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4 - 10 May 2012 | Vol 15 Issue 18 Denmark’s only English-language newspaper | cphpost.dk

A BDULHADI al-Khawaja, the Danish-Bahraini human rights activist who has been on a hunger strike since February, was sen-

tenced to life in prison last June by a mili-tary court for plotting against the Bah-raini state. An appeals court on Monday ruled that he will be retried in civil court.

Over the weekend, al-Khawaja’s wife, Khadija al-Mousawi, accused the authorities of force-feeding and using other life-saving measures on her hus-band against his will.

Al-Khawaja was moved from prison

to a military hospital for treatment three weeks ago. His wife saw him for the � rst time in two weeks on Sunday. She told Reuters that he had been drugged and force-fed.

“I went to see my husband today and he told me that he was drugged last Monday,” she said. “After he woke up he found two IV [intravenous] injections in his arms and a feeding-tube down his nose. It was done against his will.”

A spokesperson for the Bahrain De-fence Forces Hospital denied the claims.

“Al-Khawaja has been taking limited nutrition supplements voluntarily,” said a spokesperson. “When his blood sugar dropped signi� cantly [on Sunday], his doctors asked for and received his consent to insert a naso-gastric tube for nutrition. At no time was he drugged or restrained.”

Amid force-feeding allegations, Al-Khawaja wins retrialby Denmark and the international com-munity,” Søvndal said, according to Ber-lingske newspaper.

He went on to say that it was “es-sential” that the Danish ambassador be granted immediate access to al-Khawaja.

One of al-Khawaja’s daughters, Zain-ab al-Khawaja, is also currently in prison in Bahrain. She reported to her family that she had been physically abused by the Bahraini authorities while in custody.

At the time of going to press, Ab-dulhadi al-Khawaja’s hunger strike had reached its 83rd day. A BBC reporter was granted access to al-Khawaja on Mon-day and reported that he seemed alert but weak. Jens Kondrup, a professor of clinical nutrition, told Ritzau news serv-ice that al-Khawaja could be kept alive for years through force-feeding.

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Surprise, surprise – Noma is still the best

City su� ers yet another terrorism scare

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Zombie invasion at Copenhagen Ink Fest

An appeals court in Bahrain has ruled that jailed activist will have a retrial

Earlier this month, the Bahraini au-thorities rejected a request by Denmark to take custody of al-Khawaja. Politiken newspaper reported on Monday that it had been seven days since Danish au-thorities have been granted access to see al-Khawaja. Ole Engberg Mikkelsen, a Foreign Ministry o� cial, told Politiken that Denmark is continuing to pressu-rise the Bahraini authorities into grant-ing access to visit al-Khawaja.

In a statement on Monday, the for-eign minister, Villy Søvndal (Socialistisk Folkeparti), said that the decision to re-try the case in a civil court was a step in the right direction, but that the case was far from over.

“We will continue to insist that there is a need for a rapid humanitar-ian solution, which has been demanded

� e � rst May Day under a red government in over a decade, but do the issues matter as much as the chance to drink in the sun? 4

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Researcher says the nation’s nurseries are neglecting kids and stunting mental development

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2 4 - 10 May 2012The Copenhagen posT CphposT.dkWeek in revieW

In 2011, only 338 children were adopted in Denmark, the lowest number since the 1970s when foreign adopting began to thrive. According to experts, the decline is due to developing countries such as China, India and Colombia no longer adopt away their youngest children, but only the ones they can’t find

a family for. Unlike in countries such as Sweden and Holland, where couples are more open to adopting older children as well as kids with illnesses, couples in Denmark tend to prefer only young and healthy children. Last year, most children adopted in Denmark came from Ethiopia and South Africa.

THE formEr leadership of the bankrupt roskilde Bank will escape criminal punishment, but could be forced to pay compen-sation. In 2009, the state finan-cial authority finanstilsynet re-ported the former management of the defunct roskilde Bank to the police for violating the Shareholders’ Law. on monday,

the police’s fraud unit decided to drop the criminal case against 15 people, including the bank’s administrative director, niels Valentin Hansen. But the fin-anstilsynet sued the bank man-agement in 2010 for one billion kroner, and that case has not been dropped. roskilde Bank folded in August 2008.

A mAjorITy of Danes still want to have the day off on Great Prayer Day (Store Be-dedag). The fourth friday after Easter has been a public holiday since 1686 and a recent Poli-tiken poll of 1,000 Danes found that 60 percent of respondents felt it was a bad or very bad idea to move the holiday from fri-

day until Sunday. The future of the holiday is one of the items being discussed between the government and unions as they look for ways to put four billion extra kroner each year into state coffers and add 20,000 workers by 2020. moving Store Bededag would bring in an estimated 2.7 billion kroner.

Tillykke!

Ten YeaRs ago. Researchers at Rigshospital make a breakthrough in treating obsessive compulsive disorder.

FIVe YeaRs ago. a new deal between the countries means that denmark will step in to defend Iceland in times of need.

one YeaR ago. prince Christian becomes the first member of the Royal Family to attend public school.

FRoM oUR aRChIVes

The Week’s MosT Read sToRIes aT CphposT.dk

opinion | Britain’s fetish for denmark, explained

Contentious language back in spotlight

Woman sentenced for lying about rape

7-foot dane’s great american hoop dream

Three arrested in Copenhagen on suspicion of terrorism

President and Publisher Ejvind Sandal

Chief executivejesper nymark

editor-in-ChiefKevin mcGwin

Managing editorBen Hamilton

news editorjustin Cremer

JournalistsPeter Stanners, ray Weaver & Christian Wenande

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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 Copenha-gen Post is also a leading provider of non-news services to the private and public sectors, offering writing, trans-lation, editing, production and delivery services.

Visit us online at www.cphpost.dk

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On Sunday, nearly 800 individuals who were granted Danish citizenship in 2011 met up at Christiansborg to celebrate their new citizenship and have the opportunity to meet leading politicians, including PM Helle Thorning-Schmidt and former PM Lars Løkke rasmussen

CoRReCTIon In last week’s article ‘res-idents prickled over site of injection room’, we made an error with a quote by johanne nørvig. The amended ver-sion can be found online

Few adoptionsNot off yetHoliday to stay

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34 - 10 May 2012 The Copenhagen posT CphposT.dk News

It seems problematic that it is peT, and peT alone, that has had the power to assess whether or not a file should be kept

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The Copenhagen restaurant noma has been voted the best restaurant in

the world for the third consecu-tive year.

Restaurant Magazine, the British publication that has named the world’s best 50 res-taurants since 2002, cited Dan-ish chef René Redzepi’s “me-ticulous attention to detail and innovative approach”. Redzepi – who last month was named one of the world’s top 100 influen-tial people by Time magazine – is credited with moving nordic cuisine to the forefront of world food culture. however, Miche-lin created a minor controversy earlier this year when it failed to give noma a coveted third star.

“We think that food from our region deserves to have a voice in the choir of the world’s other great cuisines,” said noma co-owner Claus Meyer in his

eat this, Michelin! Copenhagen restaurant tops the global list for third straight year

Ray WeaveR

noma still the bestnew nordic Cuisine manifesto.

That was a call that was clearly heeded by Restaurant Magazine, as another Dan-ish restaurant made this year’s top 50. Copenhagen restaurant geranium took the number 49 spot – another feather in the cap for chef Rasmus Kofoed, who won the prestigious Bocuse d’or award in 2011.

noma will be taking its show on the road this summer. Redzepi will open a temporary location at Claridge’s hotel in London during the olympic games. The Copenhagen loca-tion, meanwhile, will be closed for renovations from July 20 un-til august 15.

noma’s new nordic Cui-sine concept uses only fresh, organic ingredients that can be found in the nordic region (the name noma is a contrac-tion of ‘nordic’ and ‘mad’, the Danish word for food). While in London, noma will change its menu to focus on using lo-cal ingredients from the UK. a five-course noma meal in Lon-don is expected to cost around 1,800 kroner.

a CoURT in Copenhagen has ruled that three men suspected of planning a terrorist attack should be

held on remand for four weeks. The men were arrested last week on charges of illegal weapons possession at a suburban Co-penhagen train station after one of the suspects, a 23-year-old Turkish citizen who lives in Denmark, attempted to hand over two aK-47 assault rifles to a 21-year-old Dane who resides in egypt.

Both men pleaded inno-cent, but the third suspect, a 22-year-old Jordanian who was not present when the arrests were made at herlev Station, has pleaded guilty to the charg-es of weapons possession.

a fourth man, a 24-year-old palestinian, was also arrested and charged with being in Den-mark illegally.

There was a large security force on hand when the suspects were arraigned on Saturday. The arraignment was held behind closed doors, and prosecutors said there was the possibility of further charges, including ter-rorism, being brought against the men.

“The three are currently charged with violations of weapons laws, but there is a possibility of further charges being filed,” said Dorit Bor-gaard, a spokesperson for the Copenhagen police.

police said the 22-year-old

Jordanian suspect met with an unknown man at hareskov Sta-tion last Thursday at 5pm and ar-ranged for him to deliver two Ka-lashnikov rifles with ammunition.

at 8:30pm that evening, the unknown supplier went back to the same station and handed the weapons over to the 23-year-old Turkish suspect.

The 23-year-old and the 21-year-old were arrested the next day at herlev Station as the older suspect attempted to de-liver the weapons to the younger man. The 22-year-old was ar-rested at his home in herlev.

The unknown man who sup-plied the weapons is still at large.

politiken reported over the weekend that the 22-year-old suspect had posted anti-Semitic and pro al-Qaeda messages on his Facebook page. one mes-

a one-time elite footballer is among the men held for attempting to transfer assault weapons

Ray WeaveR

details emerge about suspects in suburban terror scare

sage stated his desire to burn the Israeli flag and attack “every goddamn Zionist pig”.

he also wrote that he re-spected al-Qaeda because “you knew where they stood. They have principles.”

The man also appeared to have connections with the criminal community. one of his Facebook friends is a known member of aK81, a group sus-pected of working closely with the hell’s angels.

politiken also reported that as a teenager, the 21-year-old Danish-egyptian suspect was considered one of the most promising young footballers in Denmark. he turned down an offer in 2009 to play for the Danish Under-18 national team and instead joined the egyptian squad. The suspect was born in

Police ransacked an apartment at Melissahaven 21 in Herlev, where one of the suspects lives

René Redzepi and the rest of the Noma staff pose for photos in London after once again being declared the world’s best restaurant

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Denmark, but when he was ar-rested, his address was listed as being in Cairo, egypt.

police raided numerous ad-dresses throughout greater Co-penhagen and confiscated sev-eral cars in connection with the investigation. Five other people arrested during those raids have all been released.

While there have been no official reports of a suspected target, it does not appear to be Jyllands-posten newspaper, which has been targeted nu-merous times since the 2005 publication of the controversial Mohammed cartoons.

In an unrelated case, three men are currently standing trial at glostrup Municipal Court for their 2010 attempt to at-tack the Copenhagen offices of Jyllands-posten.

a 1965 DoCUMenT newly unearthed by Infor-mation newspaper indi-

cates that domestic intelligence agency politiets efterretning-stjeneste (peT) was obliged to preserve individual files on in-dividuals who have been promi-nent figures within the political, cultural, financial and adminis-trative realms. however, up un-til 1998 when new rules were instituted, peT had been de-stroying files that may have had significant historical value.

In 2009, the peT Commis-sion revealed that the agency had been shredding the con-tents of files on several high

a new document has surfaced suggesting that peT has broken protocol by destroying historical public records

ChRistian Wenande

Intelligence agency’s destruction of files comes into questionprofile persons, including three of Denmark’s former prime ministers – Jens otto Krag (So-cialdemokraterne), anker Jør-gensen (Socialdemokraterne), and poul hartling (Venstre) – and the current minister of business, ole Sohn (Socialistisk Folkeparti), who was also the head of the Danish Communist party in the 1980s.

Due to the recent media focus on the shredding of the politicians’ files, peT sent an explanation to the justice min-ister, Morten Bødskov (Social-demokraterne), assuring him that the shredding has proceeded ac-cording to approved guidelines and regulations.

however, peT explained that it has not been prioritising the assessment of information consisting of historical value, saying that the collection of sensitive information purely occurs in order to support

peT’s work and not for other reasons, such as documentation or research.

at issue is also the fact that peT has been using lawyers to determine whether or not information was of historical relevance, rather than a public records keeper, something peer henrik hansen, a museum in-spector and historian special-ising in intelligence activity,

found disturbing.“You would never have a

historian assess the legal rami-fications of an indictment of espionage,” hansen told In-formation newspaper. “That illustrates to me that peT are considering other avenues, and not the ones concerning the preservation of historically val-ued information.”

But the former minister of justice, ole espersen (Social-demokraterne), sided with peT, saying that in the interest of protecting citizens, intelligence work should be prioritised over historical relevance.

“My principle opinion has always been the more you shred, the better,” espersen told Information. “The purpose of peT is not to contribute to his-torical research, but to keep the country safe.”

a Syddansk University lecturer of constitutional law,

pernille Boye Koch, however, suspects peT of destroying files for other reasons.

“It seems problematic that it is peT, and peT alone, that has had the power to assess whether or not a file should be kept due to historical rea-sons,” Koch told Information. “It is clear that peT should be evaluating cases involving intel-ligence, but one has to ques-tion whether the agency has the competencies to assess the historical value of cases.”

according to the document sent by the state public records keeper to peT on 17 December 1965, there were five scenarios in which peT was not allowed to destroy files of historical sig-nificance:1. Reports created by peT or

others concerning stand-ard political relationships or containing the reflec-tions of considerations of

a more ordinary character2. espionage cases from be-

fore the Second World War 3. Criminal files concerning

espionage cases that are borrowed from the po-lice commissioner’s office. When these files are re-turned, the public records keeper will decide whether or not they should be transferred to the respec-tive national archives

4. Individual files concerning individuals who have had a prominent political, cul-tural, financial or adminis-trative position

5. Individual files concerning those who are connected to the occupation era of the Second World War

The current rules stipulate that peT must shred personal files that have been inactive for ten years unless the files are deemed to be of historic value.

