CPH Post 3 July - 13 August 2020

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In a lengthy interview with CPH POST, two of the three leaders of Denmark’s newest political party, Nyt CentrumVenstre, outline their goals

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CPHPOST.DK IN ENGLISH August 2020 DANISH NEWS 3 July - 13 10 VOL 23 ISSUE

VISIT DENMARK

INTERVIEW

HOLIDAY Summer

2020

SPECIAL EDITION

The exceptional circumstances mean record numbers are expected to holiday at home.

But don’t worry, there are still plenty of options

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LOCAL City mayor’s call for car-free zone concerns hotels

2

BUSINESS

The colour of money How pension companies are favouring green investments

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WOLT AIN'T DISNEY Beloved by internationals Students and professionals say they’re happy living in Denmark

COMMUNITY Getting through the lockdown with a little help from their friends

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COMMUNITY

Paris in Aarhus How a Francophone group is bringing Gallic fun to the City of Smiles

17

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S

OME 86 PERCENT of the internationals who have been here less than five years enjoy living in Denmark, according to the latest Expat Study 2020 survey published by Oxford Research.

The work-life balance was cited as the most important factor in expats accepting a job in Denmark, where they also value the high salaries, good healthcare system, human rights and democracy.

Students too OVERSEAS students also like it, with 43 percent certain they want to continue living in Denmark once their studies end, according to KEA’s International Survey. Only 3 percent plan to return home.

Students said they chose Denmark for the education it offered (71 percent), career opportunities (46), society and culture (42) and SU stipend (30). Almost half see themselves living here in five years’ time.

Despite the cost HOWEVER, living in Denmark is not cheap. A new Eurostat survey names it as the most expensive country in the EU. Prices, on average, are 40 percent more than the union average.

It has the priciest food and non-alcoholic beverages (29 percent dearer), clothes (32), cars (38), and hotels and restaurants.

However, Copenhagen is only the 25th most expensive city in the world for expats, according to Mercer’s annual Cost of Living Survey, down from 20th last year. (AM)

15 Paludan in prison

Safer on the streets

FAILED politician Rasmus Paludan is in prison after being found guilty on 14 counts, including charges of racism, defamation and dangerous driving. The lawyer will serve at least a month and perhaps two more if his appeal is unsuccessful.

SOME 85 percent of Copenhageners feel safe walking the city’s streets late at night, according to the Security Survey – the highest level for more than ten years.

Last year 18 percent felt unsafe, and ten years ago 24 percent.

Rebel naming squabble

Call to prayer debate

CITY HALL is divided over whether to name more of the capital’s streets after rebel leaders who opposed harsh conditions on plantations in the Danish West Indies. One of the leaders, ‘Queen Mary’, already has a statue.

MOST OF the right bloc want to ban calls to prayer, arguing that they are “disruptive”. Gellerupparken, a mosque near Aarhus, found it convenient to use one during the lockdown – to date, the only one ever issued in Denmark.

Nursery rate hike

DF toppled

DAYCARE rates for infants are expected to rise in the capital, meaning that parents of nursery kids (ages 1-3) will have to pay as much as 1,300 kroner more a month, taking the total above 3,000.

NYE BORGERLIGE has overtaken Dansk Folkeparti in a YouGov pol to become the country’s most popular right-wing party. Its 7.7 percent share of the vote puts it 1.1 percent clear of DF.

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LOCAL

THE COPENHAGEN POST | CPHPOST.DK

Car-free zone = guest-free hotels?

ONLINE THIS WEEK PLANS are afoot to transform the area around Vridsløselille Prison in Albertslund, which is synonymous with the Olsen Gang films, into a residential area, but keep the iconic prison gates. In related news, a green light is expected for Stejlepladsen, a residential area in Sydhavn, while a proposal has been submitted to build ‘Vejlands Quarter’, a district made out of wood and recycled materials in Amager.

Air quality stations COPENHAGEN Municipality is setting up five air quality stations in specific areas around the city, which will provide data on air pollution and give insight into how comprehensive pollution is in areas with a high frequency of traffic and wood-burning ovens. Ten more stations could soon follow.

New harbour baths CITY HALL will spend 1.4 million kroner on a new public harbour baths by the La Banchina restaurant on Refshaleøen, whilst expanding the nearby Sdr Refshale Basin and Sandkaj in Nordhavn.

University’s resurgence THE UNIVERSITY of Copenhagen has risen five spots to 76th in the QS World University Rankings, cementing its position as number one in the Nordics.

The DTU ranked 103rd.

In favour of parkers THE SUPREME Court has ruled that it is wrong to fine drivers who make a typo in their car's registration number whilst paying for parking in the capital.

Editorial offices: International House, Gyldenløvesgade 11, 1600 Copenhagen Denmark

PEXELS.COM

Protected prison

Already in dire straits due to the coronavirus lockdown, the industry is left reeling by mayor’s plans AYEE MACARAIG

C

OPENHAGEN Mayor Frank Jensen wants to heavily restrict car traffic in the city centre by expanding the Strøget pedestrian area in the directions of Gothersgade and Holmens Canal.

Some 9 million kroner has been earmarked to formulating concrete proposals.

City Hall has already conducted a survey to assess three possible reductions of traffic: by 5–15 per cent, 10–15 per cent and 75–85 per cent.

It concluded that the first scenario would result in retail losing 2-7 percent of its turnover, restaurants 0-5 percent and hotels 30-50 percent.

Too little, too late IT IS FURTHER bad news for hotel owners who contend that the government’s reversal to allow tour-

ONLINE THIS WEEK New troll in Nordhavn A NEW THOMAS Dambo troll is welcoming guests in Nordhavn. ‘Captain Nalle’ is made mostly from salvaged wood and with the help of local labour and volunteers. Nalle is depicted tugging a rope hitched to a boat behind him. He is apparently the first of ten more planned trolls.

Lockdown film goes viral The centre of Copenhagen in a couple of years?

ists to spend a night in Copenhagen or Frederiksberg is too little, too late.

Scandic says it will only raise its occupancy rate from 10 to 15 percent, compared to a normal rate of 85 percent.

The government still requires tourists to have a booking of at least six nights to be allowed to enter Denmark – critics point out most visits to the capital tend to be two or three days long.

Call to cut VAT HORESTA has called for a heavy reduction in VAT payments, arguing it will enable the tourism industry to compete with coun-

tries like Germany, where VAT demands are one fifth of what they are in Denmark. Furthermore, it is open to many more countries than Denmark is.

Some 30 percent of companies in the industry are expecting to make more redundancies to decrease their costs.

However, some confidence remains, as next autumn Spanish five-star chain NH Hotel Group intends to open its first ever Copenhagen hotel at the old Desert Fort site at Knippelsbro, where it is confident its 400-room complex can generate annual revenue of 300 million kroner.

All set to sack street sweepers Municipality thought likely to follow advice of new report to invest in other cleaning options

Some within the municipality have condemned it as "tunnel vision".

C

The butt of the issue COPENHAGEN has meanwhile launched a campaign to urge smokers to properly dispose of their cigarette butts at special ashtrays set up on several of the city’s beaches and at 300 cafes.

The campaign will seek to raise awareness of a problem

OPENHAGEN Municipality looks set to sack street sweepers, thereby shrinking the workforce allocated to cleaning the city’s green areas and urban spaces.

Ernst & Young concluded in a report that a large sum of money could be saved and cut elsewhere.

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that accounts for 87 percent of the rubbish cleaned up in the city – at a cost of two kroner per butt to the municipality.

Three times a dildo ONE SUCH avenue is the annual clean-up of Copenhagen Harbour.

This year it yielded 181 bicycles, 140 electric scooters, 47 café chairs, a ladder and, for the third consecutive year, a dildo. (AM)

THE SHORT film 'The last person in Copenhagen – COVIDHAGEN', which made use of the capital’s deserted streets during the coronavirus lockdown, had 170,000 views in the ten days following its release.

Derailing charges A 27-YEAR-OLD Bulgarian has been charged with nearly derailing an S-train in between Nordhavn and Svanemøllen stations. It is alleged he placed a 25 kilo metal bar on the rails. He has admitted being at Nordhavn Station, but pleaded not guilty.

Culinary canvassing ALCHEMIST 2.0 has been ranked the second best restaurant in Europe

by Opinionated About Dining.

Berlingske claims that its owner Rasmus Munk held a pre-opening lunch for some of the voters. Noma, ninth last year, finished sixth, while Frantzén in Stockholm came first.

Palads petition OVER 6,600 people have signed a petition to stop the demolition of colourful Palads Cinema at Axeltorv to make way for a much taller complex designed

by BIG for Nordisk Film.

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ONLINE THIS WEEK

THE FOREIGN Ministry has confirmed a 365 million kroner package to help developing countries cope with the coronavirus.

In related news, the Danish government has signed a deal with India to help it in the areas of offshore wind development and enhancing grid flexibility, and Danish experts have been helping Moroccan entrepreneurs to create jobs via virtual summits.

Iranian charges expected CHARGES against three Iranians in custody for four months are now being expanded to include the funding and promotion of terrorism, TV2 reports. The Arab Struggle Movement for the Liberation of Ahvaz (ASMLA) activists were jailed and charged with spying for Saudi Arabia in February. The defendants, who have pleaded not guilty, face up to 12 years in prison.

Neighbourly tiff rumbles on Swedish minister accuses Danish visitors of ignoring restrictions following partial lifting of travel ban AYEE MACARAIG

S

INCE JUNE 27, Danish residents have been permitted to travel to the Swedish regions of Scania, Halland or Blekinge, but not the rest of the country.

And already they have been rebuked for not respecting social distancing norms.

The Swedish foreign minister, Ann Linde, cited complaints made about Danish visitors moving tables together in Swedish restaurants.

However, her ministry later clarified that it did not have any proof beyond the email complaints.

More holiday options TRAVEL has also been possi-

Did Linde go off script?

ble to a fair number of other European countries – including France, Greece, Italy, the Netherlands and Spain – which are adjudged to be mostly free of the coronavirus.

Tourists from the countries are still required to provide proof of a stay of at least six nights.

A weekly list of the countries is updated every Friday.

As things stand, the Foreign Ministry discourages travel to

countries that have imposed significant entry restrictions on Danish residents, such as forced quarantine, which is the case in Ireland and the UK. People from outside the EU with lovers, grandparents and grandchildren in Denmark can now enter the country, provided they present a negative coronavirus test performed less than 72 hours before.

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PERHAPS in keeping with the BLM movement, red paint was poured on a statue of Hans Egede, a Danish-Norwegian coloniser and priest, in Nuuk on June 21, with advocates contending that it exacerbated the trauma of the island’s colonial past. They also marked Greenland’s National Day by writing “Decolonise” on it.

Spy given seven years

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A NORWEGIAN-IRANIAN man has been sentenced to seven years in prison for spying on behalf of the Iranian intelligence service. The operation leading to his arrest in late 2018 resulted in large parts of the country being closed down. In other news, Ib Petersen has been named the deputy executive director of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), and Dennis Christensen, a jailed Jehovah’s Witness in Russia, has been released three years earlier than expected from his six-year sentence.

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FEATURE

THE COPENHAGEN POST | CPHPOST.DK

3 July - 13 August 2020

New kids on the block: critical of religion and left-wingers ALL PHOTOS UNLESS STATED: SOMA BIRÓ

The story behind Denmark’s latest political party, Nyt Centrum-Venstre

Lebanon, highlighted freedom of speech and gender equality as two of the most important such values.

SOMA BIRÓ

I

T HAPPENED in Kongens Have. A crowd gathered in front of the Viggo Hørup monument, ready for the big reveal. The audience was slightly smaller than expected, but the high-profile names of the board secured the presence of several journalists and cameramen.

One of those names is Ahmed Akkari, the former imam who played a significant role in the rage against the Muhammad Drawings in 2005, before making a u-turn to take up the fight against Islamic fundamentalism.

Akkari wasn’t present, however, and it was Hanna Ziadeh who stepped to the forefront on that sunny afternoon to officially unveil their new political party: Nyt Centrum-Venstre (New Centre-Left).

NCV.DK

Ahmed Akkari

“Why a new party when there are so many parties in Denmark?” Ziadeh began. “Simply put, way too many of us with left-wing values have been left homeless on the left wing. We have often felt that our criticism of Denmark’s prostration before Islam and Islamism has been completely disregarded.

It’s important that we take an unequivocal stance and send the message that this society is built on some clear, proven values of freedom.”

Ziadeh, who has lived in Denmark since arriving here in 1986 as a 21-year-old political refugee from his homeland

Understanding freedom “WHY SHOULD an Arab stand here and lecture Danes on Western values of freedom,” Ziadeh asked, clapping his hands together and laughing in irony.

“Right? Reason number one: I have spent 21 years in a country where we fought – in the left-wing’s happy Marxist past – to achieve the same level of freedom and democracy that you find here in Europe.”

“Reason number two is that, after I got tired of integration politics in Denmark – which is where I think they’ve really screwed up – I’ve worked with promoting values of freedom in the Middle East. During that time, I saw the anxiety people have about being labelled anti-Muslim and how, as a result, they turn a blind eye instead of fighting many of the Islamist powers that use religion as a platform to achieve undemocratic gains and strongholds in our society.”

Ziadeh, the co-founder and chair of Nyt Centrum-Venstre, then offered a few additional reasons why he’s perhaps able to appreciate these values of freedom more than many others do: “I am secular, from a Christian background, half Palestinian – which is systematically discriminated against in Lebanon and other countries – and I am also ...” as he placed both hands jokingly over the microphone ... “Gay”.

