boats and the thousands of people in refugee camps in Turkey.

Ejvind Sandal

Introducing the best possible version of theatre director Helen Tennison

DANISH NEWS IN ENGLISH | CPHPOST.DK

OPINION THE COPENHAGEN POST | CPHPOST.DK

3 - 19 MAY 2022

NEXT ISSUE KIRSTEN LOUISE PEDERSEN

Early Rejser

A Dane Abroad

ADAM WELLS

Green Spotlight

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. Email her at kirstenlouise@protonmail.com

I

N THE WAKE of Covid becoming a firmly integrated and dreary part of life around the world, and work life turning bland and monotonous due to the restrictions, an opportunity to sail an 82-foot schooner across the Atlantic Ocean presented itself like a ray of light through dark clouds.

As my fiancé is a professional master mariner, having crossed the great dam more than 20 times captaining fully-rigged sailing vessels, this opportunity was too good to pass up.

Neverending Tivoli ride A FEW MONTHS later I am sitting here in the belly of a 1938 vessel, anti-slip mats and tea towel-wrapped glassware in place, rolling around in the Atlantic Ocean. Our crew of eight strangers left the Canary Islands just days ago, and we are now heading into the choppy great ocean. I am still mastering the art of ‘gyro hand’ as I hold my coffee mug in a bendy outstretched arm while typing and, let’s face it, deleting a lot with the other.

The crew consists of a rather varied bunch of relative strangers. The age range on board is between 21 and 77. Our journey ahead is a big daunting sailing adventure on one hand, and an almost

equally daunting social experiment on the other hand. We face three weeks together in the rolling sea in what roughly equates to a two bedroom Copenhagen flat constantly moving like a simulator ride at a funfair.

Coffee went … swell AS THE mooring lines were finally cast in Tenerife, we slowly floated out of the marina by engine, fully loaded up on provisions and nervous excitement, and it started to sink in that we wouldn’t have any connection with the world for the next three weeks. Everyone, including myself, did a last minute scramble to make our final Instagram posts and updates before being cut off for good.

After successfully setting the sails, the schooner soon started rolling in the massive swells and a period of adjusting to constantly bumping into things and dropping things, as well as learning not to free-pour anything during big swells, ensued. The first lunch was chaotic. Noone knew where to stand, and food slid randomly off the counters as we scrambled to figure out a method for such a simple activity as making a sandwich without it ending up on the floor or on someone’s t-shirt.

SIBYLLE DE VALENCE IN 2 ISSUES

Straight Up ZACH KHADUDU

We are now officially inhabiting another realm. Contrary to normal everyday life, moving around comes with the risk of hurting yourself or falling overboard, fresh water no longer comes from a limitless supply, going to the toilet requires acrobatic prowess, and the only way of generating power is by starting up the diesel engine. Tasks that before were rushed and trivial now take precedence and become the centre of our days. Out here we are at the mercy of the old ship, and I think about how infrequently human beings are at the mercy of anything but themselves these days.

An Actor's Life IAN BURNS IN 3 ISSUES

The Road Less Taken JESSICA ALEXANDER

Living in the moment OUR JOURNEY has just begun. We still have about two and half weeks to go.

Who will we be when we reach the other side after disconnecting from the world and instead connecting to one another, while making the journey of a lifetime and only seeing sky and ocean for days on end, I wonder?

Only time will tell, and while I’m pondering this I’m gonna head up on deck, drink a cup of coffee and feel the sun and salty sea spray on my face, trying not to think too much about what Putin’s been up to while we’ve been away.

Straight, No Chaser STEPHEN GADD IN 4 ISSUES

Mackindergarten ADRIAN MACKINDER PIXABAY

Living Faith REVD SMITHA PRASADAM

Penny for your thoughts? But not literally: that would be unhygienic

DANISH NEWS IN ENGLISH | CPHPOST.DK

11

LIFESTYLE: FASHION THE COPENHAGEN POST | CPHPOST.DK

3 - 19 MAY 2022

SHERYL YIP STYLE STIL Sheryl is the fashion and bespoke wedding dress designer at her own Copenhagen-based atelier, @sherylyipbridal. Her designs have been worn by hundreds of brides around the globe.

Passionate about couture and customisation, she believes dressing well-fitted to personality and body-figure is the strongest fashion statement. Following her relocation from Hong Kong in 2019, Sheryl lives in Copenhagen.

A

FRIEND of mine recently asked me what a fashion designer does. I could see, from the expression on her face, that she thought I worked in a glamorous world full of mystery. But while there is indeed a lot of myth, many of you might be surprised to learn that it’s not as glamorous as you might think.

Industry of multiple variants BEFORE I started up my own atelier in Copenhagen, I worked for seven different fashion design companies, in various cities, employing anything from seven to 200 employees. The job of a designer can vary depending on the company; there are designers who work for in-house brands, retail stores, wholesalers and factories.

Whether their businesses target is B2B or B2C, the fashion supply chain is basically in-flow, i.e design, sourcing, sampling, production, marketing, retail. To what extent a designer is involved in these processes depends on the scale of the company. You may ask: is a designer involved in retail too? Yes, certainly.

