The Copenhagen Post | Feb 15-21

Christiania crackdown: success or harassment?

All eyes on North Korea after defiant nuke test

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15 - 21 February 2013 | Vol 16 Issue 7

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

WASTELAND

Congestion committee releases its recommendations for dealing with city’s growing traffic problem

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Activist group trying to wean nation off bulk discounts and onto doggie bags

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COLOURBOX

NEWS

Shakespeare’s Women: You will like it!

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NEWS

LGBT hails Danish move Proposed legislation to give lesbians equal parental rights seen as a pioneering step in social equality

5 SPORT

No need to go abroad this winter because at Parken the seats are sizzling hot – both theirs and yours!

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Immigration officials want to end asylum for Somalis

CULTURE

Length matters New Lars von Trier movie promises plenty of sex, but can viewers handle the marathon session?

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CHRISTIAN WENANDE Human aid organisation Dansk Flygtningehjælp argues that sending people back to Somalia is completely irresponsible

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MMIGRATION officials are contending that the security situation in Mogadishu, the capital of Somalia, has improved to such an extent that Somali asylum seekers can be sent back.

Immigration Service (Udlændingestyrelsen) made its decision on the basis of a joint Danish-Norwegian delegation that visited Mogadishu in Octo-

ber 2012 and reported that the Somali capital was safe to the point that rejected asylum seekers would not face persecution if sent back.

“The joint fact-finding mission to Somalia gave us new information that indicated that the security has been vastly improved,” Jakob Dam Glynstrup, the head of asylum at Udlændingestyrelsen, said in a press release. “There is also a new government in place and a rising number of Somalis are returning home.”

Udlændingestyrelsen pointed to Norway, which has already changed its protocol in regards to asylum seekers from Somalia.

But the Danish aid organisation Dansk Flygtningehjælp argued that the

delegation’s assessment is incorrect and pointed to an evaluation by the UN asylum organisation, UNHCR, which said that security threats in Mogadishu and the rest of Somalia are still very high.

“In our view, it is irresponsible to send people back to Mogadishu as there are no authorities that can provide security,” Dansk Flygtningehjælp’s general secretary, Andreas Kamm, told Politiken newspaper. “The city is terrorised by militia who do as they please, and the rate of violence and rape in the city has actually been rising.”

Kamm went on to maintain that Somalia’s fragile government is still fighting to stabilise the country following the war and chaos that have plagued it since

dictator Mohamed Siad Barre was toppled in 1991.

“It has improved, but it’s far too early to conclude that there is peace,” Kamm said. “If people are willing to risk sailing to Yemen to get away, then you know it is serious. It is very risky and many drown on the way over.”

According to Udlændingestyrelsen, the number of Somalis who were granted asylum in Denmark last year shot up to around 900. That is compared to only 18 in 2011 and 35 in 2010.

It is now up to the refugees appeal board, Flygtningenævnet, to make a final decision on whether the current Danish procedure on Somali asylum seekers should be altered.

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Week in review

The Copenhagen Post cphpost.dk

CPH Post Word of the Week:

15 - 21 February 2013 THE WEEK’S MOST READ STORIES AT CPHPOST.DK

Stikke (verb) – stab. Where you heard it: A 22-year-old was stabbed outside a Copenhagen school on Monday, and two separate Danish secondary school students were stabbed in Prague on two consecutive days

Islam critic survives assassination attempt

Scanpix / THomas Lekfeldt

All about the kids

Denmark secures billion kroner EU rebate Media and politicians rally around Hedegaard Immigration Service ready to send Somali asylum seekers back 14 Copenhagen churches slated for closure

FROM OUR ARCHIVES TEN YEARS AGO. Thousands of Danes take to the streets in eleven different cities to protest against the War in Iraq.

FIVE YEARS AGO. The Royal Theatre’s new Playhouse stage opens with a showing of ‘Hamlet’ for an audience of royals, ministers and cultural VIPs. ONE YEAR AGO. New family reunification rules end the deportation of children under the age of eight deemed ‘unable to integrate’

Despite the snow and cold, it’s a good time of year to be a kid. In addition to spending Sunday vying to be ‘Kattekonge’ at Fastelavn festivities (such as here in Copenhagen’s Blågårds Plads), children nationwide are either wrapping up their winter half-term holiday or holding it next week.

calmer parts of the country, and that they are not employed by the Danish state, but rather by a private firm. Hækkerup’s decision received widespread political support, aside from left-wing party Enhedslisten, which argued that the US offers protection to all of its interpreters in Afghanistan.

Denmark’s only English-language newspaper

Goal met

The government has met its goal of creating 12,500 jobs (akutjobs) for those in danger of losing unemployment benefits (dagpenge) due to changes to the system that kicked in at the start of this year. According to figures from the national labour market regulator, Arbejdsmarkedsstyrelsen, 12,731 akutjobs had been

President and Publisher Ejvind Sandal

Since 1998, The Copenhagen Post has been Denmark’s leading source for news in English. As the voice of the international community, we provide coverage for the thousands of foreigners making their home in Denmark.

Additionally, our English language medium helps to bring Denmark’s top stories to a global audience.

CEO and Executive Editor Jesper Nymark

In addition to publishing the only regularly printed English-language newspaper in the country, we provide up-to-date news on our website and deliver news to national and international organisations. The Copenhagen Post is also a leading provider of non-news services to the private and public sectors, offering writing, translation, editing, production and delivery services.

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Editor-in-Chief (responsible under the Media Liability Act) Kevin McGwin

News Editor Justin Cremer Journalists Peter Stanners, Ray Weaver & Christian Wenande

advertised by February 6. The numbers revealed, however, that there is still a large discrepancy between the numbers of jobs created by the private and public sectors, with the latter accounting for nearly 9,000 of the jobs.

Also, only one in five of the positions are being filled by those for whom the jobs were intended.

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scanpix / Annett Bruhn

The Afghan interpreters who are working for the Danish military in Afghanistan will not be offered protection once Denmark pulls its soldiers out in 2014, according to the defence minister, Nick Hækkerup (Socialdemokraterne).

Hækkerup argued that the interpreters are generally hired from

Scanpix / Linda Kastrup

Scanpix / Henning Bagger

On your own

CORRECTION We inferred that Nik & Jay’s new single was their first attempt at performing in English. Sadly, they also had three English songs on their last album.

Here to stay

Figures obtained from the labour regulator Arbejdsmarkedsstyrelsen’s database, jobindsats.dk, show that the number of eastern European workers in Denmark has risen by 43 percent since 2008. In the third quarter of 2012, there were nearly 50,000 people from ten eastern European countries employed in Denmark,

Layout and design Justin Cremer Aviaja Bebe Nielsen Logo by Rasmus Koch Published by CPHPOST.DK ApS Printed by Dagbladet, Ringsted.

and a third of them have been in the country since 2008 or earlier, indicating that Danes are not losing jobs to the eastern Europeans as a result of the ongoing economic crisis. “It appears that eastern Europeans have gained a foothold in the Danish labour market during the crisis,” researcher Søren Kaj Andersen said.

The CPH Post welcomes outside articles and letters to the editor.

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

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Founded in 1998 by San Shepherd All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part without permission is prohibited by law.

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NEWS

The Copenhagen Post cphpost.dk

15 - 21 February 2013

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Christiania task force netting arrests, but locals call it harassment File photo: Scanpix / Jens Nørgaard Larsen

Ray Weaver One in three citizens stopped by police outside of the freetown are charged with possession or sale of cannabis

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openhagen Police has announced that the number of people being charged with the possession of cannabis is up 23 percent since the creation of Task Force Pusher Street last September.

“When we create a task force to carry out a specific task, it will obviously result in more charges,” deputy police inspector Poul Kjeldsen, the head of the task force, told Politiken newspaper. “People should know that there is an increased risk of being charged with a crime if they walk the streets around Christiania with cannabis in their pockets.”

Parliament last year instructed city police to put an end to the open and booming drug trade on Pusher Street.

Police responded with the establishment of the task force and the introduction of a ‘narkometer’ meant to test motorists for the presence of drugs. The police strategy, however, flies in the face of recommendations by Copenhagen’s mayor, Frank Jensen (Socialdemokraterne), who has openly advocated for legalising cannabis.

“Our strategy is to go after the buyer, seller and supplier,” said Kjeldsen.

Two-thirds of those stopped by police were found to have been doing nothing wrong

“When we go for the buyers, it also supports the overall goal.”

Totals at the end of last year showed that since it started operations on September 1, the task forced charged 504 individuals with possession of cannabis and 26 people with dealing the drug.

Nearly 2,000 people were stopped during that period.

The typical person arrested by police is a Danish man between 18 and 30 years old. Most were not city residents, and only 14 of those busted were women. Most were found holding less than ten grammes of cannabis, which carries

with it a 2,000 kroner fine for a first offence. Possession of any amount of cannabis is illegal in Denmark.

Kjeldsen said that in addition to increased patrols and more arrests, the task force’s strategy includes dialogue with local leaders from Christianshavn and representatives from Christiania.

The head of the Christiania Fund, however, said that constantly busting people on the streets surrounding the freetown didn’t seem much like dialogue to him.

“People see it as an excessive use of force by the police that frightens and harasses our guests,” Joram Suszkewic told

Politiken. “It seems that they are profiling rather than acting out of reasonable suspicion of cannabis possession.”

The task force’s rules say that cops should have ‘fair and substantial’ suspicions of illegal activity before detaining someone.

While Politiken was recently on the scene at Christiania, local tradesman Steffen Friis was stopped by police on his way into Christiania. Although he explained to the officers that he was there to repair a broken lock at a local business, his clothing and car were searched and his mouth was swabbed with an oral drug tester. While searching his car, the police accidentally smashed the man’s mp3 player.

When no cannabis was found either in his car or on his person, and the oral test proved negative, the officer conducting the search turned Friis loose.

“Well, I now drop the charges against you,” the police officer said. “You of course have the right to complain that you were unfairly arrested and get compensation for your mp3 player.”

Suszkewic said that he has been frisked five times without the cops finding any drugs on him.

“If you do not give them permission to look in your pockets, you are charged and frisked,” he said. “If you aren’t carrying, the charges are dropped, but you never get to see the report.”

If you do not give them permission to look in your pockets, you are charged and frisked Kjeldsen said police have the right to search anyone they suspect of drug possession.

Police figures show that the amount of cannabis being seized is on the rise. In January, cannabis and related products with an estimated street value of 17 million kroner were seized. In the preceding four months as a whole, 22 million kroner worth of contraband was collected.

“We see fewer customers and smaller quantities at the cannabis stands on Pusher Street,” said Kjeldsen. “We also can feel a growing opposition to our efforts from the old guard in the neighbourhood.”

Police records show that five guns, two of them loaded, and other ammunition were also discovered during January’s raids.

Christianites are said to have policed their own house by shutting down the premises where the weapons were discovered.

Ny Nørreport

Mayor’s daycare promise questioned Opposition City Council member argues that too many parents are not getting places for their children in their first institution of choice

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The new Nørreport Station will include a Metro entrance between Danske Bank and Nordea Bank

Nørreport Station to get new Metro entrance Christian Wenande Local businesses can expect additional noise and construction discomfort for the next few years

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ome of the foot traffic surrounding one of Denmark’s busiest traffic hubs is set to be alleviated with the construction of a new underground Metro entrance.

The Metro entrance comes as part of the current ‘Ny Nørreport’ renovation of Nørreport Station and will be located on the corner of Nørre Voldgade and Frederiksborggade, between Danske Bank and Nordea Bank. The new entrance is set to be finished by 2015 and is expected

to assist the roughly 250,000 people who use Nørreport Station every day.

“In the future, it will be quicker and easier to use the public transportation at Denmark’s busiest station,” Jesper Christensen, the deputy chairman of Metroselskabet, said in a press release.

“The new Metro entrance provides direct access from the walking street to the benefit of the thousands who work and move about central Copenhagen.”

The top of the entrance will have standard stairs, while the bottom will be equipped with escalators. Today, there is no direct access to the so-called transfer tunnel at Nørreport Station – it can only be reached via the Metro station or from the S-train entrances.

“The new entrance will comple-

ment the Ny Nørreport project, give it an essential facelift, and increase the accessibility at the most populated station,” Niels Henrik Andersen, a project manager from Banedanmark, said in the press release.

Construction on the entrance will commence next month and will generate some nuisance and discomfort for businesses located between Kultorvet square and Nørreport Station.

“We know that there has been construction in the area for an extended period of time, and that we are testing the patience of businesses and residents in the area,” Andersen said. “Therefore, we will initiate dialogue with the neighbours and keep them well informed about the construction.”

ity Mayor Frank Jensen’s (Socialdemokraterne) promise to provide daycare to all children within four kilometres of their home by the next council elections in 2014 may not be achieved, warns an opposition council member.

The allegation was made in Politiken newspaper by City Council member Cecilia Lonning-Skovgaard (Venstre), who said there were 956 children in Copenhagen over the age of eleven months who did not have a place in a daycare.

“We only have one year of maternity leave, so that means that these 956 children have to be looked after by grandparents, private individuals or mothers who extend their leave without pay,” Lonning-Skovgaard told Politiken.

Lonning-Skovgaard said she was also concerned by the 4,200 children who have a place in a daycare that was not their parents’ first choice.

“The vast majority [of those parents] must be in desperate need [of a place] so Copenhagen City Council is profiting from the parents’ willingness to find creative solutions,” she said.

But Henriette Bjørn Nielsen, a manager at the City Council’s department for children and young people, argues that there isn’t such a big problem with daycare capacity. She said that the 956 children are not in daycare because their parents are waiting for available places at their first daycare of choice, not because there isn’t enough capacity.

She added that the city has created 3,700 new daycare places for children since 2010, and that an additional 2,600 places will be created over the next two years. Parents who are desperate for a daycare facility for their children can demand that the council find them a place within four kilometres of their home within two months.

But despite the fact the council has so far kept this promise, the Copenhagen parents association, KFN, thinks there are still problems to be tackled.

“The problem is mostly that parents want their children all looked after at the same place and don’t want to have to send them too far away,” spokesperson Nina Reffstrup said.

“The four kilometre limit is good, but it can still be a long way in Copenhagen, so we need to keep on finding new places where we can build. But right now it would be unreasonable to criticise the council too much.” (PS)

Online this week Hedegaard lashes out after failed assassination attempt Lars Hedegaard criticised the country’s politicians and media following the failed attempt on his life last week. In a statement published on the Danish Free Press Society’s online magazine, Sappho, he directly condemned national newspaper Politiken and the country’s political parties for doing too little against what he views as prob-

lematic immigration and attacks on the freedom of speech. Hedegaard went on to defend himself and insist that his views are not against individual Muslims, but rather against the religion they follow. “Muslims are, in my opinion, victims of a sick political ideology that is more akin to Nazism and communism than anything else,” Hedegaard wrote.

Low birth rate “approaching epidemic” The birth rate among Danish women is dangerously low, according to a recently-published report by the Copenhagen hospital, Rigshospitalet. The 57,916 children born in 2012 represent the lowest number in several years. By comparison, more than 65,000 children were born in 2008. More than one in five couples end up childless, and the cur-

rent rate of 1.7 children per family is not enough to maintain the current population. Part of the problem is that there are fewer women in the country of childbearing age. Couples are also waiting longer to start families, which often makes conception harder, and recent studies have also highlighted the low sperm quality in Danish men.

World’s longest Viking shipwreck to be exhibited The National Museum in Copenhagen is set to unveil a major special exhibition called ‘VIKING’, highlighted by the display of the largest Viking shipwreck ever found. The exhibition will be the largest one on Vikings for 20 years, covering the themes of war, expansion,

power, aristocracy, rituals and beliefs, as well as cultural contacts and trade. The 37-metrelong warship could carry up to 100 warriors and is thought be have been part of the royal fleet of King Cnut the Great, who conquered England in 1016 and Norway in 1028.