Mosques of Europa I LATER met with Ziadeh in Cafe Europa, a place he has frequented since its opening in 1989. During our conversation, he unleashed a wealth of information about the issues their new party aims to tackle – including fundamentalism. The man knows a thing or two about the subject, having worked for

Jens Baj and Hanna Ziadeh at the launch event in Kongens Have

the Danish Institute for Human Rights for about 15 years.

I learned, for example, that two of the largest mosques in Denmark are financed by Iran and Qatar respectively. “Qatar!”

Ziadeh exclaimed. “You know what Qatar is? You know the one place on earth where the Taliban, the most radical group after ISIS, has got diplomatic representation? In Doha, the capital of Qatar. These are the people we allow to come and indoctrinate our Muslims.”

“And no-one in Denmark wants to talk about it because they are afraid of the big brother and instead attack the little brothers – the Muslims that are here,” continued Ziadeh.

Hence Nyt Centrum-Venstre’s proposal to close the most radical mosques in Denmark. “We want to close, let’s say five to ten mosques if we could prove that they are really indoctrinating children and things like that,” he contended.

Systematic indoctrination BUT FUNDAMENTALIST powers are only part of the issue to surmount. “I have three nephews,” began Ziadeh. “Their mother is a descendant of the prophet! From Yemen, the most conservative Muslim country on Earth. Their father is an atheist

from a Christian background.

My three nephews were neither baptised nor circumcised. But one day, one of them came to me and said: ‘I believe in Jesus.’

I took him to one side – he was like eleven years old – and asked: ‘What are you saying Marcel?’

I chose their names: Marcel, Marcus and Mateo. And my brother is called Mehdi, by the way – it’s a Muslim name, but we don’t care. So, I said to Marcel: ‘Listen! We don’t believe in anything until you are of age, you know, when you can think for yourself.’ And he said: ‘But my mother said Jesus exists.’ I told him: ‘I don’t care what your mother said! You’re not Christian and you're not Muslim. You are half this and half that by descent.

But you choose what you want to be!’”

Ziadeh paused for a moment, then added: “Do you think a Muslim is allowed to say that to his children? Where on Earth?

It is systematic indoctrination.”

Now remember: this comes from a man who was an integration consultant in Copenhagen for years – a job he quit after the mayor at the time (from SF) held a campaign speech in one of the most fundamentalistic mosques in Denmark, led by Ahmad Abu Laban. (The mayor told Ziadeh: “Whatever you do, just please

don’t go to the press.”)

The answer: schools NYT CENTRUM-VENSTRE’S key measure in fighting such indoctrination is to be found in the school system.

Co-founder and vice chair Jens Baj told me that they want to change the way religion is taught in private school.

“Religious studies today are mostly a description of what religions do – Muslims live by the five pillars, Christians celebrate Christmas and Easter etc – but never take on questions like: ‘Are these religions right? Can their claims be true? Or are they just wishful thinking?’” pointed out Baj. “We need to be more critical and say things as they are … and this would apply to all religions.

If only we could have 10 or 12 such lessons in school, a lot of children would get the opportunity to ask questions about their own religion. And it would be compulsory. That’s not how it is today: today, parents can take their kids out of the school’s religious studies and homeschool them on the subject.”

Educating the public NCV ALSO aims to use its political platform to educate the population on the topic. This

FEATURE

3 July - 13 August 2020

has already begun on its website, ncv.dk. Regarding freedom of speech, for example, they cite a 2019 study conducted by the Danish Ministry of Justice, which reveals that 76 percent of Muslims in Denmark think that it should be forbidden to criticise Islam.

Another example is a graph that highlights the status of women in the Koran: 71 percent of the text assigns women a low status while only 28 percent of it grants women either equal or high status.

The man who started it all BUT LET’S return to Kongens Have for a moment, where NCV officially entered the political scene on June 10.

After Ziadeh finished his presentation, his spindly partner, Jens Baj, took over to further elaborate on their grand plans for the future.

In fact, this new party has its provenance in Baj – a public school teacher from Jutland. He used to be part of another party of similar values, called Uafhængige Demokrater (Independent Democrats). That initiative never caught on, but Baj wouldn’t let the concept die, so he kept moulding it and began to assemble a new group. Thus, he contacted Ziadeh and Akkari.

Activism, then doubt BUT THERE is more to the puzzle that is Jens Baj. The man used to be a part-time activist, working for organisations such as Mellemfolkeligt Samvirke (ActionAid) and Amnesty International. Later, however, the political activism subsided as something else took its place: religion.

“At one point, I thought I had all the answers. I had this attitude: ‘Just make me the ruler of the world, I know what to do.’ But when I looked at my own life, it did not live up to that of someone who had all the answers. So I allowed myself to enter into a phase of doubt: ‘Okay, if I’m not the one who’s right … let’s assume that others are,” Baj recalled. And

so began his spiritual journey: he visited the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Denmark (Folkekirken), the Unitarians, a free church and a mosque, and he even took a few tests with the Scientologists.

Enter the prophet FINALLY, Baj joined a religion he learned about thanks to his sister: “She’s a Jehovah’s Witness and she gave me a book that warned against fake religions.

That’s where I first read about the Bahá’í Faith. It originated from Islam and views all religions as part of an evolution.

Women and men are equal and it got rid of a lot of the bad things in previous religions.” But after three years, and making his way to the highest Bahá’í council in Denmark, Baj had to quit; he simply had to conclude that there is no god that intervenes in this world.

What led to that realisation: the way the Bahá’í people have been treated by Muslims in Iran, where they are persecuted. “If you are persecuted in Iran, you could be sentenced to death.

The problem is that the Bahá’í Faith acknowledges Mohammed. That’s what’s so offensive to Muslims: the Bahá’í know he’s there and yet they have the nerve to choose another prophet! Unlike Christians, who are just stupid and don’t know there’s something much better out there. The terrible acts that Bahá’í people have been subjected to in the Middle East are what lead me out of the religion in the end. I thought: ‘There can not be a god that allows all these abominable things to happen.’

I still liked most of their core values, but the belief in a god that intervenes was part of those core values … so I had to quit.”

Baj let his hand fall painfully on the table as he added: “Unfortunately.”

So, you see, much like his partner Ziadeh, Baj is a man with extensive knowledge about the religious universe he dares to criticise. Here’s a tip for you: search for ‘Jens Baj’ on Facebook and read his philosophy of life,

5

right there on his cover photo. It consists of four precepts that are the essence of what he’s learned about life thus far: “It trumps any religion I’ve ever met.”

Power to the people LET US now move away from religion, as there is so much NCV we haven’t discussed yet.

Baj revealed another interesting proposal – one that would provide people with a new way of influencing the world of politics.

It’s a new type of referendum.

First, let’s take a look at how it works today: if you want to, for example, reverse legislation by the Danish Parliament, you have the option of collecting 50,000 votes for a ‘citizen’s initiative’. If you succeed, it goes to Parliament where politicians consider it.

“But they just brush it off the table,” Baj explained. “After the government introduced some SU cuts, students submitted a ‘citizen’s initiative’ to reverse them. Nothing happened. Politicians already voted in favour of the cuts, so why would they change their minds? They are not the ones to turn to. You have to be able to turn to the people.”

NCV’s referendum would allow you to introduce an initiative without the need for parliamentary approval: the first step would be to collect 200,000 signatures for your proposal; if you manage that, you go directly to the referendum phase, which would enable the country to vote on your initiative. If the majority votes in the affirmative, it’s a success.

But not so fast! “We’ve seen what happened in the UK when 52 percent voted to leave the EU. Society is left with this feeling: ‘Did we really do the right thing?

Or were the angry ones just more inclined to vote than those who are happy?’” cautioned Baj. NCV’s solution is if a referendum receives a majority of anywhere below 60 percent, a second referendum has to be conducted to make sure that it really is what people want.

If that second referendum receives a majority of at least 53

percent, it’s a win. This new majority system would only apply to referenda brought by the people – those introduced

by Parliament could still be won with a slim majority and no repeat. This innovative ‘emergency break for the people’ is part of NCV’s proposal for democratic reforms. (For much more, see their website.)

The apples of a tall tree AS FOR the climate, NCV is ambitious, but cautiously so.

“We want to pick all the apples from the tree – in other words, go all the way, because green transition is important,” Baj asserted.

“But we want to start by picking the lowest fruits first, reach the goals closest to us, and see how long that takes

us. Once we reach the apples on the highest branches of the tree, it could be that we have to be standing on a shaky ladder, on one leg, stretched out, straining … risking that our economy collapses because we’re not competitive anymore – due to the high expectations we’ve set for ourselves. At that point, some companies might go: ‘We cannot produce in Denmark anymore, we have to move to Poland or China, and in such a case, the CO2 emissions of those companies would simply move to China, along with the money,” continued Baj. “So we say: if the last apples of the tree, the final stretch on the road to total green transition, results in the collapse of the Danish business community, then we won’t pick them.”

6

NATIONAL

THE COPENHAGEN POST | CPHPOST.DK

ONLINE THIS WEEK

THE GOVERNMENT has made three weeks of holiday pay, which was put into people’s pensions during a shake-up of the rules in 2019, available from October.

In other holiday news, traffic congestion is expected this summer, with Vejdirektoratet warning that Saturday is the worst day to travel, while 50,000 will benefit from a 299 kroner, eight-day pass that offers unlimited travel, which was made possible thanks to the government’s 700 million kroner tourism package.

Gap year preferences ACCORDING to Danmarks Statistik, ethnically-Danish graduates are more likely (81 percent) to go on a gap year than Danes with immigrant roots (50). Students whose parents had a higher education are more likely (64) than those with parents who left school at 16 (39 percent).

In related news, the percentage of non-Western teachers has risen by 3.5 percent since 2009.

Tough on identity theft MPS ARE considering legislation that would make identity theft a crime. The move follows the arrests of 11 people in connection with a NemID swindling case, which reportedly involved them obtaining data from public library computers. Over a third of all IT-related crimes are e-commerce scams.

Around 20,000 Danes had their personal data misused in 2019.

‘Free’ dentistry bid A CITIZEN’S petition for 'taxpaid dentistry' has obtained 50,000 signatures and will be discussed in Parliament next year. Dentistry for children is free, but notoriously expensive for adults.

Stopping vs parking PRIVATE parking companies are not allowed to charge a fee if a car has spent less than three minutes parking. The Traffic Act rules that in such a case a car is merely stopping.

If you can’t beat them, join them

ONLINE THIS WEEK NATHAN WALMER

Holiday pay unfrozen

3 July - 13 August 2020

There BLM was, stealing the headlines, but if there’s one thing we know about COVID-19: it will always find a way CPH POST

G

IVEN HOW nobody expected anything to knock the coronavirus off its perch as the top story of 2020, it’s been quite apt how the virus and Black Live Matter have come colliding together of late.

A BLM march attended by 15,000 people in Copenhagen on June 7 has now resulted in at least 12 coronavirus infections – participants were urged to get tested in the aftermath – although the number pales in comparison with two other recent micro-outbreaks.

In Hjørring Municipality in north Jutland, 20 cases have been registered at a home for the elderly, while 29 more have been documented in connection with a passenger plane that arrived at Copenhagen from Pakistan on June 6.

Nevertheless, a Voxmeter poll revealed that 63.1 percent of Danes believe that the gathering limit of 50 people, which will rise to 100 on July 7, should extend to politically-motivated demonstrations, even though this would contravene the Constitution.

THE GOVERNMENT has terminated a contract with the Danish Refugee Council to ensure a firmer hand is applied when returning rejected asylum-seekers to their homelands. A far tougher replacement will take over in August.

More noise complaints

A day hasn't gone by without a reminder of how big it was

stage at the demo – the kind of directive that will only further divide black people and white people, said critics.

“When I go to funerals and weddings, family and close friends stay in front,” reasoned Sørensen to DR. “As a black person you have trauma that others do not have.”

Meanwhile, another controversy stemmed from BLM’s cancellation of an anti-racism protest in Aalborg that was organised by a group of high school students and a local branch of Amnesty International.

“Why should we do it together? They are white. It's Black Lives Matter, not White Lives Matter. It is racist and 'white supremacy',” BT quoted Sørensen as saying.

in Denmark, with only 32 percent concurring it was. The younger and more educated the respondent, the more likely they were to agree.

Women are more likely to agree than men, but not Pia Kjærsgaard, the former leader of the anti-immigration party Dansk Folkeparti, who said in Parliament it was “offensive” to suggest there is racism in Denmark.

Kjærsgaard argued that it is not racist for people with Arabic-sounding names to have a harder time getting a job than others.

Denial of racism THE EPISODES, perhaps more than the marches, have reignited debates on the prevalence of discrimination in Denmark, even though a Megaphone survey reveals that half of Danes do not see racism as a problem here.

Some 51 percent disagree that racism is a widespread problem

A swastika isn’t proof!

POLICE in Bornholm are currently asking the same question about the killing of a Danish-Tanzanian man by two ethnically Danish brothers.

Despite one of them having a swastika on his leg, a close friend has told media that the killing, which in similar fashion to George Floyd’s murder involved a knee being pressed down on the victim’s neck, was not racially motivated.

And the police and media have pretty much accepted her word as gospel.

Moved to Næstved

Cold case reignited

They're on it up north

AS PART of the ongoing relocation of state companies, Immigration Service (Udlændingestyrelsen) and its 450 employees have moved from their Copenhagen home on Ryesgade to Næstved in southern Zealand.

THE SISTER of convicted hotel arsonist Erik Solbakke Hansen is appealing his case, 47 years after he allegedly caused the deaths of 35 people – and 23 years after his death. Hansen was also convicted of killing a 15-year-old girl in 1980.

DESPITE the cancellation of many events due to the coronavirus, officials from Aarhus, Aalborg and the northern English city of Manchester have confirmed that their cultural exchange will be even stronger when it takes place next year.