Working in neverending cycles IN THE fashion industry, we follow the fashion calendar and work seasonally in a cycle. This brings constant deadlines: believe me, having a week to spend on design, or brainstorming, is a complete ‘luxury’.

Most of the time you are sourcing fabrication, preparing tech-packs with sampling instructions, checking up with measurements and fittings, communicating with sample rooms and garment factories, or preparing different presentations to the board of directors or potential clients. So I would say that fashion designers spend 70 percent of their time not designing at all!

Quite often at a smaller company, fashion designers may have more opportunities to work across the supply chain. For example, sourcing new vendors, calculating garment costing, photo-shooting and visiting manufacturers.

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A more fulfilling work flow AS THE founder and head designer at my own wedding gown atelier, I work according to each bespoke client. Each of them has their own bespoke journey, which normally takes 6-12 months from consultation to production.

Let’s take an example: this month, I will be sampling and executing final fittings with summer brides, designing gowns for October brides, and sending customised style and brand catalogues to next January’s brides. Compared to a seasonal cycle, I follow a scaled-down supply chain flow every day, with different timelines and clients.

Unlike a ‘normal’ fashion designer who works for a company, I love doing paper patterns from scratch as I believe it is the part of the soul of a perfect fit. I also create lace and textile artwork. All of these are customised to just one client. Hence we call it bespoke and that shapes my business and design philosophy.

Drawn to what fits best DURING the chat with my friend, she told me she was interested in entering the fashion design industry as she likes illustration and sewing. In the fashion business, they are excellent skills for a designer to leverage on; however, there is no definite connection between them.

I spend less than 1/10 of my design process sketching, as I am more inspired by fabric and material when I develop my creations. I prefer 3D draping on mannequins and playing around with fabric. Drawing is more of a visualisation tool used when presenting the wedding gowns ideas to my clients. There are many ways to design garments and a fashion collection. Different designers have different approaches and there is no certain formula.

For my own business, draping is more suitable and organic when creating pieces and establishing a more realistic visualisation. I love immersing myself into a sea of fabric and getting inspired by the texture and motifs. For this I depend on a fabric archive that I’ve sourced from all over the globe throughout my career. I like to think of it as ‘my precious’, and that my clients will feel the same.

Magical moments best shared ONE OF the best parts of the design journey is working directly with my real brides and clients. At a big fashion company, many designers don’t get to meet their clients, but at my atelier, I handle all the brides’ enquiries and 1-on-1 bridal consultations, so the client gets to discuss their preferences with me directly.

It’s at the 1-on-1 meetings, such as the individual fitting sessions, that the magic happens. At one mockup fitting – using substituted fabric without any fancy fabric and laces, just a simple dress in customised silhouette – with a Danish bride and her mom, I remember feeling so blissful that the fit was so good on her.

When I asked her mom for any comments, she was almost speechless as she smiled at me through happy tears. I am so looking forward to seeing their lovely moments when her daughter finally puts on her bespoke wedding gown.

Where babies are born EVERY design I create is like a ‘baby’ to me, as I watch it come to life from idea to production. As a designer, to see real clients wear my design and dress perfectly with their beautiful smiles is just so sensational and extraordinary to me.

This is something I find touching in my heart, and it strengthens my mission to be the best fashion designer I can be.

If you have anything you wish to know about the fashion industry, feel free to send me a message at IG@sherylyipbridal. Stay tuned!

DANISH NEWS IN ENGLISH | CPHPOST.DK

LIFESTYLE: MENTAL HEALTH THE COPENHAGEN POST | CPHPOST.DK

3 - 19 MAY 2022

SHIKHA GUPTA MENTAL KIND OF HEALTH Shikha Gupta is a mindset coach with a holistic approach to life. Her own stress survival story and being a bestseller author has taught her the importance of stress release and mindful living to balance your body, mind and soul. She works with clients globally through her signature online courses and 1:1 coaching programs. Find out more @mindbodysoul_theshikhaway

I

HAVE JUST come home from holiday in India: a month of festivals, family, weddings, travelling and more.

I love visiting this beautiful, vast, diverse country where you see people from all walks of life – both social status and economic levels.

There is a lot of competition in India, whether it’s studies or work, because everyone wants to be the best so they can secure a comfortable future for themselves and their family. There is no welfare security net, so your future is entirely dependent on you.

But the common mindset I see among people in India is this attitude of living in the now. Every moment is cherished. They share an attitude of not knowing what will happen tomorrow, so live in the moment today, embracing both happiness and sadness at the same time.

Holding different emotions.

YES, INDIANS have the ability to hold onto different emotions at the same time, and this is what I want to pass on to you. You are capable of holding happiness and sadness, love and anger and pressure and calm – all at the same time.

This balance of emotions is what makes you whole, and accepting this duality allows you to live in this present moment. It allows you to accept each moment as it comes and goes. Because then you know that this moment will also pass.

Enjoy the moment while you have it.

“Yesterday is gone. Tomorrow has not yet come. We have only today. Let us begin,” Mother Teresa once said. But how do you actually do it?

what most of us end up doing anyway. When something happens to you and you feel sadness, you believe, sometimes subconsciously, that you must stay in that sadness. You may even feel guilty if you feel joy or laugh out loud when you are ‘supposed’ to be feeling sad.