Read these stories and more at cphpost.dk

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Cover Story

The Copenhagen Post cphpost.dk

15 - 21 February 2013

Trying to teach old dogs new tricks Colourbox

Ray Weaver Activist movement aims to get consumers, stores and restaurants to think about the amount of edible food that ends up in the rubbish bin

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Advocates argue that the amount of food thrown out every day is enough to end world hunger if it was delivered to the right hands Fintan Damgaard

be willing to adopt a practice common in many other places: asking for a ‘doggy bag’ to carry home leftovers, rather than having the restaurant scrape the uneaten food into the waste bin.

The survey revealed that Danes are uncomfortable asking for doggy bags – just 12 percent of those polled said they would feel comfortable asking a waiter to get them a bag or a box to take their leftovers home.

However, a small change in practice by restaurants could make a big difference. Over 60 percent of poll respondents said they would take their leftovers if their server made the offer and then packaged the food to be discreetly taken out.

Food giant Unilever Food Solutions has joined the Stop Wasting Food movement to start changing attitudes.

“There is still a taboo attached to asking for doggy bags in Denmark, so it is important that the waiters and restaurants get involved,” said Unilever spokesperson Stine Larsen. Over 200 restaurants across the country have joined in the effort to get customers to take leftovers home, with more signing on every day.

A visit to a local cafe in Hillerød re-

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anes waste food. A lot of food. About 16 billion kroner’s worth each year, according to Stop Wasting Food (Stop Spild af Mad), a food activism movement founded by Selina Juul.

Juul travels around the world speaking passionately about what she sees as the insanity of food being thrown out daily by consumers, supermarkets, restaurants and bakers, or simply left to rot on the vine because farmers in some regions lack the resources and infrastructure to get it to market.

Tonnes of food that Juul contends could actually put an end to world hunger are thrown out in Denmark – and worldwide – every day.

For example, a shop owner will toss an entire case of tomatoes if there is a bad one in the mix, even though the others are perfectly edible; entire pallets filled with canned food are taken to a dump because the labels aren’t printed in Danish; farmers plough entire fields of lettuce back into the earth because they aren’t big enough to ship to market; and fishing trawlers toss up to 40 percent of their catch back overboard – some of it too damaged by nets to survive – because it isn’t ‘the right kind of fish’.

“Nearly 15 million children die of starvation every year,” Juul said. “This food could save their lives.”

Juul’s organisation has had some success in taking on big food wasters like supermarkets. Its work encouraged the Rema 1000 chain to drop the common three-for-the-price-of-two type promotions, which Juul believes contribute to food waste.

“These promotions result in so much waste,” said Juul. “A customer only needs one package of meat but buys three to get a discount. They use one, put one in the freezer, but the third gets tossed because they have no room for it.”

Juul said that every Dane throws away 63 kilos of food each year that they have never even used. Rema now offers the same discount on one item that it used to offer on the package deal, and other Danish supermarkets are starting to follow Rema’s example.

Juul believes that it is just as important to raise the awareness level of every consumer as it is to take on the food and service industries.

Recognising that restaurants are a major culprit in wasting food, Stop Wasting Food conducted a survey with pollsters Gallup to see if Danes would

Whether it is private consumers throwing out food that is still fit for consumption or large supermarkets whose policies encourage wasteful spending, food activist Selina Juul wants Danes to stop wasting so much food

vealed, however, that the movement still has a long way to go.

The customers at four out of five tables said that they “would probably not” ask for a doggy bag, and that they would not take food home even if the waiter suggested it.

“It’s just gross,” said Anja Patterson. “I don’t want to carry old food home on my bike.”

Patterson echoed the feelings of many of the others who said that doggie bags would not do much to help the food waste issue when stores and bakeries throw out tonnes of food every day.

“I used to work at a bakery,” she said. “It is unbelievable how much is wasted.”

Juul acknowledges that doggie bags are just one small part of a much larger and more complex picture.

“It is one small drop in the ocean that leads to another drop and then another,” she said. “We are trying to create awareness that 140,000 tonnes of food are thrown out each year by restaurants, canteens and large kitchens.”

Online this week Confessed drug smuggler awarded damages

Dermatology expert: Tattoo inks cannot cause cancer

Capital city one of the world’s priciest places

Camilla Broe was awarded 701,362.11 kroner in damages on Friday for being held in a Danish jail for 18 months before being extradited to the US where she faced drug smuggling charges. After being extradited, Broe spent another six months in a US jail before an American judge released her, ruling the case had passed its statute of limitations. Lyngby District

A leading dermatologist is disputing the government’s claims that tattoo inks can cause cancer and says that the Environment Ministry was less than truthful in reporting the results of a study he participated in. Jørgen Serup, a professor of dermatology and the chief physician at Bispebjerg Hospital in Copenhagen, was part of a project initiated by the ministry that aimed

No wonder your budget feels so pinched. According to a recent index from the Economist, Copenhagen ranks as the fifteenth most expensive city in the world. The Danish capital was beat out for the top spot by Tokyo, which reclaimed its status this year as the most expensive city after being topped in 2011

Court awarded the damages after two of the three judges found the Danish authorities responsible for paying compensation for the time detained in Denmark, despite the fact that the arrest warrant was issued in the US. Broe’s lawyer said he was satisfied with the compensation, which was awarded to Broe for lost earnings and personal damages.

to clarify whether commonlyused inks cause a health threat.

The ministry’s website states that 65 inks were studied and tested, but Serup says that they only ran tests on less than a third of them. “The ministry disliked our report and our results. Its claims do not reflect our medical knowledge so it tried to manipulate us and make us change the report,” said Serup.

by Zurich. According to the survey, Copenhagen’s general cost of living has declined in the past five years in comparison to prices in New York, which was used as the base city in the index. Only 12 of the 131 cities surveyed saw an overall rise in the cost of living.

The cheapest cities were Karachi, Pakistan and Mumbai.

Read these stories and more at cphpost.dk

5 Committee presents ideas for reducing city’s congestion news

The Copenhagen Post cphpost.dk

15 - 21 February 2013

The congestion committee admits that a harbour tunnel supported by the mayor may actually increase traffic and pollution in some parts of the city

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he state-appointed congestion committee last week released its first set of recommendations for tackling congestion in the Greater Copenhagen region.

Trængselskommisionen, established by the Transport Ministry to find alternative solutions to the failed congestion charge proposal, released a long list of proposals that can be achieved in the short, medium and long term, though they emphasised that far from all of the proposals will be realised.

“The commission’s goal is to create a network that better connects the different forms of public transport together with individual forms of transport such as cars, bikes and pedestrians,” the report stated. “The commission will now evaluate and prioritise the proposals in order to create holistic solutions that strengthen infrastructure and mobility and improve the environment.”

Central to the report’s considerations was tackling Copenhagen’s increasing car traffic and the fact that more and more commuters travel through the city, rather than to the city as their final destination.

The car is still the most popular mode of transport in Greater Copenhagen. Two-thirds of all kilometres travelled in the Copenhagen area are made by car as well as just over half of all journeys.

Greater Copenhagen’s road network

In the long-term, the commission proposes moving ahead with the controversial harbour tunnel, automatising S-Trains and subjecting car drivers to a road-pricing system.

The harbour tunnel was expected to be included on the list of proposals especially given the fact that the City Council last year voted to approve a 27 billion kroner proposal. This will see a tunnel dug from Gentofte in the north to join the motorway network in the southwest of the city.

Proponents say that the tunnel will draw traffic that would ordinary cross the city, and by doing so will reduce congestion. But the model that the city approved includes access ramps as the tunnel snakes beneath the city, meaning that it will essentially operate as an underground southern orbital road. The congestion committee acknowledged that this may end up increasing traffic, both near the access ramps on Amager and in Gentofte – one of the likely reasons that the mayor of Gentofte did not join 13 other council mayors in Greater Copenhagen who called for better cross-council transport planning and voiced their support for a harbour tunnel.

Copenhagen’s deputy mayor for technical and environmental affairs, Ayfer Baykal (Socialistisk Folkeparti), opposes the harbour tunnel due to the extra traffic and pollution it may produce.

Colourbox

Peter Stanners

An engineering firm estimates that 29 million hours are wasted each year in traffic

simply cannot cope with the number of cars, however, and according to engineering firm COWI, 29 million hours are lost every year in traffic jams – an economic cost of about 8.5 billion kroner a year.

Reducing car traffic requires convincing drivers to use other forms of transport, and the easiest way to do this is ensuring that public transport hubs are distributed evenly. The further a resident lives from a train station, the less likely they are to use it.

Public transport would need to be significantly strengthened if drivers do choose to switch to public transport, however. The report states that if five percent of drivers decided to choose public transport instead, the number of journeys made by public transport would increase by 20 percent.

The willingness of drivers to use other forms of transport if given the opportunity has already been demonstrated. When the Metro was first opened, car traffic into the city – both from Amager over Knippelsbro in the south and over the Lakes from the north – dropped by about five percent while car traffic in other parts of the city rose.

Among Trængselskommisionen’s proposed changes for short and medium-term solutions are improving and increasing the frequency of buses, improving bicycle infrastructure and parking, building ‘park and ride’ facilities, building an additional Metro station at Ny Ellebjerg, extending the S-Train network to Roskilde and Helsingør, extending motorways, and introducing car sharing networks.

Together with several prominent environmental and anti-traffic organisations, Baykal has established the Facebook group ‘Nej til flere biler i København’ (No to more cars in Copenhagen) to campaign against the tunnel.

“We want to talk sense to the people who have fallen in love with the harbour tunnel,” Baykal told Politiken newspaper. “We could use those billions of kroner to create alternatives to cars, such as digging a new Metro line from Hellerup to Copenhagen.”

City Mayor Frank Jensen (Socialdemokraterne) replied by urging Baykal to contribute to the debate on finding holistic solutions to Copenhagen’s traffic problems.

“SF said ‘no’ to the Storebælt bridge, SF said ‘no’ to the Øresund bridge, SF said ‘no’ to the first stages of the Copenhagen Metro and now SF’s deputy mayor for technical and environmental affairs is spearheading another ‘no’ campaign,” Frank Jensen told Politiken.

Baykal is not alone in her opposition to the tunnel’s environmental and financial cost. Urban mobility consultants Copenhagenise argues the 27 billion could be more effectively spent on a range of alternative initiatives. They say that the city could instead use the money to invest in better bicycle infrastructure and super-highways, build an extra train tunnel along the congested section between the Central Station and Østerport, and convert 65 kilometres of high-density bus network into a light rail network, and still have around eight billion kroner left over.

The commission will present a more comprehensive appraisal of the various proposals by August 2013.

Government does u-turn on SU stipends New law will give lesbian Christian Wenande

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he minister for higher education, Morten Østergaard (Radikale), has for the first time admitted that the government’s forthcoming reform of the state-allocated student allowance, SU, will include cuts to the stipend itself. Østergaard promised, however, that even with the cuts Denmark would still have the world’s most generous student stipend system. He offered no specifics on the cuts.

“The reform will consist of two components. We want to cut down on delays in the students’ education, and we will address the areas of SU in which we are too generous,” Østergaard told Berlingske newspaper. “But it still won’t be the size of someone’s wallet that determines whether or not one gets an education in Denmark.”

The government indicated last year that it would look into generating savings of two billion kroner a year by moving students through their educations quicker. And although the government had previously rejected cutting into the SU stipend itself, it now seems prepared to cut SU in order to make the savings.

Opposition party Venstre and far-

couples equal parental rights

We want to cut down on delays in the students’ education, and we will address the areas of SU in which we are too generous tor at Aalborg University, who doesn’t think that the 600 million kroner that could be saved by cutting the extra year is worth it.

“It will mean more dropouts and extended study times – the opposite effect of what politicians want. Some will stop when they have their bachelor’s degree, while others will turn to work, putting them further behind,” Sørensen told Jyllands-Posten.

Danske Studerendes Fællesråd was positive over the warnings from the advisory board.

“I am pleased that the news comes from the minister’s own experts. From today, at least, it is clear that if the government cuts the extra SU year, then it will be a political decision. And one that won’t save any money.” Ruggaard told Jyllands-Posten.

The man behind the reform Who is ... the minister for higher education, Morten Østergaard? page 18

LGBT Danmark hails proposed legislation as a pioneering step in social equality

Colourbox

Advisory board contends that slashing the state-allocated student allowance could backfire

left party Enhedslisten have both accused the government of breaking its promise, while student organisations warn that cutting back on SU could result in negative consequences.

“This will significantly reduce equal access to education,” Jakob L Ruggaard, the head of students’ association Danske Studerendes Fællesråd, told Berlingske.

While Østergaard didn’t offer specifics, Berlingske suggested that cutting parts of the SU could save up to one billion kroner a year, accounting for half of the government’s goal.

One of the areas that the government is expected to slash is the sixth year of availability for the SU stipend – an extra year that students can currently use to extend their education. It is a move that the government hopes will encourage students to finish their educations quicker and save the state money.

But disposing of the extra SU year won’t have the desired effect, the Education Ministry’s advisory board, SUrådet, warned.

“There are no indicators that show that removing the extra SU year will influence student activity. On the contrary, there will be more dropouts and there will be more youths from low-educated homes who decide against taking an education,” Per Andersen, the head of SU-rådet, told Jyllands-Posten newspaper.

Andersen is backed up by Preben Sørensen, the administration direc-

N

ew legislation is being set in place to grant lesbian couples the same parental rights as heterosexual couples.

Current regulations dictate that if a lesbian is artificially inseminated by an unknown donor, her partner needs to apply for a so-called ‘second parent adoption’ in order to be legally recognised as a parent. Alternatively, if the insemination is done with a known sperm donor, then the partner of the impregnated mother has to wait two and a half years before applying for adoption.

“The current laws are overly bureaucratic and unnecessary,” Karen Hækkerup (Socialdemokraterne), the minister of integration, told Politiken newspaper. “We need to think about the interests of the child and make sure that he or she gets the kind of care they deserve after birth.”

If the new law proposal comes into practice, lesbian couples would be granted automatic legal guardianship if the child is conceived through artificial insemination. In cases in which the semen of a known donor is used, the parental rights would have to be negotiated by all involved parties before the legal ownership of the child is established.

Søren Laursen, a spokesperson

The new laws will mean automatic legal parenthood and far less bureaucracy for lesbian couples

for LGBT Danmark, was delighted to hear about the latest developments and hailed Denmark as a pioneer of social equality.

“I’m sure other countries will soon follow suit,” Laursen told Politiken.

“This is a real breakthrough in family values. We’ve finally managed to break out of a world in which parental guardianship is exclusively restricted to heterosexual couples. Now gays and lesbians can finally be granted the same rights.”

The government, which will submit the proposal forward for further consultation, already appears to have the majority support needed for the new law to be passed. (BSM)

6

News

The Copenhagen Post cphpost.dk

15 - 21 February 2013

City refutes manslaughter charges Digital voting plans move ahead despite criticism in American tourist’s death Justin Cremer Council says there are no sufficient grounds for the charge, but victim’s family counters that the city is shirking its responsibility

T

he City Council says that while it admits violating traffic rules in the death of an American tourist in August, it does not believe there are sufficient grounds for a manslaughter charge.

The City Council and the driver of a runaway vehicle that killed 63-year-old Carl Robinson in August were charged in December with negligent manslaughter and various traffic violations.

Robinson, a former school psychologist in Baltimore, Maryland, was struck and killed by the malfunctioning rubbish lorry on Copenhagen’s Strøget pedestrian street after a city sanitation worker parked and left the vehicle unattended while emptying rubbish bins.

A sensor in the driver’s seat that disengages the vehicle’s motor is thought to have malfunctioned, which caused the vehicle to accelerate and strike Robinson.

Last week, the City Council officially denied the manslaughter charge.

“It is clear that we have violated traffic laws, and we are of course committed to ensuring that such a serious accident doesn’t happen again,” Jens Elmelund, the interim administrative director of the city’s technical affairs department, said in a press release. “But we don’t be-

Christian Wenande

lieve that there are sufficient grounds for the manslaughter charge.”

The city’s stance was not altogether unexpected by Robinson’s nephews, Jason and Michael Schoenfeld.