Spokesperson under fire THE OUTRAGE at the size of the crowd protesting against the US police’s murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis in late May did not end there, as BLM’s top rep in Denmark, Bwalya Sørensen, was in the firing line.

In mid-June it emerged that white people were encouraged to stay in the background to allow black people to take centre

Firming up repatriation

POLICE have seen a huge rise in the number of complaints received by disgruntled neighbours: from 3,192 in 2019 to 5,552 so far this year. In the capital, Mayor Frank Jensen, has condemned youngsters for having noisy early-hours parties in the parks. All bars are currently required to close at midnight.

Reflection periods over THE THREE-MONTH reflection period for divorce cases introduced in 2018, has been rescinded by Parliament. It was found that the period was doing more harm than good - particularly to children.

Tighter arms controls IN LIGHT of the UAE’s use of Danish weapons against Yemen, the government wants to tighten control of arms exports.

Bomber trial ongoing THE TRIAL of two young Swedish men accused of carrying out the bombing of the Danish Tax Agency in 2019 has started in Copenhagen. In related news, four men will stand trial in Svendborg in connection with the smuggling of 100 kilos of cocaine into Denmark.

More on a-kasse THE NUMBER on a‑kasse (unemployment insurance) has risen, Jubii reports. Almost 334,000 people were insured, either on a collective or individual basis, last year – 24,000 more than in 2018.

Bereavement leave FROM OCTOBER, all parents who lose a child under the age of 18 will have the right to take six months of bereavement leave.

The new law was originally submitted as a citizenry proposal.

7

3 July - 13 August 2020

Don’t trust us.

Trust our students.

“The shop assistant doesn’t switch to english anymore.”

“I can speak Danish on the phone now.”

Annahita

“I am happier at work.”

Hugo

“I got my job because I was able to speak Danish at the interview.”

Manuela

“I feel more local.”

Siv

Emmanuelle

Don’t take our word for it If you want to learn Danish well, and fast, listen to others who have been there and have the receipts to show for it. Our Danish courses are renowned for being efficient and high quality. And no, they’re not free.

But most of the people who studied with us agree: ”It’s worth it.”

studieskolen.dk

8

SCIENCE

THE COPENHAGEN POST | CPHPOST.DK

ONLINE THIS WEEK

IN ADDITION to its five national parks, Denmark now has its sights set on two more, but with even wilder nature. As part of a 105 million kroner agreement aiming to enhance nature and biodiversity, parks will be established in Fussingø near Randers and Gribskov in north Zealand.

In related news, the state has banned spraying, ploughing and fertilising protected natural areas.

New climate act DENMARK’S new Climate Act was passed last month. It enshrines in law the aim to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 70 percent by 2030 and to net zero by 2050.

Eight out of ten parties backed it.

In related news, six of Denmark’s largest municipalities have entered into climate co-operation deals with the government, vowing to ensure green public transport.

Ping! You’re in the danger zone

ONLINE THIS WEEK SCREENSHOT

Two more parks

3 July - 13 August 2020

Nobody wants a notification from the coronavirus tracing app Smittestop, but it might just save your life!

CPH POST

A

S OF MONDAY, 85 people had so far used the new coronavirus app Smittestop to report that they had been infected with COVID-19. It would have been more, but the app was hampered by technical glitches at first.

The 85 alerts meant that hundreds of other app users – as of last week, 563,000 had downloaded it, although many more do not have the right phone (anything older than the iPhone6S does not work) – got a ping to inform them they have been in close contact with somebody with the coronavirus.

The current reproduction rate is 1.0 – up from 0.7 last time we went to print – an indicator that this isn’t anywhere near over yet.

The next week could be crucial in terms of seeing whether a resurgence is likely.

It's a bit like becoming an organ donor: feel good ... am I dead?

Anette Lykke Petri, the acting head of the patient safety board.

The result is a more accurate contagion picture, which will lead to quicker action and systematic knowledge about testing patterns, whilst helping to identify potential virus hotspots.

whether you have had it in just 10 minutes. Studies suggest the antibodies will remain strong for a year. However, the tests are not 100 percent accurate.

Of course, nothing guarantees you won’t get it again, as 20 percent of a sample of 200 Danish-based former COVID-19 patients recently tested positive.

BIOMODICS has developed a special balloon that can help 16,000 hospital patients who catch an unpleasant urinary tract infection every year, reports DI Business.

Tracing by interview too THE APP isn’t the only weapon in the Sundhedsstyrelsen health authority’s contact tracing efforts. As well as providing counselling, health officials ask patients whether they can help them establish who they might have passed the virus onto. Participation is optional.

“Instead of waiting for the COVID-19-positive to contact us, we now contact anyone who tests positive for COVID-19,” explained

Dogs, minks, the flu MEANWHILE, in other coronavirus-related news, the authorities have confirmed the first case of a dog having the virus.

Many minks have also tested positive, and the government is currently testing 120 of the nation’s 2,000 farms.

Approximately two-thirds of the nation's hospitals concede that coronavirus infections occurred on their premises due to poor hygiene or distancing.

A drastic drop in the number of influenza cases has been observed, but cases of anxiety, depression and mental stress are in the ascendancy – especially among healthcare professionals.

New conception test

Who’d be a pig!

Fall in energy use

Green funding millions

A NEW TYPE of blood test developed in Denmark can reveal which women have less than a 10 percent chance of conceiving.

PIG WELFARE could be much better, particularly in respect to how the animals are killed, concludes a University of Copenhagen report that ranks Denmark behind Sweden, the UK and the Netherlands. In other nature news, butterfly sightings are well down on last year, and Vejdirektoratet is using AI to combat invasive plant species that tend to dog roadsides.

GREATER use of wind power, and less reliance on coal, resulted in a 1.3 percent dip in energy consumption in 2019 – the first fall for five years. Household consumption fell 3 percent. According to the Danish Energy Agency, all electricity consumption will be covered by renewable energy systems by 2027. Three years later, Denmark will start exporting green energy.

THE NOVO Nordisk Foundation has granted 100 million euros to the DTU Biosustain research centre to continue developing sustainable production solutions and green consumer products. For other research news, visit cphpost. dk. From developing cheaper lactose-free products to assessing the dangers of untreated gluten intolerance, it has been a busy month.

THE GOVERNMENT is on course to ensuring the waste sector attains climate neutrality by 2030.

It aims to cut down on waste incineration and plastic imports, whilst increasing recycling. A third of the nation’s trash is burned. In related news, Danish Defence is committed to introducing more forestry, biodiverse and climate-friendly areas to the 33,000 hectares under its ownership.

Magic balloon

Pays to be rich THE VERY rich tend to live four years longer than the rest of society, according to an index developed by economist Søren Kjærgaard using Danmarks Statistik data.

COPENHAGEN’S first electric harbour bus took its first ever batch of passengers on board last week, with more on the way as the petrol-guzzling old fleet is phased out.

In other transport news, Danish bank Merkur Andelskasse will stop offering loans for new petrol and diesel cars. However, loans are still available for second-hand ones with a good sustainability rating.

Better water helps fish

Importance of testing SUNDHEDSSTYRELSEN, meanwhile, is working on a sustainable, long-term approach that does not compromise people’s well-being and mental health. It must balance the need to limit community activities to prevent transmission, whilst ensuring there is something resembling a daily life.

In the meantime, it advocates testing: most particularly at the borders when Danish residents return home from abroad – since June 27, they have been permitted to travel to most of Europe – or lovers or family members arriving for a reunion.

Antibody tests are also easy to conduct. For just 299 kroner from selected pharmacies, a finger prick test will tell you

Cleaning up waste sector

New electric harbour bus

THE GOVERNMENT is preparing tougher requirements for treatment plants to purify wastewater of phosphorus and nitrogen, which in turn will aid fish and curtail algae. The news came days after Novafos confirmed it has decided to rethink its plans to discharge 725 million litres of uncontaminated wastewater into the Sound.

SSI head resigns MADS MELBYE, who has been off duty from his role as CEO of Statens Serum Institut, has resigned. He claims the finding of a Ministry of Health-commissioned report, which found “serious violations of rules in connection with applications for vaccine patents” and recommends that Melbye should be prosecuted, demonstrates that his employer has lost faith in him.

Fighting plastic REPLASTIC, a university collaboration recently given 8.9 million kroner in funding, is working hard on models to recycle plastic as effectively as possible. In related news, Circular Mono Plastic Packaging, with 11 million kroner of funding, is developing technology to ensure that food packaging does not end up in the incinerator.

Bornholm outbreak IN LATE May and early June, some 107 people in Bornholm tested positive for campylobacter, a bacteria responsible for gastrointestinal infection. Statens Serum Institut believes the outbreak was related to a local dairy, but tests failed to confirm its theory.

9 Words of a certain flavour SPORT & CULTURE

3 July - 13 August 2020

ONLINE THIS WEEK Top defender

BERNIO Verhagen, the scam Dutch footballer who Superliga club Viborg FF signed after the 26-year-old fraudulently posed as his own agent but was then fired in November 2019, has been sentenced to 15 months in prison. He was found guilty of varying charges, including robbery, by a court in Viborg, where he had been in custody since last year. His sentence could be extended as he faces fresh charges of fraud and forgery.

DANISH footballer Robert Skov, 24, has been rated one of the 20 most valuable defenders in the world, according to the research group CIES Football Observatory. His value since leaving FCK for Bundesliga outfit Hoffenheim last summer has jumped from 75 to nearly 350 million kroner.

Footballer drowns A 20-YEAR-OLD Ghanaian footballer, Adom Ibrahim, died on June 15 after going for a late evening swim in Vestre Fjordpark in Aalborg. Ibrahim, who played briefly for Hobro earlier this year, was found unresponsive in the water and rushed to hospital where doctors were unable to revive him. Police regard the drowning as an accident.

Awaiting UEFA decision FC COPENHAGEN are waiting for UEFA to decide where their second-leg Europa League fixture against Istanbul Basaksehir will take place. The game will be played on August 5-6, but a venue has yet to be announced. FCK are the home team for the leg, having lost 0-1 in Turkey just as the Coronavirus Crisis kicked in.

No calamity for Nørlum FRENCH-DANISH animated film ‘Calamity, a Childhood of Martha Jane Cannary’, co-produced by Viborg-based animation studio Nørlum, has taken home the main award at the world’s largest animation festival in Annecy, France.

It is the first time a Danish-produced film has won the 'Cristal' prize for best animated feature-length film – the genre’s answer to the Oscars.

Crowds coming back AS WELL as the Danish Cup Final on July 1, crowds of 500 were permitted at selected Superliga games between June 20 and 22. An evaluation is ongoing to assess allowing further games to be attended.

WILL NEED UPDATING

@@@ win cup AAB BEAT SonderjyskE @-@ in the Danish Cup Final in front of 500 fans at the Bluewater Arena in Esbjerg on July 1 - the first time Parken hadn’t hosted the showpiece since 1992.

Roskilde retains stars THE 2021 ROSKILDE Festival has confirmed a list of 32 artists that includes several who were due to perform this week: US rapper Tyler, the Creator and British artist FKA Twigs. Norwegian black metal band Mayhem and British electronic musician Floating Points are among the new names.

Theatre compensation PRODUCERS of theatre performances that had to cancel shows due to the coronavirus may now apply for compensation from the Ministry of Culture for up to 80 percent of their lost income – providing they can demonstrate the run was between four and 26 weeks at the same location in Denmark, offering at least 100 tickets per show.

364 days later DENMARK’S Euro 2020 group games have been postponed by a year, but brought forward by a day. Should their games at Parken against Finland (June 12), Belgium (17) and Russia (21) go to plan, they’ll face a knockout away from Parken, which will in turn host a last-16 game on June 28.

The price of culture THE PRICE of attending a cultural event has soared in the last four years, according to an analysis of Danmarks Statistik data. While most expenses have only risen by 3 percent, going to the museum (up 42 percent), the cinema (18), theatre (14) and festivals, zoos and aquariums (10) have all shot up.

New Viking hall opens DENMARK’S biggest Viking hall opened in Lejre last month following years of reconstruction work. Located in the Sagnlandet Lejre activity centre, the hall is based on an archaeological find in 2009 that dates back over 1,000 years.

PIXABAY

Scam footballer jailed

New dictionary inclusions are coronavirus and culinary-related AYEE MACARAIG

C

ORONAVIRUS coinages and pandemic-inspired words have left a lingering taste in Danes’ mouths with the addition of 634 new words in the Danish Dictionary.

Words like 'flokimmunitet' (herd immunity) and 'superspreder' (superspreader) are just some of the new entries that will be available from Friday on ordnet.dk following an update of the Danish Dictionary, according to Det Danske Sprog- og Litteraturselskab.

The virus that upended Danish society also spawned 'infektionsrate' (infection rate), 'pandemisk' (pandemic) and 'forsamlingsforbud' (assembly ban).

Faraway kitchens TURNING to less gloomy vocabulary, words from distant kitchens also figure in the update with words such as 'rambutan'

Fair to say that coronavirus has dominated

(tropical fruit), 'focaccia' and 'chilimayo'.

Closer to home, new entries include 'friskpillet' (freshly-peeled) and 'kernerugbrød' (kernel rye bread).

Ordnet.dk includes the Danish Dictionary and has 130,000 daily visitors. It is one of Denmark’s most visited cultural websites.

10 BUSINESS

THE COPENHAGEN POST | CPHPOST.DK

ONLINE THIS WEEK

3 July - 13 August 2020

Pension companies investing in green future

ONLINE THIS WEEK PIXABAY

Large merger ahead

Heavy job losses

DANSK Byggeri, the construction association, and Dansk Industri will merge on September 1 after approval from their 5,700 and 11,800 respective members – collectively representing 100,000 and 455,000 Danish employees.

In other merger news, Grundfos is expected to take over Eurowater this autumn, and Novo Nordisk is on course to acquire Corvidia Therapeutics.

