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9 - 15 March 2012 | Vol 15 Issue 10 Denmark’s only English-language newspaper | cphpost.dk

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NEWS

� e return of Uganda’s infamous ‘Kill the Gays’ bill puts Danish fi nancial support in question

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NEWS

Marriage laws need an “update” to make divorce quicker and easier, social aff airs minister says

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English earlier?

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Schools are considering teaching English to kids as young as six, saying it gives them an edge

Dating the Danes

12

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THE GOVERNMENT is hoping to reduce the amount of sugar Danes consume by taxing sugar in a manner similar to last year’s

introduction of a saturated fat tax.Defending the proposal on Mon-

day night on public broadcaster DR’s news programme ‘Deadline’, the act-ing health minister, Pia Olsen Dyhr, said that the sugar tax would encourage Danes to move to healthier foods while also raising money that could be invest-

ed in the public health system.Questions remain, however, over

whether the tax would lead people to simply consume more products contain-ing arti� cial sweeteners, which some studies have demonstrated can cause diabetes and increase the risk of stroke.

“� ere seems to be a portion of society who become hungry from experiencing a sweet taste without sugar entering the bloodstream, and that could make people eat more of the wrong food to tackle the hunger,” Arne Astrup, a professor in nutri-tion at Landbohøjskole, said on the pro-gramme. “� ere are also studies that show an increased risk of strokes from consum-ing these arti� cial sweeteners.”

Dyhr said she could not respond to these allegations and that the govern-

Minister defends controversial sugar tax proposalgreatest health risks associated with the overconsumption of sugar and fat were also society’s poorest. But she added that the taxes would prove an opportunity for consumers to � nd healthier alterna-tives in their diet – by buying chicken instead of sausages, for instance.

“We need to get to the core of the is-sue, which is that we have a health chal-lenge in Denmark, not only with tobac-co and alcohol, but also with sugar and fat and we also need to exercise more,” Dyhr said. “If we just sit around and don’t do anything about it, the statistics will show that Danes will continue to die earlier than their neighbours.”

Critics of both the sugar and fat

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Sugar tax continues on page 5

Five years on and Jagtvej 69 is still a burning issue

Receiving packages can cost you a fortune

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Charlottenborg exhibition bares it all

Critics argue a sugar tax would increase the consumption of unhealthy arti� cially sweetened foods

PETER STANNERS ment would have to commission a study to see if consumers would really simply seek out arti� cially-sweetened products if sugar were taxed.

Further criticism of both the sugar and fat tax was aired by Joan Preisler, a health consultant for supermarket group FDB.

“People won’t immediately change their habits. Meat will still be the focus of their meal, and by not cutting down on that, they simply end up with less money to buy the healthier food,” Pre-isler said. “� e people who are the most in need of becoming healthier are going to be hit hard by this tax and are not go-ing to become healthier.”

Dyhr admitted that it was problem-atic that the people who su� ered the

Fans’ behaviour at Superliga opener gets politicians hot under the collar 4Fired up!

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2 9 - 15 March 2012The Copenhagen posT CphposT.dkWeek in revieW

Ballet dancers and actors at the Royal Theatre mistrust the management and have gone to the board of directors with their complaints. In July 2011, an in-ternal report revealed that ballet dancers had problems with both the Royal Theatre’s managing director, erik Jacobsen, and par-ticularly the Royal Ballet’s artistic

director, Nikolaj Hübbe, who was accused of rage, harassment and cocaine abuse. But the bal-let dancers’ union dismissed the complaint, and management promised to improve. But after the recent round of lay-offs and a complete lack of improvement from management, the dancers are reported to be close to revolt.

tHe euRopeaN union is closer to introducing mandatory quotas for the number of women on company boards. Currently, only one in seven board members at europe’s largest companies are women. “It is no secret that in countries where there are legal quotas the figures have grown substantially,” the eu justice

commissioner, Viviane Reding (pictured), said. a Danish Cham-ber of Commerce survey taken in connection with the discussion of quotas indicated that men are more interested in management positions than women, while 52 percent said that “interested in management” is a statement best attributed to men.