“I don’t think we are surprised at all,” Jason Schoenfeld said. “The city doesn’t seem to take responsibility for anything.

This was a city vehicle maintained by the city, tampered with by the city and driven by a city worker, so I am not sure how they can not be responsible.”

Michael Schoenfeld concurred.

“I am completely sickened at the audacity of the Copenhagen Council,” he said. “Someone gave the order to have that safety switch bypassed, and that someone worked for, and is a representative of, the City of Copenhagen. There is no doubt in any way, shape or form that they are guilty of manslaughter. Frankly, if you ask me, they are murderers.”

The city has previously acknowledged its liability and compensation responsibility after being sued by Robinson’s family back in October, but the Schoenfelds said that there has still been no progress.

“As far as compensation, we have not heard anything or received anything,” Jason Schoenfeld said. “We have asked the city to donate to the scholarship fund that is being set up for needy children in the school district [Robinson] worked in, [but] no response has been received.”

According to Michael Schoenfeld, the city’s financial offer was insufficient.

“They made an offer of approximate-

There is no doubt in any way, shape or form that they are guilty of manslaughter.

Frankly, if you ask me, they are murderers ly $17,000, which is not even half of the expenses caused by his murder,” he said.

“It was just as insulting as them declaring themselves not guilty of manslaughter.”

The family, which has previously complained about poor communication from the city, have said that a scholarship fund is being set up in Baltimore that would carry Robinson’s name and be awarded to graduates of Baltimore’s city high schools.

Robinson had recently retired as a school psychologist when he embarked on a Scandinavian cruise last summer.

At a stopover in Copenhagen, he was struck by the runaway sanitation lorry and dragged 20 metres underneath the two-tonne vehicle before it struck a wall. He was declared dead at the scene.

Police have informed the City Council that an indictment has been turned in to Copenhagen City Court.

The negligent manslaughter charge carries a maximum sentence of eight years in prison, but Copenhagen Police prosecutor Charlotte Møgelhøj said that the police would only seek a fine.

Peter Stanners Under new law, some ministerial documents will no longer be available through freedom of information requests, while some MPs criticise the closed nature of the negotiating process

T

he new freedom of information law, offentlighedsloven, presented by the government to parliament last week, will not allow greater insight into the decision making process of ministers, Politiken newspaper reports.

The offentlighedslov outlines which government documents are available to the public through freedom of information requests. Information that affects the state’s security, economy and diplomatic relations are exempt from the law, along with details about private businesses in order to protect their trade secrets.

The new law is facing criticism, however, as it will also exclude documents made by ministers to draft and discuss ideas with both civil services and other government ministries.

The justice minister, Morten Bødskov (Socialdemokraterne), explained that the law was designed to protect ministers from being targeted in the media while they develop their ideas.

“Politicians need to have the opportunity to try out ideas and get feedback during the legislative process that we are constantly working on,” Bødskov told Politiken newspaper. “In general, I don’t think that the public affects the legislative process. But both our proposal and the former government’s proposal are

built upon recommendations made by the Freedom of Information Committee and strike a balance between more openness on the one hand, and introducing some limitations on the other.”

The Freedom of Information Committee was established in 2002 and published its results in 2009. The following year, the former Venstre-Konservative (V-K) government presented its version of a new law that included the clause with the exception for ministerial documents.

Opposition to the clause from Liberal Alliance (LA) and Dansk Folkeparti (DF) ultimately led to the V-K government dropping the law, and after the September 2011 election and change in government, the baton was passed on to the current centre-left coalition.

Last October, the government presented its version of the law with a slight rewording of the clause excluding ministerial documents from Freedom of Information requests.

Despite the rewording, LA, DF and Enhedslisten all remain opposed to the law, especially given the Justice Ministry’s recent announcement that it would not be debated in parliament before it is voted on.

“I think this process has been very telling about what will happen under the new legislation,” Pernille Skipper told Politiken. “It has been a very closed process. There was no invitation to broad political negotiations so that parties could decide whether to support the law. Instead, parties that have been critical in the past were simply not invited to negotiations in the first place.

I think it’s embarrassing because this

Folketinget

New freedom of information law condemned

Experts warn that digitalising elections will be more expensive and less secure than traditional voting methods

T

he government is standing firm on its proposal to digitalise the election process by as early as 2014 despite warnings from experts and others involved in the project.

“E-voting is still a good idea. The law proposal that was sent to deliberation [received a] vast number of positive responses, particularly from handicap organisations who believe that a digital voting process will improve their members’ opportunities to cast a vote,” Marlene Borst Hansen, a Radikale spokesperson, told Altinget, an online political news source.

The government’s plan aims to make it easier for the handicapped to vote, increase the precision of the counting system and reduce the number of invalid votes.

However, critics – including researchers at the IT University of Copenhagen, the IT union PROSA and the IT association IT-Politisk Forening – are worried that the security and transparency of future elections could be compromised in the move to go digital.

“Today, Danes have a lot of faith in the voting process and that’s partially due to the fact that it is uncomplicated and easy to control,” Carsten Schürmann, a lecturer and the head of the IT University’s research project, DemTech, told Altinget.dk. “Neither the government’s proposal nor the comments to it convey how they intend to secure this trust.”

IT-Politisk Forening was even more pronounced in its criticism, arguing that an e-voting system should be abandoned altogether.

“IT-Politisk Forening recommends that parliament scrap this proposal. We believe that the advantages of an e-voting system are minimal while the risks are numerous,” IT-Politisk Forening

wrote in its response to the proposal.

“This proposal could gamble with our long-term democratic traditions and reduce the public’s faith in the election process.”

The only official government response to the criticism thus far has been to address the financial aspects of e-voting. The government has acknowledged that, along with the costs of establishing the digital system, there will also be ongoing costs associated with it. But there has been no response to the recommendations of the many interest groups and specialists that were consulted by the Interior Ministry, which is responsible for organising elections.

E-voting has met with complications in Germany and the Netherlands, the IT University pointed out. A constitutional court in Germany ruled in 2009 that digital voting was unconstitutional, since not everyone possessed the skills necessary to utilise the computer technology used for voting.

The Dutch parliament voted to return to a traditional pencil and paper voting system in 2008 following intense public outcry. The politicians decided that they could not secure voter secrecy because voting control had been delegated to private firms to such a degree that there was no public control.

Some critics contend that bringing e-elections to Denmark could potentially become a new fiasco – on par with the oft-delayed and criticised ‘Rejsekort’ system – if the technological specifications of the system have not been properly developed by the time is launched.

Hansen, however, rejected the claims.

“We are not talking about a pilot project here,” Hansen told Altinget. dk. “Other countries already have electronic elections, so the technology does exist. I trust the ministry.”

The electronic voting system was supposed to be implemented in the council and regional elections this autumn, but now it is expected that the new system won’t be tried until the European Parliament elections next year.

Islamic leaders regret crisis role Enhedslisten’s Pernille Skipper has been an outspoken critic of the new law

law is all about how we create openness about our legislative process, but the debate about the law has been completely closed down.”

The new offentlighedslov is expected to pass with the support of V and K. According to Pia Adelsteen (DF), it’s hardly a surprise given that government ministers traditionally only derive from these five parties.

“The offentlighedslov is what we use to keep tabs on those in power, and the law now contains a little under-thetable agreement between the ministerial parties,” Adelsteen told Politiken. “I think that says it all.”

Critics of the law argue that scandals, such as the ongoing ‘Taxgate’ scandal, would never have been uncovered if it weren’t for access to ministerial documents.

But the Justice Ministry argues that the new law makes many positive changes that increase access to information, particularly through digitalisation and online information requests.

Two participants in a 2006 trip to the Middle East that stoked the flames of the Cartoon Crisis now say they regret their roles

O

ne of the central characters in the Mohammed Cartoon Crisis in 2006 says he regrets his role in the controversy that propelled the country to the top of terrorists’ target lists.

Ahmed Akkari, the former spokesperson for the Muslim faith group Det Islamiske Trossamfund, now says that he regrets his trip to the Middle East, which he said had “unintended consequences” and helped catalyse the crisis.

In early 2006, Akkari travelled to the Middle East with the former leader of Det Islamiske Trossamfund, Abu Abdul Laban, to speak about the cartoons of the prophet Mohammed that Jyllands-Posten newspaper printed in September 2005.

The reaction to the images in the Middle East resulted in attacks on several Danish embassies and a mass boycott of Danish products.

“I regret paving the way for these imams, associations and groups to promote themselves at the expense of

a serious threat to the civil rights of Muslims,” Akkari told Jyllands-Posten.

“The trip had some intended as well as some unintended consequences, the most unfortunate of which was that the Muslims’ attempt to convey their point ended up falling on deaf ears.”

Akkari’s remarks come after DR’s P1 radio aired an interview with Imran Shah, the current spokesperson for Det Islamiske Trossamfund, in which Shah said he also regretted the Middle East trip.

“If we could have foreseen the human and material ramifications of our trip, we never would have gone,” Shah told DR. “We have been a factor in it and we are sorry for the damages caused, particularly because we are very concerned about the safety of Danish society.”

Akkari still believes that the 12-illustration series that Jyllands-Posten printed helped foster stereotypes and said the blame for the ordeal ultimately rests in the hands of the newspaper. Had it printed illustrations of Osama Bin Laden or someone other than the prophet, Akkari said, the whole dilemma would probably have been avoided.

Akkari is no longer affiliated with Det Islamiske Trossamfund. (CW)

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8

OPINION

THE COPENHAGEN POST CPHPOST.DK

Ballot 1.0

15 - 21 February 2013

Inhumane and illogical treatment of us sex workers

E-voting would be a worthwhile alternative to the current voting system, if it needed replacing

A

MONG THE myriad of global rankings Denmark tops, it ranks 22nd out of the 198 countries ranked by the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance.

Voter turnout alone is of course no guarantee of electoral freedom. Somalia, which registered a 98.6 percent turnout in 1984, tops the same list, while the US comes in 186th with a 41.9 percent turnout during the 2010 mid-term election. However, Denmark’s 87.7 percent turnout, coupled with a ballot rejection rate of under 1 percent should serve as a clear sign to lawmakers that they should resist the temptation to tinker with the current paper ballot system.

Much of the reason why the current system functions so well may have to do with its decidedly low-tech approach: paper ballots are filled in by hand, folded and stuffed in a sealed container under the watchful eye of citizen election officials. Later, ballots are counted by hand – first by party, then by individual candidate. Despite the all-manual method, election outcomes are available within hours of the polls closing.

At a time when so little appears to work with our political process, it’s refreshing to see that at least the system set up to put them into power functions relatively smoothly.

This system may now be upgraded to an electronic version that even computer experts warn against. It’s true that e-voting has some potential benefits, including lower costs and even faster processing times. Having an easily accessible voting system might even make it possible for lawmakers to put contentious issues to a referendum more frequently.

It’s also likely that access for handicapped voters could be improved, but if ease of access were the primary issue, other less complex measures should be considered first. In some US states, for example, absentee voters are permitted to scan their completed paper ballot and email it to voting authorities. Other widely available technologies – including video cameras and smartphones – could easily be incorporated into this process.

Given the nation’s poor track record implementing major IT systems, the Interior Ministry would probably save money by sending out an election official to the home of every disabled voter in the days leading up to the election. The cost would almost certainly be less than it would take to design, test, implement and maintain a secure computer network that would be used less than once a year.

The government should listen to those who know best – the voters themselves – and keep the ballot offline.

SUSANNE MØLLER

I

N ONE OF THE recent episodes of the political drama ‘Borgen’, the lead character Birgitte Nyborg was first in favour of criminalising prostitution, but then changed her mind and supported giving rights to sex workers. Among real life politicians, we’re fortunate to be able to find lawmakers that feel the same way. These MPs have three main tasks if they want to accomplish their goal. Firstly, they need to undo an enormous mistake that was made as part of the 1999 legalisation of the sex trade.

Secondly, they need to modernise laws preventing organised prostitution. And lastly, they need to make sure that the few legal rights we do have are protected.

When the sex trade was legalised in 1999, the change wasn’t a matter of a change of heart about whether it was acceptable. It was a change of tactics that approached prostitution as a social problem.

So while lawmakers made it legal in one respect, they didn’t make it legal in all respects. Today, that decision seems incomprehensible.

Business regulations, labour rules and social services should protect

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money it confiscates in cases of organised prostitution, instead of giving it back to the sex workers it was taken from.

It isn’t illegal to make money from the work performed by sex workers, and it is impossible to make it illegal. If it were, then the stores that sold us the items we use in our work would also need to be punished. What winds up getting punished is the act of organising sex workers.

That would include a woman that runs a brothel, even if what she did was to make a schedule of who works when. Such a schedule is a practical help that we sex workers want; nevertheless the person that draws it up is violating the law, even though she’s not exploiting us.

The ban on organised prostitution should be thrown out, in the eyes of sex workers’ union SiO. We know that this worries many, but in order to allay those fears we propose that the law preventing someone from hiring another person as a sex worker be kept. By doing so, we’d make sure that the unemployed, for example, weren’t required to apply for jobs as prostitutes. It also means that should a woman who runs a brothel try to boss a sex worker around as if she were her own employee, she could be prosecuted.

The change would provide real protection for sex workers, not keep alive some outdated notion of public decency.

This position marks a change of SiO policy. Previously, we demanded the same rights as everyone else. Our change is partly in recognition that some people do have concerns. But it is also partly due to the general assumption that sex workers are employed in some enormous industry, and

that this is some kind of labour conflict. The reality is quite different. Individual sex workers are required to be registered businesses (for tax collection purposes).

In reality, we are an industry of 2,000 owner-operated companies, and we like it that way. We don’t want anyone bossing us around and want to maintain our flexibility and our right to decide over ourselves.

Lastly, we want the rights we theoretically do have to be respected. In the episode of ‘Borgen’ mentioned above, they talked about the police practice of accompanying tax officials when they call on brothels. During those inspections, the police, claiming to be protecting the tax officials, carry out illegal searches.

Unfortunately, this is how it happens in the real world too. Such searches are a violation of our rights, and the only reason the police do it that way is because they have no real grounds to suspect us of anything. If they did, they’d be able to secure a warrant. It’s a myth, though, that our business is more criminal than any other.

We’d like it if the police stopped tapping our phone calls, unless they, for a change, have reason to suspect serious crime. It would also be nice if the tax authorities started treating us professionally.

They have no reason to, year and year out, place us high on their list of suspected tax cheats. That they do so is pure discrimination.

It is inhumane and illogical that at the same time as people say they want to protect us, they also violate our basic human rights. No wonder Birgitte Nyborg changed her mind.

The author is the spokesperson for sex workers’ union SiO.

READER COMMENTS Thank you, Copenhagen We recently stayed in Copenhagen for six weeks and wanted to tell you what an exceptional experience it was for us. The safe streets, no guns, healthy and courteous people were a joy.

Everyone who waited on us – from little grocery stores around Strandboulevarden 166 as well as coffee shops, stores of all kinds – were amazingly helpful and showed that they enjoy their jobs.

North America, where we are from, could learn so much from Denmark – but we fear it is too late. Hold on to what you have, and you should be so proud.

Paula & Dean Fredlund By email Immigrants closing education gap

www.cphpost.dk

people. Why not extend these protections to sex workers, especially if their trade is considered to be a social problem? If that’s the case then we should be some of the people in most need of legal protection.

Sex workers, for example, don’t have the right to sign up for unemployment insurance. Only the fewest of us would be likely to take advantage of that opportunity if it were available, but there are some that would. For those that did, it would be a way to get help if they wanted to take classes to learn a new trade. Yet, that’s not permitted – even though parliament is nearly unanimous in its desire for us to change our careers. Instead of letting us go through the existing channels, parliament comes up with one costly exit programme after the other. Each just as ineffective as the last.

What’s more, we’re not allowed to enter into binding contracts. This is a major hindrance that would help alleviate many of the practical problems that instead wind up turning into cases of human trafficking. Such is often the case with many foreign sex workers. They get help to come to Denmark, and then once they get here they wind up disagreeing with their handlers about what the deal was.