THE LABOUR market lost 73,000 full-time job positions in April, according to Danmarks Statistik, which has also revealed that 222,100 employee jobs were supported by the pay compensation scheme in the same month. In related news, exports fell by 5.8 percent in May – a fall that could potentially affect 850,000 Danish jobs.

No logo concerns

DUE TO rising oil prices, it has become 7,600 kroner more costly annually to fill both a car and oil furnaces, reports TV2.

In adherence to the climate law, Danish homes must give up their oil and gas boilers by 2030. There are around 460,000 oil and gas boilers nationwide.

A NUMBER of food companies worldwide are changing logos that depict historic black people, but Coop has no plans to do the same with its Cirkelkaffe lady, who has been in circulation since the 1950s. Cartoonist Aage Sikker Hansen based her on a Copenhagen woman he drew in 1955. "She is certainly not a slave," Coop executive Jens Juul Nielsen told TV2.

Super competitive DENMARK has shot six places up the IMD Business School’s World Competitiveness Ranking to number two. IMD credited its “strong economy, labour market, and health and education systems”. Singapore finished top, with Switzerland, the Netherlands, Hong Kong, Sweden, Norway, Canada, the UAE and the US completing the top ten.

AI meeting DENMARK recently hosted a meeting of the D9 – EU’s leading countries in digital technology. The countries signed a declaration concerning the responsible usage of AI to ensure data is “not misused”.

Slow recovery rate SINCE last summer, the Debt Collection Agency has been sending reminders to citizens and companies who in total owe 72 billion kroner to the public. However, so far it has only managed to retrieve 900 million kroner and make deals with 24,000 debtors to retrieve a further 600 million kroner.

Oil costs soaring

We need to rethink: this, for example, is a turbine spoiled by a nice view

Danish pension companies flocking to environmental causes

Europe, North America and Asia – it promises investors a return of 10 percent.

DANISH climate fund set up by Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners (CIP), which aims to raise 40 billion kroner, has already attracted two significant domestic investors, TV2 reports.

Pension Denmark and AP Pensions are supporting the fund with investments of 4 billion and 2.5 billion kroner respectively, and several others are interested in investing as well.

CIP, which was established by Ørsted in 2012 and specialises in developing offshore wind farms, contends that the fund will focus on considerably reducing Denmark’s carbon footprint.

Investing in such areas as offshore and onshore wind plants, solar photovoltaic plants and thermal power stations – as well as green energy projects in

Increasing commitment PRESUMABLY, Danica Pension will be next in line, as last month it confirmed it is committed to making its investments CO2-neutral by 2050, reports Finans.

The company’s ambition is to invest 30 billion kroner in the green transition in 2023, gradually raising the annual amount to 100 billion kroner by 2030.

While Denmark’s largest pension company, PFA, is enabling its customers to choose more climate-friendly investments. By using the company's sustainable pension product PFA Klima Plus, customers can decide the percentage of its investments that are climate-friendly.

The company’s goal is to become CO2-neutral by 2025 and CO2-negative by 2030 through investments in forest and carbon-reducing technologies.

Government investment IN OTHER environmental project news, the government has earmarked 1.9 million kroner for green restructuring and sustainable development projects in the Capital Region of Denmark, granting fund.

Of 104 applicants to the Ministry of Agriculture’s 'Rural Pool', which complement the government's climate goals and desire to improve the quality of life in rural areas, 41 were granted approvals.

Over in India, meanwhile, Danish Burmeister & Wain Scandinavian is launching an enterprise to convert rice straw into fuel, thus bringing environmental benefits and improved living conditions to over 40 million New Delhi citizens.

The initiative means rice straw will no longer be burnt in Indian fields, which is good news for a city with air pollution 20 times higher than the WHO's recommended maximum.

Support for SAS

Bribery charges

Huge for Hillerød

THE GOVERNMENT will financially support SAS in return for a larger stake, TV2 reports. SAS, which will get 3.5 billion from the Swedish government, needs around 9 billion kroner to survive. Maybe some of its former staff, along with the 313 let go by Jet Time, will visit the new counselling and job centre set up by SAS and Tårnby Municipality at Copenhagen Airport.

FOUR HAVE been charged with bribery in relation to the construction of the 'Redmolen' building in Copenhagen, reports DR. If the defendants are found guilty, they can all expect to serve time in prison. The case revolves around an alleged 6 million kroner “co-operation agreement” between V2C and WR Enterprise, which was reported by project developer PFA.

FUJIFILM is investing around 6.1 billion kroner in its research factory in Hillerød. It expects to create 300 jobs. Construction should start in 2021. In other investment news, the Salling Group intends to pay 1.5 billion kroner for 301 Tesco stores in Poland and then spend almost the same amount on transforming them into Netto stores.

The deal is subject to approval.

DARIA SHAMONOVA

A

Top for engineers NOVO NORDISK topped Ingeniøren’s annual ranking of the most attractive workplaces for engineers and engineering students, ahead of Lego, Novozymes, Grundfos and the DTU.

Year of no inflation CONSUMER prices have remained at the same level since May last year – the first time this has happened since 2016.

Through the roof THE NUMBER of houses sold in May was the highest in a single month in 10 years, DR reports. Some 8,682 were sold – a 15 percent jump on May 2019 as summerhouse sales soared.

Techies hit hard MANY DANISH techies will be affected by the US policy to stop issuing H-1B visa types. Dansk Industri told Berlingske it was concerning to see “the world's largest economy closing in on itself”.

Tivoli to miss out TIVOLI, which estimates it has lost 100 million kroner in potential revenue due to the coronavirus, is expected to let go 20 percent of its workforce (around 440 positions), reports KobenhavnLIV.

BUSINESS OPINION

3 July - 13 August 2020

11

STEEN VIVE UNION VIEWS Steen is senior advisor at Djøf, the Danish Association of Lawyers and Economists. He is a blogger and manager of various projects aimed at generating jobs in the private sector. In this column he writes about trends and tendencies in the labour market. Follow him on Twitter @SteenVive.

I

N RECENT months, working from home has become the new norm.

Often the experience de-

WELCOME ONBOARD! Formerly the CEO of a consulting firm, Karey-Anne is a partner of The Welcome Group.

Over the past 20 years, she has worked extensively in strategic HR, overseeing change management projects, the training of employees and managers, and the recruitment of international specialists and executives.

W

ITH OVER 17 years experience living and working in Denmark, I have spent time on both sides of the recruitment ‘fence’.

Been there, seen it all MY EARLY years were spent applying for jobs and not knowing the ‘unwritten rules’. I struggled to find my place and felt frustrated.

Understanding how tough it can be for internationals was one of the main reasons I started a consulting company: I wanted to share my knowledge and learning with others so they could avoid the pitfalls.

I regularly see the same difficulties internationals face when they arrive in Denmark, full of hope and ready to carry on their career, and then they hit the proverbial brick wall. They bring their cultural knowledge with them and don't realise they need to adapt or apply subtle differences to be successful here in their job search.

Create understanding CREATING understanding between internationals and Danish organisations is another key area I work with. It ensures that companies get the employees they want and that the employees will fit in and want to stay.

Understanding Danish work culture and how things are done

Managing your relationship with your manager is another challenge to consider in working from home

Framed feedback BUT HOW do you do it when you can't just swing into their office and plant an idea? When you can’t meet for lunch or take advantage of the many informal situations that occur when working together – physically?

When the informal occasions are gone, you need to focus on the formal ones. One-on-ones with your manager are limited.

Make the most of them and help your manager by framing what you need.

FEEDBACK PRIORITIES

- Why do you need feedback?

- Is it planning, an established task, prioritisation or content?

- What do you hope to achieve?

- Is it clarification to improve quality or organisational backing?

- Who do you need feedback from?

- Is it your manager, project manager or perhaps a colleague?

- How do you prefer to receive feedback?

- Do you need advice, a discussion or coaching?

Important to prioritise WHEN YOU book a feedback-session, prioritise what you need to find out (see factbox).

Use these considerations to

frame your subject, purpose and form. It will focus your dialogue, increase the likelihood that the answers will be useful and align expectations.

PIXABAY

KAREY-ANNE DUEVANG

Important to speak up M A N AG E R S are not mind-readers. You have to help your manager to help you, and that requires you to understand your manager. What does the world look like from their perspective? What is their motivation and how are they measured on their performance?

Understanding your manager’s priorities affects the importance of your own tasks.

This applies both to current tasks – for example, which ones on your list are also on theirs? But it also applies to future tasks and this is your opportunity to present ideas and suggestions that align with their motivation and goals. In my experience, it is easier to get the go-ahead if your ideas make your manager shine.

PIXABAY

pends on the relationship you have with your manager. If your expectations are aligned and your dialogue is ongoing, you thrive.

If not, it can create frustration and uncertainty.

The key to success is right here. Stop looking at it … take it!

here on the one hand, and seeing what a foreigner brings to a Danish organisation on the other, will make a huge difference in the retention of international talent in the Danish workplace!

It takes both sides to make the change with understanding and experience to bridge the gap.

Hard to settle AS AN HR professional of 20 years, I have seen too many international candidates come and go, and it’s all down to them

feeling out of place and not knowing how to actually fit in.

For internationals, the idea of living in this beautiful country for a few years and advancing their career seems exciting to start with, but without learning the local customs and engaging with the people, it becomes extremely hard to feel settled.

Dark nights ahead IT’S WHEN the dark nights set in and they no longer have an established network around them

that the international honeymoon period starts to shift. Not everyone has the desire to learn the language, local customs or to get to know the Danes, but without some of these elements you are simply existing on the surface, not really understanding that another world exists just below it.

As the saying goes: “Education is the key to success.” And it is by educating internationals about the locals and the locals about internationals, that we are guaranteed success!

12 OPINION

THE COPENHAGEN POST | CPHPOST.DK

3 July - 13 August 2020

This is the new normal

T

HE CORONA pandemic is already history. We still wash our hands and do not hug, but we do not fear a spike. Many tests are conducted, but few are positive – a few hundred among 100,000 tested. It is over! (We hope.)

Promote English MAYBE it’s time to try some other changes while we are at it – like introducing English as an official second language.

A third of all business and higher education is conducted in English, and several hundred thousand expats would benefit from understanding Danish legislation.

Not that Danish is not our favourite tongue and carrier of our culture, but a double official recognition may save us from not being

An Actor’s Life

able to speak any of the languages properly. While our international engagements will benefit from an all-round higher standard.

Liberalise cannabis use LIBERALISE the use of cannabis, control its supply chains and tax it. The gang wars will stop, the quality will improve and the judicial system will be relieved from a Sisyphean task.

Politicians have to understand that the demand will not lessen – no matter what they do. Look at the effect Prohibition had in the US in the 1920s. It was meant to solve a serious problem, but it only created something worse without solving the problem.

Decomplicate share purchases IMPROVE shareholder culture by simplifying the complicated tax regime on profits and losses on share transactions.

It is an obstruction to popular involvement in taking active ownership in companies – which is after all financing the welfare state.

We already have a solution: the ratepensionskonti pension accounts, of which the profits are only taxed when paid out.

The same system should apply to general savings accounts containing shares. In times when interest rates are negative we need the possibility to invest in active positions – without an overcomplicated tax system.

Opposite of a lockdown THESE are just three suggestions, but all three are waiting for politicians with the insight and courage to do something.

If they dare to close the country down, they should be able to open it up to a brighter future. (ES)

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

A

THAT THEATRE COMPANY

We learned a lot THE GOVERNMENT’S tough response to the challenge now seems validated, and the lessons learned are being digested.

Society was shaken but it is rock solid. Families learned a lot about one another by staying home, and productivity increased in business and education bloomed as staff worked at home. Virtual conferences were surprisingly efficient, demonstrating a vastly reduced need for travel thanks to the likes of Zoom.

Reading books got popular and the yellow stripes in the supermarkets to keep us apart will stay. Internet trade got a massive boost and travel modes changed – maybe forever.

It was a gigantic test of our flexibility and readiness to change, and we need to apply the lessons learned to tackling climate change.

That threat did not go away, but remedies will not be met with cries of bloody murder when introduced – we have tried worse!

IAN BURNS

N EXTREMOPHILE is an organism that thrives in extreme environments – no, not necessarily the extreme right, although Boris Johnson has been called worse.

Bereft of morals ‘EXTREMOPHILES’ (Oct 21-Nov 21; reservations via teaterbilletter.dk, more info at that-theatre.com) is also the name of That Theatre Company’s next autumn production. A brand new play written by our resident Irish dramatist Fergal O'Byrne, it is set at a remote research station in the Antarctic.

As the tale of survival unravels, we realise there are very few moral absolutes – a similar story to the ongoings in Britain, Poland, Brazil, Hungary, Turkey, Russia, and the US, where testosterone-filled leaders have held two fingers up to science, and COVID-19 continues to ravage.

Mette Frederiksen, one of several decisive female leaders, has been overseeing the safety of people living here in Denmark, and I think we’re all seeing the benefits of her quick response to this virus.

Onboard the Tardis LOOKING at the UK is like going back in time in the Tardis. Sadly, the British government doesn’t have a grip on anything and it continues to play catch-up.

When Johnson flippantly said the public should move on from the Dominic Cummings scandal, he forgot that they can’t move anywhere and probably won’t be able to for the foreseeable future.

Despite Johnson’s rambling rhetoric, there is nothing “world beating” about his approach to this pandemic. He’s like a driver wearing a blindfold. The crash is inevitable.

That Theatre's autumn production is 'Extremophiles'

I imagine that Johnson tosses himself to sleep each night (sorry to have planted that image – see factbox for the audio). But although his reasons for having nightmares are many, he probably has a clear conscience.