IN 2006, the peak of the Mo-hammed cartoon crisis, the na-tional newspapers wrote an aver-age of 14 articles a day on Islam and integration. Five years later, that number has halved, figures from Infomedia show. “Clearly people have had enough of Islam and integration, since we’ve hard-ly talked or written about any-

thing else over the past ten years,” ekstra Bladet tabloid’s editor-in-chief poul Madsen told politiken newspaper. “There is not much left to discuss in the integration and Islam debate, which has been going at full throttle since the end of the 90s,” Fatih allev, the head of the Danish Islamic Center, wrote in politiken.

Pain at the pump

Ten YeaRs ago. denmark opens its first ballet school for boys.

FIVe YeaRs ago. police look on as demolition crews tear down the former Ungdomshuset youth centre.

one YeaR ago. The Confederation of danish Industry calculated Copenhagen commuters spend an average of 29 minutes travelling to or from work and could save four billion kroner a year if they cut their travelling time by five minutes.

FRoM oUR aRChIVes

The Week’s MosT Read sToRIes aT CphposT.dk

Us snubs out legal cigar transaction

still adjusting | In defence of the danes

1,000 strong: don’t aCTa fool

police vow to jail 300 gang members in 2012

Cycle faster, live longer

President and Publisher ejvind Sandal

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editor-in-ChiefKevin McGwin

Managing editorBen Hamilton

news editorJustin Cremer

JournalistsJennifer Buley & peter Stanners

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denmark’s only english-language newspaperSince 1998, The Copenhagen post has been Denmark’s leading source for news in english. as the voice of the international community, we provide coverage for the thousands of foreigners making their home in Denmark. additionally, our english language medium helps to bring Denmark’s top stories to a global audience.

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Petrol prices equalled an all-time high on Monday when a litre of petrol reached 13.39 kroner at Statoil, due largely to growing tensions with iran

CoRReCTIon Contrary to last week’s sports section, Hassan Bashir plays for Svebølle not Hellerup IK

Royal dramaQuotasEnough

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39 - 15 March 2012 THE COPENHAGEN POST CPHPOST.DK NEWS

POLITICS makes strange bed-fellows, as the old saying goes. Danish politics has rarely seen a

stranger combo than the group assem-bled for the announcement that one billion kroner is to be made available annually to improve public transporta-tion nationwide.

An unlikely trio of � nance minister Bjarne Corydon (Socialdemokraterne), Enhedslisten (EL) spokesperson Frank Aaen and Danske Folkeparti (DF) spokesperson Kristian � ulesen Dahl stood side-by-side last week on � urs-day and announced that the three par-ties have agreed on a plan to spend one billion kroner each year to improve public transportation. � e proposal was the government’s compromise for drop-ping its controversial plan to impose a congestion charge (betalingsring) for en-tering Copenhagen.

Corydon said the goal of the pro-posal is to make it cheaper and easier for commuters to choose public transport over using their car.

“� ose that already use public transportation deserve better and less expensive services, and we need to re-duce pollution and congestion by en-couraging more people to choose public transport,” Corydon said.

� e money will be raised by raising taxes and tightening regulations on car

leases and demo vehicles. It has been suggested that the funds be split equally between lowering the prices of bus, train and Metro tickets and investing in improvements to the system, though nothing is yet set in stone.

It is also not clear how the windfall will be divvied up across the country. Some are calling for equal distribution, but Copenhagen mayor Frank Jensen said major metropolitan areas like his city have the greatest need for relief.

“Everyone agrees that congestion and air pollution in Copenhagen is a problem,” Jensen said in a press release. “Metropolitan areas face greater chal-lenges so it makes sense to focus invest-ments here.”