The next problem is the ban on organised prostitution. The common perception is that the ban protects us by making sure that anyone who makes money off our work gets punished for it. Not only do these people get punished, it was never the intent of the law that they should. The ban was intended as a way to protect public decency, and this is why the state hangs on to the

I would not be surprised if foreigners surpass the general population in a few years and then become the most sought-after students by Danish university research groups, and then the most sought-after engineers and scientists in Danish companies. This has happened before in many other places. No amount of prejudice or of misplaced sense

of superiority could even slow that a bit. Plus, some have the advantage of having hardworking elders to look up to, and not partying hard.

Loroferoz By website Media and politicians rally around Hedegaard Hedegaard is the hero that Copenhagen deserves, but not the one it needs right now, and so we’ll hunt him because he can take it, because he’s not a hero.

He’s a silent guardian, a watchful protector ... a Dark Knight.

Hurrrrr By website Asylum for gay Afghan man sets precedent If an Afghan fakes being gay, they are dead when they get home. If they fake changing religion, they are dead when they get home. The religion they convert to does not matter, it still means death. The only thing that could be worse is if they became an atheist. The grounds for asylum are that they have a high chance of being killed.

The minimum they could expect is a very difficult time proving they had faked it. This is because

Islam takes this very seriously. In fact, they would be in danger in Denmark, since other Muslims would have a duty to kill them.

The vast majority would ignore it, but it only takes one extremist.

They would also be cut off from friends and family and shunned by their community. Therefore, it is highly unlikely that an Afghan refugee would use this method to trick their way through the system. However, naturally the authorities should check if it is a genuine claim. Unfortunately, like all others it is open to abuse.

I would like to see the EU take a common responsibility here.

TraiilerTrash By website If he was at risk of going ’home’ because of a legitimate threat of physical violence, for whatever reason, I see no reason to deny him asylum. What he will find out is that while Danes will not kill him for being gay, a significant percentage of the Danish population will shun him for being gay. But then, those are the same Danes who would shun him for being Afghan, so he really isn’t losing anything further by being gay.

Tom By website

Law gives support to foreign domestic abuse victims I see a serious flaw with this plan.

Sure it’s great that they won’t be deported. But they will have to spend every waking moment and every kr they can gather to have a mega-slim chance to get custody of their children from their abusive Danish spouse.

Reminisence By website Abandoned baby leads to call for political action An infant depository system is definitely a step in the right direction, so too are fundamental changes in the way that Denmark and Danish society look at infant adoption, which at present is generally seen as a method for childless Danes to import non-ethnic infants. The sanctimonious shits with their perpetual motion happiness schtick should see that adopting and loving their own is truly the epitome of being a civilized society. Simply throwing money at the problem does not make an unwanted child wanted and loved.

SNCO By website

OPINION

THE COPENHAGEN POST CPHPOST.DK

15 - 21 February 2013

All eyes on the skies

W

Still Adjusting

BY JUSTIN CREMER The CPH Post’s news editor, Justin Cremer, is an American who has lived full-time in Copenhagen since 2010. Asked often if he likes it here, his usual response is “It depends on the day.” Follow him at twitter.com/justincph

ITH THE strange, twisted tale of Morten Storm continuing to garner attention outside of our nation’s borders, Denmark finds itself a minor player in the ongoing controversy surrounding the US’s use of unmanned drones.

The story of Storm, who directed the CIA’s drones to the hideout of Americanborn al-Qaeda member Anwar al-Awlaki in Yemen, is featured in the latest issue of Newsweek, and the Jyllands-Posten journalists who have written extensively about Storm were recently awarded the European Press Prize.

As Storm continues his quest for the credit he feels he deserves from the Americans, the debate over the legality of drone attacks is heating up in Washington, with the al-Awlaki incident front and centre.

At the congressional confirmation hearing for John Brennan, President Obama’s pick to head the CIA, Brennan defended the decision to take out alAwlaki in the September 2011 drone attack that also killed Samir Khan, another American citizen. A subsequent attack weeks later killed al-Awlaki’s 16-year-old son, Abdulrahman, also a US citizen.

No word yet if the media-happy Storm wants credit for those deaths too.

The Obama administration, which has ordered more than 300 drone attacks in Pakistan alone, recently granted access to classified documents that claim to outline the legal basis for America’s killing of individuals with drones – even if it’s their own citizens.

The ‘legality’ of the drone strikes is down to Obama claiming for himself the power to order killings if he feels that the individual’s death will keep Americans safer. There is no due process and no independent oversight. And these ‘targeted killings’ often hit much more than just their target. It is estimated that the drone strikes have claimed the lives of 800 innocent civilians. The whole stink famously recalls the logic of Richard Nixon, who declared: “When the president does it, that means that it is not illegal.”

While the Brennan confirmation hearings indicated that Obama is finally facing some serious blowback from his fellow American politicians including, importantly, members of his own party, several lawmakers in Denmark have been outspoken in their criticism of Obama’s use of drones.

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Leading that charge has been the former immigration minister, Søren Pind (Venstre), who last summer characterised the drone attacks as “assassination” and maintained that Obama was “violat[ing] the principles of the Western world”.

When the foreign minister, Villy Søvndal (Socialistisk Folkeparti), refused to condemn the drone killings, Pind called it “disgusting” and accused Søvndal of violating his own stated principles because Obama is “one of his icons”.

Pind has continued to actively criticise President Obama over the use of drones, publicly airing his opinions so often that there is now speculation he has hurt his own political career by doing so.

Several sources within Venstre told Ekstra Bladet earlier this month that Pind’s outspokenness may cost him the coveted position of foreign minister if the opposition were to take the next election.

Anonymous party sources told the tabloid that by speaking out against the US, a vital ally to Denmark, Pind is showing that he lacks the self-control and diplomatic finesse to be foreign minister.

They’re right, of course, that openly criticising your most powerful ally isn’t particularly diplomatic, but it is princi-

pled. Rather than being thrown under the bus by anonymous members of his party, Pind should receive their support for speaking truth to power.

But let’s be honest here. Neither President Obama, John Brennan nor any other high-ranking US official is likely to be losing any sleep over what politicians in Denmark think about their decisions. And with no-one in PM Helle Thorning-Schmidt’s cabinet thus far joining the chorus of criticism, it is pretty clear that Denmark’s official line will be to continue to support America’s seemingly never-ending ‘war on terror’, despite how much further it may stray from international conventions.

But Pind and the other Danish MPs who have spoken out against the drone attacks should continue to do so. And the American Left, which for far too long has given Obama a pass on actions for which they would have vilified George W Bush, needs to push back on drone attacks.

That way, perhaps the next time a ‘Morten Storm’ comes on the scene, he could actually deliver a terrorist to justice rather than a targeted execution that is only legal because the president says it is.

may kill 60,000!” One broadcaster, leaning earnestly towards the camera, said: “With more snow and ice forecast, is Britain sliding towards chaos?”

What a rich seam of endless comment the subject of the weather has become for the British! And in the summer, when the temperatures hit 25 Celcius, the weather is described as “Sizzling!”, “Blistering heat”, “Melt Down!”. Meanwhile, the undramatic Danes look at us from across the North Sea and laugh: “Der er bare vejret, for pokker!” (“It’s just weather, for God’s sake!”)

Regardless of age, colour and nationality, weather-talk is the one thing that unites the British. It’s the one thing they can share and the one thing they can all agree on. It breaks down social barriers and provides an endless stream of subject matter that is unthreatening and potentially amusing. Wasn’t it George W Bush who said if we want to fight global warming, why don’t we just change from Fahrenheit to Celcius?

One in five Brits claim talking about the weather is an easy way of appearing

friendly to strangers. Perhaps the Danes should take heed of this. Instead of sniggering at the British obsession with the weather, they could also use it as a way to be friendly to newcomers to their country. I mean, how easy would it be to answer that question: “Cold today, isn’t it?” with a cheery reply: “Ja, ja − but it will be much worse tomorrow!”

It is hard for a Brit to stop using the weather as an opening line in a conversation. I am writing this piece in Goa where I am on holiday (yes, I escaped) – and this morning when the Indian beach attendant organised a sunbed for me, I found myself saying to him: “Hot today, isn’t it?” He didn’t even bother to nod. The weather can never be used as a conversation ice-breaker in a country where the temperature remains more or less the same all year around. Many years ago, I went to the Costa del Sol for a holiday and, wanting to be friendly to a young beach attendant, I said: “Estoy caliente!!”, which I later found out did not mean “It’s hot!” but “I am horny”!

Now that WAS an ice-breaker!

Weather you like it or not

I

Crazier than Christmas

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

T IS FAMOUSLY difficult to make idle chat with Danes. Have you tried? Give it a go. Stand in a queue in a supermarket and say something like: “Cold today, isn’t it?”

And watch their reaction. First they will look alarmed, and then they will either ignore you or, if they decide you are not a complete nutcase or a not-tooscary-looking foreigner, they might just nod. Most Danes will say they struggle to make social chit-chat with strangers because they are shy and do not know what to say. Another reason is that, in this instance, they are simply confused.

The question is completely irrelevant to them. They simply don’t realise that the English way to break the ice is to talk about the weather!

A study has found that for the majority of British people, conversation turns to the weather at least once every six hours. Seventy percent use it as a social prop. Denmark has similar weather to Britain, but they deal with it by heating their homes properly, removing snow from roads and train lines instant-

ly and de-icing their airport runways to avoid travel chaos. The one thing the Danes don’t do with their abysmal weather is talk about it. When pushed, with Scandinavian stoicism they claim: “There is no such thing as bad weather, just the wrong clothing.”

They would certainly never use the weather as a conversation ice-breaker.

And during these February days, icebreaker is an apt description. For the Brits, a snowfall is not just a talking point, but treated by the media as an alien invasion. The news headlines are full of it. TV networks dispatch journalists to all corners of the nation where they stand in a few inches of snow and say to the camera: “This is terrible. Do not leave your homes unless you have to.

Conditions are treacherous ...” Treacherous? So the weather has evil intentions on the populace?

It would seem the weather is another thing we need to live in fear of. Headlines tell the frightening tale: “Critically low levels of grit for the roads!”, “Thousands of schools closed”, “Bad weather

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15 - 21 February 2013

An international response to North Korea’s atomic detonation hinges on China’s willingness to pressure their unpopular allies

P

rime Minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt (Socialdemokraterne) and Foreign Minister Villy Søvndal (Socialistisk Folkeparti) both condemned North Korea’s detonation of an atomic device on Tuesday, saying they would support a harsh international reaction.

“It is imperative that the international community reacts forcefully to the latest North Korean provocation,” ThorningScmidt said in a statement. “We must pressure them back to the negotiation table. We condemn the underground detonation of atomic devices, which is in clear violation of international regulations and the responsibilities of North Korea.”

Søvndal echoed his PM’s sentiments, contending that the act was not only a threat to South Korea, but to a world that was focusing on nuclear disarmament rather than escalation.

“I strongly condemn North Korea’s atomic detonation. It is a clear breach of a unanimous global society that warned North Korea about detonating atomic devices as recently as January,” Søvndal wrote in a press release.

“We support a strong reaction from the international community, including from the United Nations Security Council and the EU. It must be made crystal clear that the provocation will only serve to further isolate the leaders in Pyongyang.”

North Korea conducted the nuclear test in an underground testing site in the remote northeastern region of the country on Tuesday in its latest effort to build a bomb that is small enough to be attached to a long-range missile.

Monitoring agencies in the region detected a seismic event, measuring about 5.1 on the Richter Scale at 11:57am local time, which had an epicentre in the same location as North Korea’s Punggye-ri nuclear test site.

The North Korean authorities indicated that the detonation, the third of its kind in North Korea, was a warning to the US and was from a smaller atomic device than the previous

KCNA / Scanpix

Christian Wenande

Scanpix / LAURENT DUBRULE

Søvndal: China must pressure North Korea PM Helle Thorning-Schmidt successfully secured one billion kroner from her fellow EU leaders in Brussels

Denmark gets its rebate North Korea’s Kim Jong-un

two detonations.

The detonation immediately provoked condemnations from the United Nations, the US and other countries and puts pressure on one of North Korea’s only allies, China. According to Søvndal, a strong response from the Chinese is vital.

“China is definitely the key because it assists North Korea financially,” Søvndal told Ritzau. “Significant gains can be made if China puts pressure on them, and I am very interested in seeing what the Chinese reaction will be.”

The Associated Press reported that China’s foreign minister summoned North Korea’s ambassador on Tuesday and demanded that his country cease with its nuclear threats.

PM’s strategy pays off as EU leaders reach agreement on seven-year budget

D

enmark’s demand for a one billion kroner rebate on its EU contribution was approved last week.

EU leaders reached an agreement in Brussels on Friday on a seven-year budget that begins in 2014. The budget will see €980 billion in total spending, which marks the first time since the EU was created that spending will decrease from the previous budget.

The approval of Denmark’s rebate demand was a huge victory for PM Helle Thorning-Schmidt (Socialdemokraterne), who was able to push it through following 26 hours of negotiations. Thorning-Schmidt repeatedly threat-

ened to veto the budget if it did not include the rebate.

“This has required unbelievably hard work, not just from me but from everybody in the team from the government and the whole administration,” Thorning-Schmidt told the Danish press corps in Brussels.

“We chose a strategy; it worked and we are very happy for that.”

Herman Van Rompuy, the president of the European Council, expressed satisfaction with the budget agreement.

“It has been a lengthy, but successful 24 hours,” Van Rompuy said shortly after last Friday’s negotations wrapped up.

“The European Council has just agreed on the next multiannual budget. And not just any budget. It is a balanced and growthorientated budget for Europe for the rest of the decade. (JC)

Danish bishop shocked over pope’s exit

P

ope Benedict XVI, who took office in 2005 following the death of his predecessor, John Paul II, announced on Monday that he will retire at the end of this month. He will be the first pope to step down voluntarily in six centuries.

The German-born pontiff, 85, said in a statement that after examining his conscience, he had decided that he was simply too old to continue.

“Before God, I have come to the certainty that my strengths, due to an advanced age, are no longer suited to an adequate exercise of my position as head of the Roman Catholic Church,” he wrote.

Danish Catholic Bishop Czeslaw Kozon was shocked, as were many other Catholics around the world, by the announcement.

“Pope Benedict is popular and well-liked,” the bishop told Politiken newspaper. “He will be remembered as a great theologian and preacher, who managed to convey the Catholic faith clearly.”

Resignations from the papacy are not unknown, but the modern era has been marked by pontiffs dying while in office.

The last to step down was Gregory XII in 1415. (RW)

Horsemeat scandal still on the trot

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Christian Wenande Danish supermarkets decide to pull tainted products

D

anish supermarkets have decided to stop selling products from the French company Comigel, which is connected to the ongoing food scandal involving horsemeat being sold as beef.

Føtex, Netto and Bilka, which all operate under the Dansk Supermarked umbrella, decided on Tuesday to pull Findus lasagne packages produced

by Comigel.

“We will no longer have anything from Comigel, so the goods are no longer to be found in our stores and may not return in the future,” Mads Hvitved, Dansk Supermarked’s director of communications, told Ekstra Bladet.

The Coop group of supermarkets – Kvickly and the various ‘Brugsen’ stores – pulled their Comigel lasagne packages last week.

“We did it because of the doubt that has arisen concerning Comigel’s products,” Jens Juul Nielsen, a spokesperson from Coop Danmark, told Politiken.

Comigel is a food supplier to Tesco. Another supplier to Tesco, Silvercrest Foods, was found by Irish food officials to be supplying beef with traces of horse DNA in January. This led to Tesco and

Suspicion reaches Danish company Flexi Food Ltd, a UK meat distributor owned by the Danish firm Flexi Food Holding ApS, is suspected by British food authorities of selling horsemeat, Jyllands-Posten newspaper reported on Wednesday.

The Irish food company McAdam Foods alleges that Flexi Food Ltd purchased horsemeat in Poland and resold it as ground beef.