Make no mistake: these are desperate times for Britain. The gorillas are on the streets. Brexit empowered

those who hate without purpose or reason, while the current government is made up of those whose only argument was Brexit.

As Abraham Lincoln once said: “A house divided against itself cannot stand.” Or, if you prefer WB Yeats: “Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold and mere anarchy is loosed upon the world.”

THE UNAWAKENING BORIS: Bwaaa! Windrush, Grenfell Tower, inadequate police numbers – not on my watch! Racial tension and inequality, all-round deprivation, money spaffed against the wall on enquiries (answer to next one: Easy, they all died of COVID-19) – blame my predecessor! Sage (stop listening to them and instead trust me, MY government), Sir Keir Starmer (a clever dick with hair too slick), Nicola Sturgeon (the Scottish harpy) – there’s always going to be some bloody troublemakers!

Priorities: protect the hedge-fund managers, take care of Cummings and goings, NB: he told me to reshuffle the cabinet, so I must put up those new shelves in the kitchen, but bollocks to the NHS staff (who saved my life) accused of overusing PPE equipment. Now, things to do: Follow ‘scientific’ advice – er, I’ve already said that; reopen the schools (two metres distance or one?); get the economy going; sort out bloody broadband for ‘oiks’ (I mean poor students); hinder the DHSS’s treatment of anyone (especially the disabled); aid package for theatres … who slipped that in there? ... bloody luvvies; charm the EU and end up with a no-deal Brexit and a hard border in Ireland; oversee the break-up of the UK; get a good price for the NHS from the USA ... chlorinated chicken – yummy! And book a holiday abroad ASAP. CARRIE SYMONDS: Boris!

BORIS: Oh, sorry darling. Night-night.

BORIS puffs up his pillows and starts to fall blissfully asleep.

BORIS: I can. I can focus if I want to… I’ve protected Cummings… and the statues… if only I could do something to make the people love me … love me … love me… zzzz.

OPINION

3 July - 13 August 2020

JESSICA ALEXANDER

13

NEXT ISSUE

The Road Less Taken

Englishman in Nyhavn

Jessica is a bestselling US author, Danish parenting expert, columnist, speaker and cultural researcher. Her work has been featured in TIME, The Huffington Post, The Atlantic and The NY Times, among others. She graduated with a BS in psychology and speaks four languages. Follow Jessica on IG @jessicajoelle_ or jessicajoellealexander.com.

Green Spotlight

JACK GARDNER

SIBYLLE DE VALENCE PIXABAY

IN 2 ISSUES

Mackindergarten ADRIAN MACKINDER

Living Faith REVD SMITHA PRASADAM IN 3 ISSUES

A Dane Abroad

Let's make a more equal playing field for everyone

A

S ANOTHER American election appears on the horizon, it’s difficult to see where we are heading.

The country has never been more divided. We have a pandemic eating away different states at an alarming rate. Racial unrest is bubbling up after months of being pressure-cooked inside a lockdown – all of this amidst a backdrop of unemployment and a tanking economy.

If history repeats itself, what will 2020 bring for the future?

Is there anything we can do to change course?

Biggest eye-opener I HAVE spent the last 15 years researching Danish education, and one of the biggest eye-opening lessons I have learned has been the importance of teaching empathy. Empathy is taught in Danish schools from the time children are very small up to the age of 16.

It’s of huge value to Danish parenting and society, and it’s no surprise to learn that Denmark is regularly voted as one of the most empathetic countries in the world, along with being one of the happiest.

It is very normal for Danish teachers and parents to repeatedly say to children: “Remember, we have to take care of each other.” This is a value, and a responsibility, and it is strongly emphasised from early on. This is clearly reflected in the way society takes care of its people.

Empathic children grow up to be empathic adults, and the system mirrors this.

The ‘I’s have it IN AMERICA, we are implicitly taught to take care of ourselves.

This isn’t out of any bad intentions.

It’s just because the stone-cold truth is: if we don’t take care of ourselves, no-one else will.

We don’t have the same kind of security net that other countries expect from their taxes.

There is no free healthcare or affordable education or reasonable parental leave.

Most Americans can’t even fathom the idea of their health or education being a right. These needs, which are the keystones for true equality and a healthier society, are a tremendous stress and an unobtainable financial burden for many.

Open your eyes A LOT OF people believe that the US is a meritocracy, but this just isn’t true anymore. The divide between the rich and the poor has reached outrageous proportions – the wealth divide between white and black families nearly tripled between 1984 and 2009. The rich keep getting richer, and our empathy levels keep getting poorer.

If you look behind any morally questionable system that hurts or divides the ‘haves’ and ‘have nots’ – such as private healthcare, elite education, the prison business or fast food lobbies – you will find wealthy corporations pulling the strings.

If there is any lesson to be learned this year it is that humanity – rich or poor, every colour and gender – has to be worth more.

We have to create a fairer, more equal playing field for everyone. They say that when you replace the ‘I’ with ‘we’, even illness becomes wellness.

Amidst the chaos, we have an opportunity this year. Let’s not look back and say hindsight is 2020. Let’s open our eyes now and see with 20/20 vision instead.

KIRSTEN LOUISE PEDERSEN

Straight, No Chaser STEPHEN GADD IN 4 ISSUES

Straight Up ZACH KHADUDU

Early Rejser ADAM WELLS IN 5 ISSUES

Mishra’s Mishmash MRUTYUANJAI MISHRA

Crazier than Christmas VIVIENNE MCKEE

14 GUEST OPINION THE COPENHAGEN POST | CPHPOST.DK

3 July - 13 August 2020

Tackling stigma and perception in the sex work industry

JESS HEARNE Jess Hearne is an Irish graduate who has lived in Denmark since 2018. She has recently completed a Master of Science in Comparative Public Policy and Welfare Studies, choosing to write her master’s thesis on the contrasting sex work policies in Denmark and Sweden

T

HE TERM ‘sex worker’, ‘sexarbejder’ in Danish, is proving slow to take effect.

Despite organisations like the SIO advocating for a nationwide change in terminology, the words ‘prostitute’ and ‘prostitution’ are still widely used in the media, academic circles and social discourse.

Discussions of the topic with Danes show there exists personal awareness that ‘sex worker’ is the more politically correct term to use to some degree, but terms such as ‘luder’ (whore), ‘købekvinde’ (a woman to be purchased) and ‘at arbejde på flisen’ (working the pavement) seem to be more commonly used.

The media use ‘sex worker’ and ‘prostitute’ interchangeably, but there is a noticeable difference in their application: ‘sex worker’ is more commonly adopted by organisations who lobby for sex worker rights, whereas ‘prostitute’ is used by those advocating for some degree of criminalisation or by those who see sex workers as persons in need of saving.

In addition, the common perception of sex workers in the

PIXABAY

The Power of Language: How the term ‘sex worker’ is so much more preferable than ‘prostitute’

media is that they are largely victims of their own circumstances; little attention is paid to the call amongst sex workers for fairer treatment in terms of government policies, and even less attention is given to those sex workers who do not identify as cis-gender women.

Terms that cloud the truth UP UNTIL a year ago, I still used the word ‘prostitute’ myself. I saw no harm in it – it was simply a term used for persons who sold sex for a living. I paid little heed to how it could be perceived as insulting or derogatory, nor did I think that those labelled as prostitutes may have a problem with it.

However, a chance encounter with a popular podcast introduced me to the term ‘sex worker’, and the fact that the language we use surrounding the entire sex industry is in dire need of reform.

I was also guilty of the tendency to view sex workers as female victims, and clients as strange, deviant men who used sex workers as a means to satisfy immoral desires that could only be met in the shadowy fringes of society.

However, through education I learned that this is not necessarily the case: victims and deviants exist, but so do sex workers who enter the profession by choice, and clients who are not ‘bad people’.

Overall, the issue seems to be that those involved in the sex work industry are subjected to blanket labels that do not reflect the cases of each individual within.

More individualistic MANY SEX workers and their allies feel the term ‘prostitute’ has profoundly negative connotations.

The use denotes a whole host of negative imagery: a criminal with loose morals, a victim of their own desperation, a ‘stain’ on the face of society. Essentially, the label of a ‘prostitute’ defines the person by their work, rather than acknowledging the means by which they earn a living.

‘Sex worker’, however, denotes a profession rather than a social status: it is more inclusive,

Change your perceptions: more likely this is a businesswoman

more neutral and holds potential for empowerment.

‘Prostitute’ is a polymorphic term that does not simply mean a person that sells sex, but calls into question the person’s integrity, health and social status. Its use allows the individual to be defined by their circumstances, rather than seeing their line of work as only one area of a much fuller life.

Referring to persons who sell sex as ‘sex workers’ rather than ‘prostitutes’ is a vital step in reducing their marginalisation from society. ‘Sex work’ and ‘sex worker’ mark the person as an individual – one who may not necessarily be trafficked or coerced, but who may be a consenting adult who is working in the industry by their own agency.

Ultimately, the term ‘sex worker’ allows the individual to emerge from the stigmatic blanket applied to their profession, and affords them the opportunity to shape their own identity.

Not just women THERE also exists the doxa that all sex workers are women. In Sweden, for example, we see the legislation surrounding sex work drenched in the ideology of sex workers being female victims of male violence.

Similar attitudes are also present in Denmark; activists such as Anne-Grethe Bjarup Riis and Dorit Otzen have spent many years campaigning for their government to adopt the same policies as their Swedish counterparts, and such attitudes have been backed by a number of

powerful organisations – namely Reden and Initiativ of 8th Marts.

Not only do such policies apply the victim paradigm to all sex workers, but they also mean that entire portions of the sector are ignored: namely, male sex workers and those who are members of the LGBT community.

Whilst a significant proportion of the global sex work industry are indeed cis-gender women, to imply that they are the only members both curbs progression and serves to make an already-marginalised group of people feel ever more segregated from the societies in which they exist.

The ‘victim’ myth THE VICTIM paradigm is an undoubtedly powerful one. It first came into play at the beginning of the 20th century, when the image of the sex worker as a threat to society was gradually replaced with that of the ‘wretched woman’ who had fallen on hard times.

As the years passed, this picture has evolved to someone who is homeless, has a drug addiction, is repeatedly subjected to violent crimes or perhaps is being forced to remain in the industry against their will.

In recent times, the issue of human trafficking has heightened the image of the sex worker as a victim, particularly in the case of migrant sex workers. Victims of the sex work industry exist – that is not something that I am denying nor will I ever deny. However, it is wrong to assume that every sex worker in existence is subject

to such circumstances, because this simply isn’t true.

Just as there are those who join the industry out of force and desperation, there are those who become sex workers of their own free will and are happy in their chosen line of work.

Tackling pack mentality YOU MAY be asking why it is so important that we change the language we use surrounding the sex work industry.

To be blunt, the attitude “it doesn’t affect me, so why should I bother?” simply doesn’t fly anymore. It is no longer acceptable to use stigmatic and derogatory terms against those of different races, differing genders and persons with disabilities, so why should it be acceptable to prolong such use with regards to the sex work industry?

All the social unrest of the past decade – the fight for marriage equality, the #MeToo movement and Black Lives Matter, to name a few – are definitive of the most fundamental element of human nature: pack mentality.

Biologically, we are pack animals: for the pack to thrive, we must take care of each other, and that includes supporting the move to discard harmful language.

You may not understand it, you may not be affected by it, but it is of vital importance that we add our voices to those who are.

After all, a day may come when you desire a change – if you choose not to speak for others who came before, then who will you rely on to speak for you?

FEATURE

3 July - 13 August 2020

15

Wolt cyclists: As common as traffic lights, but without the security

LAURA MOLLOY

S

PEND A few hours in the Danish capital and you’re bound to see them: the unmistakable blue cubes, emblazoned with the ‘Wolt’ logo, at what seems like every traffic light. A fairly recent addition to the country, they almost embedded into the Copenhagen skyline.

A call for fairness ESTABLISHED in Helsinki in 2014, the food delivery company has now amassed a workforce of 1,400 in Denmark alone – primarily in Copenhagen. Yet, despite what seems to be positive growth for Wolt, beneath the statistics is increasing discontent among some couriers.

Formed in late 2019, the Wolt Workers Group (WWG) has already garnered mass attention amongst the Danish public for its mission to secure improved working conditions.

In a few short months, the group has paved the way for communication between trade union 3F and Wolt, as well as creating a petition with over 240 signatures, which demands Wolt to provide its riders with fair treatment.

The petition firmly states that although staff enjoy the work and are grateful for the opportunities provided, they are experiencing what they deem unequal conditions in comparison to the average worker in Denmark.

Hidden costs THE PROSPECT of a job that doesn’t require immense knowledge of the Danish language is alluring for foreigners entering the city for the first time, providing an easy opportunity for flexible employment.

For British student and key organiser Jack Campbell, 25, this was a crucial factor in his initial application, alongside the chance to make “a bit of extra money” to offset high rent prices in the

city. But after beginning his employment with Wolt in January, Campbell began to notice the platform “cutting costs” with couriers.

Wolt couriers are recognised as independent partners, thus putting them in the category of self-employed. But Campbell claims that for newcomers to Denmark, this poses great difficulty.

“For a lot of people who work full-time, sorting out taxes is a point of stress and quite a lot of people pay for accountants that take away from the salary,” he said.

“And there’s a lot more that we have to pay out of our wages. You need a really expensive data plan to travel around the city, a helmet and vehicle maintenance, and bike lights and stuff like that.”

Wolt’s Courier Partner Guide informs potential employees that they must supply helmets, power banks and waterproof phone holders themselves.

Hard to get the hours THESE expenses are a primary focus of the WWG, alongside the lack of job security due to a highly competitive shift system.

The average pay for workers is 45 kroner per delivery, which increases to a guaranteed minimum of 120 kroner per hour if they manage to book a shift.