4 4 - 10 May 2012The Copenhagen posT CphposT.dkCover story

I think the new government is doing better than the last one. Things are moving in the right direction

A RwAndAn man residing in denmark can be tried by the danish courts for his alleged role in the Rwandan Genocide, the Supreme Court found last week. The 50-year-old man has been in police custody since his arrest at his home in Zealand in

december 2010. Both Roskilde City Court and the Eastern High Court have previously judged that prosecutors could not charge the man with genocide, but only with murder. The state prosecu-tor, Birgitte Vestberg, expressed satisfaction with the judgement.

Rwandan can be tried for genocide, court finds

onlIne ThIs week

AftER first being charged and acquitted in a Helsingør court this January for illegally plac-ing tracking devices on fishing boats, Greenpeace’s latest trip to court didn’t go its way. Last week on wednesday, the Eastern High Court overturned Greenpeace’s January acquittal and fined the environmental organisation

25,000 kroner for trespassing. A Greenpeace activist also re-ceived a 2,250 kroner fine for placing tracking devices on fish-ing boats in Gilleleje Harbour in 2010. The devices proved that the boats were illegally fishing for cod in marine sanctuaries. Greenpeace now plans on taking the case to the Supreme Court.

greenpeace’s acquittal over trawler tracking overturned dAnSk folkeparti (df) have been rejected and ridiculed for their proposal to prohibit cy-clists from listening to music while cycling. Saying that head-phones are a danger to traffic, df sent out a press release stat-ing that listening to music while wearing headphones affects cy-clists’ senses and concentration.

df’s proposal was unanimously and unequivocally rejected. kim Christiansen, df’s traffic spokesperson, later told Politik-en that the proposal was misrep-resented, and attempted to clari-fy that a ban on headphones was meant as a last resource in case education campaigns proved unsuccessful.

dF proposal falls on deaf ears

Read The Full sToRIes aT CphposT.dk

M Ay dAy is an official holi-day in 66 countries around the world and unofficially celebrated in many others. It

would be a safe bet to say most people cel-ebrating the International worker’s day in Copenhagen’s fælledparken on tues-day had no clue that the day has its roots in the Haymarket Massacre that occurred in Chicago in 1886. Hell, most Ameri-cans have no idea what the day means past gauzy pictures of fresh-faced young-sters dancing around a Maypole or grainy black and white tV-induced memories of columns of grim-faced soldiers and war machines parading in front of a bearded dictator somewhere “over there”.

This year’s May day was a special one for those whose politics lean to the left in denmark, as it was the first in eleven years to be celebrated with a red leftist government in power. There were many people among the more than 200,000 that filled the park who only came for the warm sunshine and cold beer, and who could not have cared less about politics – left or right – but, there were many others who came to express their solidarity with socialist principles.

A group of well-dressed young men, some even wearing suit jackets in the bright May sun, sat at a table near the Socialistisk folkeparti (Sf) tent and made it clear that they were there “for the politics”. They felt it was more im-

portant now, than ever before, to defend workers’ rights.

“we need to stand up for the rights of ordinary people,” said Pelle Johansen, who was looking every bit the ‘60s radical with his curly, shoulder-length brown hair and beard. “People have to work more hours now than ever before because of the financial crisis.”

nikolaj Rønsbø, a dark-haired young man handsome enough to be cast as the leading man in any chick flick, wanted his party to move forward.

“It is not about the old government anymore, it’s about the future,” Rønsbo

said. “This is a good time for the left-wing parties to figure out what they re-ally want.”

when asked about Sf’s recent in-ternal turmoil, another man at the ta-ble, Holger Groganz, laid the blame for those problems squarely at the feet of the media.

“It makes a better story if you [the media] report on the ten percent that disagree with the leaders,” said Groganz, adding that he thinks the media in den-mark leans centre/right and often car-ries stories that cast the socialist parties in a negative light. “But most of us sup-port our leaders, and we are in complete agreement that there needs to be more equality in society.”

That was a notion shared by the day’s unquestioned star.

while the red banners surround-ing the main stage flapped in the stiff spring breeze, Enhedslisten spokesper-son Johanne Schmidt-nielsen opened her fiery, well-received speech by saying: “I said during my speech last year that this could be the last time we celebrat-ed International worker’s day while [Venstre’s] Lars Løkke [Rasmussen] sat behind the prime minister’s desk with Pia kjærsgaard [leader of the danske folkeparti] hanging over his shoulder … and friends, it was the last time.”

nielsen went on to warn cur-rent prime minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt (Socialdemokraterne) that the people voted for change, and that En-hedslisten is on guard against the gov-ernment drifting to the right.

The crowd cheered when Schmidt-nielsen reminded them that “people without jobs are not your enemy”.

nico, 21, and dyana, 26, were sit-ting on the ground near the Enhedslis-ten tent while Schmidt-nielsen spoke.

socialism under the sun: May day mixes politics and partywith a leftist government in power and social welfare under attack, May day provides mixed messages

Ray WeaveR

They didn’t want to give their last names or have their picture taken, but they said that coming to fælledparken on May day had become an annual event. tok-ing on a spliff while heating up another block of hash with his lighter, nico said he was at the park because he “loved so-cialism”. when asked what it was about the philosophy that appealed to him, the 21-year-old paused a moment, hit the spliff and said: “I just love it.”

His partner dyana was just as clear about her commitment: “I’m here to drink. It’s like another Roskilde festival.”

She was clearly on to something. The entire park felt like a large mu-

sic festival. Every kind of food from hotdogs to organic Thai was on offer. There was beer and virtually every type of alcohol or soft drink on sale at tents sponsored by the political parties, sold by private vendors, and being carried in by the caseload on shoulders, in stolen shopping carts, and on hand trucks. The competition for empty cans and bottles was fierce among the ragged souls col-lecting them for their deposit value. There were kids in strollers, balloon

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vendors and an old man moving slowly through the throng selling ice cream from a cooler that must have weighed more than he did.

A man walked around all day wear-ing a sandwich board-type sign that read “Capitalism is unnatural”, but in fælledparken on May day, capitalism, or at least commerce, was alive and well.

It really was like a mini-Roskilde, with one major difference: nobody cared about the music.

when musician Pato Siebenhaar took to the stage after Johanne Schmidt-nielsen’s speech, he hit exactly the wrong note with the crowd by promising “not to talk as much as everyone else up here”. what would’ve been a guaranteed ap-plause line at a normal rock concert was met with at best confusion, and at worse mild disdain, by the political crowd in front of the stage. no amount of exhort-ing managed to get even a small percent-age of the crowd to look his way.

Over by nico and dyana, they were dancing to their own music blasting from a contraption they had wheeled in, made up of a car battery and an array of auto speakers. They left it playing during Villy Søvndal’s (Sf) speech defending the danish union’s efforts to protect the jobs of danish workers.

According to a recent opinion poll, one in three danes define themselves as socialists. Among young people, that number is even higher. Over 40 percent of danes between 18 and 29 years of age say they are socialists.

Louise Sevel is 26 and her friend Sara Louise nygård is 24. They are both stu-dents and admitted that although they both leaned to the left politically, and both thought the new government was doing “better” than the last one, the main reason they were in the park on such a bright, sunny day was to get a break from studying. They lay on their blanket with a chilled bottle of white wine just far enough from the main stage that it was hard to hear Thorning-Schmidt as she spoke of the government’s accom-plishments in its first seven months, its plans for the future, and her wishes that everyone have a good May day.

sarah louise nygård, 24

people have to work more hours now than ever before because of the financial crisis

pelle Johansen, 32

red queen: Johanne schmidt-Nielsen’s speech was greeted warmly by those who were paying attention

A police officer on the scene estimated the crowd at 200,000

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54 - 10 May 2012 The Copenhagen posT CphposT.dk news

The danish nurseries are so poor that a great number of them should close

Copenhagen Career Program would like to invite you to an information meeting in Jobcenter Copenhagen, Musvågevej 15, 2400 København NV.

Wednesday the 16th of May at 12-14 pm

At the meeting you will receive information about:• Danish courses and course in Danish social conditions and

Danish culture and history• Measures promoting employment such as internship, em-

ployment with salary subsidy, mentor at the work place, upgrading courses and job seeking courses.

• Recognition of international qualifications• IO positions (Integrations- og oplæringsstillinger)

Following the meeting you have the chance to talk individually with a job counselor about your qualifications and career plans (for that purpose we recommend you to bring your CV).

Are you An AccompAnying spouse in pursuit of A cAreer And residing in copenhAgen?

Please register for the meeting by sending an e-mail, latest on Sunday the 13th of May to: cphcareerprogram@bif.kk.dk

A light refreshment will be served during the meeting.

Copenhagen Career Program is based in the Department for Integration and Language at Jobcenter Copenhagen, Musvågevej. The Department for Integration and Language is responsible for administrating the Integration Act in the municipality of Copenhagen.

a new thesis by Aarhus-based researcher Ole henrik hansen indicates that children at Danish nurseries (vuggestuer) are being

neglected and “numbed” due to a lack of interaction from the staff.

A lack of contact, and dismissive, indifferent behaviour is causing chil-dren as young as 10 months old to shut down emotionally, turning them into apathetic “zombie kids”, hansen’s re-sults found.

in addition to sending a survey to 40,000 nursery staff members, his data was gathered in the form of 8,000 obser-vations and video recordings from nine nurseries in the Greater Copenhagen area.

hansen, who is a PhD scholar at Aarhus University, said that his find-ings illustrate the need for serious changes at the nation’s nurseries, say-ing that a lack of contact could end up stunting the development of small children’s brains.

“The Danish nurseries are so poor that a great number of them should close,” hansen told Berlingske news-paper. “Pedagogical work is about do-ing something with a child, but at most institutions they don’t know what to do with the children most of the day. when i asked the leadership about it, they said they were just taking it day by day. we would never accept a school principal saying he was just taking it day

by day when planning work. nothing is happening at these nurseries.”

Yet, hansen’s thesis was met almost immediately with criticism, especially because his observations and video samples stem from only nine large nurseries in the Copenhagen area, leading to accusations that it was too narrow in scope.

henning Pedersen – the chairman of Børne- og Ungdomspædagogernes Landsforbunds (BUPL) fagblad, a peri-odical publication for the daycare pro-viders union – said that hansen’s find-

ings fly in the face of the reality he hears from the 55,000 members of the union.

“The nurseries are not perfect and we can do a lot better, but it has noth-

politicians are taking new findings to heart, while others criticise the study for being too limited in scope

Christian Wenande

Researcher: danish nurseries in need of an overhaul

FriDA Jersø, the 14-year-old girl who was paralysed from the waist down after a fall from Dron-

ning Louise’s Bridge in nørrebro, will receive compensation from the city of Copenhagen.

The payment – the amount of which has not been released – reverses an earlier decision by the city’s law-yers not to compensate Jersø and her 14-year-old friend, Felicity, for the fall that occurred while they were leaning on a bridge railing when it suddenly gave way. Jersø was paralysed in the fall, and Felicity suffered a number of seri-ous injuries, including a concussion.

The deputy mayor for technical and environmental affairs, Ayfer Baykal (so-cialistisk Folkeparti), said that the rul-ing by an independent body clears the way for both girls to receive some help from the city.

“The girls were injured in the same accident, so both should be paid dam-ages,“ said Baykal.

The city initially refused to pay, say-ing that it was not at fault because the bridge had passed regular inspections, but after a recent report by the Copen-hagen Police absolved both the city and the two girls of any fault in the accident, the way was cleared for an independent body to review the case.

Frida’s father, tom Jersø, said he is glad the issue is finally settled.

“it is wonderful,” Jersø told ekstra Bladet. “we can start living again.” (rw)

City to compensate paralysed girlgirl’s father says that the family is ready to “start living again”

ing to do with the competencies of our staff,” Pedersen said on the BUPL website. “The problems are due to half of the country’s nursery staff being un-skilled, and there are also so few adults on staff that our members are forced to handle large groups of children alone.”

Politicians have previously said that the quality of the nurseries in Denmark needs to be improved. The children and education minister, Christine Antorini (socialdemokraterne), is planning to present new recommendations on how to lift the quality level. Antorini also in-dicated that the government has raised 500 million kroner to hire 3,000 more staff members – something hansen thinks is redundant.

“i almost became physically ill when i heard about the 500 million kroner for more staff. it’s all about or-ganisation and leadership, so you could hire as much staff as you want without helping the situation,” hansen told Ber-lingske newspaper.

Many nursery helpers expressed the opinion that hansen’s findings are in-complete and lack a broader scope, but many did agree with him that the chil-dren may not be getting as much individ-ual attention as they perhaps should be.

“i think it is true about organising your work, and sometimes you’re as-signed duties from the leadership that take time from the core responsibilities, but i have never neglected the children or failed to show them care and atten-tion,” nursery employee Margit Jensen wrote on the BUPL Facebook page. “But i am under pressure, and it can be difficult to reach every child individu-ally every day.”

A nation of zombie children? An Aarhus researcher contends that a lack of adult contact at the nation’s nurseries causes children to shut down emotionally

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an 18-year-old woman has been sen-tenced to five years of psychiatric care after be-

ing found guilty of giving a false witness testimony in a rape case three years ago.

The woman’s testimony led to three men, who were 16, 17 and 18 at the time, spending 14 months in jail for rape.

But after the younger broth-

er of one of the accused secretly recorded the girl admitting she lied about the rape, the three were retried, cleared and each given compensation of between 600,000 and 700,000 kroner.

In court last week on Wednesday, the woman was found guilty of having lied about the involvement of two of the men who she said held her down while the third man allegedly raped her in the handicapped toilet at Fredericia train station on 13 September 2008.

one of the three imprisoned men, Sharif Saloni, said he was disappointed that the girl did not receive a prison sentence.