Another scenario could be that you are angry and arguing with someone, but in the middle of the argument you feel love for this person or say something funny that makes you laugh. But you stop yourself because you want to be angry at that person.

Do you recognise these situations? Because you are meant to hold different emotions at the same time, and that doesn’t mean that your sadness or anger becomes less because you laugh out loud or feel joy at the same time.

It just means that you are being your whole you, your balanced you. You are allowing you to hold yourself and the situation and all that it calls for. You are being truly who you are with all the different sides of you.

What not to do WELL LET me tell you first what not to do and

Loving life: step-by-step IDENTIFY your feelings. In the moment you are feeling angry, sad, frustrated or anything else, just take a moment and identify your feelings.

Ask yourself: what are you actually feeling? What are you angry at? Go through all your emotions.

When we break things down, they often become smaller than we make them or disappear completely because we realise that they don’t matter as much as we thought.

Allow yourself to have this emotion. Breathe through it, accept it. By doing so, you are allowing yourself to be who you are: who you truly are.

Take a deep breath and notice what else you are feeling in the moment. Are you also feeling good, grateful, joyous, loving? By practising this, you will slowly become able to hold all of your emotions together at the same time. And instead of feeling disconnected, you will begin to feel more and more connected to the whole you and

become more aware of the present moment.

Ask yourself what is truly important for you in this moment. After all, tomorrow is not known; all you have is this moment. So enjoy it with all that you are and all that you hold and, before you know it, you will be loving every moment no matter what life brings you.

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IN 2 ISSUES

IN 3 ISSUES

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Up the Alternative Alley

What a Wonderful World

Dating the Danes

All Things Beautiful

ASTRID HEISE-FJELDGREN

KATERINA DELIGIANNI

MAROUA SAJEB

BARBARA MENSAH

Building Green Habits

Ed Talk

Copen' with the Kids

Taste-Bud

SRUTHI SURENDRAN

JENNIFER & JONATHAN BAUER

KATE MONTEATH

CLAIRE TSANG

DANISH NEWS IN ENGLISH | CPHPOST.DK

13

COMMUNITY THE COPENHAGEN POST | CPHPOST.DK

3 - 19 MAY 2022

ABOUT TOWN

Japanese ambassador Manubi Miyagawa was in his element at the Copenhagen Sakura Festival, which his embassy has been hosting every year, pandemic-permitting, since 2008, not long after cherry blossom trees were introduced into Langelinie Park. The event, which took place over the weekend of April 23-24, enjoyed better than expected weather as thousands descended on the park to enjoy Japanese culture, displays and colours. Among Ambassador Miyagawa’s tasks was judging the Best Dressed Competition

PHOTOS BY HASSE FERROLD

The stars of Crazy Christmas Cabaret were out in force at Teatret Ved Sorte Hest on April 23 for the premiere of ‘Shirley Valentine’, a one-woman show starring their ‘creator’ Vivienne McKee (read our review on page 16). London Toast Theatre, the company Vivienne founded with her husband Søren Hall in 1982, is currently celebrating its ruby jubilee. Pictured left to right are actors Jefferson Bond and Andrew Jeffers, show director Helen Tennison, Søren Hall, and actors Bennet Thorpe and Lindford Brown. ‘Shirley Valentine’ continues until May 14

Steny Hoyer, the House Majority Leader in the US Congress since 2019, was an esteemed guest of American Club Copenhagen on April 12. Hoyer (left: centre left), who has Danish family, was joined by many dignitaries, including (left: left-right) Lone Dencker Wisborg, the Danish ambassador to the US, US chargé d´affaires Stuart A Dwyer, and American Club Copenhagen president, Stephen Schueler and (right: left-right) DR journalist Steffen Gram, who CPH POST interviewed in late 2020, and Senator Roy Blunt

New Egyptian ambassador Karim Sherif invited members of the Diplomatic Corps to a special Iftar Dinner at his residence on April 9

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The new agrée ambassadors of Poland and Vietnam are Antoni Falkowski and Luong Thanh Nghi. In time-honoured tradition: powitanie and Hoan nghênh!

DANISH NEWS IN ENGLISH | CPHPOST.DK

ADVERTORIAL THE COPENHAGEN POST | CPHPOST.DK

3 - 19 MAY 2022

GETTING 'WISE' ABOUT IMPROVING YOUR BUSINESS AND GROWING ITS POTENTIAL

WISE 'Women Inspired, Successful and Empowered' is an Erasmus+ project powered by We Are Entrepreneurs committed to helping artistic women successfully create their own job through entrepreneurship.

W

E ARE ALL familiar with motivational calls of “follow your dream” and “pursue your passion”, and right after we get questions like “can you live off that”? The world is full of talented people that should follow their passion; the brave ones go for it and the WISE learn how to do it.

Once a hobby, now a living AS A FIRST of its kind, WISE focuses

on helping artistic women integrate into the job market by providing them with new skills needed to establish a business and enjoy a successful career.