Jyllands-Posten reports that Flexi Food is now being

investigated by the British authorities. The newspaper also writes that DNA tests from Flexi Food revealed that 80 percent of the meat in question was horsemeat.

Flexi Food Holding ApS is located in Charlottenlund, north of Copenhagen. JyllandsPosten contacted the company for a response, but the company would only say that it was co-operating voluntarily with the British authorities. (JC)

three other British supermarkets pulling massive amounts of suspect beef off the market in what has become the biggest food scandal to hit Europe in years. Fast food giant Burger King was also forced to toss millions of burgers, including at all of its locations in Denmark.

Politiken newspaper reported on Monday that up to 16 countries could be involved in the growing horsemeat scandal.

Stores in Britain, France, Sweden, Ireland and Romania have withdrawn ready-made meals, some of which have been suspected of containing up to 100 percent horsemeat.

No horsemeat has been found in Denmark thus far, and there is no evidence to suggest that Danish consumers have been eating horsemeat, accord-

ing to Kim Sigsgaard, a spokesperson from the food authority board, Fødevarestyrelsen.

“We are following the development of the situation in Britain and in Sweden intently, but we believe that the chances of finding horsemeat in Danish stores are minimal,” Sigsgaard told TV2 News. “But, it’s a pretty massive fraud case in Europe at the moment, so we can’t be completely sure.”

The Danish food minister, Mette Gjerskov (Socialdemokraterne), announced on Tuesday that Fødevarestyrelsen, would inspect Danish supermarkets to ensure that stores have pulled the products off the shelves as promised.

European ministers were called to Brussels to discuss the issue on Wednesday.

COMMUNITY

THE COPENHAGEN POST CPHPOST.DK

15 - 21 February 2013

11

Wonderful indeed! Finally a reason to look forward to January!

PHOTOS: CLIVE THAIN

WORDS: BEN HAMILTON

Panto season is over! Late last month, the final curtain went up on the Copenhagen Theatre Circle’s run of ‘Aladdin and his Wonderful Lamp’ at Krudttønden theatre in Østerbro, concluding what has been another successful winter season for the group. After the show, the actors really like to run riot at the after-party for cast, crew and friends. Leading the frenzy this year were CTC virgin Martin Popplewell (left), who played the villain Abanazar, and old hand Iven Gilmore (right), who filled the shoes, or at least baggy dresses, of Widow Twankey

It was time to relax, mingle, have a few drinks and get stuck into this great spread. Leading the charge were Sebastien Bagot (Aladdin) and to his left, Lucy Schofield (who played the prince in the 2011-12 production of ‘Cinderella’)

The cast take their final bow, happy to have done such a great job, perhaps a little sad it’s finally over

This one is for the ladies! Half the comments on the group’s Facebook page concerned the charms of Josh Shires (right), Two more stars of the show, Mario Paganini (Huangshan) who played the Genie of the Lamp. While Iven Gilmore took and Debbie Taylor (WPC Pang), strutted their stuff to much acclaim the opportunity to remind everyone he’s all man

It was clearly a highly enjoyable evening for all those who attended

As is traditional, CTC chairman Frank Theakston thanked the troops who toiled tirelessly behind the scenes to bring the production to the stage, recognising, among others, the work of Jessica Thomas as Eva Kristensen and Raymond Shinn, who took care Katja Andreassen, who was responsible for the creative co-ordinator Nathalie Bessonnet … the production manager … lighting design … of the lighting and sound …

And let’s not forget the public, without whose attendance the CTC wouldn’t Pictured here are Jene Larsen, Eric and Catherine … have a future (not meaning to be bleak!)

sisters Claudia and Andreea Micula, who are from Ro- and Lorenzo and Marina from Italy mania …

and director Barry McKenna

It truly attracted fans of all sizes and ages

12

COMMUNITY

THE COPENHAGEN POST CPHPOST.DK

15 - 21 February 2013

ABOUT TOWN PHOTOS BY HASSE FERROLD UNLESS OTHERWISE STATED

City Hall provided the venue for spectacular Chinese New Year celebrations on February 9 as the city’s Chinese community bid farewell to the Year of the Rat and welcomed in the Year of the Snake the next day.

Pictured here (centre) are Finn Andersen, the secretary general of the Danish Cultural Institute (second from left) with (left-right from the fourth left) Heidi Wang, a city councillor who is the president of the newlylaunched Nordic Chinese Chamber of Commerce (see www.nccchamber.com for more details), the city mayor, Frank Jensen, Chinese ambassador Li Ruiyu, and Chinese Association in Denmark chairman Yanbiao Lin. The occasion included performances by the China Inner Mongolia Wulanmuqi Art Troupe (left), who were also the guest performers at the Danish Royal Academy of Music a day earlier (right)

There was a strong turnout last week on Thursday at the Cuban Embassy to mark the 54th anniversary of the Cuban Revolution.

Spanish ambassador Diego Muñiz Lovelace (right) Pictured here (left-right) enjoying the occasion are Aalbæk Spewas the co-organiser of a concert at Christians cialiteter sales director Henry Franzen, Cuban ambassador Caridad Kirke on Tuesday featuring pianist Santiago Alonso Yamira Cueto Milian, Bocuse d’Or representative Carsten Philipsen, (left) and soprano Laura Moyano (centre) smoking a Cuban of course, and the ambassador’s husband

COMING UP SOON Organisation and management: understanding human behaviour in organisations Folk Universitet, Njalsgade 120148; Cph S; Saturdays 10:1514:00, starts March 2, ends April 13; 880kr; www.fukbh.dk Lecturer Syed Salman Ahmad of Copenhagen Business School’s course will cover values and ethics, job satisfaction and learning and behaviour modification.

Seminar on Danish Workplace Culture University of Copenhagen, Nørregade 10, Cph K; free adm; limited access, register at www.kk.dk/ English Have you ever wondered about rules in your Danish workplace, why there are so many meetings, or how to handle your manager or teammates? Join this event to gain an understanding of Danish workplace culture, discuss common challenges, and how to contribute to a better work environment. Coffee, tea and sandwiches will be provided.

Bollywood Dance for Spouses Søndermarksskolen, Hoffmeyersvej 32, Frederiksberg; Sun Feb 24, 14:00; 50kr, children free; email info@spousecare.dk to register Join Spousecare at their next Bollywood dancing event for an evening of meeting new people – both Danes and expats alike – and getting some simultaneous exercise.

Professional dance instructor Sateja Bhalekar will run the evening.

CTC Play Reading Copenhagen Theatre Circle Meetu; Red Lion Pub, Nikolajgade 18, Cph K; Thu 19:00; free adm; www.ctcircle.dk/events The Copenhagen Theatre Circle is holding a play reading. Character changes take place every ten to 15 minutes, so you can try out several different parts. Readings are a great chance to meet others and help the CTC test out plays for future productions. The Red Lion offers a 40 percent discount for CTC members.

CTC Open Stage Night Copenhagen Theatre Circle Meetup; Cafe Cadeau, HC Ørstedsvej 28, Frederiksberg; Fri 19:00, doors open 18:15; free adm Join the CTC at their Open Stage night, where English-language performers can let their inner talents shine.

Social Networking Dinner TIGHT Restaurant, Hyskenstræde 10, Cph K; Wed Feb 27, 19:00-21:30; free adm; email toniheisterberg@cis.dk by Feb 25 to sign up; www.epwn.net/ events/4463 Join the European Professional Women’s Network for an evening of fine food and networking at their partner restaurant TIGHT. A casual format for the evening is planned, with an emphasis on conversation and company. Please note that attendees are responsible for paying for their own dinner.

Armenian ambassador Hrachya Aghajanyan was the proud host of a pre-concert reception ahead of a performance at the DR Concert Hall

by Danish-Armenian pianist Marianna Shirinyan. Here he is pictured with DR-Byen’s head of music Leif Lønsmann (right)

Entrepreneurship and Creativity Workshop Books & Company, Sofievej 1, Hellerup; Wed 19:00-21:00; 75kr; email signup@booksandcompany.dk to sign up An interesting and inspiring seminar on entrepreneurship.

Expat Spouse: Driving family force or drifting talent?

Books & Company, Sofievej 1; Hellerup; March 6, 09:00-11:00; 50kr; email signup@booksandcompany.dk to sign up This workshop covers the latest perspectives on expat partner talent.

The Migration Industry and Commercialisation of International Migration Danish Institute for International Studies, Strandgade 71, Cph K; free adm, registration required by Feb 20 at noon; register at www. diis.dk/sw126260.asp; email event@diis.dk or call 3269 8751 for more information Speakers at this seminar will question how countries should work with companies to attract labour migration, and examine the interplay between migration policies and the clandestine parts of the migration industry, as well as the policy and human rights consequences of the increasing privatisation of migration management functions.

JESSICA HANLEY

Attending the opening night of the English-language opera ‘The Devils of Loudun’ on Tuesday was its Polish composer Krzysztof Penderecki, who is perhaps best known for his creepy score contributions to films like ‘The Shining’ and ‘The Exorcist’. For more details, see page G2 of InOut

Iran celebrated its national day with a reception at the ambassador’s residence last week on Friday. Pictured here (left-right) are Armenian ambassador Hrachya Aghajanyan, Pakistani ambassador Fauzia Abbas and Iran’s newly-appointed ambassador Hamid Bayat. Salam!

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

Time’s running out

D

EAR READER, As you sit reading this, I’ll have two weeks to go until the premiere of our next theatre production, ‘Shakespear’s Women’ (See G2 in InOut for details).

At this point in the proceedings, we always think that’s there’s far much to do and that it’ll never get done and that time is running out. Well, maybe this time I’ll be less worried than usual, as after all, it’s only a play: a piece of make-believe. The reason I am being more philosophical about it all is because I heard some sad news recently about one of my closest friends who has been diagnosed with advanced pancreatic cancer. That’s right, the same one as Wilco Johnson, the energetic lead guitarist of Dr Feelgood, who’s planning a real ‘farewell tour’, after which he will not be able to make another.

If you cast your minds back, that illness also claimed Bill Hicks, a truly great comedian

who told the world in no uncertain terms what he thought was wrong with it. He shuffled off this mortal coil in 1994 at the tender age of 33, and the world sadly hasn’t changed much. It still seems to be controlled by advertising men, bankers, mediocrity and greed. “Keep people stupid and apathetic,” was one of Bill Hicks’s mantras.

I remember when the weekends used to be the busiest nights at the theatre. No longer it would seem Take a quick look at what’s on the TV any night (apart from football, of course) and realise that he was right. ‘X-Factor’ type mediocrity has a very large audience. Theatres all over the country have a hard time get-

ting an audience on Fridays because of it. I remember when the weekends used to be the busiest nights at the theatre. No longer it would seem. We can’t compete with the manipulative, idiotic drivel that it seems the people want ... (My own family watch it! Scream!!) I can’t. I put on headphones and listen to some good music, recorded by people with real talent instead.

Alright, an occasional true talent is unearthed on ‘X Factor’, but Denmark’s pool of potential Pavarottis is very shallow. Perhaps the producers (in league with the devil obviously) might consider presenting this programme once every five years?

Just a suggestion.

Our play is on until 23 March. I’m nervous and excited.

I want to go and see my friend before it’s too late and have to wait until the end of the run to do so. Maybe you and your friends have morbidly wondered who’ll be the first? Time’s a running. Carpe diem eh?

LIFESTYLE: WINTER GARDENING THE COPENHAGEN POST CPHPOST.DK

15 - 21 February 2013

A plan for all seasons

BY TOBY MUSGRAVE

Put a spring in your step sharpish!

I

T MAY STILL be dark in the mornings, but spring is not too far off, and its herald marks the beginning of the gardening year.

It’s a busy period, so it’s a good idea to plan ahead, and since there are many maintenance and preparative tasks that can be carried out in February and March, that will take the pressure off in the coming months. And if you put the work in now, you can also get yourself an earlier harvest of vegetables.

Toby Musgrave is one of Britain’s most celebrated gardeners - both as an author, historian and design consultant - but yet he has lived in Denmark this past decade, so who better to turn to, to find out everything you need to know about preparing for and enjoying the different seasons. Find out more at www.tobymusgrave.com.

half-hardy bedding plants, and tender/exotic vegetables − but remember they will need a minimum temperature of 10-18 Celsius, so make space on a warm window ledge (move them away from the glass if a cold night is forecast) or put them in a heated greenhouse or frame.

have seen places in the garden where water is standing, improve the drainage by digging in a mix of

Have a bulb moment before it’s too late IT IS ALSO the season of bulbs, and it is so cheering to see the first erantis (winter aconite) and vintergæk (snowdrop) open their flowers. One tip for the latter: unlike other springflowering bulbs that are planted in the autumn, snowdrops should be planted ‘green’ − that is to say, with their leaves still attached in the weeks after they have finished flowering. And for all spring-flowering bulbs, give them a good feed of organic fertiliser once they have flowered, and don’t cut off the leaves. Do this and they will both multiply and put on a great show again next year.

Also, once the soil has warmed up a bit, it will be time to plant summerflowering bulbs such as lillies, alliums, nectaroscordum and crocosmia − but be warned that gladiolus will not survive the Danish winter outdoors

PHOTOGRAPH © TOBY MUSGRAVE.

Neglected lawns can leave you forlorn come May IF YOU HAVE used that wonderful and wholly appropriate double-whammy excuse of not cutting back the perennials and ornamental grasses so that birds can feed on the seeds, and so you get a winter show – now is the time to do so, so that they get a good start this spring.

But do not forget to continue to feed the birds, and put water out for them if it is freezing.

With the proviso the soil is not frozen or waterlogged, it’s still okay to lift and move dormant plants around the garden – but make sure you get as big a root ball as possible. And if you

well-rotted horse manure and sharp sand – half a barrow and quarter of a barrow of each respectively per square metre. You can use coarse grit as an alternative to sand, but it’s much more expensive.

Get the lawnmower serviced if you didn’t in the autumn.

Before the spa begins to rise and after the Reap the rewards worst of the of early planning cold weather, prune the roses and trim the top rosette of leaves IF YOU HAVE a heated greenhouse or from mahonias to get good bushy conservatory, from the middle of Febgrowth this summer – but only once ruary onwards, you can sow the seeds of indoor tomatoes and cucumbers, but the flowering has finished. remember to keep them warm but not Towards the end of Halmtorvet March,19 •itThewill Bosch building • DK-1700 Copenhagen V +45 33 31 20and 00 • hej@biomio.dk • www.biomio.dk over-watered. be time to sow the seed ofTlf:tender

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To get an early crop, sow bulb onions, early beetroot, carrots and parsnips into the ground come March and keep them warm by covering with cloches or a horticultural fleece.

Once you’ve bought your seed potatoes, ‘chit’ them by standing them in an egg box with the ‘rose end’ – the one with the most shoots, upright. Let the shoots grow to about 2.5cm long before planting outside In terms of what to sow, I am making a plea that you consider heritage (heirloom) varieties. Not only do they taste great and have good stories to tell, but by growing them you are also helping to preserve our gardening heritage. One great website from which to purchase is www.thomasetty.co.uk. He has a great range of seeds, a fun website (take a look to see what I mean) and also produces a very useful monthly newsletter.

Also, get ahead of yourself and have a spring clean of pots and seed trays ready for the main seed sowing period (you can sterilise them with a wash of Rodalon) and get in a stock of seed compost (peat free, please) before the rush.

Finally, before the sap rises, prune the apple and pear trees.

Feed the birds, don’t shoot them THE DAPHNES are a group of smallto-medium sized shrubs that are grown primarily for their deliciously scented flowers. The mezereon (daphne mezereum) is one of the first to flower in the spring and has been grown in Danish gardens for centuries. It is a most striking shrub, boasting purple-red and very sweet-smelling flowers that cover the bare twigs of last year’s growth, turning this upright shrub (height 1.2m, spread 1.2m) into a riot of colour and scent. But keep an eye out, as hungry birds will eat the buds. If you see this happening, feed the birds and cover the shrub in mesh net.