However, due to the large number of workers, Campbell describes the great difficulty in acquiring one: “They’re released twice a week and gone in under 30 seconds. I was quite shocked when I first tried to get shifts and it was impossible – none of that was mentioned at the intro events.”

Søren Meier Svendsen, the general manager of Wolt in Denmark, attributes the problem to Danish dining culture.

“There are very few hours in the day when Danes order food.

The amount of orders Friday night is very high so there’s a lot of courier partners working, but Tuesday afternoon it's very low,” he explained.

Flexibility and freedom SVENDSEN argues that there

simply isn’t the business to warrant full-time employment, insisting that Wolt champions “flexibility and freedom” – for couriers and restaurants alike: “It’s less predictable and can be less beneficial if you’re looking for a 40-hour contract.”

Svendsen asserts that not all 1,500 couriers are discontent and that there are challenges in making everyone happy. In a recent survey, 88 percent of workers said they were happy overall in their employment with Wolt, and twothirds said the high flexibility was a primary point of satisfaction in their employment.

Takeaway business boomed during the lockdown, with PM Mette Frederiksen encouraging Danes to continue to patronise their local restaurants.

For a delivery service like Wolt, being defined as ‘essential’ meant big profits, with a 20 percent increase in orders on the app – the profits of which have since been paid back into partner restaurants to assist them in surviving the crisis. For couriers, this meant a rise in shifts and, therefore, income.

Insurance an issue THOUGH lockdown meant busier shifts for couriers, the WWG wasn’t satisfied with Wolt’s protection of staff during the period. Despite the introduction of insurance for workers with the virus, Campbell argues that it wasn’t enough: “You had to prove you had it, which was hard when testing wasn’t available, and it didn’t cover your salary completely.”

Much of the WWG’s argument stems from the deficiencies in protection if a rider’s health is compromised, as being self-employed means there is no sick pay provision like with traditional employers.

“They brought in a form of insurance we can use if we have an injury at work, but it’s based in Belgium and really complicated to use as it doesn’t cover financial losses from not working,” explained Campbell.

“From what I understand,

LAURA MOLLOY

Ongoing talks between their employer and the 3F trade union vindicate the efforts of a group set up to champion their rights

The most common sight on our streets after bicycles

most other platforms have Danish insurance that is meant to be pretty comprehensive, and Wolt have just used this really cheap insurance to save costs, which puts couriers at quite a lot of risk.”

However, Wolt argues that insurance is primarily the responsibility of the courier as a freelance worker – due to the high level of gross earnings and freedom received.

“We wanted to make sure that however a courier handles insurance, they are covered in case something happens during the time they are online and get them quickly back on their feet,” contended Svendsen.

Regular meetings CAMPBELL is involved in assisting Wolt employees who may be unsure of their rights.

At weekly meetings we provide free information in regards to the Danish tax system, CPR numbers and other advice that individuals may have difficulty in acquiring alone. And they also encourage discussions among couriers as to how Wolt may be improved in the future.

“A lot of couriers really value the flexibility and the fact you can swap shifts and work when you want, but there is a lot to learn about your rights and what Danish working conditions should be,” reasoned Campbell.

As negotiations between 3F and Wolt continue, it seems demands for change have not fallen on deaf ears.

“We share the ambition about making it better and better every day but we just need to do it in a way that respects the ones who like this way of working, which

is why we listen to both parties,” insisted Svendsen.

“The answer to whether we can employ a courier is that it’s not out of the question sometime in the future. In order for us to do that we need to look at the broader picture and understand what that would mean for all courier partners.”

Important precedent WOLT NOW faces the challenge of navigating increasing demand for workers' rights, whilst maintaining the flexibility that is a key part of their brand – as well as a key incentive for many couriers.

“While we acknowledge that some of our courier partners request to no longer be self-employed, at the same time we need to acknowledge that the majority of our courier partners are happy with the current model,” said Svendsen.

Seemingly, both sides are in agreement in regards to maintaining flexibility, with meetings between the two parties displaying positive progress.

But for Campbell, these negotiations represent a crucial turning point, as this new kind of employment begins to sweep over Denmark.

“It’s good and it’s important that the unions and Danish people are thinking about how to approach this kind of work,” he said.

“It’s likely other platforms might come to Denmark, so this kind of self-employed status must be challenged before it grows.”

Negotiations will continue over the coming months, but until an agreement is reached all eyes will remain on Wolt and WWG to see if a precedent is set for the future of courier services in Denmark.

16 COMMUNITY

THE COPENHAGEN POST | CPHPOST.DK

3 July - 13 August 2020

We’re still standing – how a school survived thanks to the community it’s built

ANNA MARYAM SMITH

A

RE YOU harbouring a budding Shirley Temple at home? Do you have a child who can’t contain their energy or passion for performance and entertainment? Because SceneKunst might be the right fit for your family.

Last week we met up with Russell Collins, the co-founder of SceneKunst – a musical theatre school for children aged 4-18, which focuses on singing, dancing and acting – to discuss how it is faring, particularly in light of the Coronavirus Crisis.

Beginnings of an empire COLLINS made the move over from London to Copenhagen in February 2008 with his wife, Christina Anthony, and within a month they had founded their first theatre school in Køge. It has since blossomed into a theatre empire.

Today SceneKunst comprises 22 theatre schools across Zealand in Roskilde, Hellerup, Lyngby, Vesterbro, Østerbro and Solrød.

While the majority are Danish, it operates international schools in Hellerup, Vesterbro and Østerbro.

It offers mini schools for 4 to 6-year-olds, along with main schools for 7 to 18-year-olds.

The students attend school for three hours a week, spending an hour each on the three main components of musical theatre: dancing, singing and acting.

For Collins, it is always a busy weekend. On Saturdays, for example, he welcomes 60 Danish students from the main school and up to 15 from the mini school to his location in Hellerup from 10:00-13:00 (minis from 11:00-12:45), and then repeats the format in the afternoon with international students.

Professional standards THE SEASON always culminates

with a big show put on by the students, which is performed internally to family and friends. Without fail, all the students have a part.

“We do shows at a high level, so we normally go out to a professional theatre. And the whole arrangement is very professional with regards to the microphones, the costumes, the set. It is all produced professionally,” enthused Collins.

“One thing that sets SceneKunst apart is that all the teachers are professional. I’m a professional actor and director, and so is my wife, who is Danish. We actually met at drama school in London.”

As well as giving the students a thorough grounding in the three components, a lot of work goes into preparing for the performances – so it would have been a shame to see it all go to waste due to the Coronavirus Crisis.

“This year we’ve been working on ‘Guys and Dolls’ at all of the schools, and we should have been in theatres now. Today [June 5] would’ve been two shows.”

Importance of creativity SCENEKUNST helps to address the vacuum that used to be filled by such disciplines at most schools, contends Collins. In fact, a recent governmental report drew attention to how many public schools can no longer guarantee an education in music. ‘’It is very easily underestimated how important creativity is. We’re all creative in a sense – everyone has the capacity to enjoy creativity and I think sometimes in school creativity is the first thing to go.’’

According to Collins, having a balance between a creative education and academic education is cardinal, but is often left by the wayside. He thinks this is a huge mistake.

“In today’s world we need creativity more than ever. Creativity is very often thinking outside the box, and thinking about things differently, and that comes with solving problems in many industries in today's society,” he said.

“All of our brains work dif-

SCENEKUNST

SceneKunst co-owner Russell Collins is proud of how his staff and students have reacted to the Coronavirus Crisis

ferently and, in a way, academic learning is just one way for a brain to work. But someone else's brain might think differently – they might think in pictures instead of words. That doesn’t mean that they are any less capable than someone who is good academically.’’

Embracing life BUT THERE is far more to SceneKunst than just preparing the children for the stage – the education is also helping them to embrace life.

“Our joy comes from knowing that we’re making a difference with the kids … in the end we become a bit of a family,” enthused Collins. “They get a lot of confidence from being on stage – it improves their self-esteem.”

SceneKunst strives to include everyone – even though the children tend to enter the school at vastly different levels. They are all given a speaking part, and this season there are two actors for each of the main roles.

“We make them proud to be good at something,” he said. “And it introduces them to culture in a way that’s not only in the performing but also understanding of theatre, genres, different plays, performances.’’

The ability to adapt LIKE MOST businesses, SceneKunst has been impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.

At the beginning, it started with just cancelling some Saturday lessons, but it soon dawned on Collins and his team that they had to find a way to replace the Saturdays. After a lot of hard work, they managed to successfully move all of the schools online.

“So what we did is that we met everyone on Zoom, took the register like normal, rang the bell like normal, and then we actually put them into breakout rooms. So we had the small ones in one room, the middle ones in another room, and the big ones in a third room, and then after the class the teachers would rotate,” revealed Collins.

Join up and consider yourself one of the family

“We had six weeks of being online together, and everyone actually said it went better than they thought it would go. We needed to do that to survive – if we’d just cancelled the classes, it would’ve been very difficult.”

The regulations made practising and performing the production difficult, but Collins adapted well to the circumstances and all the schools managed to perform their shows – thanks to lots of help from the SceneKunst community “One of the great things about SceneKunst is that we have a lot of loyalty. Many parents have been with us for many years and we have had many great experiences together,” he said.

“Overall, it’s been important to teach the kids that it’s okay to have to adapt,” contended Collins.

“I mean we’re entrepreneurs in a way, and I think that one of the things about being an entrepreneur is that you are able to come up with a plan and follow it through, whatever the circumstances.’’

The summer is young ASIDE from the regular season, SceneKunst also has a popular summer camp schedule to fulfil and, with the rules somewhat more relaxed than they are, Collins is hopeful the children will enjoy them to the fullest.

In total, SceneKunst will be organising five summer camps, although all of them are sold out bar the Danish one in Week 32.

“Actually we’ve been having a lot of people signing up for them:

two to four people every day!” exclaimed Collins.

Collins has absolutely found a way to make the best of a bad situation by being able to quickly move online and change all of the teaching to function through a screen. ‘’The most important thing to teach the kids is that it’s okay to have to adapt.’’

He also hopes that the camps, with everything that has happened around the world lately, can act as a sort of healing environment for children who have probably been stressed and worried about the situation.

It has been fitting that one of SceneKunst’s pandemic projects has been writing extra lyrics for Elton John’s ‘I’m Still Standing’, which is symbolic of the way that the school has managed to push forward in these trying times.

And even expand, as SceneKunst will be venturing outside Zealand for the first time in its 12-year history later this summer, as plans have been confirmed to open a school in Odense on August 29.

Russell Collins and Christina Anthony

COMMUNITY

3 July - 13 August 2020

17

It cancelled Eurovision, but not his graduation – not on CIS’s watch!

ANNA MARYAM SMITH & AMBIKA VENKATESH

T

HIS WASN’T the graduation ceremony that many of the students had been envisaging since starting at the school a whole lifetime ago, but Copenhagen International School still managed to make it a memorable occasion.

In close adherence to the coronavirus distancing restrictions, the graduation ceremony on June 9 was split into three separate sessions attended by 22 graduates each.

CIS

The coronavirus has done its best to spoil Copenhagen International School's fun, but not on this occasion

There in spirit THE CEREMONIES were a mix of pre-recorded speeches, live speeches, award acknowledgments and diploma presentations.

Whilst many proud parents attended in person, the sessions were all live-streamed so that grandparents, friends and other relatives are able to follow along in real time and say they were "almost there” as well.

Lucky draw AMONG the guests at the last of the three ceremonies were a small team from CPH POST. It was a chance to ask four students from the class of 2020 a few questions and, as luck would have it, discover there was a celebrity amongst them.

TOBIAS NORBORG IT FEELS good to be done with the IB. I feel pretty accomplished knowing that I managed to complete such a challenging education. The last semester had many ups and downs: we weren’t sure if we would be able to do the exams, and there was a lot of speculation we would have to wait until the November retakes to be able to get our diploma. This made many people stress out about the future as they already had plans to move to certain areas of the world. Thankfully, the teachers and our DP co-ordinator were very supportive and managed to help us through this corona process, which eventually ended up well with us all graduating together. I now intend to take a gap year and work as an intern at a law firm, as I want to study law here in Copenhagen, starting in the summer of 2021.

ALEXANDRA CHRISTIANSEN IT'S WEIRD to be finished and unreal – like it’s a figment of my imagination – but at the same time it feels amazing and I’m so happy that it’s over. There are no more Mondays at CIS, which is kinda awesome! During my gap year I will be taking an apprenticeship in jewellery making and photography and will hopefully grow within these fields. I will be working with the hope that I can travel. I will have extra time to exercise and spend time with people I love and do more things I love like dancing. Beyond that I also have to apply for uni.

TARNE LAMP IT FEELS unreal. Doing it without exams, I feel like I’ve just snuck off with my diploma – like I’ve managed to trick somebody. On the other hand, I'm so damn excited to move: to start college, to meet new people and all that.

This fall I'm moving to Boston to go to Northeastern University, where I'll be majoring in biology on the pre-med track! I'm going to be busy with school, but beyond that I expect to have so much fun picking up new hobbies and ‘lære at kende’ a whole new city.

BENNY ROSENBOHM IT FEELS amazing to graduate! It can often feel like high school never ends – especially in the IB. My plans for next year are to practise my instruments as much as possible, write a bunch of music, and hopefully get some music released.

18 COMMUNITY Paris in Aarhus: Crêpes, chit-chat and ... coffee at CAFÉ THE COPENHAGEN POST | CPHPOST.DK

AYEE MACARAIG

O

VER RED wine, laughter and the strumming of guitars, a diverse group of students and professionals are transforming a quaint bookstore in Aarhus into a petit slice of France as they sing classic Gallic songs and converse in the language of love.