“This training is to give them the entrepreneurship skills to teach them to open their horizons to modern opportunities, and also, what innovation processes and techniques that are out there, and where they can access them,” Diana Medrea-Mogensen, the founder of We Are Entrepreneurs, told CPH POST. The material used in teaching has been developed in collaboration with 5 other European organizations (Versli mama and Dailininku from Lithuania, ETN from Italy, ANKA from Greece, and Step by Step from Iceland), “We Are Entrepreneurs” is part of

the WISE project in Denmark. The project is currently in the pilot phase where the course is being tested with selected local women in arts and crafts. The pilot is organized in partnership with Art Escape Studios and Café led by Melanie Dawn Smith, and it consists of 12 four-hour sessions during April, May, and June 2022.

The participants have recently completed the first Module, “Creative Entrepreneurship”acquiring new business skills, and they are now getting ready to explore “Contemporary Opportunities in Arts”in May through Module 2. Gallery visits, portfolio creation, and NFTs are among the topics covered. In June the artists will explore innovations in their fields during Module 3 through site visits and work-

DANISH NEWS IN ENGLISH | CPHPOST.DK

shops. Following adult learning principles, WISE aims to keep the training as practical and interactive as possible.

What comes next?

IN SEPTEMBER 2022, We Are Entrepreneurs and Art Escape Studio and Café are organizing a dissemination event to present the project results to local stakeholders. During this event, the artists will present their work to the public in NFT format. In October 2022, selected NFTs created by participants from all 5 countries will be displayed during Wise Women Week in Vilnius, Lithuania at the Šv. Jono gatvės galerija.

Additionally, We Are Entrepreneurs has started a collaboration with the Danish e-learning platform uQualio to

reach as many women in arts as possible. The plan is to put all the sessions in the e-learning format so that the WISE project can be of use for many more.

Read more about the project here: https://wise-women.eu/ We Are Entrepreneurs was created by Diana Medrea-Mogensen with the scope of providing courses, coaching, and developing free educational programs for job market integration through entrepreneurship. The education focused on problem-solving, financial literacy, and service mindset is the key to a more inclusive, balanced, and sustainable world.

Get to know We Are Entrepreneurs here: https://weareentrepreneurs.dk/

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REVIEW THE COPENHAGEN POST | CPHPOST.DK

3 - 19 MAY 2022

VICTORIOUS VIVIENNE! HER VALENTINE IS ONE FOR THE AGES PHOTOS: LONDON TOAST THEATRE/THOMAS PETRI

«««««« BEN HAMILTON

V

IVIENNE McKee is many things.

Icon, actor, comedian, businesswoman, not least, she is an inspiration to countless expats in the way she moved to Denmark 50 years ago and took the country by storm, winning over the hearts of hundreds of thousands of Danes with her annual Christmas show.

But at Teatret ved Sorte Hest on Saturday at the premiere of her new one-woman play, Vivienne McKee could not be seen.

On stage, instead, was Mrs Bradshaw, a 42-year-old mother of two – a housewife, it transpired, who prefers to be known by her maiden name: Shirley Valentine.

Completely absorbed in the role VIVIENNE was so absorbed in the role, it was hard to see the familiar star of stage and screen shining through.

Only when she smiled at the thought of more wine, perhaps.

And while this was true from the onset, it became more acute as the play progressed.

In fact, by the time the second act began, when Vivienne re-emerged

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after just a minute offstage, she was even more unrecognisable: like she had the appearance of somebody who you’d met before, but months or even years ago, and your brain needed to readjust to their appearance.

Was this achieved with a quick makeup touch-up, or a trick with the lighting – who knows?! But McKee genuinely resembled somebody who had experienced a transformative fortnight and grown as an individual. She was blossoming before our very eyes.

This was also noticeable in her body language: from the 'battered housewife struggling with shopping' haggardness of the opening scenes to the 'Capri starlet who's just got off her Vespa' posture of the final act, it's quite the metamorphosis.

Cast-iron connection with audience AT THE heart of this performance was the way she connected with the audience.

Vivienne imbued Shirley with such poignancy and personality, it was impossible to resist and extremely touching.

Sure, her likeability was guaranteed the moment she entered. At a premiere filled with friends, family and admirers, the only thing missing was Wet, Wet, Wet and their hackneyed mush.

But Shirley’s story would have softened the heart of Reinhard Heydrich.

And the huge laughs, detonated with

such peerless timing, could be heard on the other side of Frederiksberg.

This was feel-good perfection: a huge mood-lifter for everyone who saw it.

Crazy fun with anarchic accents ACCENTS play a large role in the monologue, with Vivienne required to reel off up to a dozen different, mostly British brogues.

The first, the Liverpudlian spoken by Valentine, was initially rendered with exaggerated intonation (those familiar with the original might hear echoes of Pauline Collins) – an emphasis on the comic elements of Scouse we all so admire and like to occasionally mimic.

But Vivienne was wise to let that go before it started to grate.

However, that didn’t stop Vivienne gleefully mining her other vernaculars in Crazy Christmas tradition, with an emphasis on the crazy. Her impression of a Greek man was otherworldly, it has to be said.

Overall, though, it was probably with the variety of her other Liverpudlian accents that she really shone, underlining what a tour-de-force of a performance this truly was.

Herculean endeavour worthy of Greece's finest HONESTLY, why is this role not re-

ferred to as the 'Hamlet for actresses'?