Flowering a little later in spring is the star magnolia (magnolia stellata) This lovely shrub bears white flowers, with petals which, as its name suggests, are arranged like a star. Not only are the flowers very delicate, but they are also sweetly scented and open from attractive silky buds. It is relatively slow growing, but will eventually reach a height of 3m and a spread of 4m. It has quite a delicate form, and the narrow, deep green leaves that appear after the flowers are very attractive.

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

Garden Health Next week

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Sports

The Copenhagen Post cphpost.dk

15 - 21 February 2013

Their fans cheer, full of beer, champions-elect for another year Omission bodyslams wrestling

It’s like going to a bar with your friends except you’ve got a live game right in front of you! Beer and football: what more could you want?

clearly keen to watch the club’s ‘White Cat’ cheerleaders to perform their latest choreography.

The interval was a show all on its own. While the White Cats may have been modestly dressed, their provocative moves were enough to stun the crowd to silence as they danced to techno remixes of Christmas songs. All but one that is: a 31-year-old neutral spectator from Germany called Tilman Koblitz.

“It’s a bit of a cringeworthy attempt to copy American culture,” Koblitz observed before taking a sip of the pint in his hand. “But that’s probably what makes it so enjoyable to watch.”

FCK went on to win 4-1.

“FCN have had their cake and eaten it,” Delaney defiantly said after the game. “And with that score-line, you know that FCN won’t be able to forget this game anytime soon.”

Unfortunately for FCN, Delaney was probably right.

And what also must have rubbed salt into the wound was hearing the whole stadium chant: ‘Det ligner Champions League!’ (‘It looks like Champions League!’) as FCN trudged off the field. A clear reference to FCN’s 6-1 defeat to Chelsea in late November.

“This victory shows that we are the best in Denmark,” Delaney said. “And while we know the job’s only half done, having a 12-point lead over FCN is a great way to go into the second half of the season.”

to shame. He only announced Delaney’s first name, leaving the 15,000-strong support to scream out his second.

As the half-time whistle blew most of the fans staggered off to the stadium’s bar counters to get another five pints of juleøl and fransk hotdogs, but some were

The Superliga season resumes on March 1 with FC Copenhagen currently leading the table by 12 points after losing just one of their first 20 games. Propping up the table are their main rivals, Brøndby, who are two points adrift of safety despite losing fewer than half their games.

FCKbuzz

Bjarke Smith-Meyer

The Parken match-day experience is a great introduction to the Superliga – tickets rarely sell out and the stadium’s always warm

F

C Copenhagen vs FC Nordsjælland, December 9: the final game before the Superliga’s winter break. On the one hand, it was a great chance for defending champions FCN to shorten the gap to leaders FCK to six points ahead of the resumption of the season on March 1; for the home side, it was a golden opportunity to extend that lead to double figures. Not only that, but the trash talk was rife.

“We gave FCN the championship last year,” FCK midfielder Thomas Delaney told The Copenhagen Post. “That hurt a lot of people, and now it’s our job to put that right.”

It may have been a big game, but the attendance didn’t really suggest that it was. FCK’s games usually average 20,000 spectators at the 38,000-capacity Parken stadium, but on this match-day, only 15,039 decided to show up.

That might have had something to do with the cold winter weather. But with the stadium’s retractable roof and indoor heating facilities, the absentees didn’t have much of an excuse given that the game was played at a comfortable temperature of 12 degrees.

However, the game’s atmosphere belied the low attendance, as once seated, the stadium felt full. Fans tend to sit in large groups, each holding onto a cardboard, five-pint rack, spilling beer all over the seats in front of them. Not that it mat-

Miaow! Given a choice, Ernst Stavro Blofeld would have preferred to have one of these White Cats on his lap

tered. Everyone was standing and singing in full voice, with their free hand punching the air.

One such fan was 26-year-old FCK supporter Erik Richarme.

“I love match-days,” Richarme almost yelled. “It’s like going to a bar with your friends except you’ve got a live game right in front of you! Beer and football: what more could you want?”

From the moment the game starts, it’s very easy to see what Richarme means, as an explosion of sound is released like Parken had suddenly woken up from a slumber. The drums were beating rhythmically, like a heart, punctuated by the instantaneous roars of ‘SKYDE’ (SHOOT) that erupted in unison, followed by a united ‘OI’ if the shot missed the goal.

Everyone knew the songs and chants, although that wasn’t too surprising when you consider that most of the lyrics consist of the letters ‘FCK’. The simple lyrics made it difficult not to join in with the crowd,

whose endless jumping created ripple-like waves throughout the stadium.

To be fair, that was only when FCK had possession.

Whenever the opposition got the ball, the noise would cease.

Then, slowly, a chorus of offkey whistling would start, low and bothersome at first, but the longer FCN held onto the ball, the louder the whistles got, spurring FCK into action to get the ball back, which would then be followed by a loud cheer from the stands.

Finally the goal arrived. A corner kick caused a scramble in FCN’s box and the ball fell to none other than Delaney, whose shot ricocheted off a defender’s leg into the roof of the net. Parken exploded in celebration. Toilet rolls flew through the air and hundreds of flags appeared out of nowhere, as the stadium’s speakers blasted the chorus of ‘woohoo’ from Blur’s rock anthem ‘Song 2’ at the jubilant crowd.

The voice of a wildly happy match-day announcer then delivered a jubilant volley that would have put a Latin American commentator

Factfile | Match-day ticket prices

Factfile | Match-day food and drink prices

Factfile | Top Tips

•

Jyske Bank central seats: Adults 140kr, under-15s 70kr Unibet goal end seats: Adults 130kr, under-15s 60kr

•

Carlsberg central seats: Adults 90kr, under-15s 35kr

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Sportsmaster goal end seats: Adults 90kr, under-15s 20kr

• • • •

•

•

•

Away end seats: Adults 90kr, under-15s 35kr

Factfile | Spring fixtures at Parken

•

(Concessions for pensioners)

• • • •

Big sandwich and beer: 50kr Hamburger and beer: 55kr French hotdog and beer: 45kr Five-pint rack: 200kr

There’s indoor heating and a retractable roof, so warm clothing isn’t a must

•

Real fans don’t sit, they stand

•

Sing your lungs out – the lyrics are never more elaborate than FCK

Sun March 10, 17:00 vs Silkeborg IF Fri March 15, 18:30 vs AC Horsens Sun April 7, 19:00 vs OB Sun April 28, TBC vs AGF

•

Bring a good drinking buddy

•

Binoculars handy to appreciate White Cats show

Sport faces exclusion from the 2020 Olympics − nearly three millennia after its introduction

I

t’s a complete catastrophe,” Palle Nielsen, the spokesperson of the Danish Wrestling Association, told The Copenhagen Post following the news that the International Olympic Committee (IOC) has voted to drop his sport from the 2020 games onwards.

“To think we’re coming into a world were Olympic sports are chosen on commercial interests is absolutely ridiculous.”

The IOC confirmed on Tuesday that wrestling had been dropped from the core 25 Olympic sports. The body bases such decisions on various factors, including TV ratings, global popularity, ticket sales and antidoping reputations.

It will be the first time since the Paris Games of 1900 that the sport will not be included, and it is particularly surprising considering that wrestling is recognised as the world’s oldest competitive sport, according to Olympic. org, the official website of the Olympic Movement. The sport was introduced into the ancient Olympics in 708 BC; cave drawings of wrestlers have been found dating as far back as 3000 BC. To be reincluded, the sport will now have to compete with seven other sports ­ – baseball/ softball, wushu (kung fu), roller sports, sport climbing, wakeboarding, squash and karate – for just one spot at the 2020 Olympics. Recent additions to the Olympics include golf and rugby sevens, which are making their debuts at the 2016 games.

However, there is a chance that the IOC’s decision could be overturned when the committee meets in September, but Nielsen conceded that it is unlikely.

“It’s not over yet,” he said.

“While there’s still a chance that the decision can be overturned, there is still hope.”

The international wrestling body, FILA, has condemned the move in a press release as “astonishing”, and insisted it will “take all necessary measures” to overturn the decision. (BSM)

Sports news IN brief Olympic dreams hit iceberg The Danish men’s and women’s teams have failed to qualify for the 2014 Winter Olympics ice hockey. The men, who qualified for the final round of qualifying courtesy of being ranked #12 in the world, failed to capitalise on home advantage and a good start last week on Thursday when they defeated Ukraine 2-0. Despite this, they knew they could not afford to lose against Slovenia,

a team six places below them in the rankings, but despite a better shot ratio, they lost 1-2 on Friday. So in the end, their 2-3 loss to Belarus on Sunday was a dead rubber. The women, meanwhile, who qualified for the final round thanks to winning two previous qualifying groups, got within one game of the Olympics, but lost 0-5 to Japan – a team eight places above them in the rankings.

Germany gunning for Danes

Wieghorst joins Swans

Dismal defeats for Danes

Big splash for tabloid

Heading into badminton’s European Mixed Team Championships, which started in Russia on Tuesday and concludes on Sunday, the German side were hopeful of upsetting the form book to topple Denmark, which has won the last nine titles and not lost since 1994. “We hope we can beat them!” the current European champ, Marc Zwiebler, told badmintoneurope.com.

Ahead of his chance to rewrite Swansea City’s history in the League Cup final on February 24, the club’s manager, Michael Laudrup, has recruited another Dane, naming Morten Wieghorst, 41, as assistant manager. Wieghorst, who played for Laudrup at Brøndby, leaves his post as Denmark’s under-21 manager, but will still oversee two more games in March.

The national football side endured a demoralising 0-3 defeat to FYR Macedonia last week on Wednesday. It was all over inside the first half hour as the Macedonians scored in the 8th, 17th and 24th minutes.

It marked a dismal debut for goalkeeper Kasper Schmeichel.

Meanwhile, a day earlier, the under-19s lost 1-3 away in England. Danny Amankwaa was the only scorer.

An Ekstra Bladet story has made waves across a continent still reeling from Europol’s confirmation it is investigating 380 games for match fixing. Liverpool’s 1-0 Champions League defeat of Hungarian side Debrecen was fixed, claims the tabloid, which cites text messages from fixers cursing Steven Gerrard for missing scoring chances against corrupt Debrecen keeper Vukasin Poleksic.

Business

The Copenhagen Post cphpost.dk

15 - 21 February 2013

Novo Nordisk stock shares plummet after FDA ruling Company’s insulin drugs face an uncertain future after being rejected for sale in America

P

harmaceutical giant Novo Nordisk lost 79 billion kroner in stock value within two minutes of the stock market opening on Monday morning.

The drop was an immediate reaction to the company’s announcement on Sunday night that its two latest insulin drugs, Tresiba and Ryzodeg, were rejected in their current forms by the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

The news came as a surprise as the two drugs in question had already been recommended for approval by an expert panel set up by the FDA last autumn.

In addition, the drugs have already been approved for use within the EU and Japan.

“We’re disappointed and surprised at the FDA’s verdict,” Lars Rebien Sørensen, the executive vice president of Novo, told Ritzau. “But we accept the FDA’s decision and want to work closely with them to find a solution.”

Tresiba and Ryzodeg are now expected to go through testing to see whether the drugs pose an increased risk for cardiovascular disease, a process which will include 9,000 test patients and is expected to take a year. However, some analysts have warned that the An employee working on a Novo Nordisk production drugs may line for the new insulin drug Tresiba in August 2012 not make their The setback caused a 17 perway to the US cent drop in Novo’s stock value market for as many as five years.

The FDA’s decision is a sig- from 1,070 kroner on Friday nificant blow for Novo, as Tresi- night to 896 kroner on Monday ba and Ryzodeg were expected morning. The value has since to be the company’s fundamen- steadied.

“We’ve seen a huge decline,” tal form of income for the foreseeable future. The US market Sørensen told Ritzau. “And it also accounts for 60 percent of is significant because it has so Novo’s $106 billion worldwide many future implications for the company.” income.

Scanpix / handout

Bjarke Smith-Meyer

Researcher advocates a 25-hour working week – until the age of 80 Shorter days and longer careers lead to more leisure time and a healthier old age, professor says

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rofessor James Vaupel of the University of Southern Denmark says that no-one should work more than 25 hours per week, but that we should keep working until the age of 80.

“We’re getting older and older here in Denmark. Kids who are ten years old today should be able to work until the age of 80,” Vaupel told website Science Nordic. “In return, they won’t need to work more than 25 hours per week when they become adults.”

Vaupel, a leading scientist in ageing research at the University of Southern Denmark, suggested that what is important is that people put in a certain amount of work, not that they work at a

specific point in life.

Shorter working weeks, Vaupel argues, would give young people more time to care for their families, exercise and lead healthier lives.

“The way it is today, young people are slaving their way through work, looking forward to a long retirement,” Vaupel explained. “But why not move that retirement period around a bit so that young people get more valuable time off work?”

Vaupel argued that part-time work later in life would improve the general health of the elderly.

“The benefits are not just psychological because being an active part of society makes people feel good about themselves, but also physically, since you use both your brain and your body when you’re working.”

Vaupel believed that the pub-

Young people are slaving their way through work lic would embrace the idea of shorter hours and would even be willing to work into old age.

“We know that elderly people are prepared to continue working if they’re capable of doing so,” he said. “And I’m guessing that young people would prefer to work less while they’re young if they have the option of working more when they get older.”

Vaupel heads the recentlyopened Max Planck Odense Centre on the Biodemography of Ageing, a research centre that focuses on links between improved health and life expectancy. (JH)

Exchange Rates Australian Dollars AUD

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15

Five billion kroner profit for Danske Bank Justin Cremer Best financial results in years come at a time when the bank is encountering one PR mess after another

D

anske Bank last week announced a nearly 5 billion kroner net profit in 2012. Pre-tax profits were 8.6 billion kroner,.

The 4.7 billion net gain was a three billion kroner improvement on 2011.

“These are our best financial results since 2007, and it is definitely a step in the right direction,” Eivind Kolding, Danske Bank’s CEO, said in a press release. “The earnings initiatives we have implemented are starting to produce results.

The earnings and cost-reduction initiatives, together with improved conditions in the

capital markets, have brought about improvements in 2012.

We are in full swing with the implementation of our strategy that will ensure we achieve our targets in 2015.”

The bank attributed its success in part to improvements in the capital market and an increase in trading income, which totalled 8.9 billion kroner and was a 22 percent increase on the previous year. Last year also saw the bank announce it would cut 3,000 jobs by 2015 in an effort to boost its profits.

The profits represent the first bit of good news of late for Danske Bank, which has come under fire for a rash of recent decisions and seen its public image plummet.

Its failed ‘New Standards’ promotional campaign received international condemnation for exploiting imagery from the Occupy Wall Street movement.

The bank hastily apologised and removed the image from its marketing campaign.

Last month, Danske Bank announced that it will cost customers as much as 480 kroner a year to hold a standard account – a move that caused angry customers to inundate the bank’s Facebook page with complaints.

The bank also decided recently to end traditional inperson banking services at the majority of its branches. The remaining branches offering face-to-face banking have been plagued by large crowds and long waiting times.

Jyllands-Posten newspaper wrote last week that “never before has a Danish company been assessed so poorly by its own customers”.

As part of its financial results, Danske Bank predicted that the net profit for 2013 would reach as high as 10 billion kroner.

Business briefs Record-breaking car sales in January After a dismal December, car sales boomed in January, making it a record-breaking month.

DR News reported that car sales were 14.5 percent higher this January than the year before, with 14,746 new cars rolling onto the streets. January was the first month since October 2012 that van sales increased, though its rate of increase could

New service to Newcastle

not match the cars and only 25 more vans were sold this January than last. “Our experience is that demand is very high, and that the market is dominated by private consumers buying new cars in order to lower transport costs,” Bent Mikkelsen, the managing director of De Danske Bilimportører, a car importers’ association, told DR.

There was good news for Novocastrians last week following the confirmation that SAS has started a new service to Newcastle in northeast England. The route opened on February 4 and operates once a day, Monday to Friday. Previous routes to the city stopped in 2004 (easyJet) and 2011 (Cimber Sterling).