“She ought to feel a little bit of what we felt when we were

Three men spent 14 months in jail before being acquitted due to the false testimony of an 18-year-old woman

Woman sentenced to psychiatric care for lying about rape

I regret that we have not stopped this rhetoric and come together as danes

locked up,” Saloni said, accord-ing to Jyllands-Posten news-paper. “nobody deserves to go through what we went through.”

Saloni also expressed disap-pointment that the court did not find the woman guilty of lying that he raped her, and in-stead only found that she lied about the two other men hold-

The JuStIce minister has had to answer to the eu over contradictory state-

ments about the effect of chang-ing the law governing the depor-tation of foreign criminals.

after assuring the eu that a change in the law would protect foreign criminals from deporta-tion, the justice minister, Morten Bødskov (Socialdemokraterne), then told Jyllands-Posten news-paper that the amendment to the law would not loosen danish immigration law and would only have a “symbolic effect”.

upon hearing Bødskov’s ex-planation to the press last week, the european commission’s jus-tice commissioner, Viviane red-ing, met with Bødskov last week to ensure that the planned chang-es would indeed have an effect as he had promised her.

“We can understand that he has said [the change] is purely symbolic and will have no real consequences. We were rather sur-prised to hear that,” reding wrote in a statement to Politiken news-paper. “We would very much like an explanation from the minister, because it is supposed to have a real consequence.”

reding wrote to Bødskov this January expressing concern with last summer’s change to danish immigration law that meant criminal foreigners must be deported unless it is known

Roskilde Dagblade employees defended their headline choice, saying the word ‘neger’ was merely descriptive and not offensive – the integration minister, and others, disagreed

Peter StannerS

Justice minister assures eU over deportation law

demand for clarification over deportation laws after justice minister says law change will only have “symbolic effect”

ing her down.according to the prosecutor,

it was not possible to find her guilty of lying about the rape, as it could not be proved that she did not think she was raped.

“We need to put ourselves inside the girl’s head,” pros-ecutor Birte Wirnfeldt told Jyllands-Posten. “What was she thinking when she testified against Sharif Saloni? We can-not disprove that she felt raped. But still, that is not the same as saying a rape took place.”

The girl received a five-year psychiatric sentence after her psychiatric report showed she had a very low mental capacity. She will now spend at least one year in a psychiatric institution.

TWo SeParate issues in recent days brought into sharp focus the deep divisions and compli-

cated nuances surrounding the language used to discuss immi-grants in denmark.

on Thursday of last week, police were forced to break up a fight outside a screening at Korsgadehallen in nørrebro of a new film about the harsh tone of the language used to discuss immigration.

Things remained relatively peaceful inside the packed hall during the screening of the 30-minute film, ‘ordet Fanger’ by journalist helle hansen, and during the debate that followed.

one of the panellists, Manu Sareen (radikale), the minister for gender equality and church-es, said that he agreed with the film’s premise that the tone sur-rounding the immigration de-bate is too harsh.

“I regret that we have not stopped this rhetoric and come together as danes,” Sareen said.

Morten Messerschmidt (dansk Folkeparti) said that he disagreed with restricting the tone of the dialogue.

“It is free speech,” said Mess-erschmidt. “If you restrict speech, extremism can take over.”

Messerschmidt was greeted as he made his way into the hall with signs that said “Messer-schmidt out of nørrebro” and shouts of “nazi”.

a group of about 100 peo-ple gathered outside the hall after the event. a small bunch of locals turned on a group of four Messerschmidt support-ers – reportedly members of the anti-Islamic danish defence league (ddl) – and began pelt-

ing them with rocks and bottles whilst shouting “nazis”.

Police were already on the scene in riot gear in anticipa-tion of possible problems stem-ming from the event and quickly drove the four ddl members away. The locals threw rocks at police as they attempted to break up the riot.

order was quickly restored

new documentary and questionable headline choice put the harsh language used in denmark’s immigration discussion in focus

ray Weaver

Contentious language in immigration debate thrust back into spotlight

and no arrests were made.Meanwhile, a headline in a

local newspaper last month un-derlined the continued need to discuss the use of language.

The headline from the dag-bladet roskilde of april 18 trumpeted: “neger stjal bil fra 80-årig” (n****r stole car from 80 year-old).

The article was picked up by several danish news services and the headline was the subject of much debate. The integra-tion minister, Karen hækkerup (Socialdemokraterne), criticised the wording on her Facebook page. She has since removed her original post, explaining that the comments she received were nothing she wanted on her Face-book page.

Peter StannerS “with certainty” that it would break international conventions.

replying to reding, Bødskov wrote that he would remove the words “with certainty” from the law to improve protection from deportation, but to Jyllands-Posten newspaper he said the changes were purely symbolic and would have no effect.

despite the apparent con-tradiction, Bødskov stood by his earlier position that the same criminals who were deported be-fore would also be deported after the law change.

“The government’s proposed law change ensures that it is the courts that decide on deporta-tions,” Bødskov told Politiken. “The basic conditions for depor-tation are not being changed. What we are ensuring is clearer legislation in which it is empha-sised that it is the courts who de-cide on deportations.”

according to reding’s spokesperson, the eu is simply concerned with ensuring that denmark complies with eu leg-islation.

despite Bødskov’s assur-ances, opposition MP Søren Pind (Venstre) has accused the justice minister of lying.

“on the one hand he has told the danish public that there is no need to change the rules,” Pind told Berlingske newspaper. “But at the same time he argues that there is a need to change the law, while also admitting in the letter that by removing ‘with certainty’ it will increase the protection from deportation. he has tried to keep it all a secret and it is there-fore an example of a fundamental breach of trust.”

Best Hat Competition

First prize a trip to Dublin

Saturday 5th May

1st race at 14.30

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“It was hateful and racist,” hækkerup wrote. “It is appalling that people write things like that – or that they believe it.”

dagbladet roskilde’s editor, Steen Østbjerg, stood behind his decision to use the word.

“It was a conscious choice,” Østbjerg told Journalisten.dk. “I do not think that it is an offen-sive word. If he had been a red-head, I would have written that. If he had been bald, I would have written that.”

The folks behind their online version sn.dk thought otherwise. as this story was being written, they dropped the ‘neger’ head-line and went with ‘Black man steals car from 80 year-old’. a few hours later, it had been changed to ‘Man steals car’.

she ought to feel a little bit of what we felt when we were locked up

Bødskov is accused of lying about changes made to the deportation laws

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8 4 - 10 May 2012THE COPENHAGEN POST CPHPOST.DKOPINION

Bring Euro2012 boycott discussion down to earth

S-tog: a death trap, due to bicycle chaos

I � nd it very positive that bicycles can travel for free on the train, but I think the people who use this service must have limits. I � nd it unacceptable and dangerous that bicycles are taken outside the designated areas, not only by the doors in the ‘Flexrum’, but also by all the doors on the train — sometimes under the complacent gaze of the train conductors. Can you imagine what would happen in the case of an emergency? If the doors are blocked with bi-cycles, people cannot evacuate the train quickly and they could get trapped. Worst-case scenario,

they could die. Additionally, I have seen on some occasions (when there is a delayed train) that the wagons remain empty, as people can’t enter the train because the bicycles are blocking the doors. Now, I am personally afraid to sit in quiet areas dur-ing rush hours, as I did before. I think that DSB should consider bicycles outside the speci� c areas as a violation of the law and im-pose a � ne, as if they were travel-ling without a ticket (750kr), and introduce additional � nes before a tragedy happens. Isn’t there any Danish or EU regulation regard-ing the obstruction of exits in public places?Simon Busch By email

Terrorist Breivik invokes Den-mark’s immigration policies in his defence

I wonder if this will be turned into yet another victory for the right wing here? It’s almost as if they could use this to brag about their policies being entirely like-ly to cause the type of social co-hesion that Breivik denies exists in Norway.Nebsy By website

Victory, no. Food for the propa-ganda machine, yes.� orvaldsen By website

Considering the stink this man made over being allowed to wear

his spi� y red LaCoste sweater at court hearings, I am sure it’s KILLING him to know prison life has turned him into a pasty doughy pantload. Couldn’t hap-pen to a more repulsive indi-vidual! HeidiakaMissJibba By website

One person, seven di� erent caseworkers

One unemployed keeping seven to eight people employed – wow!Bell� eCat By website

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READER COMMENTS

F EW WOULD argue that organised sport is anything but a game. Whether it’s at the local level, where clubs often serve as community rallying points, or in the high-stakes game of

international competition, sport is just as much about politics and business as it is about play.

So important, in fact, is organised sport in this country that most people will tell newcomers that it’s one of the best ways to meet Danes. Participation as a volunteer for a sports club even earns foreigners points towards permanent residency.

Given the importance placed on sport, and the image it presents to the outside world, it should come as no surprise that when participating in international sporting events risks putting the country in a bad light, decision makers are quick to air any reservations they might have.

Such was the case in 2008, when China’s human rights record had many calling for a boycott of the Beijing Olympics. At that time, the debate centred on whether to attend the Olympics and engage China or stay home as a sign of protest.

With the European football championship set to get under-way at the beginning of June, Denmark has joined the discussion over whether to boycott matches in Ukraine, which is co-host of the tournament together with Poland, due to questions about the treatment of jailed former Ukrainian PM Julia Tymoshenko.

U� e Elbæk, the culture minister, summed up his dilemma nicely by indicating that he has a duty to both the athletes and the country’s reputation. At a time of economic and social upheaval, however, there are two other important groups he should con-sider before making a decision to keep the team at home.

¡ e � rst is the group of businesses that in the 2010-2011 sea-son paid over 100 million kroner in sponsorships and TV rights to the Danish football association DBU. With Denmark playing in one of the world’s largest football events, the amount for this season is likely to be far in excess of that. For businesses and the DBU alike, the European championship o� ers them a lucrative marketing platform they’d be disappointed to lose.

¡ e second group is the millions of people planning to sit down in front of the TV this summer to watch Denmark play. While few of them would ever be under the impression that the game isn’t everything (or dare claim that human rights is more important than sport) most would argue that, where the games are played – be that Ukraine, Poland or, as some have suggested, Germany – is less important than the action on the pitch.

fan and lynch mob. Welcome to Denmark!

Many will probably call me a frustrated, humourless sti� , but there are times when I wonder just how complacent we are here in Denmark, and whether those who attack Danishness are as con-troversial as they think they are. My humble point is that while self-criticism is a virtue, hating yourself is pitiful.

With the box o£ ce success of the � lm Hvidsten Gruppen, about a Second World War resistance cell, many of the letters written by members of the resistance group are being made public. ¡ e letters make for fascinating read-ing – quite possibly even for social constructivists and critical culture researchers. ¡ e letters make it clear that they weren’t � ghting for democracy, the welfare state or human rights. What they were � ghting for was freedom for their people and their country. In their defence, you can say that mod-ern culture studies were just as unknown for them as they were for Saxo Grammaticus when he wrote about the feats of the Danes. Unfortunately for them, they couldn’t know that they gave their lives for a repressive social construction. ¡ ey never state outright whether they were ashamed of the Royal Family, the Church of Denmark or pig farm-ing, but I doubt they were.

¡ e Hvidsten Group must be a goldmine for culture scholars looking into nationalism.

Am I paranoid? I hope so. But I can’t seem to shake the no-tion that disrespect for one’s own culture is masked by respect for

cruitment spiel. Jensen’s text is something of

a handbook in political correct-ness for all the well-behaved boys and girls who’ve been fed trendy theories about national identity being a ‘social construction’ from the 19th century, and built on the establishment of an ‘us’ and a ‘them’, and how we mustn’t allow this to be carried over into the age of globlalisation, which should be the age of the post-national, un-prejudiced and inclusive ‘homo multiculutralis’.

What these scholars are tell-ing us, then, is that Danish identity is dangerous and arti-� cial, and that what we like to call ‘culture’ is simply laughable. Not long ago, DR broadcasted the 2011 performance of an-nual parody skit show Circusrevy, which contained a bit about the immigration point system. In the skit, two characters, ‘Fatima’ and ‘Ahmed’, both eager to assimilate into Danish society, each “lack 10 points in order to be included into the Danish context”, as the refrain went. ¡ ey’d done every-thing they could to become real Danes: they bought a clap hat and a bible, they decked their walls with porcelain platters, and they were willing to watch porno-graphic � lms on the internet and get divorced.

Another example is the work ‘Vi danskere’ (We Danes), by award-winning, misanthropic poet Henrik Nordbrandt, which – all too predictably – puts down our complacency and pokes fun at pig farming, the Church of Denmark and the Royal Family. Fortunately, Nordbrant’s lyrical talent saves the day for him.

And now that we’re at it, at the University of Copenhagen’s library, I found a catalogue of courses in ‘Danish culture’ for foreign students. ¡ e cover fea-tured Peter Carlsen’s painting ‘Denmark 2009’, a pastiche of Delacroix’s iconic revolution-ary image ‘Liberty leading the people’. Carlsen combines the preposterous with the dangerous by portraying Danes as a beer drinking, pork eating and tabloid reading group as a way to signify their mediocrity, simplicity and bourgeois consumerism. Mean-while, in the background, there’s a baseball bat-wielding football

P UBLIC broadcaster DR’s Washington correspond-ent, Erkan Özden, is a victim of “assimilation”,

one of my friends, who I’ll call ‘K’, told me once. K teaches Danish as a second language and was informed about this at a training workshop on ‘cultural understanding’ at the University of Copenhagen. Referring to the fact that Özden has learned to speak standard Danish and that you can’t identify his ethnic ori-gin based on the way he speaks, it was argued that the majority had forced him to accept their under-standing of good language usage.

My friend was a little taken aback. As a language teacher, he’d sought to teach immigrants to learn Danish as well as possible, but now the culture experts were telling him that just insinuating that something is ‘better’ or ‘more Danish’ than something else is wrong – and even repressive.