Around 90 minutes long, Vivienne has an extraordinary number of lines to remember, and only once did she appear to come unstuck (in the third act when her friend returns), even though the scene ended with the punchline equivalent of The Guns of the Navarone.

It has to be said, in case you were wondering, that Willy Russell's original manuscript has not dated in any way.

In her program notes, director Helen Tennison contends that Shirley’s story, post-Covid, is more relevant than ever. After all, she’s a character

who doesn't want to waste her life when there’s a whole world waiting to be explored. After our lockdown woes and restricted travel, what story could resonate more?

But before you make like Shirley and head off to Greece, why not take a trip to Teatret ved Sorte Hest to see one of the funniest, most charming and touching plays you’ll ever likely to encounter in these parts.

For nearly two hours you’ll be in the safe hands of a master of comic timing and storytelling: a Valentine for the ages.

SHIRLEY VALENTINE ends May 14, performances Tue-Fri 20:00, Sat 17:00; Teatret ved Sorte Hest, Vesterbrogade 150, Cph V; 205 kr via teaterbilletter.dk

DANISH NEWS IN ENGLISH | CPHPOST.DK

EVENTS THE COPENHAGEN POST | CPHPOST.DK

3 - 19 MAY 2022 SCIENCE & COCKTAILS

Science and Cocktails

Open Mic @Cph Listening Room

May 8, 19:00; Koncertsalen, DR Koncerthuset, Ørestads Blvd. 13, Cph S; tickets: 145-195kr, drkoncerthuset.dk The latest instalment of the popular event, ‘The biodiversity crisis: is mass extinction of species worse than climate change?’, invites world-renowned ecologist Carsten Rahbek to speak about ongoing mass extinction and what we can do about it. The event is in English. Spend an evening in the company of Kathryn Paige Harden, the American psychologist and behavior geneticist who authored the book ‘The Genetic Lottery: Why DNA Matters for Social Equality’. Astral Cinema and Niels Christian Cederberg will meanwhile spin some records in the foyer. (AD)

May 8 & 22 at 19:30, sign up by 19:15; Onkel Dannys Plads 7, Cph V; free adm For years now, Cph Listening Room has hosted its weekly open mic for songwriters. If you want to sign up to perform two songs, you better be fast! There are only 14 spots left. In the middle a featured act takes place: Effy Simon (10) and 32w (24). (AD)

Opera Tours in English

Sat & Sun in May with the exception of May 14 (extra tour on May 13); Ekvipagemestervej 10, Cph K; 135kr, under-12s 60kr, kglteater.dk Discover the Opera's beautiful foyer with its clean lines, Olafur Eliasson's light sculptures, and views over Copenhagen Harbour that embrace the shiny maple shell around the Main Stage. (AD) Moki Cherry

ends May 28; gallery open Tue-Fri 11:00-17:00: Galleri Nicolai Wallner, Glentevej 49, Cph NV; nicolaiwallner. com Swedish artist Moki Cherry works between mediums, bringing together art, architecture, design, and music.

On the opening night, there will be a musical performance by Naima Karlsson at 18:30. (AD)

Language Café

May 7 & 21, 14:30-17:00; Studenthuset, Købmagergade 52, Cph K; free adm Every other Saturday afternoon, join other language aficionados to learn new ones. The list of languages spoken at the café is updated on the official Facebook event page. So what are you waiting for? (AD) CTC Open Stage

May 12, 20:00; Krudttønden, Serridslevvej 2, Cph Ø; free adm Performers of all walks, media and genres are welcome to the Krudttønden stage for an energetic evening of creative arts staged by the Copenhagen Theatre Circle. If you wish to perform, register via openstage@ctcircle.dk. And from 17:30, eat beforehand: the menu costs 79 kroner and dessert 39 kroner.

Nordic Gaelic Football Championship

May 7, 10:00-19:00; Kløvermarksvej 50, Cph S Head down to Kløvermarken to enjoy some gaelic football at a tournament being hosted by city side Copenhagen GAA. Teams from all over the Nordic region are taking part. As an added bonus: there’s a hurling exhibition game during the lunch break.

Tivoli Food Festival

Dick

Suede in concert

May 12-19; Tivoli, Cph V; entry with Tivoli admission; tivoli.dk FOR 18 DAYS, the themepark will be hosting a festival of full-on food: a smorgasbord of regional and international delights. Sup cocktails, down beers at the American NoMad Bar, a pop-up for the duration, gorge on suckling pig, and take your pick of gourmet food, from the very best open sandwiches to vegan delicacies and sweets. Check the website for details concerning tastings, workshops, markets, cooking demos, competitions and events, which include one billed as the world's largest beer tasting.

May 5-9, weekends 17:00, weekdays 20:00, at Bådteatret at Nyhavn 16Z, Cph K, May 16-19 at 20:00 at Teatret ved Sorte Hest, Vesterbrogade 150, Cph V; 160kr; whynottheatre.dk Why Not Theatre Company presents a one-man drama, approximately one hour in length, written by the one and only Tanja Mastilo. Andrew Jeffers, beloved for his long-running role in the Crazy Christmas Cabaret, takes on the self-deprecating title character – a misanthropist who doesn’t really care for anything, least of all his genitalia.