BRITISH CHAMBER OF COMMERCE IN DENMARK

It’s about daring...

Stine Bosse, has a Master of Law from the University of Copenhagen and before being appointed to Group CEO of TrygVesta A/S in 2001, she held various positions in Tryg which provided her with a unique, thorough and hands-on understanding of the day-to-day operations.

She is widely known in the public for her direct and no-nonsense communication and is enthusiastically engaged in the societal debate for a better and safer world. She is a role model for many aspiring young people as the highest ranking female CEO in Denmark and was appointed the 22nd most influential business woman in the world in 2009 and 2010 by the Financial Times.

Stine Bosse serves as chairman of Flügger Denmark, The Royal Danish Theatre, CONCITO, Børnefonden, and Copenhagen Art Festival. She is Danish member of ChildFund Alliance, and sits on the board of among others Nordea Bank A/S, TDC, Allianz and Aker ASA. Additionally, Stine Bosse is the former chairman of the supervisory board of the Danish Insurance Association (Forsikring & Pension), and former board member of Grundfos and Amlin plc.

In the Spring 2010, Stine Bosse was appointed Advocate for the Millenium Development Goals by the UN Secretary General, Ban Kimoon, to fight world hunger and poverty.

Stine will talk about the essence of her book “Det handler om at turde”.

Programme: • 11.45: Registration and welcome drinks • 12.00: Welcome and introduction by Mariano A. Davies, President, BCCD • 12.10: Guest speaker - Stine Bosse • 12.40: Questions and discussion • 12.55: Announcements by Penny Schmith, Executive Director, BCCD • 13.00: Buffet lunch and networking

Date: Friday, 22 March 2013 Venue: Conference Suite on 1st floor Radisson Blu Royal Hotel Hammerichsgade 1 Copenhagen K

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

Price in kroner for one unit of foreign currency

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

Date: 13 February 2013

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

16

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

SPOUSE: Mohamed Ismail FROM: Egypt SEEKING WORK IN: Marketing & Sales QUALIFICATION: Master of Science in Business and Economics with Specialization in Marketing.

From Linnaeus University. Vaxjo, Sweden.

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CONTACT: mohamediismail86@yahoo.com, Tel: 004553610031 SPOUSE: Caroline Warnes FROM: England, UK SEEKING WORK IN: Midtjylland, preferably Aarhus QUALIFICATION: MSc Environmental Dynamics; Monitoring, Evaluation and Management, BSc (Hons) Geography. Both from Loughborough University, UK. EXPERIENCE: Has worked as a mapping data analyst for a telecommunications company and an evaluation technician and analyst for a utilities company in the UK. Undergraduate thesis was written on public acceptance of wind energy and wind turbines. Experience with GIS, mapping, data analysis, producing reports, working with contractors and clients to time constraints and budgets.

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Responsibility for managing multiple global projects at various stages of Research and Development. Experience coordinating activities within cross-functional teams and ensuring that internal research activities are fully aligned with project goals. Experience also includes managing a team of scientists, controlling research budgets and resource allocation. Also have experience working for Biotech (in United Kingdom) and academia (Harvard Medical School).

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15 - 21 February 2013 SPOUSE: Dolon Roy FROM: India SEEKING WORK IN: Sjælland QUALIFICATION: Masters in Science(Chemistry), BEd. (Teacher training course).

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LANGUAGE SKILLS: Azeri (native), English (fluent), Farsi (fluent), Arabic (good), Turkish (good), Danish(beginner).

IT EXPERIENCE: Professional (MATLAB, Hysys, Aspen plus, Auto Cad, others (Office, Minitab).

CONTACT: mohammad_ahli@yahoo.com, Tel: (+45) 71 63 12 85 SPOUSE: Christina Ioannou FROM: Greece SEEKING WORK IN: Central Copenhagen QUALIFICATION: MA in HRM London, UK. Bsc. American College USA. EXPERIENCE: Worked as a manager for 11 years in the retailing sector - fashion industry for a big international corporation. I had budget and personnel responsibility. I was in charge of the purchasing department.

LOOKING FOR: Any kind of industry.Not simply in fashion.Where I will apply my leadership, sales, communicative and purchasing skills.

LANGUAGE SKILLS: English, Swedish,Italian, French, Greek IT-EXPERIENCE: MS Office CONTACT: EMAIL: christina_ioannou@yahoo.com, Tel: +46768435211

SPOUSE: Chia-Pei CHEN FROM: Taiwan SEEKING WORK IN: Business Chinese/ Tutorial Chinese teaching in corporations, institutions or International schools.

QUALIFICATION: A certified teacher of teaching Chinese as a second language. A degree in Social Science discipline. Continuously participation in training program (organized by Beijing Hanban of CHINA and CBS) to teach Chinese to foreigners in western context. Enrolment to distance Chinese teaching education system that keeps professional Chinese teachers resourceful.

EXPERIENCE: I am a certified teacher of teaching Chinese as a second language to foreigners. And I have started teaching Chinese with English in my class for 2 years. I design suitable materials to teach Chinese with different phonetic systems (PinYin for China and Hong Kong, and Mandarin Phonetic Symbols for Taiwan) as well as to interpret differences between simplified and traditional Chinese characters. My past positions were Chinese language-related, such as: reporter, translator and social science researcher. Students who I taught before regard me as a sincere, discreet teacher who helps learners to progress in short time.

LOOKING FOR: Business Chinese/ Tutorial Chinese teaching.

LANGUAGE SKILLS: Chinese (mother tongue), English (Fluent), French (basic), Danish (beginner).

IT EXPERIENCE: Word Office, SPSS statistic software, Basic Video and Audio editing, Blog writing.

CONTACT: teacherchen@live.com, Tel: 25 81 65 18 SPOUSE: Sadra Tabassi FROM: Iran SEEKING WORK IN: Copenhagen QUALIFICATION: Master of Business Administration (MBA) LOOKING FOR: Any full time job related to my qualification field LANGUAGE SKILLS: Languages Fluent in English; Native in Farsi (Persian) and elementary level of Arabic.

IT EXPERIENCE: Basic knowledge about computer (Windows), Office 2010 (Word, Excel, Power Point),Statistical software (SPSS) CONTACT: sadra.tabassi@gmail.com, Tel:+4550337753 SPOUSE: Dr Tessa Kate Anderson FROM: UK SEEKING WORK IN: University, education, research, social science, geography, GIS, spatial analysis, urban geography.

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

LOOKING FOR: Research, teaching, consultancy positions.

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

CONTACT: tessaanderson@gmail.com SPOUSE: Katarzyna Szkaradek FROM: Poland SEEKING WORK IN: Mental hospitals, voluntary(Ngo) organisations, kindergartens, nurseries, babysitting QUALIFICATION: Ma in Psychology (2008), post graduate studies in psychotherapy (4th year/ 5 year).

EXPERIENCE: I am a highly motivated and creative individual with excellent communication skills.

From January 2010 till August 2010 I worked independly in private practice. For the last 2 years (January ,2009 -October, 2010) I worked with children (also with special needs -Autism, Asperger, Down syndrome etc) and their families as a psychologist. My duties included organizing games, monitoring children’s development , consulting teachers and parents where appropriate and providing individual therapy. For the last 10 years I was member of NGO organisation and I was a volunteer in Israel, Italy, Portugal and Romania.

LOOKING FOR: Internship in mental hospitals, part – time or full time jobs in kindergartens, nurseries, job as a babysitter, voluntary job in hospitals.

LANGUAGE SKILLS: English–advance level (C1), Danish – (module 3 /module 5), Polish-native speaker IT EXPERIENCE: MS Windows, basic MS Office, Internet.

CONTACT: szkasienka@gmail.com, Tel: 50828802 SPOUSE: Vidya Singh FROM: India SEEKING WORK IN: Copenhagen, Odense, Aarhus, Aalborg or nearby areas.

QUALIFICATION: Master in Computer Management, Bachelor of Science, Certified Novell Engineer, Microsoft Certified Professional.

EXPERIENCE: Total 8 years (4 year in telecommunication as customer care + 4 year as HR recruiter consultant).

LOOKING FOR: HR (Trainee/Assistant/Recruiter/consultant), Customer service, office work, IT LANGUAGE SKILLS: English, Hindi and Danish (currently learning).

IT EXPERIENCE: MS Office, Hardware, Networking, Intranet and Internet.

CONTACT: vidya.singh37@gmail.com, Tel: +45 71443554 SPOUSE: Francis Farias FROM: Venezuela SEEKING WORK IN: Greater København QUALIFICATION: Master in Spanish Studies from Universidad de Cadiz, Spain, as a Spanish Teacher and BA in Teaching English as a Second Language. Diplomas in Digital Photography (from Venezuela and Spain).

EXPERIENCE: 7 years experience as a teacher of English and Spanish at JMV University. Academic translator (Spanish-English/English-Spanish) and freelance photographer.

LOOKING FOR: Spanish language teacher, translator, interpreter, photographer.

LANGUAGE SKILLS: English, Italian, Portuguese and Spanish (native). Basic Danish.

IT EXPERIENCE: Office tools, Photoshop.

CONTACT: carolina1928@gmail.com, Tel: +45 50814073 SPOUSE: Jawon Yun-Werner FROM: South Korea SEEKING WORK IN: Healthcare, Hospitals, Elderly/Child Care (in Greater Copenhagen Area).

QUALIFICATION: B.A. in Nursing, Masters in Public Health. I am AUTHORIZED to work as a Nurse in Denmark. (Have Danish CPR and work permit).

EXPERIENCE: 1O years of experience as a nurse and midwife from the prominent hospitals.

LOOKING FOR: Any healthcare related jobs (hospitals, clinics, elderly/childcare places). I am open to any shift or day.

LANGUAGE SKILLS: English, Korean, Danish (Intermediate, in progress, Module 3).

IT EXPERIENCE: MS Office, SASS Statistical Software CONTACT: cuteago@yahoo.com, Tel: +45 30 95 20 53

Denmark’s only English-language newspaper

WHY: The Copenhagen Post wishes to help spouses looking for jobs in Denmark. We have on our own initiative started a weekly spouse job page in The Copenhagen Post, with the aim to show that there are already within Denmark many highly educated international candidates looking for jobs.

If you are a spouse to an international employee in Denmark looking for new career opportunities, you are welcome to send a profile to The Copenhagen Post at aviaja@cphpost.dk and we will post your profile on the spouse job page when possible. Remember to get it removed in case of new job.

EMPLOYMENT

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15 - 21 February 2013

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Dane unable to obtain family reunification for his Thai girlfriend says residency rules are a Catch-22

6

Exploiting ‘fat tax’ Supermarkets are scamming their customers under the guise of the new national ‘fat tax’

NEWS | 3

SPORT

Get in or get out Is now the time to join the euro, or to run like hell?

4

National coach Morten Olsen’s new contract will keep him in the job until after the 2014 World Cup.

14

A new budget to ‘kickstart’ the economy JENNIFER BULEY

Warrior Jesus How Christianity borrowed from Norse mythology and branded Jesus as a tough guy in order to woo the pagan Vikings

HISTORY | 19

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Price: 25 DKK

SRSF’s first budget will spend 17.5 billion kroner on infrastructure and abolish previous taxes and restrictions

C

AN YOU HAVE your cake and eat it too? Conventional wisdom says no, but with their first budget plan since the shift of power, the new Socialdemokraterne-RadikaleSocialistisk Folkeparti (SRSF) coalition appear to be giving it a shot.

Many of the elements of the new budget – which is expected to be released in its entirety on Thursday – will increase state spending at a time when the budget deficit has increased. But where the money would come from remained a mystery.

A number of the new budget items reinstate spending cuts made by the pre-

vious Venstre-Konservative (VK) govern- the number of students. Moreover, stument. Here are a few of the major points: dents will no longer pay administrative Families: VK limited the state’s fees, and prospective Master’s students monthly child support handouts (bør- will have prerequisite course tuitions necheck) to 35,000 kroner per fam- paid. The government will also fund ily. That limit has now been abolished, 1,500 more state-supported internship meaning that many families will get positions.

Infrastructure and job creation: larger child benefits. The government will also pay for fertility treatments and Some 17.5 billion kroner will be invested over two years in infrastructure voluntary sterilisations.

Welfare: VK and Dansk Folkeparti projects, such as a new rail line between (DF) introduced specialised welfare pro- Copenhagen and Ringsted, a project to grammes that reduced the cash benefits widen the Holbæk motorway, erosion for new immigrants. Those programmes protection efforts along Jutland’s west have now been eliminated and going coast, and renovations to public housforward all residents in need of state ing. Prime minister Helle Thorningsupport will receive the same welfare Schmidt has said that these ‘kickstart’ projects will create 20,000 new jobs benefits.

Higher education and research: from 2012-2013. The Danish ConstrucUniversities will get an extra one billion tion Association predicts 10,000.

Tax break:meeting The unpopular ‘mulkroner over two years to cover costs as- a personal Organise sociated with a predicted increase in timedia tax’ introduced by VK will be

Cheering a Muslim as we do a Murderer!

FULL TIME MBA and sit in on a class.

abolished, saving some 525,000 Danes with business laptops and mobile phones 3,000 kroner per year.

Not everyone, however, can look forward to a cash infusion. Smokers and junk food lovers will be taxed higher on their vices, while international corporations will also see higher tax bills. SRSF plans to raise revenue by closing a number of tax loopholes going back nearly 20 years that allowed international corporations in Denmark to escape paying corporate taxes (see more on page 15).

All told, the spending increases in the new budget are not as big as the minister of the economy and interior, Margrethe Vestager (R), would like. She noted that VK under-reported the deficit for 2012, making it imprudent to spend more. But Denmark will still meet the EU’s financial responsibility benchmarks, despite the larger deficit, she added.

The one-year general management full-time MBA at CBS

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You will primarily assist the news team by writing articles, covering events, helping to maintain our website and performing general newsroom tasks.

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

Dane unable to obtain family reunification for his Thai girlfriend says residency rules are a Catch-22

6

NEWS | 3

SPORT

Get in or get out

This is a full-time, temporary position starting as soon as possible.

Is now the time to join the euro, or to run like hell?

4

National coach Morten Olsen’s new contract will keep him in the job until after the 2014 World Cup.

14

How Christianity borrowed from Norse mythology and branded Jesus as a tough guy in order to woo the pagan Vikings

HISTORY | 19

The internship is an ideal opportunity for non-native speakers to gain working experience writing in English.

A new budget to ‘kickstart’ the economy

9 771398 100009

Price: 25 DKK

SRSF’s first budget will spend 17.5 billion kroner on infrastructure and abolish previous taxes and restrictions

C

AN YOU HAVE your cake and eat it too? Conventional wisdom says no, but with their first budget plan since the shift of power, the new Socialdemokraterne-RadikaleSocialistisk Folkeparti (SRSF) coalition appear to be giving it a shot.

Many of the elements of the new budget – which is expected to be released in its entirety on Thursday – will increase state spending at a time when the budget deficit has increased. But where the money would come from remained a mystery.

A number of the new budget items reinstate spending cuts made by the pre-

vious Venstre-Konservative (VK) govern- the number of students. Moreover, stument. Here are a few of the major points: dents will no longer pay administrative Families: VK limited the state’s fees, and prospective Master’s students monthly child support handouts (bør- will have prerequisite course tuitions necheck) to 35,000 kroner per fam- paid. The government will also fund ily. That limit has now been abolished, 1,500 more state-supported internship meaning that many families will get positions.

Infrastructure and job creation: larger child benefits. The government will also pay for fertility treatments and Some 17.5 billion kroner will be invested over two years in infrastructure voluntary sterilisations.

Welfare: VK and Dansk Folkeparti projects, such as a new rail line between (DF) introduced specialised welfare pro- Copenhagen and Ringsted, a project to grammes that reduced the cash benefits widen the Holbæk motorway, erosion for new immigrants. Those programmes protection efforts along Jutland’s west have now been eliminated and going coast, and renovations to public housforward all residents in need of state ing. Prime minister Helle Thorningsupport will receive the same welfare Schmidt has said that these ‘kickstart’ projects will create 20,000 new jobs benefits.