At a time when the coronavirus is grinding international travel to a halt, a Francophone club is offering Aarhusians the opportunity to learn about the French language and culture every Tuesday night in the comforts of a city known as Denmark’s cultural hotspot.

Hosted and run by a gregarious, gesticulating lady who talks to her black cat in French, CAFÉ gathers people of various levels of proficiency from Djibouti to Morocco to play games, eat crêpes or simply chat in a rendez-vous with a hygge atmosphere.

“People who come here say: 'Why should we go to Paris when we have Aarhus?' The goal is to have a nice evening in French,” said Geneviève Munck, the 71-year-old founder of the group.

Geneviève Munck

Geneviève Munck, a Frenchwoman who has been living in Denmark for 50 years, runs and hosts a weekly gathering of people keen to learn the French language.

Practise like children FORMED 14 years ago to prepare Danish students for an

Erasmus exchange program in France, CAFÉ has since evolved to welcome anyone interested in learning or just hearing French.

The group’s name stands for Club Associatif des Francophones Enthousiastes.

The meetings are held at Munck’s home, also the site of her shop offering books in French, Spanish, Italian, German and English. The group lists 1,300 members on Facebook, including those who have left Aarhus, and it has accordingly developed into a global community for networking.

“You’re welcome to speak French or sit down and just listen.

The idea is you are not allowed to say to people: ‘This is not right’.

You can say something right and then wrong. Children do that too,” Munck told CPH POST. Simon Brix, a Danish student from Aarhus University, said he began joining the CAFÉ meetings because of his teacher but he came back for fun.

“I just stayed because of the atmosphere. Everyone here is super sweet. Back then I didn’t drink wine, but now once in a while I take a glass. They say it’s easier to speak a foreign language if you drink wine ... just a little bit,” said Brix, who studies international business communication in French.

‘High class’ FRENCH is the fourth most widely-spoken foreign language in Denmark, next to English, German and Swedish, according to a 2012 Eurobarometer survey. Internationally, the language is spoken in more than 50 countries or territories.

Kader Maikal, an Aarhus-based French language teacher who hails from Djibouti, said there is a steady interest in French among people in Denmark, even if it is not mandatory in schools. It is spoken mostly in major cities such as Copenhagen, Aarhus and Odense.

“Everything in Denmark that has to do with French is just high class. People love French culture, French food here. There are a lot of words in the Danish lan-

ALL PHOTOS: AYEEMACARAIG

A club of students and professionals in Aarhus offers the opportunity to learn the French language through casual nights of games, songs and conversation

3 July - 13 August 2020

CAFÉ spends a Tuesday night singing French songs as part of efforts to practise and learn the language

guage that are from French,” said Maikal, citing the dessert Risalamande, which in French literally means rice with almonds.

The French-Danish connection also hails from the history of Viking incursion into Normandy, a region in northern France.

While studying literature and culture were the initial reasons to learn French, nowadays people in Denmark do so for holidays, business or studies, Munck said.

GMIBS, a foreign language bookshop offering books in French, English, Spanish, Italian and German, can be found right beside the CAFÉ meeting place in Aarhus.

Pronunciation problems MANY IN CAFÉ have had to learn French, Danish or both, and they find fascinating similarities and differences between the two languages. While both count in twenties, Danish is more monotonous compared

sen, a teacher and translator of French and Danish text. “Danish is not as roundabout as French.

It cuts straight to the chase.”

Tenses also pose a difficulty. “To me, Danish looks like a medieval language. There’s a lot of tenses that we can’t explain precisely as there is no future tense in Danish,” said Stéphane Guedon, a French civil engineer who is the CAFÉ treasurer.

Both French and Danish reflect the peculiarities of the cultures they embody.

“Language often reflects the type of society you have. In Denmark, many expressions have to do with weather and life in the country,” said Munck, who married a Dane and speaks fluent Danish after living in Denmark for 50 years.

“Every time Danes say: ‘It’s so difficult with French because you don’t pronounce all the letters',” I say I know another language in which they don’t pronounce

to the French intonation.

“I think especially Danish has been mischaracterised as a throat disease,” said Jannick Markus-

all the letters. It’s called Danish!”

Aarhus-based French teacher Kader Maikal says a knowledge of English is a good base to learn

French and Danish.

Kader Maikal

Bridge language EXTRA time and the difficulty of international travel due to the Coronavirus Crisis offer an opportunity for people keen to learn a new language.

People who are proficient in English already have an edge when learning either French or Danish because of the similarities of the words, CAFÉ regulars say.

“The second thing would be to learn the pronunciation because the pronunciation is different from English. And what makes French beautiful is the nasal sound, but that makes it also difficult,” said Maikal.

CAFÉ members recommend allocating several minutes a day to learning a new language such as French through YouTube, movies, podcasts or just old school conversation such as those in the group’s weekly meetings.

“It’s not a question of teaching but having a good time and learning at the same time. With a language you have another culture. You have another way of seeing things,” said Munck.

19 Unrolling International Yoga Day to the whole country 3 July - 13 August 2020

COMMUNITY

DAVE SMITH

We’re not sure an embassy has ever organised such an ambitious event before! With the help of the magic of the internet, its International Day of Yoga celebration brought together groups of between 20 to 40 in the country’s four largest cities, plus Vejle, for an afternoon of fitness and speeches. Held in strict adherence with the COVID-19 restrictions, good weather ensured it was a day to remember. Overseeing matters from the embassy were members of the staff and co-organisers, a Christianshavn-based studio, The Yoga Flat. Also taking part in the day were The Art of Living, Amrita Yoga, Astanga Yoga Copenhagen, Brahma Kumaris and Dansk Yoga Forbund

As big a crowd as possible turned up to enjoy the proceedings in Copenhagen, including Indian ambassador Ajit Gupte (all photos). Among his guests were Jesper Møller Sørensen, the state secretary at the Foreign Ministry (left), and Hans Hermansen, the CEO at CPH POST (right)

Among those taking part were yoga practitioners in (left-right) Aarhus, Vejle and Aalborg

ALL PHOTOS: INDIAN EMBASSY

A club of students and professionals in Aarhus offers the opportunity to learn the French language through casual nights of games, songs and conversation

20 FEATURE

THE COPENHAGEN POST | CPHPOST.DK

3 July - 13 August 2020

The cycling company travelling in the slipstream of the Coronavirus Crisis

AMBIKA VENKATESH

I

T’S JUST as well that they postponed the Tour de France to the end of August – held amid the current coronavirus restrictions, nobody would have finished it!

For sprinters especially, the modus operandi is to spend the entire stage in a team-mate’s slipstream so you’re fresh to attack the final dash to the line.

But according to a study carried out by Eindhoven University of Technology in the Netherlands and KU Leuven in Belgium, travelling directly behind another cyclist significantly raises the risk of contracting coronavirus.

Remember, solar-panelled bike lanes and Eddy Merckx came from those respective countries, so they presumably know what they’re talking about!

However, not everyone is convinced by the study’s findings.

Concerns not shared “OUR UNDERSTANDING is that the research is still limited; we still need to get some more robust research,” contended Alexander H Frederiksen, the chief of sales & partnerships at the bike sharing company Donkey Republic, to CPH POST. “We have talked to quite a few doctors and microbiologists about the coronavirus and the risk of slipstreams, and what they seem to say is that when you’re outside and you’re moving, the wind or active air reduces the ability for contagion.”

Frederiksen concedes that there is a risk, but contends that cycling is still the healthiest transport option amid the continuing distancing restrictions – and that this has been reflected by the choices made by cities across the world.

“It’s nice to see cities across the world doing stuff,” he said.

“We’ve seen that many US cities have made temporary bike lanes, places like Bogota in Columbia have invested huge amounts of emergency money into biking, and even Budapest, and Barcelona. We’re just hoping this continues long after the immediate scare of corona.”

Capital’s cycling craze COPENHAGEN, where an estimated 62 percent of its inhabitants regularly cycle, won’t be giving up its title of the most bike-friendly city in the world in a hurry, and a vast majority have turned to their bicycles since the easing of the lockdown began to avoid the much higher risk of travelling on public transport.

For Frederiksen, the movement to the saddle is a perfect fit for Donkey Republic’s agenda.

“Our agenda is to get as many people biking as possible. Our philosophy is that cycling really is the best form of transportation for cities. It doesn’t mean other transportation doesn’t have its

The number of routes was numerous, but there could only be one choice of bike

own place as well, but for the majority it should be cycling.”

“In Copenhagen, the numbers had actually been shrinking for quite a few years - not a big drop, but there hadn’t really been an increase. And you could argue that you need to make cycling more innovative – to make a new version of it. That’s why our city bike sharing system is super flexible: you get the benefits of not having to repair your bike, not having to worry about your bike being stolen, and you get the flexibility all around the city.”

Republic for the people IT MIGHT surprise many people to learn that the majority of Donkey Republic’s users are locals, not tourists.

The split is about 70/30, and the company has accordingly switched its focus and introduced new products tailor-made for Copenhageners.

“For example, during the Coronavirus Crisis we introduced a new membership scheme that enabled users to have a bike for seven days at a time, so it felt almost like they were leasing it [as opposed to paying an hourly rate],” revealed Frederiksen.

“And it’s been great to see a lot of growth in this market; every day we have a lot of new members signing up for that.”

Poised to capitalise WITH 18,000 bikes in 15 European countries, Donkey Republic is ideally placed to capitalise and, according to Frederiksen, future expansion is likely in “Latin America, North America, and even a bit in Asia and the Middle East as well.”

“What we’re betting on is that many cities will soon have cycling modalities like Copenhagen,” he revealed.

“We really want to accelerate that. We think we’re doing that very differently – and one of the things we care about is having a very user-friendly bike sharing app. We see that a lot of cities’ bike systems are focused on selling to the city, so they don’t really have the end-users in mind. And secondly, we’re trying to make it cheap.”

Tough of the track LIKE MOST companies in the capital, Donkey Republic has been hit hard by the lack of tourism. After all, visitors tend to account for 30 percent of their

users. Not only that, because most of them don’t subscribe, they tend to be more high-margin than the cannier locals.

“We kind of use the tourist revenue to subsidise the locals.

So it’s of course hit the company quite hard. But we know we have a healthy underlying business structure. And we kind of just need to get through this,” reasoned Frederiksen.

But locally-sourced revenue is growing – and even more so during the Coronavirus Crisis.

“Of course, lots of people aren’t commuting as much. But we still see some positive trends.

It’s been rough, but we’re going to make it through,” he added.

It sounds like Donkey Republic might be travelling in the slipstream of the Coronavirus Crisis!

GATE 21

20-metre fear ACCORDING to the study, a two-metre distance may be way off mark, as a coughing coronavirus carrier could potentially infect a fellow cyclist travelling within 20 metres, providing they are pretty much directly behind and going at a high speed.

The average cough emits 6.7 mg of saliva, which adds up to a lot of micro-droplets, which due to their lack of inertia tend to hang in the air.

At a moderate pace, for example running speed, the distance would be ten metres, and at a slow speed, walking for example, four to five metres. Travelling side-by-side, in fact, is less risky, the study concludes, than following directly behind someone.

The researchers simulated the release of saliva particles from persons in motion – methods that in ‘peace time’ are normally used to improve the performance level of elite athletes.

DONKEY REPUBLIC

Fears of contracting the virus whilst cycling are the least of Donkey Republic’s problems, but the future looks bright for the sector

Alexander H Frederiksen

EVENTS

3 July - 13 August 2020

21

Summer Dance in the Park through July, Wed 17:00-18:30 & Fri 16:00-17:30; Universitetsparken, Cph Ø Summer Dance is back, but with coronavirus rules. Dance forms will only be taught that don’t require you to touch one another - so no pairs. And the number of participants is limited to 50 a time. Sign up via pietershiffler@gmail.com.

Empirical Spirits Pop-Up ends Aug 31, Wed-Mon 13:0021:00; Refshalevej 151, Cph K Enjoy drinks produced by Copenhagen-based Empirical Spirits at their pop-up! The bar offers a range of its canned cocktails, boozy ice creams, and a boozy milkshake, plus shrimp rolls made in collaboration with Restaurant Iluka.

Colour Obstacle Rush CPH July 4, 10:00-15:00; Charlottenlund Travbane; tickets at colorobstaclerush.dk Want to get out and have fun in the summer sun, because the Color Obstacle Rush Copenhagen 2020 might be just right for you! It is not just a regular 5k because there are also 20 obstacles, 8 colour stations, 20 music zones and an awesome colour festival.

Hamburg meets Sunset Cruise July 4, 19:00-July 5, 06:00; 395kr Hamburgs Techno Scene meets our lovely city with a cruise in the company of Nina Hepburn!

Get the unique Hamburg experience with experienced DJs from Hamburg. The location will be confirmed once the tickets are purchased.

Parkour Summer Classes every Sat, July 4-Aug 8, 10:0013:00 Every Saturday from July through to September, the Shiffler group are meeting up, offering the public to learn about and practise parkour in different locations around Copenhagen!

The minimum participation age is 14.

Absalon Croquis every Wed & Fri, July 3-31, 20:0022:00; Absalon Church, Sønder Blvd 73, Cph V The popular Absalon Croquis, in which participants sketch a living model, will take place every Wednesday and Friday during July! The two hours tend to include several positions and breaks.

Wine Tasting for Beginners July 7,19:30-20:30; Not Your Usual - Wine Bar Lavendelstræde 13 st, Cph K Do you want to learn about wine in a fun and social environment?

Attend a fun wine tasting designed for those who want to be entertained and educated.

Dating Against Humanity July 8, 19:00-22:00; Puss Puss, Højbro Pl 19 st, Cph K Aimed at people aged 28-40, ‘Dating against humanity’ is a game for singles looking for love.

Come to the Puss Puss cocktail bar and test your potential new partner’s humour from the very start.