Utilising his strong comic phrasing and aplomb for cutting lines, he reflects on how his life/sex life has been ruined by the sexual stereotypes he discovered in porn as a youth ... and other matters.

May 12, 20:00; Scandic Falkoner, Falkoner Alle 9, Frederiksberg; sold out, check forums for tickets Coming before Blur and Oasis, Suede and their lead singer Brett Anderson are arguably the grandfathers of Britpop.

They’re not ‘so young’ anymore, and guitarist Bernard Butler is long gone, but their recent concerts have been winning plaudits across the world.

Copenhagen Asian Film Festival

May 15-22; various cinemas; caff.dk Principally showing films from east Asia, so China, South Korea, Japan, Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia and the Philippines, the event normally takes place earlier in the year, but was postponed due to corona. With 40 film screenings spread over eight days, the organisers claim it is the country’s largest feature film festival, so “bigger than CPH: PIX”. The opening film is South Korean flick ‘Escape from Mogadishu’ on May 15 at Imperial.

Boy George Aliens & Icons

ongoing, ends June 4, opening times TBC; Gallery Oxholm, Pile Alle 25, Frederiksberg; gallerioxholm.dk SATURDAY saw the opening of a new exhibition featuring the artwork of Boy George that will run at Gallery Oxholm until early June. Since his first exhibition in Monaco in November 2019, the former Culture Club singer has had plenty of time to hone his skills. The results are “noisy, crooked and border-seeking provocative”, promises Gallery Oxholm’s owner Kim Jørgensen.

Gravens Rand Quiz

May 10 & 24, 19:00; Søndre Fasanvej 24, Frederiksberg; entry 30kr Maximum of four per team, it’s 1,000 kroner for the winners and a crate of beer for second. Two beer rounds, and shots for last place!

Copenhagen Marathon

May 15; all over Copenhagen Come out and support the runners in the annual city marathon! First held in 1980, 10,000 participants are expected.

Globe Quiz

May 5 & 19, 19:15; Globe Irish Pub, Nørregade 43-45, Cph K; 50 kroner per person to enter Game night’s on at this pub on Nørregade! The winners will be awarded 1,000 kroner, and there are plenty of spot prizes too. (MB) Copenhagen Beer Festival

May 20-21, open 11:00-16:30 & 17:3023:00 each day; Lokomotivværkstedet, Otto Busses Vej 5A, Cph SV; 325kr (includes entry and 10 tastings) An annual fixture for decades, Danske Ølentusiaster’s event is the longest running in the country. Sample over 1,000 beers … but not on the same night!

48 TIMER

May 13-15; Cph N; 48timerfestival.dk This Nørrebo culture festival is one of the city’s most popular. Over two days, expect 100 different events, of which most are free entry.

Sweet & Slade double concert

May 22, 20:00; Docken, Færgehavnsvej 35, Cph Nordhavn; sold out, check forums for tickets Come on and feel the noise at this blockbuster of a concert. Two of Britain’s favourite early-70s bands have been touring together for years now, delivering nostalgia in the bucketload to those old enough to remember, and drawing in new fans every concert.

Mozart's Requiem

May 7 & 8, 16:00; Marmorkirken, Frederiksgade 4, Cph K; 225kr; euphonia.dk Listen to Chamber Choir Euphonia play a very special piece of music in a very special church. Let the history wash over you. As an added bonus, you’ll also get to hear a warm-up act: Duruflé's Requiem.

Stephen Sondheim Tribute

May 5 at 18:00 & 20:00; Metronomen, Godthåbsvej 33, Frederiksberg; 75kr, reserve via MobilePay ‘5896PH’ We all know English-language musicals are a rarity in Denmark. In recent years the Copenhagen Theatre Circle has staged 'Cabaret', and there have been several productions of 'Jesus Christ Superstar'

by Teatret Gorgerne, but that’s about it: until now! A new company, CPH Musical Theater Co, has confirmed it will be staging its first shows on May 5: ‘The Little Things We Do Together: A Tribute Concert for Stephen Sondheim’. Among those involved are Copenhagen Theatre Circle chair Rachel Kador, David Barrett, Dennisalias Crystallando, Kristian Husted, Alexander Bastian Nielsen and Laurie Richards.

The Money Shot

May 12-28, performances Tue-Fri 20:00, Sat 17:00, Sun 14:00; Krudttønden, Serridslevvej 2, Cph Ø; 160kr, teaterbilletter.dk Another chance to see Neil LaBute’s ‘The Money Shot’, which is playing for two weeks at Krudttønden following a successful run last August during Copenhagen 2021. Steve (Tomm Voss), a 50-year-old action star, and his young wife Missy (Mikka Deleuran), are the guests of star actress Karen (Dina Rosenmeier) and her partner Bev (Dorte Rømer) at their Hollywood Valleys home to discuss the possibility of Steve and Karen having sex on camera to boost their sagging careers.