Higher education and research: from 2012-2013. The Danish ConstrucUniversities will get an extra one billion tion Association predicts 10,000.

Tax break:meeting The unpopular ‘mulkroner over two years to cover costs as- a personal Organise sociated with a predicted increase in timedia tax’ introduced by VK will be

Cheering a Muslim as we do a Murderer!

FULL TIME MBA and sit in on a class.

abolished, saving some 525,000 Danes with business laptops and mobile phones 3,000 kroner per year.

Not everyone, however, can look forward to a cash infusion. Smokers and junk food lovers will be taxed higher on their vices, while international corporations will also see higher tax bills. SRSF plans to raise revenue by closing a number of tax loopholes going back nearly 20 years that allowed international corporations in Denmark to escape paying corporate taxes (see more on page 15).

All told, the spending increases in the new budget are not as big as the minister of the economy and interior, Margrethe Vestager (R), would like. She noted that VK under-reported the deficit for 2012, making it imprudent to spend more. But Denmark will still meet the EU’s financial responsibility benchmarks, despite the larger deficit, she added.

The one-year general management full-time MBA at CBS

focuses onTIME leadership,MBA entrepreneurship, and real-world experience.MEETING FULL - INFORMATION Organise a personal meeting hear how the MBA can giveprogram Join Scandinavia’s mostand internationally diverse your career a new dimension.

Thursday 17th November 17:30-19:00 E-mail lm.mba@cbs.dk or call 3815 6022

The one-year general management full-time MBA at CBS focuses on to organise a personal meeting.

Leadership, Entrepreneurship, and Practical Business Skills.

E-mail lm.mba@cbs.dk or call 3815 6022 to sign up for the meeting.

Copenhagen Business School

Copenhagen Business School Porcelænshaven 22, 2000 Frederiksberg Porcelænshaven 22, 2000 Frederiksberg www.cbs.dk/ftmba www.cbs.dk/ftmba

Page 10

A knowledge of Danish is useful, but not required. Prior experience in journalism would be beneficial, but not expected - enthusiasm and interest in the news are.

We are looking for interns who can start immediately, as well as for the summer and for the fall semester.

THE CHILDREN’S MOVIE FEST IS HERE page

KIDS ON FILM YOU BETTER BELIEVE IT BUSTER! THE CHILDREN’S MOVIE FEST IS HERE

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BLUES w w w. c o p e n h a g e n b l u e s f e s t i v a l . d k

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We publish a weekly print newspaper (circulation 15,000), operate the website cphpost.dk and have a number of new on-line products in development. Our offices are located in Copenhagen’s Kødbyen district and we offer an international work environment and a social atmosphere.

We seek an experienced B2B and media salesperson who is fluent in English, Danish would be an advantage. The ideal candidate will be able to work independently, be goal-oriented and capable of seeing opportunities. Your role will be to service existing customers and develop new relations, while at the same time help us open new markets.

InOut The CPH Post Entertainment Guide | 16 - 22 Sep

KIDS ON FILM YOU BETTER BELIEVE IT BUSTER!

Are you interested in becoming part of one Denmark’s most exciting media workplaces? The Copenhagen Post is on the move, and we’re looking to break into new advertising markets. As maternity cover for one of our current employees, you could become a part of that effort.

Exploiting ‘fat tax’ Supermarkets are scamming their customers under the guise of the new national ‘fat tax’

JENNIFER BULEY

The CPH Post Entertainment Guide | 16 - 22 Sep

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Copenhagen Business School Porcelænshaven 22, 2000 Frederiksberg Porcelænshaven 22, 2000 Frederiksberg www.cbs.dk/ftmba www.cbs.dk/ftmba

Page 10

Copenhagen Renaissance Music Festival Special advertising section INSIDE!

THEATRE OF VOICES

CHRISTIAN IV

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7 - 20 NOVEMBER 2011

FROM SCHÜTZ TO GEIST

Early German Baroque Music 1600-1700 In commemoration of Christian Geist (c.1650-1711)

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The Copenhagen Post is looking for energetic interns to lend a hand around the newsroom on a part or full-time basis.

7 - 20 NOVEMBER 2011

FROM SCHÜTZ TO GEIST

Early German Baroque Music 1600-1700 In commemoration of Christian Geist (c.1650-1711)

HOLMENS CHURCH

Photo: Karsten Movang

MUSIC FESTIVAL

FESTIVAL

G9

We offer a flexible position and the opportunity to work according to your strengths. The position offers a monthly salary with commission and sales incentives.

Please send your application and CV, along with any writing samples, to: hr@cphpost.dk, noting “Journalist Intern” in the subject field.

Applications must be received by March 5.

John Primer w. Nisse Thorbjorn Band [US/DK] Joe Louis Walker [US] | Holmes Brothers [US] Mud Morganfield w. Peter Nande Band [US/DK] Louisiana Red & Paul Lamb [US/UK] | Janice Harrington w. Kenn Lending Blues Band [US/DK] Keith Dunn Band [US/NL] | Johnny Max Band [CA] Delta Blues Band | The Healers | Shades of Blue Thorbjorn Risager | Troels Jensen | Alain Apaloo H.P. Lange | Mike Andersen & Jens Kristian Dam Tutweiler | Fried Okra Band | The Blues Overdrive Bluesoul | Grahn & Malm | Ole Frimer | Paul Banks Jacob Fischer Trio | Svante Sjöblom | Jes Holtsoe

See full programme: w w w.copenhagenbluesfestival.dk & w w w.kultunaut.dk

BLUES w w w. c o p e n h a g e n b l u e s f e s t i v a l . d k

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For more information, please contact Editor-in-Chief Kevin McGwin on 3336 3300.

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SEPT. 28 - OCT. 2 · 2011

FESTIVAL

John Primer w. Nisse Thorbjorn Band [US/DK] Joe Louis Walker [US] | Holmes Brothers [US] Mud Morganfield w. Peter Nande Band [US/DK] Louisiana Red & Paul Lamb [US/UK] | Janice Harrington w. Kenn Lending Blues Band [US/DK] Keith Dunn Band [US/NL] | Johnny Max Band [CA] Delta Blues Band | The Healers | Shades of Blue Thorbjorn Risager | Troels Jensen | Alain Apaloo H.P. Lange | Mike Andersen & Jens Kristian Dam Tutweiler | Fried Okra Band | The Blues Overdrive Bluesoul | Grahn & Malm | Ole Frimer | Paul Banks Jacob Fischer Trio | Svante Sjöblom | Jes Holtsoe

See full programme: w w w.copenhagenbluesfestival.dk & w w w.kultunaut.dk

For more information, please contact sales manager Mark Millen.

Applications with CV should be sent to mark@cphpost.dk, writing Key Account Manager in the subject line.

18

Culture

The Copenhagen Post cphpost.dk

15 - 21 February 2013

New pic confirms plenty of sex, but length might be an issue whose erotic adventures include appearances by well-known actors Stellan Skarsgård, Willem Dafoe, Latest picture from Uma Thurman and Shia LaBeouf.

‘Nymphomaniac’, the new film LaBeouf admitted to feelby Lars von Trier, depicts actress ing nervous when he signed on in three-way sex scene – one of to star in the film last year – and many in a work that is currently the newly-released still leaves no question why.

450 minutes long “[Von Trier’s] very dangerhen the first still ous,” LaBeouf told MTV News from Lars von Trier’s in August. “He’s the most dannew film ‘Nympho- gerous dude I’ve ever showed up maniac’ was released for. I’m terrified.”

And it seems the actor’s last week, audiences were collectively underwhelmed. The image concerns weren’t unfounded. featured the Danish director’s fa- LaBeouf also confirmed speculavourite actress, Charlotte Gains- tion that the film would require bourg (we’ve already seen eve- the cast to perform ‘authentic’ rything she has to offer in Von sex scenes.

“It is Lars von Trier, making Trier’s 2009 film ‘Antichrist’), lya movie about ing prostrate in what he’s makan alley – hardly ing,” LaBeouf indicative of the went on. “For erotic drama instance, there’s a that the title Everything that is disclaimer at the suggests.

But the illegal, we’ll shoot in top of the script that basically says latest image, which shows blurred images. Other we’re doing it for G a i n s b o u r g than that, everything real. Everything that is illegal, flanked by two we’ll shoot in half-naked men is happening. blurred images. and presumably engaged in a threesome, is much Other than that, everything is more what audiences expect happening.”

The film is mainly composed from Von Trier’s highly-anticiof flashbacks. Joe, a self-diagnosed pated upcoming release.

Gainsbourg plays the lead sex addict, is found attacked and character Joe in the film, a beaten in an alley. While recuper50-year-old nymphomaniac ating, she recounts her sexual ex-

Artificial Eye

Jessica Hanley

W

We doubt Charlotte Gainsbourg will have any problems given what she did to Willem Dafoe in ‘Antichrist’

periences from childhood to the age of 50 to the man who rescues her (Skarsgård).

The film had long been rumoured to premiere this spring at the Cannes Film Festival, which could have potentially marked the director’s first appearance at the festival for two years. Von Trier came under fire for comments he made at a Cannes press conference in

2011, during which he claimed to be sympathetic towards Hitler. He was later banned by the festival’s board of directors, and he has not returned since.

But according to Peter Aalbæk Jensen, the managing director of Zentropa Films, the Cannes controversy had nothing to do with the choice to withhold ‘Nymphomaniac’. Instead, Jensen explained, the film’s 268-page

script and 100 hours of footage have not left the filmmaker and his team with enough time to prepare for a premiere at Cannes.

“We commissioned four editors to work on the film to be ready for Cannes, but we had to abandon it,” Jensen told French television network TF1. “The work would’ve been distorted had we wanted to finish it for Cannes at all costs.”

The rough cut of the film, Jensen told the Hollywood Reporter, was seven and a half hours long.

“It’s almost enough for three films, and it’s all good,” he said.

“I don’t know what we’ll cut.”

Von Trier is understood to be considering at least splitting the film into two full-length parts, both in hard and softcore versions.

Who is … Morten Østergaard?

Scanpix/ Torkil Adsersen

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He is the higher education minister and probably one of the most disliked people among students right now.

What’s he done: cancel the summer break?

Worse, he has the unenviable task of telling them that they need to complete their studies faster and that they are likely to get less in student grants.

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Isn’t that only fair, given the economy and all?

He has tried to play the economic card, pointing out that when everyone from infants to the elderly have had to accept cuts, then students should be willing to do the same. Problem is he’s trying to make cuts to the same system that he benefited from, and which allowed him to take nine years to obtain a master’s degree, instead of the usual five.

So he’s a man who knows what he’s talking about, then.

He certainly speaks with the zeal of a convert. Talking to Politiken newspaper recently, he called free education a “benefit”, but noted that the system had led to the development of “expensive” gap years and unnecessarily long periods of study.

Maybe he had a good reason for the delay?

According to his official CV, he completed his studies in 2006.

From 2001-2005, he was the ‘market manager for e-government’ for a company called Dafolo, which specialises in the “enhancement of strategic business development”. Starting in 2001, and on a number of occasions, he was also an occasional temporary member of parliament for Radikale. In 2007, he was elected as an MP and has since held leadership posts within the party.

Aside from tilting at sacred cows, what else has he done?

His portfolio as minister also includes science, research, innovation and such, which would seem to be the ideal match for a man who admits to having a “bizarre passion for technology”. His interest, however, extends to more than just when the next iPhone will be released.

In his political career, he has taken an interest in how technology can improve society.

He was co-author of the 2004 book ‘Digital forkalkning’ (digital sclerosis), which dealt with e-governance, and he has called digitalisation the “key to a lot of things in areas such as globalisation and innovation”.

His philosophy, though, has been that putting something online isn’t the same thing as improving service. “Technology can do a lot, but what it all comes down to is how you roll it out.” As ‘higher education minister’ he’s also suggested that everyone should take some of their studies abroad.

Seems fairly progressive.

As a dad, he showed he’s with it by making sure he took parental leave, despite being a busy cabinet member – but only for two weeks, instead of the government’s recommended three months. Maybe he’s making up for lost time.

19 Celebrating 50 years of CIS: the little school that could Denmark through the looking glass The Copenhagen Post cphpost.dk

15 - 21 February 2013

www.cis-edu.dk

When I was a lad, there were 129 of us in a classroom. We were so poor, the teacher would make us lick the blackboard clean. You try telling the kids at CIS today – they wouldn’t believe us!

Linn Lemhag International school also marking 20 years at its home on Hellerupvej, the end destination of a nomadic wander that rivalled the Israelites’ search for a new home

M

any might assume that CIS is one of those neverending American cop shows – the kind seemingly shown in an eternal loop on one of the TV3 or SBS channels – but to most Copenhagen expats, CIS stands for something else entirely. Copenhagen International School, which this year is celebrating its 50th birthday, is one of Copenhagen’s largest international communities with a student body of more than 750 hailing from over 55 counties.

During an all-school assembly at the start of the academic year back in August, the

school’s former maths teacher and senior school principal, James Keson, who retired in 2005 after 36 years of service, said: “The people who started this school realised at the beginning that our audience is international. It’s not American, it’s not British, it’s not Danish. It’s whatever make-up the student body happens to be.”

In 1968, Copenhagen International School was one of the 12 founding schools of the International Baccalaureate. Better known as the IB, the Baccalaureate is a school programme that covers all levels of schooling from kindergarten to preuniversity, which is renowned for its academic rigour and international-mindedness. Today, the IB is taught in over 3,500 schools in 144 countries to over a million students each year.

Yet CIS has roots that extend beyond the programme.

It all started in 1963, when international schools were few

and far between. In Copenhagen there was a small group of American children who were being taught through a ‘correspondence programme’ with the University of Nebraska in the basement of the American Embassy.

Hardly satisfied with this as a ‘school’, a group of parents led by Mrs Frank B Gallahager enlisted the help of seasoned international school guru Ulf Østergaard, who had previously served as the head of the United Nations School in New York, as well as spending time in the Philippines with UNESCO establishing their educational system.

At the time, Østergaard was the director of the Danish Søborg Gymnasium, which came to play a vital role in the future of CIS. Together they brought in Godrey Sullivan, a history teacher and old colleague of Østergaard’s, to lead the new school.

The only problem was that there was no physical school. So on the first day that CIS opened its doors (metaphorically speaking, of course), it was to the shared classrooms of the Søborg gymnasium. It only had one classroom at its disposal, which was used to house its administration. With approximately 24 students on the first day of school and window sills doubling as desks, CIS was born.

Since then, CIS has existed at a multitude of different locations. From Søborg Gymnasium to Gammel Kongevej to Stensogade in Vesterbro and even a brief stint at a youth club in a somewhat rough part of Nørrebro, CIS finally found a permanent home on Hellerupvej in 1993. There it thrived to the point of over-capacity, and in 2011, it opened its second campus in Østerbro. Now known as the City Campus, it is home to the senior school.

Though the location of the

school may have changed a lot over the past 50 years, the spirit of CIS has not. Those who have taken part in creating the school and making it

It’s not American, it’s not British, it’s not Danish. It’s whatever make-up the student body happens to be into the place it is today are still commemorated and celebrated with each graduation class. Each year a graduating senior student is awarded the Godfrey D Sullivan History Scholarship for their service of international character to the school, while the Red-Headed League Award honours the

student with the most compassion, conviction and fortitude in memory of IB co-ordinator Britta Pierce.

Also present at the same all-school assembly was the first ever principal of the Copenhagen International Junior School, Inez Venning, who addressed the current students with a reminder of those who have gone before them.

“CIS has clearly meant a great deal to these people who are now out in the adult world,” she said.

“In fact, I predict that when you young people who are here today are 30 or 40 or 50 years old, you will still have a friend or two from this place, even though you are an ocean or a continent apart.”

The author, Linn Lemhag, a 22-year-old CIS alumna, today shares an apartment with her assigned roommate from an 8th grade music trip to London.

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