� e goal is that commuters across Denmark will see lower ticket prices starting in 2013. (RW)

Finance minister has joined forces with Dansk Folkeparti and Enhedlisten to propose plan to improve public transport

Political adversaries team up on transport plan

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D ENMARK joined 24 of the EU’s 27 members to ink the union’s � scal compact last week on Friday at the European

Council’s spring summit in Brussels.� e UK and the Czech Republic

were the only two EU member states not to sign the treaty, with Ireland promising a referendum before their parliament adopts the measures that will implement stricter limits on budget de� cits and government spending.

After signing the treaty, PM Helle � orning-Schmidt agreed with Herman van Rompuy – who was re-elected as president of the European Council the night before – when he stated that the treaty was a “step in the right direction”.

“We have just completed a very important task,” � orning-Schmidt told journalists. “We have tried to get the EU through the crisis. But while we might not be through it yet, we have done our part to ensure that Greece can get through the crisis and to ensure that we never again arrive at a situation where one country’s economy a� ects the others so greatly.”

� e treaty will come into force once 12 of the 17 Eurozone countries ratify the measures as special ‘budget laws’ in their respective parliaments.

� e treaty was only compulsory for

Deal a step in the right direction, Thorning-Schmidt says, but sceptics have sovereignty concerns

PETER STANNERS

Eurozone countries, though countries with their own currency, such as Den-mark, have signed up, amongst other reasons, to send a clear message to the � nancial markets that they are serious about maintaining balanced budgets.

Several political parties have argued the treaty would infringe on national sovereignty and would require a referen-dum before the measures are adopted.

But legal experts at the Justice Min-istry determined this would not be the case, much to the disappointment of the Euro-sceptic Dansk Folkeparti.

� e far-left Enhedslisten also ar-gued that the treaty’s focus on budget discipline meant that future govern-ments would be forced to follow auster-ity policies and would also prevent them from using de� cit spending to stimulate growth.

� ere is growing uncertainty about how the mechanisms are supposed to operate for punishing countries who fail to uphold the strict rules on budget

PM signs � scal compact treatydiscipline.

Many voices have also argued the treaty does little to stimu-late growth and help draw Greece out of its hellish depression that arrived after hav-ing to implement sev-eral waves of auster-ity measures in order to secure EU bailout funds and so avoid de-faulting on its loans.

However, Greece’s spiralling debt – in

part a result of the country’s deliber-ate attempts to hide the true extent of its borrowing problems – contributed greatly to the decision by European leaders to tighten government borrow-ing practices in the � rst place when it threatened to “infect” the rest of Eu-rope and bring down the euro.

� e European Central Bank (ECB) is doing its part, however, and late last week released almost four trillion kro-ner (€530 billion) of low-interest loans into the banking sector.

“It’s very rare that the ECB makes decisions today that a� ect tomorrow,” � orning-Schmidt said. “What the ECB has done is allow banks to lend to small and medium-sized businesses and it will make a di� erence. A more stable Greek economy will also make a di� erence.”

� e signing of the treaty and Van Rompuy’s re-election were not the only items on the agenda, as Serbia was � -nally granted full EU candidate status after Romania dropped its objection.

“Ask the people”: Dansk Folkeparti thinks that the � scal pact infringes on sovereignty and requires a referendum

� e � nance minister said that the plan needs to make public transport more attractive than driving a car

POLITICIANS across the spec-trum are demanding that fewer inmates should be released on

early parole, and that individuals con-victed of violent crimes should serve at least two thirds of their sentences.

� e move arrives after the victim of an attempted murder, 29-year-old Malene Duus, wrote an article for Poli-tiken newspaper in February that stirred up a heated debate in the national me-dia. Duus asked whether it was fair that while she had yet to fully recover or re-ceive any compensation for the attack – which left her as a partial invalid – the ex-boyfriend who assaulted her had been released from prison after serving less than half his sentence and was now working in a bakery owned by celebrity chef Claus Meyer.