SceneKunst presents

Performances in July 2022: 5th 12:00 · 13th 18:00 · 14th 18:00 Tickets on mute.dk DANISH NEWS IN ENGLISH | CPHPOST.DK Annie_Annonce.indd 2

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ON SCREENS THE COPENHAGEN POST | CPHPOST.DK

3 - 19 MAY 2022

SHUTDOWN: WHERE THE WARS FAILED, CORONA SUCCEEDED BEN HAMILTON

W

ORLD WAR I couldn’t kill the movie industry. A glance at the career of Charlie Chaplin reveals that he made over 100 films!

Five of them were bookmarked by the Battle of the Somme – one of them was called The Count!

By World War II, light relief for the troops was replaced by propaganda, although there was room for some satire – Chaplin again with The Great Dictator.

But, yes, it was mostly propaganda.

Even 19th century sleuth Sherlock Holmes was fighting the Nazis!

But corona! The global pandemic succeeded where the wars failed. It grounded film and TV production for months, explaining why there has been such a dearth of new or returning shows of late. Until now.

An offer you can refuse?

PERHAPS the irony of The Offer (CMore; 57 on Metacritic) is that much of this origins series about the making of The Godfather concerns the efforts to recruit Marlon Brando for the title character, but the series itself has struggled to cast any notable names in the heavyweight mafia roles. It’s enjoyable if you have read the likes of Easy Riders, Raging Bulls, but otherwise the numerous subplots distract from the main story – which is kind of autobiopic, as this is produced by Paramount, the makers of the original film.

Nevertheless, it mostly succeeds in taking you back to early 1970s Hollywood – the escapism so many of us seek from our everyday lives. Going the extra hog in this respect are two time travel miniseries, Shining Girls (Apple; 67) and The Time Traveler’s Wife (HBO Max from May 16), both sporting trailers with a Cloud Atlas vibe as main characters are presented in multiple haircuts to underline the fact that they ‘get about’. As the titles suggest, one of them kills girls (it’s the Jamie Bell we glimpsed in Nymphomaniac with Elizabeth Moss hot on his trail) and the other travels a lot (more than in the film of the same name, which fans of the novel said wasn’t long enough, so here’s hoping).

In Stonehouse and The Thief, his Wife, and the Canoe (both CMore), escapism is the name of the game.

The British series respectively tell the stories of a disgraced British politician (Mathew Macfadyen) who faked his own death in Miami in 1974 only to turn up in Australia a month later, and an absolute banana (Eddie Marsan) who did the same in northeast England to claim on his life insurance and went into hiding … next door!

British fare we mostly had THE TWO series are available thanks to the emergence of a new streaming service called BritBox, which was launched in the Nordics on April 28 and is apparently available to CMore subscribers.

This ultimately might be bad news for those of us who regularly plunder DR’s mini-archive of Blighty titles.

Leading the way is Irvine Welsh adaptation Crime, with Dougray Scott in the lead role – a character first introduced in Filth. In fact, it might surprise those who have read the 2008 novel that a second season has been commissioned.

Among the other UK shows now available are acclaimed Hillsborough drama Anne starring Maxine Peake, The Cleaner with Greg Davies as a crime scene human debris collector, documentary pairing Idris Elba's Fight School and Hollywood Bulldogs: The Rise and Falls of the Great British Stuntman, and Georgian rags-to-riches saga The Confessions of Frannie Langton.

Ammonite the return?

THE BRITISH period dramas continue with The Essex Serpent (Apple; May 13) starring Claire Danes and Tom Hiddleston. Set in the late Victorian age it concerns an amateur palaeontologist (oh god, not another Ammonite?) escaping an abusive husband who finds solace in investigating the existence of a mythological sea creature (and another woman’s arms, most likely).

An abusive husband, or even wife, is central to the plot of The Staircase (HBO Max; 85) starring Colin Firth and Toni Collette. Based on a French original, it promises to be the drama The

"Not sure Marlon would notice if we put a horse's head in his bed"

Undoing could have been had it only had an intelligent creator.

Other spawnings include The Lincoln Lawyer (Netflix; May 13), 11 years after the original film, but with none of the original cast (not even in cameos!) and Star Wars spin-off Obi-Wan Kenobi (Disney+; May 27) in which Ewan McGregor is joined by his old Jedi sparring partner Hayden Christensen – who must be grateful for the work.

Conversation with Friends (HBO Max; May 15) is another Sally Rooney adaptation, so yes, it includes lots of sex; Now & Then (Apple; May 20) is one of those ‘20 years later, somebody knows what happened’ yarns (and looks ropey), although similarly themed documentary When we were Bullies (HBO Max) looks anything but; and Harry Wild (CMore; May 8) invites former Bond girl Jane Seymour into the land

of the living. This time the medicine woman is a meddlesome mother of a useless cop. Equally awful-looking is The Window (CMore; May 11), the story of an English Premier League player who struggles to distance himself from his tough upbringing. But who knows?

Returning series include Stranger Things (S4; May 27), The Circle (S4; May 4) and Who Killed Sara? (S3; May 18) on Netflix; Noughts + Crosses (S2; May 6), Hacks (S2; May 13) and Breeders (S3; May 12) on HBO Max; Devils (S2; May 18) on CMore; and The Wilds (S2; May 6) on Amazon Prime.

Another Bond girl’s back!