Summer Salsa July 8, 15 & 22, 18:00-22:00; KaffeSalonen, Peblinge Dossering 7, Cph N Enjoy a salsa workshop and dinner at the Summer Salsa at KaffeSalonen! There is a maximum of 50 participants, so book your participation quickly via a PM to 2249 5834.

Festival & Friends Concert July 19, 16:00-17:30; KoncertKirken, Blågårds Pl 6A, Cph K Enjoy an evening concert with Alva Holm, Anna Egholm, Gustav Piekut, Jonathan Swensen and Lea Han, hosted by Festival and Friends and the Nordics Artists Management.

Fourth of July Party July 4, 10:00-22:00; The Midwestern Diner, Gyldenløvesgade 4, Cph K The 4th of July is American Independence Day and also the Midwestern Diner’s one year anniversary. That calls for a celebration!

Kennedy’s Quiz July 6, 19:30-22:30; Kennedy’s Irish Bar,Gammel Kongevej 23, Cph V This quiz night includes a raffle, cash prizes, and drinks rounds.

Restrictions will apply, so please let them know in advance if you are coming and how many are on your team.

Clean-Up at Amager Beach July 4, 11:00-14:00; Amager Strand, Cph S Are you also tired of sitting at home? Nordic Ocean Watch Denmark’s clean-up event is back in business this coming Saturday! Everyone is welcome to meet at the ‘Frozen Palm Tree’ on Amager beach!

English Comedy Open Mic every Wed 20:00-21:00, July 8-Sep 2; No Stress København, Nørregade 26, Cph K Take part in No Stress Bar’s new English Open Mic hosted by the energetic Jefferson Bond. Featuring some of the biggest names in international comedy as well as up-and-comers.

UGOOD Opening July 3, 17:00-22:00; Jaegersborggade, Cph N The Ugandan food restaurant, UGOOD, is opening up on Jaegersborggade! They serve healthy and organic Ugandan dishes with both vegan and vegetarian options.

English Improv Night July 6, 18:00-22:00; Citizen, Valkendorfsgade 22, Cph K A night of English-language, non-scripted comedy. The ticket includes a draft beer of your choice.

Quiz Night Aug 4, 19:45; Søhesten, Sølvgade 103, Cph K Attend this amazing trivia quiz where you get the chance to let your inner genius run loose!

Improv Comedy Night July 8, 20:00-22:00; Bar 1420, Griffenfeldsgade 20, Cph N It’s time for a new season of English-language improv! Get there early to ensure you get good seats!

Tea, Tarot and Scarves July 16, 16:00-20:30; The Moss, Hirsevej 5 st, th, Brønshøj The Moss invites you to an evening where you can have an individual tarot reading with Annette.

Three nights of ukirke ujazz July 9-11,18:00-21:00; uKirke, Dannebrogsgade 53, Cph V The uKirke venue is super excited to invite you to enjoy three days of top jazz!

Globe Quiz July 16, 19:30; The Globe, Nørregade 43, Cph K; 30kr The winners get 1,000 kroner, runners-up 500, and there is a 8,000 rollover. Simply the best in town.

Puppy President Election Day! July 4, 14:20-20:00; Bar 1420, Griffenfeldsgade 20, Cph N Will your dog become the Puppy President of Nørrebro? Win a 500kr gift certificate at Bar 1420!

Mikkeller’s 10th Birthday July 4-5, 12:00-24:00; Viktoriagade 8 B-C, Cph V The Mikkeller team are throwing a birthday celebration at their HQ.

HOUSEFRAU Rooftop Party July 9, 17:00-22:00; SOHO, Flæsketorvet 68, Cph V Head from work to this cool Kødbyen hangout to dance to techno beats.

Piña Colada Party!

July 10, 16:00-24:00; Lidkoeb, Vesterbrogade 72B, Cph V Missed your chance to go on holiday? Cocktail bar Lidkoeb’s courtyard has got you covered.

22 ON SCREENS

THE COPENHAGEN POST | CPHPOST.DK

33July July- 13 - 13August August2020 2020

Slavic erotica … proof these are different times, indeed BEN HAMILTON

I

F ONE thing's for sure, the film industry isn’t going to remember the spring of 2020 fondly.

The only box office records being smashed were those for emptiest cinemas. Business for streaming platforms like Netflix, in contrast, has been booming.

Distinctly average films, such as the abominable soft-porn flick 365 Days, a film dubbed the ‘Polish 50 Shades of Grey’, have been out-performing Hollywood – helped by the newish social media video platform TikTok, which has encouraged over 150 million people to share videos of them watching the film’s outlandish sex scenes.

Be warned: if curiosity gets the better of you and you select the film only to watch two minutes of gobble, gobble, then you count as a viewer, thus endorsing the next swarm of Shades of Grey imitators.

Shame on you!

Tenet taking tenancy TIKTOK can’t help the many films released during the lockdown that have only been available to view since the reopening of the cinemas in June.

Earlier editions of this column previewed most of them, leaving just a small group to contemplate, of which the most keenly anticipated is without a doubt Tenet (Not Released Worldwide; Aug 12), an espionage thriller from Christopher Nolan that has a plot

as hushed-up as a 1980s CIA mission in Latin America. As things stand, Tenet promises to be the biggest film event of the summer, and it could even confirm John David Washington as a bigger star than his father Denzel.

Lured by British bait NEITHER Armando Iannucci (Veep, The Thick of It, Alan Partridge) nor Dev Patel (Lion, Slumdog Millionaire) had parents to aspire to. Both British-born sons of immigrants, they grew up in humble surroundings without the slightest hope of a leg-up, but yet as director and star they combine for stunning effect in an adaptation of the biggest rags to riches story of them all, The Personal History of David Copperfield (75 on Metacritic; Aug 6).

Proving that the story is indeed timeless and mostly unmined for comic potential, Iannucci’s fresh retelling will introduce the story to millions more, while Patel confirms his leading man status with strong support from Tilda Swinton, Hugh Laurie and, in the role of Uriah Heep, Ben Whishaw.

Clearly it’s a strong month for British cinema, even though all of these films were made in 2019, as Whishaw also delivers the goods in Little Joe (60; July 9), a horror armed with the most terrifying plants since the Triffids, while unsettling thriller Bait (84; July 16) confronts gentrification in Cornwall. Shot on a vintage hand-cranked Bolex camera,

using 16mm monochrome film the director Mark Jenkin hand processed, it is already being hailed as a classic.

The real Russell Crowe NEPOTISM is alive and kicking in the US, or is it? Scott Eastwood, a dead ringer for his old man Clint, changed his name to Scott Reeves to avoid favoritism early on in his career, even though he ended up appearing in at least four of Pop’s films. Now he’s got top billing in the war film The Outpost (NRW; July 9) and, really, there’s no denying his star potential. Not sure the same can be said about co-star Milo Gibson, the son of Mel, who made his debut in Dad’s flick Hacksaw Ridge.

Also at cinemas, we have Trolls World Tour (NRW; July 2), a documentary about the life and career of Quentin Tarantino, QT8: The First Eight (released), a chance to see the Copenhagen-set Brian De Palma terror disaster Domino (40; July 1), and Unhinged (NRW; July 16) starring Russell Crowe as a stalker driver – a bit like Duel but in a SUV not a truck, with too many close-ups of his seething face for our liking. Clearly this part is the closest Crowe gets to his true self since Romper Stomper.

While over on Netflix, it’s the usual array of poorly conceived dating gone right and dating gone wrong movies: from Seriously Single (Aug 1) and Desperados (July 4), to Fatal Affair (July 3).

The big bucks have meanwhile

“I asked for a sick bucket ... okay, this will do”

been spent on Charlize Theron superhero bore The Old Guard (July 10) – another graphic novel adaptation probably, but who cares?

Crawley sister square-up ALL OF that leaves us with this summer’s television offerings, which are fortunately rather light on the ground, given that the absolute majority of us envisage spending our time out rather than in.

Hungover binge-fests will be in demand, and Stateless (Netflix; July 9), an Australian miniseries of converging stories starring Cate Blanchett and Yvonne Strahovski, is a strong candidate. Less so is Aussie counterpart The Secrets she Keeps (C More; Aug 3) starring Downton Abbey’s Laura Carmichael. Meanwhile, her dead onscreen sister, Jessica Brown Findlay, heads Aldous Huxley adaptation Brave New World (HBO Nordic; July 15), which along with Cursed

(Netflix; July 18), a spin on the Arthurian legend that tells the story from the perspective of the Lady of the Lake, looks like a gamble. Finally, cyber-threat comedy series Intelligence (C More; Aug 12), which stars David Schimmer, had poor reviews when it aired in Britain.

Returning for new seasons are Line of Duty (S4; July 1) and Ramy (S2; June 19) on C More; The Umbrella Academy (S2; July 31), Good Girls (S3; July 26), New Girl (S7; July 1) and How to Sell Drugs Online Fast (S2; July 21) on Netflix; and AP Bio (S3; July 16) and Room 104 (S4; July 25) on HBO Nordic.

But if we had to put our money on one series to deliver it would be Sweden’s The Twelve (Netflix; July 10), a jury-led drama that revolves around the trial of a headmistress charged with a double murder.

After all, those Swedes tend to have longer summer nights, so they must know what they’re doing.

jazz film festival at cinemateket Enjoy some summer jazz on the big screen!

We present four new jazz films never screened before in Denmark - covering Chick Corea, the Kühn Brothers, and the Cairo jazz scene.

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

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

ENGLISH JOB DENMARK Recruitment Announcements Part of The Welcome Group SCRUM MASTER, DANSKE BANK

As a Scrum Master you lead the development and project execution of one of our full-stack teams.

Location: Deadline: Contact:

Copenhagen 2 August 2020 Casper la Cour, Agile Lead, clac@danskebank.dk

SENIOR BUSINESS ANALYST, ØRSTED

You’ll be responsible for the commercial business excellence of the gas portfolio in Northwest Europe.

Location: Deadline: Contact:

Gentofte 12 July 2020 Lauge Årsnes, Head of Asset Optimisation NWE, +45 99 55 56 96

SENIOR INDUSTRIAL ARCHITECT, MAERSK T&L

Technically-savvy Thought Leader that helps Maersk to cut through the hype and find practical approaches with measurable value to transformation activities.

Location: Deadline: Contact:

Copenhagen 31 July 2020 Bruno.Palumbo@maersk.com

SENIOR COMMERCIAL ANALYSTMARKETING, WS AUDIOLOGY You will work closely with Marketing & Sales teams to translate business requirements into optimized reporting systems and measure the performance of commercial activities.

Location: Deadline: Contact:

Lynge 1 August 2020 wsa.recruitee.com

To advertise your vacancy here and reach 60,000+ readers weekly, contact: info@englishjobdenmark.dk or call 6070 2298.

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

ENGLISH JOB DENMARK

PRODUCT QA SPECIALIST, CONNECTED CARS

Your responsibility will be to make sure that we deliver high-quality SW products in accordance with market requirements in a fast-paced environment.

Location: Deadline: Contact:

Glostrup 31 July 2020 Jakob Filippson, Head of Product, jp@connectedcars.dk

SENIOR BUYER, ABACUS MEDICINE

A Senior Buyer who can provide analytical support, who is dedicated to delivering quality work, meeting deadlines, and ensuring that daily tasks and projects are pushed through to completion.

Location: Deadline: Contact:

Copenhagen 26 July 2020 Tue Mollerup, Head of Procurement, tue.mollerup@aposave.com

LEARNING & DEVELOPMENT CONTENT SPECIALIST, ELOOMI

Your main responsibility is to ensure that learning content from our many providers is smoothly delivered to our customers’ platforms to provide the best possible outof-the-box learning experience.

Location: Deadline: Contact:

Copenhagen When filled Susie Sandberg, Head of Recruitment, susie@eloomi.com

CMC REGULATORY AFFAIRS SEEKING SPECIALIST WITH STRONG COLLABORATION SKILLS, NOVO NORDISK

Are you seeking new opportunities where you can employ your knowledge of both regulatory guidelines and the world of CMC and balance it all with global manufacturing?

Location: Deadline: Contact:

Søborg 9 July 2020 Jacob Larsen, Manager, +45 30 79 14 41

SAP FINANCE PROCESS SPECIALIST – MATERNITY COVER, NILFISK

Your role will be to drive the next phase of our transition and support the finance team to accurately report our numbers to key stakeholders on schedule.

Location: Deadline: Contact:

Brøndby 10 July 2020 Gary Edmondson, VP Head of Operational Finance EMEA, gedmondson@nilfisk.com

SENIOR PROGRAMMING MANAGER, CLINICAL DATA STANDARDS, GENMAB

Your role is responsible for the establishment, governance, and integrity of clinical trial data standards.

Location: Deadline: Contact:

Copenhagen When filled Jannie Jensen, Recruiter, jjn@genmab.com

ASSOCIATE ANALYST, PRODUCT MANAGEMENT, MILESTONE SYSTEMS

Primary tasks will fall under the researchoriented and administrative work where you will be responsible for collecting, prepping and analyzing field data as well as desk research such as competitive analysis, market analysis, and product comparison tasks.

Location: Deadline: Contact:

Brøndby 15 July 2020 Caroline Dyrby Ranek, Customer and Market Insights, cdr@milestone.dk

LIVE Q&A SESSION WITH A RECRUITER

Join us on Facebook in the recruitment group English Job Denmark every Thursday at 12:00 noon, where an experienced recruiter will be on hand to answer any questions you may have about gaining employment in Denmark. To take part, simply join English Job Denmark & be ready with your questions.

Contact us for more information: info@the-welcomegroup.com

Working together with internationals and companies to better understand the needs of one another.

The Welcome Group has created this page and provides additional services, including an online community supporting employment for internationals on Facebook.