K has always enjoyed working with people from other countries, but it wasn’t until he attended uni-versity that he found out that you can’t really be tolerant or inclusive unless you distance yourself from your own culture, or until you ac-cept how much ‘structural racism’ exists in Denmark. For the � nal exam, students needed to search the Danish media for stigmatising portrayals of immigrants.

Figuring it was probably bad for my health to attend the work-shop/propaganda session, I bor-rowed K’s course material. ¡ is only con� rmed my fears. ¡ e class was based on Iben Jensen’s ‘Grundbog i kulturforståelse’ (Introduction to Cultural Under-standing). ¡ e book’s cover art shows a black man stating: “I’m from Africa.” To which a white man replies: “Cool, so you’re good at dancing, singing and hanging on the block.” ¡ e point – that ‘we’ generalise and ‘talk down’ to ‘them’ – was the general theme of the book and re® ected its readability level: the language use isn’t much above what you’d � nd in a children’s picture book, and its point – to challenge the nation-state and promote mul-ticulturalism – is made about as subtly as a Jehovah’s Witness re-

Us, them and being DanishLARS CHRISTIANSEN

someone else’s – like when teach-ers move Christmas celebrations out of churches in consideration for non-Christian students. Nor can I let go of the thought that those that are the biggest pro-ponents of inclusion, actually, practise the opposite: eliminating national cultural di� erences and intolerance for everything they, for political reasons, don’t ap-prove of.

I’ll never forget going to a meeting at my daughter’s school and suggesting that they consider instituting a traditional morning assembly, complete with ® ag rais-ing and song. One father swore that he’d never let his son be sub-jected to that sort of “Christian propaganda”. So much for the great hymn writers of the past. Now, they sing kids’ songs which don’t exclude anyone, neither on religious grounds nor on ethinic grounds, because they are totally meaningless.

All of this makes me think of people I’ve met who defected from eastern Europe during the Cold War. ¡ ey were happy to ar-rive in the free world, but the most progressive of their new compa-triots told them that Denmark was a repressive, post-capitalist society. Fortunately for them, the country was still free enough that these people were allowed to put it down – and also fortunately for them, the majority of Danes at that time weren’t progressive social constructivists either.

Lars Christiansen is a German translator and author and is cur-rently a PhD fellow at Aarhus University

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94 - 10 May 2012 THE COPENHAGEN POST CPHPOST.DK OPINION

CPH POST VOICES

English-Australian theatre director Stuart Lynch has lived in Copenhagen since Clinton impeached his cigars and writes from the heart of the Danish and international theatre scene. He is married with kids and lives in Nørrebro. Visit his Danish theatre at www.lynchcompany.dk.

‘THE LYNCH REPORT’ Born in 1942 on the Isle of Wight, Englishman Frank Theakston has been in Copenhagen 32 years and is on his second marriage, this time to a Dane. Frank comes from a di� erent time and a di� erent culture – which values are the right ones today?

‘TO BE PERFECTLY FRANK’A proud native of the American state of Iowa, Justin Cremer has been living in Copenhagen since June 2010. In addition to working at the CPH Post, he balances fatherhood, the Danish language and the ever-changing immigration rules. Follow him at twitter.com/justincph

‘STILL ADJUSTING’

I HATE HAVING to make big decisions, but after � ve glorious years of living in Copenhagen, I have hit a

brick wall. So this could be my penultimate column, as I am thinking of heading back to London.   en I might � nally be able to answer my own ques-tion: Can a foreigner ever be-come a Dane? Maybe, but not in my case!

In the end, it is my lack of Danish language skills that has become my brick wall. In my self-defence, being a news jour-nalist, words are my only cur-rency, but I have � nally woken up to this reality – I will never be � uent enough to interview Villy Søvndal in Danish without making a fool of myself. (Even though the Danes have excellent English skills, there aren’t that many outlets here for people like me, so thank goodness for   e Copenhagen Post.)

So unless I want to rethink my career, it could be the lan-guage that gets me in the end! Yet Copenhagen has treated me so well, and even though this city is currently a horrible build-ing site littered with trash, it’s a wonderful place to live.

  e fact that I can walk the streets any time of day or night without the fear of be-ing mugged, or I can get on my bike and go to the sea, makes for a relaxing and calm life.

Even though I am now certain Danish society has a drinking problem, hanging out with the Danes has also been a life-changing experience, especially on the sexual liberation front. I am convinced this is one of the

Dear Copenhagen

most metrosexual cities in the Western Hemisphere!

  e idea of returning to London � lls me with mixed emotions. On the work front, the possibilities will be much more forthcoming, though from

a lifestyle point of view, it really will be back to the rat race. I will also have to confront and deal again with a society based on the haves and the have-nots: the continuing homeless problem, the obsession with Posh Spice,

English by nature – Danish at heart. Freelance journalist Richard Steed has lived in Copenhagen for nearly � ve years now. “I love this city and want Copenhagen to be a shining example to the rest of the world.”

Pernickety DickyBY RICHARD STEED

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The idea of returning to London � lls me with mixed emotions

Clare MacCarthy is Nordic correspondent for The Economist and a frequent contributor to The Financial Times and The Irish Times. She’ll go anywhere from the Gobi Desert to the Arctic in search of a story. The most fascinating thing about Denmark, she says, is its contradictions.

‘MACCARTHY’S WORLD’

and all the other crazy people in desperate need of mental help. Oh, and the chance of be-ing mugged or stabbed for my iPhone!

Of course Copenhagen is not � awless, but compared to London it’s pure heaven. Here there is little of the suspicious ambience that London thrives on: the jealousy, resentment, greed, conspicuous wealth and consumption. And, as yet, so-cialism is not seen as a dirty word here.

I know what you’re thinking: I am being totally daft trying to compare these two cities. One is a gold-� sh bowl, the other a metropolis. Yet the quality of life here is fantastic – something to be envied – and I don’t see the same aggression between the Danes like there is between the Brits. You still have some kind of respect for each other, which in today’s cruel and violent world is pretty amazing. London could de� nitely pick up a few tips from this city.

I also love the fact that you naively think you’re the best in the world, which obviously as a foreigner makes me sometimes giggle at your self-righteousness and self-delusional behaviour, but hey, nobody’s perfect!

So should I stay or should I go now? Well I guess my next article will let you know how my story ends.

� e Danish language is proving to be an unmovable barrier

10 4 - 10 May 2012The Copenhagen posT CphposT.dkNews

We avoid people getting more ill as they wait around for a diagnosisa New study has esti-

mated that the country could save over 5 billion

kroner a year in reduced sick days if the health service can give a di-agnosis to patients within 50 days of their first medical consulta-tion. The joint study by chamber of commerce dansk erhverv and labour union FOA comes as the government this week unveiled its own pledge to issue a diagnosis within 30 days.

dennis Kristensen, the presi-dent of FOA, said that in addi-tion to saving money, such guar-antees would help balance the equality of the healthcare system.

“today there is inequality be-cause people in certain areas with a good education and a good job can argue their way to better care, while unskilled people in low-wage jobs must endure long waiting times,” Kristensen told Jyllands-Posten newspaper. “The diagnosis guarantee will end that inequality.”

The government’s proposal has received backing from the na-tion’s five healthcare regions and many doctors. detractors, such as torben Mogensen, the deputy director of Hvidovre Hospital, argue that the plan will not save

money.“On the contrary, it will be

more expensive. A set waiting time is actually good because many illnesses can disappear in time,” Mogensen told Jyllands-Posten. “A guarantee will mean considerably more examinations and that will lead to a massive in-crease in costs.”

Non-profit labour market pension fund Pensiondanmark helps some of its account holders to a quick diagnosis and treat-ment, similar to the one month diagnosis guarantee that the gov-ernment has proposed.

The company’s managing di-rector, torben Möger Pedersen, argued that Mogensen’s evalua-tion is incorrect.

“The guarantee won’t mean more examinations, but rather that we shorten the waiting time between,” Pedersen told Jyllands-Posten. “A shorter wait translates into less sick day costs and we also avoid people getting more ill as they wait around for a diagnosis.” (Cw)

diagnosis guarantee will pay off, study suggests

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THe gOverNMeNt’s plan to bury 5,000 cubic metres of low-level radio-

active waste by 2018 has been met with opposition by the five councils that have been short-listed as suitable burying sites.

On Monday, the mayors of Bornholm, skive, struer, Lol-land and Kerteminde met with the health minister, Astrid Krag (socialistisk Folkeparti), to try and convince her to export the waste, but according to Born-holm’s mayor, winni grosbøll (socialdemokraterne), the health minister would not budge.

“The minister is going to stick to the plan, which means that the six locations currently under consideration will be re-duced to two or three by the autumn,” grosbøll told ritzau, adding that the government should seriously consider alter-natives. Currently, the govern-ment has not named specifics beyond saying that there are six possible sites located in the five short-listed councils.

The waste was produced by the risø dtu National Labo-ratory for sustainable energy near roskilde, which was es-tablished in 1955 to investigate

government rejects calls to export 5,000 cubic metres of waste produced by 50 years of activity at research centre

Peter StannerS

Mayors up in arms over radioactive wastepeaceful applications of nuclear technology.

“we suggest either leaving the waste in risø where it has been sitting already for many years, or looking at creating a co-operation deal with neigh-bouring countries, such as sweden or germany, who are already used to dealing with nu-clear material,” grosbøll said.

In 2003, the danish govern-ment decided to decommission the three experimental nuclear reactors that the research centre has housed – the same year it was decided to bury the waste, which will take an estimated 300 years to become harmless.

Ole Kastbjerg Nielsen from dansk dekommissionering, the company responsible for dis-posing of the radioactive waste, told public broadcaster dr that the reason parliament de-cided to dispose of the waste in denmark was to comply with the uN convention on nuclear waste that declares that each country must process its own radioactive material.

The low-level radioactive waste is comprised of goods that have been in contact with high levels of radiation or very dangerous fuel cells, such as gloves, scrap metal and irradi-ated concrete that has been used as radioactive shielding.

“radioactive waste is defi-nitely something that needs to be taken seriously and handled responsibly. safety analyses show

that it can be handled responsi-bly and in a way that poses no threat to the people or the envi-ronment,” Nielsen told dr.

dansk dekommissionering is now attempting to reduce the size of the 5,000 cubic metres of waste.

“we are trying different methods of minimising the size of the waste,” Nielsen said. “even if we burn it, there will be radioactive ash that needs to be disposed of. Another op-tion is to melt the metals. That is being examined now to see whether it is affordable and re-sponsible.”

tarjei Haaland, a spokes-person for environmental or-ganisation greenpeace, told ritzau that exporting the waste was no solution and that the best option was to bury the waste close to the risø centre in order to reduce the risk of an accident during transportation.

“Our view is that we ought to dispose of the medium level radioactive waste that we are re-sponsible for creating over the years at the three research reac-tors at risø, ourselves,” Haa-land said.

The risø research Centre was merged with the technical university of denmark in 2008 and renamed the risø National Laboratory for sustainable en-ergy. The current focus of its research includes fuel cell tech-nology, renewable energy tech-nology, and radiation shielding.

THe uPCOMINg foot-ball european Cham-pionship in Poland and

ukraine risks a political boycott from european ministers in protest against the imprison-ment of ukrainian opposition leader Julia tymoshenko.

german Chancellor An-gela Merkel was the first to an-nounce that she would boycott the sporting event unless ty-moshenko is released from the seven-year sentence she received last October on charges of mis-handling a 2009 energy deal with russia.

The conviction is widely re-garded to be a political vendetta by President viktor yanuko-vych, who defeated tymoshenko in the 2010 presidential election but whose presidential win in 2004 was annulled as a result of the Orange revolution protest movement that was co-led by tymoshenko.

After Merkel took the lead, danish ministers are now con-sidering whether it would be appropriate to attend the eu-ropean Championships, given tymoshenko’s politically-mo-tivated jailing and subsequent

reports of abuse in prison.The culture minister, uffe

elbæk (radikale), told Ber-lingske Nyhedsbureau that he “clearly expects” to participate in the european Championships in Poland and ukraine, despite calls for a boycott.

“Merkel’s comments defi-nitely leave an impression,” elbæk, told Jyllands-Posten newspaper. “what’s happening in ukraine is totally monstrous. I take it very seriously but it is a very delicate balancing act. If we send our football team to ukraine, then I have a duty to support the team. On the other hand, we need to defend human rights and draw attention to the state of affairs in ukraine.”

MP Per stig Møller (Kon-servative), who has served as both the foreign and culture minister, said a boycott would be the only right decision.

“I don’t believe that as a minister or MP it is appropriate to go to ukraine and officially attend the european Champi-onship,” Møller told Jyllands-Posten. “doing so would be to support a government that has subjected Julia tymoshenko to atrocious treatment.”

tymoshenko is reportedly on hunger strike in a jail in the ukrainian city of Kharkiv and claims to have been punched and had her limbs twisted while being taken to a hospital for treatment of a back problem

– claims that are supported by photographs that show bruising on her arms and stomach.

Møller argued that tymosh-enko’s only crime was to present a political threat to the power of yanukovych and said that the current ukranian president has imprisoned her in order to avoid meeting her at future elections.

“The punishment means that Julia tymoshenko will not able to run in the next election. It is completely unacceptable

and undemocratic,” he said. “That is why I believe that min-isters should not attend. The government needs to come to this conclusion on their own otherwise we will bring it up in the foreign policy committee.”

Møller did not think, how-ever, that players should get in-volved in the political debate, as the president of the german football club Bayern Münich, uli Hoeness, has encouraged his players to do.