THE CONTINUATION … continues in movie-land with Top Gun 2: Maverick (May 26; Not Released Worldwide), Downton Abbey: A New Era (May 19; NRW), Doctor Strange in the Multi-

verse of Madness (May 5; NRW) and Memory (May 12; NRW), yet another Liam Neeson badass film, while Firestarter (May 12; NRW) is an unnecessary remake of the 1984 Stephen King adaptation.

This leaves Operation Mincemeat (May 12; 59), completing a busy month for Colin Firth, which looks like another of those dreary British wartime ‘comedies’. They normally star Gemma Arterton as a ‘good old thing’, but this time her role has gone to Kelly Macdonald. And Everything Everywhere All at Once (May 12; 82), which this month really is your best popcorn muncher. It’s like The Matrix, but with an Awkwafina vibe, although she’s not in it. Instead, another Bond girl is back in the living: Michelle Yeoh.

You didn’t see that coming in your cards, did you Solitaire!

free friday - free entrance Roliing stones - hyde park live

Start the weekend with beers, ”hygge” and a great concert film.

Friday May 20th, you can enjoy ’Rolling Stones - Sweet Summer Sun - Hyde Park Live’ at Cinemateket. For free!

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

DANISH NEWS IN ENGLISH | CPHPOST.DK

ENGLISH JOB DENMARK Recruitment Announcements SENIOR NETWORK ENGINEER, DANFOSS Do you consider yourself “World Class”? Are you looking to be part of a global team that is engineering tomorrow? Do you consider yourself a specialist in network technologies? If you answered yes to the above questions, we have a job for you Location: Copenhagen or Silkeborg Deadline: ASAP Contact: Jesper Lund Walsted, Global Client Manager, +45 20 41 84 28

PARTNERSHIPS MANAGER, CALLDORADO Your primary task will be to book meetings with potential costumers on behalf of our Publisher Relations managers.

Location: Søborg Deadline: ASAP Contact: Betina Knøfler, Senior Vice President of Operations & HR, +45 22 25 64 20

SALES ADVISOR, UNIQLO COPENHAGEN STRØGET Previous experience in retail is not mandatory, however, the desire to achieve the very best in customer service is!

Location: Copenhagen Deadline: ASAP Contact: myworkdayjobs.com

To advertise your vacancy here and reach 60,000+ readers weekly, contact: info@englishjobdenmark.dk or call 60 70 22 98.

For more information about what we can offer: https://englishjobdenmark.dk/

ENGLISH JOB DENMARK

STRATEGY MANAGER, DSV You will help ensure that our strategy translates into roadmaps with key initiatives for different business areas and monitor the progress. This will take place in close dialogue with many stakeholders and require a straightforward approach.

Location: Hedehusene Deadline: ASAP Contact: Anne Michelle Hicquet, Director Strategy & Integration, +45 30 85 80 08

BUSINESS CONTROLLER, MAN ENERGY SOLUTIONS We are looking for a quality-driven Business Controller with a profound financial and IT background combined with strong communication skills as well as a businessoriented mindset.

Location: Copenhagen Deadline: ASAP Contact: Peter Mendler, Finance Manager, Peter.Mendler@man-es.com

LEAD MECHANICAL ENGINEER R&D, FOSS You will help us develop world leading instruments from concept until release to production and sales.

Location: Hillerød Deadline: ASAP Contact: Søren Bay, Director, soeb@foss.dk

ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANT, SUPPLY CHAIN, FISKARS GROUP You will be the backbone of the administration in Denmark.

Location: Glostrup Deadline: ASAP Contact: fiskarsgroup.com/careers

EXPERIENCED ANTENNA DEVELOPER, OTICON You will be responsible for covering all activities from concept over simulation, realization, verification, to final product integration and product test.

Location: Smørum Deadline: ASAP Contact: Mads Gustavsen, Manager, RF & Antenna, +45 39 17 71 00

COMMERCIAL CONTRACTS NEGOTIATOR, SATAIR You have at least 3 years of experience in an international commercial contracting environment, or another relevant role, and at least 2 years of experience in negotiating commercial contracts in English is a requirement.

Location: Copenhagen Deadline: 13 May 2022 Contact: satair.bamboohr.com/jobs/

CORPORATE CONTENT CREATOR, LUNDBECK Do you have a passion for creating crisp, engaging content, mainly for social media and other digital channels?

Location: Copenhagen Deadline: ASAP Contact: Head of Communications & Public Affairs, julz@lundbeck.com

We support international:

Students, Graduates, Spouses, Professional Job Seekers & Career Changers through an online community, workshops, events and 1:1 coaching.

Find out more at: englishjobdenmark.dk/

English Job Denmark started in 2019, in response to how challenging and unforgiving the employment market can be for foreigners. The team had firsthand experience and wanted to share their knowledge in successfully finding a job in some of the top organizations in Denmark.

LONDON TOAST THEATRE Performed in English

Vivienne McKee as

Willy Russell’s play

Infectious wit”

is for husbands, wives, sons, daughters,

Shirley Valentine wants

A thrilling

friends and lovers.

nothing more than not to

voyage of

Treat yourselves”

waste her life”

self-discovery”

April 23rd - May 14th 2022 Teatret ved Sorte Hest Vesterbrogade 150, Copenhagen V BILLET@SORTEHEST.COM

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