Former foreign minister urges boycott of sporting event unless Ukrainian opposition leader Julia Tymoshenko is released from jail

Peter StannerS

Mp call for danish boycott of euro 2012

The boycott calls cenre around the imprisonment of Julia Tymoshenko

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study: a quick diagnosis will save billions by reducing waiting time and sick days

114 - 10 May 2012 THE COPENHAGEN POST CPHPOST.DK COMMUNITY

In for a check-up was Launa Samin Fehrenkamp, who is of French and Irish descent and has lived in Copenhagen since 2005

Judging by their smiles, it was just what the doctor ordered for Maersk contingent (left-right) Polly Raine, Claudio Cassarino, and Victoria and Phil Christian

Enjoying a drop for medicinal purposes whilst lending a hand with the lighting & sound, and set construction, was the CTC’s Shawn Perman (centre)

‘The Good Doctor’ was in theatre, and the operation was a thorough success, reports the Copenhagen Theatre Circle, which � nished o� a ten-performance run before a full house on Saturday. The play was en-joyed by many, garnering good reviews and vindicating director Frank Theakston’s decision to focus more on the Chekhov source material than Neil Simon’s play.

The cast enjoyed a well-deserved bow following the � nal whistle, or should we say all-clear: (left-right) John Shennan, Dawn Wall, Sebastien Bagot, Brendan O’Gorman, Jens Blegaa, Gaby Neubert-Luckner, Josh Shires and Debbie Taylor. Not pictured is Nenc Cihoric

Enchantment bordering on indoctrination at CTC’s sell-out ­ nal night

CLIVE THAINWORDS BY BEN HAMILTON

Writing out a prescription for our photographer was Ros-alyn Porter, with her husband Christopher, who are from Alexandria – no, not ancient Egypt, but in good old Virginia

Following doctor’s orders and sticking to his soda was Ron Rose-now, an American from Minnesota who has been here since August 2011

Swapping St Albans Church’s pulpit for the doctor’s surgery was Arch-deacon Jonathan LLoyd from St Albans Church, along with his wife Sue.

‘Bride and groom’ Gaby Neubert-Luckner and Jens Blegaa gave the audience a taste of their own medicine

12 4 - 10 May 2012THE COPENHAGEN POST CPHPOST.DK

ABOUT TOWNPHOTOS BY HASSE FERROLD (UNLESS OTHERWISE STATED)

COMMUNITY

Scandinavian fashion brand NN.07 presented their new winter collection at their head-o� ce in Copenhagen. “This is our � fth year on the Scandinavian fashion scene and we felt con� dent enough to return to where it all started in 2007,” said communications manager Lincoln Robbin-Coker (second from left) said. “The style of Tokyo has always been re� ected in our collections, but this is the � rst time we designed a complete collection inspired by the unmistakably una� ected look, only found on the streets of Tokyo.” Robbin-Coker says NN.07 is one of Scandinavia’s most popular fashion brands. Contrasted dots and tone-on-ton stripes are recurrent in their latest collection of shirts, blouses and jerseys. “All unmistakable trademark patterns of Tokyo. Individuality is key, mixing styles; quality fabrics, patterns and colours to create a personal take on clothes that make you feel good and look great.” .

Royal Academy School of Architecture Publishers has released a new book entitled ‘Cli-mate and Architecture’. Pictured here is the school’s Torben Dahl (centre), the executive editor of the book, and two of the co-authors.

Pia Allerslev, the deputy mayor for culture and leisure, was on at hand to open the new Town Hall Museum, which is situated by the famous Gavegangen (gift corridor). The museum traces the history of the building, making use of objects that have lain in dusty boxes for decades.

The occasion was the opening of a new Institute’s for New Economic Thinking (INET) centre at the University of Copenhagen. The Centre of Imperfect Knowledge Eco-nomics has been created in co-operation with Soros Fund Management. Pictured here (left-right) are SFM’s Hungarian-American chairman George Soros – known in some circles as ‘The Man who broke the Bank of England’ – and INET chairman Niels Thygesen and his wife.

Isabelle Valentine’s husband works at a video game company and gets to play at work. She also wanted to play for a living so she started the Montessori International Preschool. She moved to Frederiksberg in May 2008 where she lives with her young family.

AT WORK AND AT PLAYCOMING UP SOONExpat dinnersAll over Denmark; May 10; times vary; free adm; sign up at www.expatindenmark.com� e purpose of the dinner is to have an interesting evening where local expats can meet local Danes and vice-versa. Dinners take place at libraries all over Denmark. For a full list, check www.expatindenmark.com.

Tight NightRestaurant Tight, Hyskenstræde 10, Cph K; � u 10 May, 19:00; 350kr; www.europeanpwn.comJoin the European Professional Women’s Network for their din-ner at Tight Restaurant. Enjoy a three-course meal for the price of 350 kr. Sign up online or send an email to toniheisterberg@cis.dk.

French Film at Grand Teatret Grand Teatret, Mikkel Bryggers Gade 8, Cph K; Mon 14 May, 17:00; www.meetup.comTantalise your senses with French � lm ‘La Délicatesse’ (‘Delicacy’). � e group meets up at Grand Teatret’s café you’ll be able to recognise them by their French � ag. You have to pay for your own ticket and the � lm it-self starts at 19:00.

Opening Dutch Film WeekCinemateket, Gothersgade 55, Cph K; � u 10 May, 19:15; free adm; www.d� .dk� e Dutch Embassy and Cin-emateket cordially invite you to attend the showing of the open-ing � lm of Dutch Film Week: ‘Nothing Personal’. After the viewing, director Urszula An-toniak and producer Frans van Gestel will speak about the � lm. Sign up for this free event by sending an email to Søren Lester of the Dutch Embassy at soren.lester@minbuza.nl. You can pick up tickets from the Cinemateket box o� ce from Tuesday 8 May.

Have you got the optimal pension arrangement?Aon Denmark, Strandgade 4C, Cph K; � u 15 May, 17:30; free adm; www.bccd.dk� e sponsor of Manchester United, Aon Private Consult-ing and the British Chamber of Commerce in Denmark invites you to a meeting about how an independent broker can help you save time and money when choosing between pension pro-viders. � is event is for BCCD members only.

Start-up Weekend FinanceCopenhagen School of Entrepre-neurship, Howitzvej 60, Freder-iksberg; Sun 13 May, 18:30; free adm; copenhagen� nance.startup-weekend.orgStart-up Weekend is an intense 54-hour start-up event that pro-vides the networking, resources, and incentives for individu-als and teams to launch their ideas. Get connected with local developers, innovators and en-trepreneurs. � e best idea wins 10,000kr.

StorytimeBooks & Company, So� evej 1, Hellerup; every Tuesday 09:30-10:00; Free Adm; for more information check www.book-sandcompany.dk/storytime-at-books-companyTuesday mornings at the inter-national book café are dedicated to inspiring and captivating the imagination of the little ones. � e wonderful storyteller Sara Albers, a teacher and a mother of two young boys, entertains the kids with stories, poems, � n-ger plays and small projects. � is is a fantastic way to start the day! TK

MIKE HOFMAN

Integration vs Internationalisation

INTEGRATION is a con-cept that I � rst heard fre-quently when we moved to

Denmark. To me, integration seems like a Danish concept because out of all the countries where I have lived, this is the one where integration has such an important role.

I lived in Japan in the late 1990s where there was no dis-cussion of integration. At the time, the Japanese were con-vinced that their language was too di� cult for any ‘gaijin’ (foreigner) to learn. All of our cultural mistakes were quickly forgiven as they thought that a foreigner could never truly com-prehend the local ways and cus-toms. � ere the emphasis was on ‘internationalisation’ as they called it. It was not about for-eigners integrating their culture,

but about the Japanese becom-ing more international with the help of foreigners.

� is is not the case here in Denmark. We get frowned upon for not using the conveyor belt separator at the supermarket and we need to learn the cycling rules quickly or we risk a real telling-o¦ . We are expected to assimilate into the local culture and become Danish as quickly as possible, whereas in Japan, we were never expected to even pretend to be Japanese. � ese two views are interesting in their contrast, but they certainly have not prevented me from enjoying life in either country.

Here we appreciate the sub-sidised Danish lessons, having the same welfare rights as the Danes, and � tting in without standing out as foreigners. In Japan, we were always reminded that we were di¦ erent and we were treated di¦ erently. Ulti-

mately, we are happy to be here in Copenhagen, just as we were happy to live in Tokyo. What is important is that we are always learning something new about the local culture.

Having started an interna-tional preschool with tuition in English, I am not promoting integration. Rather, I am creat-ing employment for local resi-dents, including Danes, and am thereby participating in the local economy. � is could be consid-ered as some kind of integration, couldn’t it?

Looking back on my ex-perience in Japan, maybe I am helping to internationalise Co-penhagen in the hope that more foreigners will enjoy their time here, while also opening their children’s minds to a culturally diverse environment. In its own way, it makes me feel more inte-grated socially – and I am enjoy-ing every minute of it.

134 - 10 May 2012 THE COPENHAGEN POST CPHPOST.DK LIFESTYLE: SUMMER SPORT

M AN, IT is hard staying in-side when the sun is blind-ing me through the win-dows and the sky is high

and blue-like endless. Like a balloon losing air, I cannot hold on to my ses-sions indoor in the gym or local � t-ness centre. My mind wanders, my body grows restless, and all of me just itches to leave my o� ce, forget about cleaning the house, drop the book I am reading sitting comfortably on the couch, and seek out new activities to do outdoors under the open sky. Yup this is the Danish summer – a season during which it’s a crime not to do any sport.

On the move

Summertime is outdoor-time for sure, and summertime is the right time to discover new hidden treasures in your city and nearby nature. I get a kick out of strolling through the o� -beat streets, � nding new shortcuts and exploring the waterfront. Walk-ing o� ers me a di� erent perspective on my hometown than a bike-ride would. And you too would love the sight and smell of colourful � owers in the park if you took a walk there just as I enjoy the meditative vibe when walking among tall trees and bushy ground in the forest.

A runner’s delight

It doesn’t take much to go for a walk except a pair of good shoes or boots and a windbreaker for the easiest way of exercising you can imagine. But somehow I miss the sense of going further down the roads and maybe into the park, into a small wood, or along a lake glittering in the sun. Where are my old running shoes? Ooh, I threw them into a basket of last year’s worn-out shoes, and trying them on, I decide to waste some mon-ey on a new pair of shoes in the name of the independence that the freedom of running gives me – whether it’s in

between work, fetching my kids from kinder-garten or school, shopping for din-ner, and going to a meeting.

On two wheels

� ere is a sense of southern Europe in the air come May or June: a warm breeze, a spicy fragrance, and smiles all over the faces of peo-ple passing by or enjoying a cappuc-cino at a café. Maybe it’s time to park my mountain bike and wipe the dust o� my ordinary bike, oil the chain and pump the wheels ... and it looks good and shiny and ready to take me anywhere ... to work, to school, to the seaside or into the forest just to have a � rst taste of outdoor life. In glimpses I recall the bike rides last summer along the coast with the sun blinding me and the wind redecorating my hair. Will you join me for a 10km ride to reach the new ice cream parlour we discovered up the road last year? But remember your helmet!

Indoor turning outdoor

Ah, I can breathe now … I mean, I loved doing cross� t indoor in the old gym that smells of sweat, sour socks and authoritarian teachers’ rules. But it is such a relief to carry the kettle bells and the medicine balls outside, place them on the grass in the corner of the soccer training ground, and get stuck into the chin-ups, push-ups, squats and exercises, which guarantee

one thing: that your body feels worked-out to the bone after sweating buckets of water. But with a smile on my face. For-gotten is the pain. All I feel is the relief that it’s over – for now – and the thrill of having used all the muscles in my body in an intense, pace-driven and tough type of activity.

Street life

On a long, hot sum-mer’s day, the city is bursting of outdoor

life from morning into night. � e cafés are brim-

ming with joyous people, while others stroll through the parks or along the seaside promenade. In between and around them, rollerskaters, skateboarders, BMX bikers and parkour powertumblers display their elegant charms

and make me dig deep in the cardboard boxes to � nd my

well-worn rollerblades for a tri-umphantly youthful journey down

memory lane to see the city and the streets from a di� erent angle.

A ride on the water

Summertime is watertime. It is okay to nurse a garden and it is

� ne to conquer the gravel paths on my bike, but it is better to go to the seaside and to go onto the water. Suddenly my view of the

city changes and it takes on a di� er-ent perspective seen from the water-side sitting in a kayak. I move qui-etly through the water as if I’m on a meditation early in the morning while the sun is colouring the houses on the coast. � ree early morning rowers pass me while greeting me silently, leaving me to my own solitary company as the summer’s day slowly grows warm and full of light.

Caroline CainNaturopathic Nutritionist & ReflexologistCaroline CainNaturopathic Nutritionist & ReflexologistCaroline CainNaturopathic Nutritionist & Reflexologist

www.carolinecain.dktel: 50 19 76 06

Natural health and detox specialist guiding and motivating you to create optimal, lasting

health.

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Halmtorvet 19 • The Bosch building • DK-1700 Copenhagen V Tlf: +45 33 31 20 00 • hej@biomio.dk • www.biomio.dk

Halmtorvet 19 • The Bosch building • DK-1700 Copenhagen V Tlf: +45 33 31 20 00 • hej@biomio.dk • www.biomio.dk

BioMio is Denmark´slargest 100% organicrestaurant.Flavoured with love, passion & purpose

• What is a CPR number & that little yellow card?• Want to say “hej” to Danish?• Want to find the perfect neigbourhood?

ReloCation GuiDeSPRinG 2012

CominG Soon!

look for the Relocation Guide

due out in may

A plan for all seasonsBY STEEN BILLE

Steen Bille has been a reporter at DGI for eleven years, primarily covering recreational or leisure time sports activities – a topic he has written about for almost all of the 26 years he has been a jour-nalist. � e DGI (the Danish Gymnastic and Sports Associations) is an umbrella group for around 5,000 local associations, which massively vary in size, from the dozens to the thousands.

Food

Sport

For four weeks at a time, four times a year, our aim is to give you all the sea-sonal 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 pol-len season normally start, which week do the home-grown 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

Lifestyle will return in two months!

14 4 - 10 May 2012The Copenhagen posT CphposT.dksport

AG KøbenhAvn on Sat-urday advanced to handball’s Champions League Final 4 thanks to a 62-59 aggregate de-feat of defending champions FC barcelona Intersport. A 33-36 defeat in Spain followed a 29-23 win for the men in Copenhagen eight days earlier. AGK will now meet Atletico Madrid, ThW Kiel, and Füchse berlin in the finals, which will be contested in Cologne on May 26 and 27.

PIoTr Wozniacki has told media that his daughter’s main focus in 2012 is the olympics and grand slams - not ranking points. Turn-ing down an invitation to defend her brussels open crown, Wozni-acki will play fewer tournaments in her clay season build-up to late May’s French open, which began last week with a second round 1-6, 2-6 defeat to Angelique Ker-ber in Stuttgart – the same player who beat her in Farum.

DenMArK hAS been named as a participant in FIFA’s sec-ond round of Goal Line Tech-nology testing. A press release released by the sport’s govern-ing body stated that Goalref ’s system – one of two on FIFA’s shortlist – will be tested in “two separate matches” that could either be two “Super-liga matches” or “one league fixture” and an “international friendly match”.

DAnISh CyCLIST Jakob Fuglsang, 27, has pulled out of the Giro d’Italia, a race sched-uled to start, for the first time ever, in his home country. The first stage time trial will take place in herning on Saturday, followed by two more stages, also in Jutland. Fuglsang, who was set to lead the radioShack nissan team, blamed injuries. The tour ends on May 27 on more famil-iar territory – in Milan, Italy.

FC CoPenhAGen and AC horsens will contest the DbU Cup Final on May 17 at Parken – FCK’s home ground. The Li-ons defeated Sønderjyske 4-4 on aggregate. Following a 1-0 first leg home win, they scored a late penalty to advance, although Sønderjyske did hit the bar in the 89th minute. horsens also left it late, scoring in the 86th minute to advance 3-2 with a 1-0 home win.

agk knock out champs grand slams the focussuperliga to make historyno birdsong on tour Lions roar into final

sporTs news and briefs

Move over Caroline Woz-niacki because the country’s top male tennis player, Frederik nielsen, has finally tasted success – well, almost. In the doubles at an ATP challenger tournament in Taiwan, nielsen and Kiwi part-ner Dan King-Turner knocked out the top and fourth seeds on their way to the final, only to lose to the second seeds 7-6, 5-7, 6-7. nielsen is ranked 122 in the world at doubles and 286 at singles.

freddie’s the man

Czech republicMay 4, 16:15World ranking: 5th Key player: David Krejčí -boston bruins (nhL)have Denmark beaten them before? noDenmark’s chances: 10%

Italy May 6, 12:15World ranking: 17thKey player: Giulio Scandella - hC Pustertal (Italy)have Denmark beaten them before? yesDenmark’s chances: 70%

swedenMay 7, 20:15World ranking: 3rd Key player: henrik Zetterberg - Detroit red Wings (nhL)have Denmark beaten them before? noDenmark’s chances: 10%

russiaMay 10, 16:15World ranking: 1st Key player: evgeni Malkin - Pittsburgh Penguins (nhL)have Denmark beaten them before? noDenmark’s chances: 5%

Germany May 12, 16:15World ranking: 8th Key player: Marcel Goc - Florida Panthers (nhL)have Denmark beaten them before? yesDenmark’s chances: 55%

LatviaMay 14, 16:15Latvia, World ranking: 12thKey player: Kaspars Daugaviņš - ottawa Senators (nhL)have Denmark beaten them before? yesDenmark’s chances: 50%

Norway May 15, 12:15World ranking: 9th Key player: Patrick Thoresen - SKA Saint Petersburg (russia)have Denmark beaten them before? yesDenmark’s chances: 65%

DenmarkWorld ranking: 13th Key player: Frans nielsen - new york Islanders (nhL)

factfile | denmark’s opponents

MAny remember 2010 as a legendary year for Danish ice hockey. That year, the under-

dogs on ice beat perennial pow-ers Finland, Slovakia and the USA on their way to eventually losing to Sweden in the quarter-finals and coming a sensational eighth place.

And now with the players who triumphed in 2010 again on board, the spirits are high in the Danish camp as they make their final preparations before heading to Stockholm to par-ticipate in the 2012 Ice hockey World Championships, which are being jointly hosted by Swe-den and Finland.

head coach, Per bäckman, revealed a 25-man roster on Tuesday that includes four nhL players thus far, including star

forward Frans nielsen, who plys his trade for the new york Is-landers and who racked up a goal and three assists in Denmark’s defeat of Italy in their final exhi-bition match on Tuesday night..

“We feel that we have a bet-ter team than in Germany [in 2010], when we reached the quarter-finals,” nielsen told Dr Sporten. “I think that we have been so good that we don’t have to just survive anymore, but go for the win in every game. I be-lieve that we have the potential to reach another quarter-final and that’s what we have to fight for.”

nielsen is among the group of four nhL players who have joined the Danish team, which also includes Lars eller (Montreal Canadiens), Philip Larsen (Dal-las Stars), and Jannik hansen, who is a surprise addition after his heavily favoured vancouver Canucks were ousted in the first round of the nhL playoffs.

When it comes to assessing the strengths of the opposition, nielsen said that it was diffi-cult to say because it depends on which teams progress in the current nhL playoffs, as is the

danes looking to relive past glories at the iihf world Championships in stockholm and helsinki

Christian Wenande

friday is face-off time for fast-improving ice hockey force

case with Mikkel bødker, whose Phoenix Coyotes are still play-ing. Some players may even join the team after the tournament has started.

“There are many players still playing over in the nhL, and you don’t really know who the other teams will be getting back,” nielsen told Dr Sports. “We are waiting and watching the news a bit every day trying to figure out who the others have on their teams.”

one player who unfortunate-ly won’t be playing for Denmark is young winger nicklas Jensen, who suffered a concussion while playing for his US-based team. Also, the top scorer for Den-mark in last year’s tournament, Mads Christensen, pulled out on Tuesday after being admitted to herlev hospital with a severe migraine.

Although the pre-tourna-ment exhibition matches have been a mixed bag of nuts for the Danes – including wins against France, Latvia, Slovakia and Italy, and losses against norway, Latvia (who they played more than once) and a russian b-team – the

Denmark will be hard-pushed to get their campaign off to a winning start against the Czechs on Friday, but will fancy their chances against Italy on sunday

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addition of the nhL players has given them a significant boost.

but, it will be a tough road ahead if the Danes are to emulate their quarter-final appearance two years ago, believes goalkeep-er Frederik Andersen.

“We need to play trademark Danish ice hockey: hard work and intelligent play,” Andersen told Dr Sports. “We’re not the strongest team there; Sweden, russia and Czech republic are probably the toughest in our group, so there are four other games we need to get points from.”

This year’s edition will see a new format introduced. Some 16 teams will compete in two preliminary round group stages, with the top four from each group progressing to the quarter-finals. The teams that finish last in each group will be relegated to the lower division.

The preliminary groups will be played in helsinki (Group h) and Stockholm (Group S – Den-mark’s group), and the quarter-finals (rather bizarrely – presum-ably to accommodate travelling fans) will also be played within

the groups, meaning that the teams will stay in their respec-tive group cities until the medal games, which are all in helsinki.

basically, if you find yourself in helsinki watching the Danes play, you are witnessing nothing short of a miracle, because it will mean they are among the top four nations in the world.

but if you don’t see your-self taking in the biggest annual winter sports event live, fret not. Tv2 Sport will be covering the tournament, including all of Denmark’s games. Denmark play their opening game against Czech republic, a team they have never beaten, on May 4 at 16:45.

There is one important suc-cess that is already in place for the Danish ice hockey team. As opposed to the national football team, the ice hockey players are actually allowed to use social me-dia such as Twitter and Facebook during the tournament.

If you have a penchant for betting, it is worth pointing out that Denmark are 13/1 to beat the Czechs, 200/1 to win their group.

154 - 10 May 2012 THE COPENHAGEN POST CPHPOST.DK BUSINESS

spokesperson for Socialistiske Folkeparti, told Jyllands-Posten. “We still have a large de� cit and we still face the problems of an ageing population and diminish-ing workforce.”

� e large budget de� cit is partially caused by early pay-outs of early retirement (efter-løn) funds, though these were o  set by unexpectedly large pension taxes and revenue from North Sea oil.

� e budget de� cit is expect-ed to be reduced to 35 billion kroner in 2013, or 1.9 percent of GDP, which is well below the EU’s limit of three percent.

With the government set to present its eight-year economic plan (the 2020 Plan) later this month, trade unions are now hoping the government will � nd more money for an extra eco-nomic stimulus package.

“If the economy is in bet-ter shape than it was initially thought, it should raise the prospect of the government in-troducing a second growth pack-age,” Kim Simonsen, the chair-man of the trade union HK, told Jyllands-Posten newspaper.

Johanne Schmidt-Nielsen, the political spokesperson for far-left government support party Enhedslisten, also implied that the government could now � nd more money for public in-vestment.

“When you suddenly dis-

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Exchange Rates

Price in kroner for one unit of foreign currency Date: 2 May 2012

UNEXPECTEDLY posi-tive news about the gov-ernment’s � nances was announced on Monday,

when it was revealed that 2012’s budget de� cit would be 26 bil-lion kroner less than initially expected.

� e economy minister, Margrethe Vestager (Radikale), welcomed the news but urged caution.

“It’s no cause for celebration, but it does seem to be getting better,” Vestager told Berlingske newspaper. “Our de� cit is re-ducing, we are on track to keep EU targets, and our debt is be-coming manageable. � ose are three pieces of good news.”

While the budget de� cit is now expected to be around 75 billion kroner, instead of the previous estimate of 101 billion kroner, MPs admit that there is still work to be done reconcil-ing governmental income and expenditure.

“We haven’t got more mon-ey in our hands just because we have to borrow 75 billion instead of 101 billion kro-ner,” Jesper Petersen, a political

cover that the de� cit is 26 billion kroner less than anticipated, you would expect it to be re¢ ected in the coming budget,” Schmidt-Nielsen told Berlingske.

But Simon Ammitzbøll, the chairman of the opposition par-ty Liberal Alliance, argued that despite the positive numbers, the de� cit was still enormous and that without signi� cant tax and employment reforms, Denmark’s economic problems would remain.

“� is is no time for popping open a bottle of champagne,” Ammitzbøll told Berlingske. “We still face the same challeng-es today that we did yesterday.”

� e latest employment � g-ures from the Economic Coun-cil of the Labour Movement showed that 6.2 percent of the Danish workforce is unem-ployed, or about 160,000 peo-ple – a number that has ¢ atlined after peaking in 2010.

With � gures showing unem-ployment is still double 2008’s lowest level, the Confederation of Labour Unions (LO) argued that the drop in the government’s de� cit could justify government investment to create jobs.

“We think the government should do more to create jobs,” LO’s chairman Harald Børst-ing told Jyllands-Posten. “� at means we need to invest. Wheth-er it is now or next year or in two years time, I don’t know.”

Surprise news leads to political parties and trade unions urging additional funding to stimulate economy and create jobs

PETER STANNERS

Budget de� cit cut by 26 billion kroner

Watch out for your body parts!

Carlsberg ... perhaps the poorest safety record everRAY WEAVER

While Enhedlisten’s Johanne Schmidt-Nielsen (centre) argued the de� cit reduction should lead to increased government investment, Radikale’s Margrethe Vestager (background) urged caution over the � gures

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CARLSBERG had major safety problems at its brew-ery in Fredericia last year.

� e website fagbladet3f.dk re-ports that the company was cited for 12 major safety violations in 2011, setting a Danish record for the highest number of possibly dangerous conditions found in a single workplace at one time.

� e national working envi-ronment authority, Arbejdstil-synet, demanded that the com-pany immediately correct the violations, which included ex-plosion risks, and the danger of workers falling down a lift shaft and getting their body parts caught in machinery.

Inspectors from Arbejdstilsyn-et said one of the most serious vio-lations involved gas bottles stored around the facility that were not secured and could fall over and explode. � ere was also a risk that employees could fall four metres down the shaft of a lift that had been in use for four years without the proper safety screens in place.

Ivan Nielsen, the senior shop

steward at Carlsberg’s shipping terminal in Fredericia, said that company management had been warned about the dangerous conditions.

“Many of the things that the inspectors criticised we had pointed out to management ear-lier,” Nielsen told fagbladet3f.dk. “Nothing was ever done about them.”

Carlsberg’s Fredericia ship-ping terminal was cited for seven violations, while the brewery it-self received � ve. Inspectors said that using some of the machin-ery at the plant carried a great risk of bodily harm.

Company o ̈ cials were quick to say that they would � x

Brewer’s Fredericia location cited for a record number of serious safety violations

This year’s golf day will be held at Ledreborg Palace Golf Club, which has Scandinavia’s only course designed by Sir Nick Faldo, on Thursday 14 June . We have arranged both a tournament for experienced golfers, and a fun golf event for beginners.

The tournament will be a 4 person team (best 2 scores per hole per team) Stableford competition over 18 holes with a gun start for experienced golfers. It will be arranged to accommodate company teams, private teams and individual players in a way that will provide good networking opportunities. In addition to the Hole-in-one prize and tournament prizes, there will also be other attractive individual prizes. The beginners’ event will start with training from the Pro, followed by a competition and will give non-golfers and beginners an opportunity to learn the basics and have some fun! Equipment will be provided.

WIN AN ELECTRIC CAR! The first player to score a hole-in-one on the designated hole will win a Better Place, battery powered Renault Fluence ZE.

Book Now – there are a limited number of places available

Date: Thursday 14 June 2012Location: Ledreborg Palace Golf, Ledreborg Allé 2A, 4320 LejreTime: Arrival 07.00 – 07.30 AM, Gun start 09.30

Participation Fee: Main Tournament: Member/guest – DKK 1000 per player + moms Non-member – DKK 1200 per player + momsBeginners Event: Member/guest – DKK 900 per player + moms Non-member – DKK 1000 per player + moms

Participation fee includes breakfast, lunch, green fee etc. Players (with DGU card) that register and pay early (deadline 3rd May ) will be eligible to play a free practice round before the tournament. This represents a saving of up to DKK 595 on Ledreborg’s normal green fees. Registration fees are non-refundable but transferable.

Denmark’s only English-language newspaper

• official media partner

2012 BCCD-BIU Golf Tournament

BRITISH CHAMBER OF COMMERCE IN DENMARK

REGISTRATION: Online at www.bccd.dk or via email to event@bccd.dk by Wednesday 30th May at the latest. Please state DGU membership number in the “notes” section for each player entering the tournament.

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

the violations.“We are pleased that these

problems have been brought to our attention,” Jens Bekke, a spokesperson for Carlsberg, told � e Copenhagen Post. “We place a high priority on safety and have reduced the number of accidents in 2011 to eleven, down from 21 in 2010.”

Bekke said the company has � xed eleven of the twelve prob-lems that Arbejdstilsynet point-ed out and that the last one will be addressed before the summer.

� is is the � rst time Arbe-jdstilsynet has visited Carlsberg’s Fredericia location since the com-pany moved all of its major brew-ing operations there in 2008.

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16 4 - 10 May 2012THE COPENHAGEN POST CPHPOST.DK

SPOUSE: Dolon Roy FROM: IndiaSEEKING WORK IN: SjællandQUALIFICATION: Masters in Science(Chemistry), BEd. (Teacher training course).EXPERIENCE: St. John Diocessan School February-May 2005, Kolkata, India. The Assembly of God Church School April-May 2006, Kolkata, India. Disari Public School June 2006-October 2007, India. Research project work Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Copenhagen University, March-July 2009.LOOKING FOR: Part time or full time work teaching in primary,secondary or higher school level (Chemistry, Mathematics, Science).LANGUAGE SKILLS: English, Hindi, Bengali, Danish (modul 3/modul 5).IT EXPERIENCE: Microsoft o� ce.CONTACT: dolonroy2005@yahoo.com. Tel: +45 60668239

SPOUSE: Ylenia Fiorini FROM: ItalySEEKING WORK IN: CopenhagenQUALIFICATION: Post Graduate Master’s Degree in Peace Studies, Development Cooperation, International Mediation and Con� ict resolutionEXPERIENCE: I have ten years experience as social worker in Italy,and experience in various ¡ elds, in the social and third sector and I feel that my educational background combined with my campaign assistant practice in the Ngo Burma Campaign, in Barcelona, has been an excellent preparation. In the same way also my job experiences in the social ¡ eld made me open to di£ erent situations and to see them as a source of knowledge.LOOKING FOR: Entry Level jobs in the third sector ¡ eld, in international organization or NGO’sLANGUAGE SKILLS: Italian Mother tongue, � uent in Spanish, English, French, Swedish (basic)IT EXPERIENCE: Ms O� ce (Mac,Windows)CONTACT: ylenia¡ orini@yahoo.it

SPOUSE: Rita Paulo FROM: PortugalSEEKING WORK IN: Great CopenhagenQUALIFICATION: Architect .EXPERIENCE: I am an architect and I have experience in Project and in Construction Supervision. In the past 7 years, I have worked mainly in housing, masterplanning and social facilities buildings. My last employer was a Project and Construction company where I had the opportunity to complement my experience in projects together with construction related tasks, developing myself as a professional.LOOKING FOR: Job in Architecture or Construction Company.LANGUAGE SKILLS: Native Portuguese, Pro¡ ciency in English, Basic user of Spanish and DanishIT EXPERIENCE: Strong knowledge of AutoCad and ArchiCad. Experience in Studio Max, CorelDraw, Photoshop, O� ce tools.CONTACT: rita.vaz.paulo@gmail.com, Tel: +45 2961 9694

SPOUSE: Jik Boom FROM: The NetherlandsSEEKING WORK IN: CopenhagenQUALIFICATION: Architect .EXPERIENCE: CELTA (Cambridge Certi¡ cate in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages)see also Linkedin pro¡ le http://dk.linkedin.com/in/jikboom)LOOKING FOR: Job in Architecture or Construction Company.LOOKING FOR: Work in the area of teaching (English), proofreading (English) and translation (English/Dutch - Dutch/English)LANGUAGE SKILLS: Dutch, English, French, German, DanishIT EXPERIENCE: MS O� ce (Powerpoint, Word, Excel)CONTACT: jikboom@yahoo.com, Tel: +45 42129175

SPOUSE: Margaret Ritchie FROM: Scotland, UKSEEKING WORK IN: CopenhagenQUALIFICATION: BA Business Administration majoring in Human Resource ManagementEXPERIENCE: Worked in the ¡ eld of Education within a Scottish University. 12 years of experience. Administrating and organising courses and conferences and also worked as a PA to a Head of School. Great communication skills.LOOKING FOR: Administration work, typing, audio typing, data input. Can work from home.LANGUAGE SKILLS: Mother tongue: English, very basic DanishIT EXPERIENCE: A good user of Microsoft O� ce package, access to InternetCONTACT: megmagsritchie@googlemail.com Tel: 71182949

PARTNERS:THE COPENHAGEN POST SPOUSE EMPLOYMENT PAGE

THE COPENHAGEN POST SPOUSE EMPLOYMENT PAGE

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 pro¡ le to The Copenhagen Post at aviaja@cphpost.dk and we will post your pro¡ le on the spouse job page when possible. Remember to get it removed in case of new job.

Denmark’s only English-language newspaper

SPOUSE: Debasmita Ghosh FROM: India SEEKING WORK IN: CopenhagenQUALIFICATION: Master of Pharmaceutical Sciences (Pharmachemistry specialization). EXPERIENCE: 4 years in Clinical Research (Pharmacovigilance/Safety and Medical Coding) in a leading CRO (Quintiles) and 6 months experience as a lecturer for bachelor degree students in Pharmacy College.LOOKING FOR: Job in pharmaceutical industry, CRO or any vocation suitable per quali¡ cation and experience.LANGUAGE SKILLS: English (� uent written and spoken), enrolled for Danish language classes, Indian Languages (Hindi, Bengali, Kannada).IT EXPERIENCE: MS O� ce Applications i:e Microsoft o� ce word, excel, outlook, power point and tools, lotus notes, medical and drug softwares like micromedex and ISIS draw. CDM systems like ds Navigator-Medical coding tool and AERS database.CONTACT: ghoshdebasmita@gmail.com, Tel: +4571488438

SPOUSE: Christina Koch FROM: AustraliaSEEKING WORK IN: CopenhagenQUALIFICATION: Bachelor of Arts in Linguistics and Drama, 1997 University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia. Experienced actor and voice coach for speakers, with parallel high level experience in written communications.LOOKING FOR: Voice coaching for corporate presenters and speakers, Writing and Communications work, work in theatre organisations.IT EXPERIENCE:Microsoft O� ce, O� ce for Mac.LANGUAGE SKILLS: English - Native speaker, excellent written and oral expression. German – good reading and listening skills. Spanish – � uent oral communication, good reading and listening skills. Danish – beginners level speaking and writing skills.CONTACT: Tel: +45 52 77 30 93 Christina@hermionesvoice.com, www.hermionesvoice.com.

SPOUSE: Lillian Liu FROM: TaiwanSEEKING WORK IN: Marketing/Public Relations.QUALIFICATION: Bachelor of Foreign Language and Literature (Major in English, and minor in French)EXPERIENCE: 5+ years of professional experiences in Marketing and PR. I am a dynamic and creative marketing communications talent with substantial international working experience in large corporation and in agencies, possessing Integrated Marketing Communication ability. Pro¡ cient in analyzing market trends to provide critical inputs for decision-making and formulating marketing communication strategies. Familiar with brand image build-up, channel marketing, media communication, issue management, etc. Possess in-depth understanding/knowledge of APAC market and Chinese culture.LOOKING FOR: Marketing jobs in Jylland.LANGUAGE SKILLS: Mandarin Chinese, English, Danish, French.IT EXPERIENCE: Familiar with Windows O/S and MS O� ce.CONTACT: sugarex@hotmail.com

SPOUSE: Clotilde IMBERT FROM: FranceSEEKING WORK IN: Greater CopenhagenQuali¡ cation: Master of town planning and development and master of urban geography (Paris IV-Sorbonne)EXPERIENCE: 5 years in ¡ eld of town planning and development: - Coordinator in urban project in a semi-public company: supervised a major urban project in Paris area (coordination of studies, acquisition of lands, worked with Planning Development of the Town Council, architects, developers to de¡ ne the master plan and implement the project...); - O� cer in research and consultancy ¡ rm (urban diagnosis, environmental impact assessments, inhabitants consultation...).LOOKING FOR: A job in urban project ¡ eld: planning department of Town Council or consultancy¡ rm in town planning, environment and sustainable development, architecture ¡ rm, real estatedevelopment company.LANGUAGE SKILLS: French (mother tongue), English (professional usage), Spanish (basic), Danish(In progress).IT EXPERIENCE: MS O� ce, Abode Illustrator, AutoCad (basic), PC and Mac.CONTACT: clotilde.imbert@gmail.com

SPOUSE: Megan Rothrock FROM: California-USA,ViaSEEKING WORK IN: Toy Design, Games Design, or Photography (Syd Denmark Jutland).QUALIFICATION: Associate Arts Degree: Corporate Communication, Design, and Commercial Illustration, with a background in animation. EXPERIENCE: Former LEGO Product Designer, LEGO Universe: Level Designer, European Bureau Editor Brick Journal Magazine. I have a strong knowledge of Toy and Gaming Markets. I am driven, enjoy solving daily challenges and I’m a strong communicator wanting to join a creative team of colleagues. LOOKING FOR: Part/Full time work in an innovative and creative .LANGUAGE SKILLS: English: native - Dutch: Excellent - Danish (currently in): Danskuddannelse 3, modul 3.IT EXPERIENCE: PC and Mac - Microsoft O� ce Suite, Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, Flash, Dream Weaver, Director, Maya, 3D Studio Max, ML Cad, LD. CONTACT: megzter1@yahoo.com Tel: +4535140779

SPOUSE: Ra£ aele Menafra FROM: ItalySEEKING WORK IN: CopenhagenQUALIFICATION: A degree as Prevention techniques in Work and Workplaces.EXPERIENCE: I worked 4 years in a rehabilitation clinic.LANGUAGE SKILLS: Italian (native), English, Danish (currently learning).IT EXPERIENCE: MS O� ce.CONTACT: menafra1@yahoo.it

SPOUSE: Mohammad Ahli- Gharamaleki FROM: IranSEEKING WORK IN: CopenhagenQUALIFICATION: Master degree in chemical engineering.EXPERIENCE: 5+ years as a chemical engineer in R&D oil/gas projects as a team leader or member in Iran.LOOKING FOR: A position in an Intrnational company to expand my experience and expertise.LANGUAGE SKILLS: Azeri (native), English (� uent), Farsi (� uent), Arabic (good), Turkish (good), Danish(beginner).IT EXPERIENCE: Professional (MATLAB, Hysys, Aspen plus, Auto Cad, others (O� ce, Minitab).CONTACT: mohammad_ahli@yahoo.com, Tel: (+45) 71 63 12 85

SPOUSE: Malgorzata Tujakowska FROM: Poland SEEKING WORK IN: Aarhus and the surrounding areaQUALIFICATION: Masters in Ethnolinguistics with major in Chinese and English, Chinese HSK and Business Chinese Test certi¡ cates, 2-year long studies at Shanghai International Studies University and National Cheng Kung University,Taiwan.LOOKING FOR: Working for companies hiring Polish and Chinese employees, teaching Chinese, Polish, Business English, linguistics, translation and interpretation, proofreading, Chinese business and culture consulting, administrative work.LANGUAGE SKILLS: Polish (native speaker), Chinese – simpli¡ ed and traditional (� uent), English (� uent), German(intermediate), Danish (intermediate-currently learning).IT EXPERIENCE: MS O� ce.CONTACT: Tel:+45 28702377, m.tujakowska@gmail.com

EMPLOYMENT

Job profileYour job will consist of opera-ting our large-format printers, as well as carrying out various other related post-print tasks. You will also be responsible for setting up exhibitions and exhibition systems, both on our own production premises and in locations in the rest of the country. Previous knowledge of the

industry is not necessary as you will receive full

training.

Your profile•Youhaveapositiveattitude and can show initiative and flexibility•Youcanworkindependently and enjoy responsibility •Youcanseethebigpicture while at the same time remaining goal-orientated •Youhaveavaliddriving licence•Youarefluentinboth written and spoken English

A lack of Danish is no obstacle.

If you are interested in a job in an exciting, rapidly expanding company, then send your application to Henrik Kailow by email.: henrik@kailow.dk

Kailow Visual is currently looking

for an enthusiastic production worker

Kailow VisualFjeldhammervej 5-92610 Rødovre · Telefon 3876 0200www.kailow.dk · info@kailow.dk

Kailow Visual is a company specialising in visualisation. We work

with media which innovatively and effectively visualises and brands our customers’ message

and business. As such, Kailow Visual’s business involves graphic design, the development of indivi-

dual exhibition solutions, and the sale of trans-portable exhibition systems, as well as the production of large-format printing and various signage solutions.

Kailow Visual is a subsidiary of Kailow Holding.

Biotech Job Vacancies

For more information and other job vacancies visit our webpage www.cphpost.dk/jobvacancies

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WELCOME TO DENMARK.STAYING LONG?

18 4 - 10 May 2012The Copenhagen posT CphposT.dkculture

Who is ... david dencik?

He is a Swedish-born actor who grew up in Denmark

Where might I have seen him?Unless you’ve been hiding in a dark cave, you might have no-ticed Dencik in ‘Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy’, ‘War Horse’ and the Hollywood version of ‘The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo’. He must have a thing for Stieg Lars-son, as Dencik also played a role in the original.

Is he any good?Yes, actually. No snide remarks to be made unfortunately.

So is he a Swede or a Dane?Well, he was born in Sweden in 1974, but his family moved to Copenhagen in the same year. Dencik went back to his birth country to study at Teaterhög-skolan i Stockholm from 1999 to 2003, and in 2009, he was awarded the Swedish Film Acad-emy’s Kurt Linder scholarship. So maybe it’s a bit like Australia’s adoption of Kiwi actor Russell Crowe – at least until he threw a telephone at a hotel employee.

Where did he get his break?Danish TV series ‘Klovn’ and ‘Coachen’ in 2005 and then he played a transvestite in ‘En Soap’.

He was born on Halloween – does that make him scary?He played convicted murderer and bank robber John Ausonius in 2005 Swedish TV miniseries ‘Lasermannen’, and his role in the comedy ‘Everything About My Bush’ sounds equally terrify-ing – or perhaps it’s just the title

He sounds pretty successful. Does he have a girlfriend?Unfortunately, he’s been dating a lawyer for a few years – they don’t go down without a fight.

So does Hollywood beckon?Actually, most of his films in the pipeline are Scandinavian – Dan-ish films ‘August’ and ‘Skytten’, Norwegian drama ‘All That Mat-ters Is Past’, and Swedish thriller ‘Call Girl’ – which should see him become this region’s big-gest actor before long. But a fellow Dane, Susanne Bier, has cast him in her next project, ‘Ser-ena’. Which clears the nationality question: he must be Danish as he would never have got the part had he been a Swede.

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The killing’ and ‘Borgen’ both nominated for best international series at the BaFTas

e NGLISH-LANGUAGE stand-up is getting a rise out of audiences here in Denmark, with a grow-

ing number of Danish com-ics also diverting away from their mother tongue. As more English-language comedy clubs and festivals spring up around Copenhagen, more foreign co-medians are opting to perform in a country where the compe-tition is less fierce than they are perhaps accustomed. Local com-edy club owners say the standard among the funny imports is ex-ceptional, and what’s more, they charge a lot less than their Dan-ish counterparts.

The founder of Cohen Com-edy Club and self-proclaimed funny guy, Jonathan Cohen Wolff, has made it his mission to convince people that English stand-up is better than the Dan-ish variety. “I’m sure the future of comedy here is English speaking stand-up,” he said.

According to Wolff, who is Danish, the local scene is years behind stand-up in the UK and the US. He thinks the sheer den-sity of comedians in countries like the US and England pushes up the quality as comics have

to fight for their spot on stage. “They have to be the best and have to keep making new jokes all the time. When you look at what they are doing in the US, compared with what they are doing in Denmark, they are two different worlds.”

Comedians get plenty of monetary support here, so they are under less pressure to make their routines extraordinary, contends Wolff. “Some of the young guys have so much po-tential, but they just rest on their laurels. They get their money each month from the government anyway, so they

don’t have to work really hard to do their stuff.”

The picture is a lot differ-ent abroad where comedians like Los Angeles-based Danielle Stewart, who came over for the 2011 Zulu Comedy Festi-val, might perform up to eight times a week and be lucky to get paid. Quality comedians like Stewart, not yet famous in their home countries, relish the opportunity to perform in Denmark and will often do it for less than the locals.

The key organiser of the Copenhagen Anglo Comedy Festival, and owner of Bispe-

outsourced comedy lowers costs and raises laughs

comedy clubs are becoming increasingly english language: let the heckling commence

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bjerg Comedy Corner, Jakob Havemann, says Danish acts are expensive to book and the price tag is usually no meas-ure of standard. Amazingly for Havemann, it is often cheaper to bring over a foreign comedi-an with 20 years experience and cover their flights, accommoda-tion and expenses, than book a middle-range Danish come-dian. “For some of them, it’s all about the money, not about the art,” he said.

Comedian Joe Eagan, who runs English-language comedy club Wisecracker’s at The Dub-liner in Copenhagen, thinks

the intensity of the UK comedy scene, and the backstabbing that goes along with it, makes it ap-pealing for comedians to try their luck in Europe instead. Bristol-born comedian Nigel Williams – one of the perform-ers on the Copenhagen Anglo Comedy Festival line-up – has had success doing just that, moving away from the UK and establishing himself as a house-hold name on the Belgian com-edy circuit. “I guess he thought ‘why should I be one in a thou-sand in the UK when I can be the number two in Belgium?” observed Eagan.

But Wolff believes the trend of foreign comedians venturing into Denmark for English-lan-guage gigs will have a positive impact on the standard here. “If the Danish comedians want to survive, they will have to evolve and do better,” he said.

With the advent of shows like the Copenhagen Anglo Comedy Festival, Zulu Comedy Festival and the Cohen Comedy Club’s upcoming tour in Sep-tember, Havemann adds there is even an increasing tendency for Danes doing their stand-up routines in English. Comedians like Mikkel Rask and Anders Stjerlholm, he believes, are even funnier in English than they are in Danish. Morten Sørensen and Claus Reiss – another two come-dians eager to make it overseas – also appear regularly at festivals in Leicester and Edinburgh.

old sweater vs power suit

Two Danish television series are among the four nomi-nees for best international

series at this year’s BAFTA TV awards – a category that also includes American shows. The winner will be unveiled on Sun-day May 27.

The second series of ‘The Killing’ and opening season of ‘Borgen’, both produced by broadcaster DR, will go head-to-head for the gong, the British Academy of Film and Television Arts revealed.

While both shows have a healthy, if not fanatical, follow-ing, it will be a win for DR – and actor Mikael Birkkjær, who stars in both series – if either takes the award.

‘The Killing’, a murder mys-tery featuring jumper-wearing detective Sarah Lund (Sofie

Mozart

The Spice Girls take their need to hydrate constantly a little too seriously

Bolshy brunettes battling for BAFtA

ITS SIMPLE name is deceiv-ing – ‘Mozart’ is not just a showcase of the composer’s

most well-known works. Rather, the musical, which is currently playing at Betty Nansen Teatret, is a captivating blend of classic Mozart and modern art.

The show begins innocently; the actors, sprawled across the stage, join in together one-by-one to create their own version of Mozart’s ‘Requiem in D Minor’. It’s beautiful, but only an introduction to the creativ-ity and absolute eccentricity of what is to come. For example,

over the course of the show, a single stream of water mysteri-ously leaks from the ceiling and gains force as the performance evolves. The steady stream is artfully included into some of the pieces, used as both a met-ronome and a centerpiece of the action.

At first, the performances are overwhelming – to what should you pay attention? It seems equally as important to try to uncover Mozart’s influ-ence in each piece, listen to the lyrics of the songs, focus on the actors’ physical routines and try to make sense of it all. In fact, it’s nearly impossible. Luckily, you are provided with song lyrics (in both English and Danish), so during the intermission you can

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excitedly flip through the pages to find that, yes, that song was in fact about atheism.

Despite its obvious eclectic elements – such as rope-swing-ing from a bathtub and wad-ing through a bubble-flooded stage – the show maintains a balance between new and old. At one point, the actors cleverly wrap cloth around their heads to perfectly emulate powdered wigs, paying homage to the 18th century.

With the juxtaposition of an electric guitar and a piano, cor-sets and plastic bird beaks, and melodies you may recognise and lyrics you certainly won’t, ‘Mo-zart’ is definitely a show to check out – just be sure to go with an open mind.

danish comedians whoopee cushioned by handouts needn’t try as hard

ElisE bEacom

ElisE bEacom

ElisE bEacom Gråbøl), returns to defend its position, having won the catego-ry last year. It has been exported to the UK, Germany, Austria, Belgium, Australia, Russia, Spain, Japan and Brazil – and remade in the US.

The political drama series ‘Borgen’ follows a charismatic politician, Birgitte Nyborg (Sidse Babett Knudsen), who unexpectedly becomes Den-mark’s first female prime minis-ter. It has been exported to the UK, Norway, Sweden, Finland, South Korea, France, Germany, and the Netherlands – and will be remade in the US.

The two Danish pro-grammes are up against US comedy series ‘Modern Family’ and Australia’s ‘The Slap’ – an adaptation of Christo Tsisoski’s bestselling book.

Meanwhile, it has been re-vealed that ‘Borgen’ will stop after its third series – just like ‘The Killing’ – the show’s pro-ducer Camilla Hammerich told the BBC.

Magic roots worth discovering

194 - 10 May 2012 The Copenhagen posT CphposT.dk Denmark through the looking glass

Forget about the Roskilde Festival being uncivilised – a royal peace offering in the city in 1157 led to a barbaric showdown between the country’s three kings. svend lied, knud died and Valdemar (only just) survived

denmark’s Valentine’s day Massacre makes the sopranos look like the smurfs

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T he year is 1157 and Den-mark has been torn by civil war for years, leaving the coasts vul-nerable to attacks from pillag-

ing pirates. Three rivals, Svend, Knud and Valdemar, have been fighting for the throne throughout the 1150s, with no end in sight. Valdemar had been al-lied with Svend at the beginning of the conflict, but later decided to join forces with Knud – a decision that would nearly cost Valdemar his life.

In the spring of 1157– after pressure from some of the country’s biggest land-owners – Valdemar and Knud decided to negotiate with Svend, who they had recently thwarted in his attempt to take Denmark by force.

a deal was made: Valdemar became king of Jutland, Knud got the islands, while Svend now presided over Scania.

The peace agreement was to be cel-ebrated at Svend’s estate in roskilde, where a reconciliatory feast was to take place. and it was a big one! For three days the guests were stuffed with trays of food, and the endless streams of beer and wine made sure the guests never saw the bottoms of their goblets.

On the third evening many of the guests chose to entertain themselves in the yard – probably due to raging hang-overs. For that reason there were only a few people left in the building with the three kings.

Knud sat next to Valdemar, who was involved in an intense game of chess.

after a while, Svend left the room and armed men quickly entered. Valde-mar was still caught up in his game of chess, while Knud acted as if he knew skullduggery was afoot. he kissed Val-demar and left as Svend’s men drew their swords on the gathering – all of whom were unarmed at the so-called reconciliatory feast.

Valdemar, finally discovering the graveness of the situation, jumped to his feet and smartly extinguished the candles – leaving them in semi-dark-ness. he then threw off his cloak and wrapped it around his arm so he could shield himself from the lethal blades of his enemy’s swords. he threw himself at the leader of the conspirators, Svend’s main man Ditlev, and they both tum-bled to the floor. But before Valdemar could get up, he was stabbed in the thigh.

at that moment, Valdemar’s men, who had heard the commotion, burst into the room just in time to protect their king from a deadly blow. Valde-mar managed to get to his feet and run for the door. he was grabbed by one of Svend’s men, but succeeded in strug-gling free through the darkness, while the fighting continued in the other room. Ditlev rose to find Knud within striking range. his sword connected with Knud’s head and the king fell to the ground.

Valdemar’s foster brother, the later archbishop absalon, who was elsewhere on the estate, soon heard that Valde-mar and Knud had been murdered. he

Sean Coogan

blood-line would rule Denmark for generations to come.

On 23 October 1157, Svend’s men were defeated in a brutal battle, during which Svend fled for his life. Vulnerable and exhausted, he became trapped in a marsh near the battlefield. a peasant recognised him and made good use of his axe by cleaving Svend’s head.

The spilling of Svend’s blood

searched for Valdemar, but could not find him. When he entered the room, where the ambush had taken place, Svend’s men were gone, but Knud was still lying on the floor – the life quickly draining from him. absalon took off his coat and put it under Knud’s head. a moment later the king exhaled for the last time.

absalon then fled for his life, nar-rowly escaping Svend’s men, who seemed to be everywhere. absalon trav-elled throughout the night in the hope of reaching his relatives’ estate in Fjen-neslev, many miles from roskilde.

Valdemar, who was not dead at all, had escaped on foot with only three of his men and made his way out of roskilde, despite his wounded leg. after acquiring a horse, he finally made it to the estate in Fjenneslev, where absalon was hiding. They laid low for a while, while trying to figure out how to smug-gle the king across to Fyn and finally to his kingdom of Jutland.

Meanwhile, Svend was working overtime to win the Pr battle by pro-claiming that it was in fact Knud and Valdemar who were responsible for the dramatic bloodshed – stating that it was them who had attempted to murder him. at the same time, he did every-thing he could to stop Valdemar from escaping Zealand.

he had not bargained on absalon’s brother, esbern Snare, though, who took his place in the history books by tricking Svend’s men and getting Valde-mar to Jutland safely, despite a massive storm angering the sea.

Shortly after his return, the no-nonsense Valdemar married Knud’s sis-ter in order to gain the support of the deceased king’s men. The tactical mar-riage was especially ironic due to the fact that Valdemar’s new father-in-law was actually the reason that Valdemar had never met his own father. Knud’s father had murdered him a week before Valdemar was born.

Knud’s men now joined forced with

Valdemar before the final showdown between the two remaining kings. Sv-end gathered his army and marched towards Valdemar’s Jutland. Valdemar had been waiting for the right time to face Svend and managed to gain great support after news spread of Svend’s treacherous deed in roskilde. The two armies met in battle outside Viborg in a bloody contest that would decide which

his opponents favoured a sword, but Valdemar preferred a drumstick - proof that lars ulrich is descended from royalty perhaps

Valdemar was the garry kasparov of his day - but just when svend thought he had him in check-mate, he wriggled free

marked the end of the civil war, which had raged since the murder of Valde-mar’s father more than a quarter of a century before. Denmark now had a single king who was finally free from bloody domestic struggles. It was now time for Danish forces to stand together and fight their enemies abroad – ac-tion that King Valdemar was quick to pursue.

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