Politicians are now lining up to de-mand stricter rules for the early release of prisoners, with the legal spokesperson for opposition party Venstre, Karsten Lauritzen, urging a greater balance be-tween the rights of an o� ender and the feelings of a victim when considering the o� ender for release.

“People should serve at least two thirds of their sentence before they can be released on parole,” Lauritzen told the tabloid B.T. “We have to think about the victims, and society needs to

avenge on their behalf.”Ole Hækkerup, the legal spokesper-

son for Socialdemokraterne, supported Lauritzen’s statement.

“� e prison service needs to take greater consideration of the feelings of the victim before giving people with long sentences for assault the opportu-nity to leave prison after only serving half their term,” Hækkerup told Poli-tiken newspaper.

In 2004, the former Venstre-Kon-servative coalition government de-termined that prisoners who ful� lled certain criteria could be released ear-lier from prison. Since then, almost a thousand prisoners have been released before two thirds of their sentences have been completed.

Politiken also revealed that Duus’s

assailant, the 43-year-old Frenchman Frank Sakskik, hasn’t actually been re-leased from prison on parole – his ap-plication for early parole was denied – but had received clearance to leave prison to work and was still otherwise serving his sentence.

“People who receive sentences of six years are often considered ready for work clearance outside the prison before they are ready for parole,” Bodil Philip, the governor of Ringe Prison, told Politiken.

Lauritzen admitted to Politiken that he mistakenly thought Saksik had been paroled, but added that he still wanted to restrict the possibility of prisoners leaving jail early under any programme.

Liberal Alliance, Dansk Folkeparti and the Konservative also support tight-ening parole guidelines.

Political push to restrict early parole

Broad political backing for limiting the number of o� enders who are granted early parole, especially those convicted of violent crimes

PETER STANNERS

O� enders in Danish prisons can be granted parole after less than half their sentence

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4 9 - 15 March 2012THE COPENHAGEN POST CPHPOST.DKCOVER STORY

Fireworks and arrests kick o� Superliga season

Who will man the goal for Denmark at Euro 2012? See page 14

More football action

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FOUR SWEDES living in Den-mark will stand trial in April on charges of attempted terrorism for their plan to attack the sta� of Jyllands-Posten newspaper in December 2010. According to prosecutors, the four men were planning to walk into Jyllands-

Posten’s Copenhagen o� ce and go on a shooting spree as a retri-bution for the 2005 Mohammed drawings. Prosecutor Svend Ulrik Larsen said the suspects aimed “to seriously frighten the popula-tion” and destablise the nation. A verdict is expected on June 14.

Terror suspects to stand trial in April

ONLINE THIS WEEK

AN OLD ammonia-driven cooling system underneath Co-penhagen’s historic meat pack-ing district, Kødbyen, is causing business owners and party pro-moters to lose revenue. A group of eight business owners in Kød-byen have been prevented from opening shop for more than nine months, while the city’s environ-

mental team assesses the risks of a dangerous ammonia leak. � e estimated 12,000 tonnes of ammonia under Kødbyen are harmless as long as it remains contained in the copper pipes that used to cool the district. But if one of those pipes should leak, the � ammable and toxic ammo-nia would pose a grave threat.

Ammonia threat hinders Kødbyen developmentACCORDING to the national board of health, Sundhedssty-relsen, just over 59,500 babies were born in Denmark in 2011, some 4,000 fewer than the year before. � e numbers of births have been decreasing over the past few years, but last year’s birth rate is the lowest since 1988. Mogens Christo� ersen,

an independent researchers, said that the � nancial crisis has potential parents putting o� starting families. “� ey don’t feel secure in their jobs and are nervous about the economic sit-uation, and so they do not want to bring children into an uncer-tain world,” Christo� ersen told metroXpress newspaper.

National birth rate lowest since 1988

READ THE FULL STORIES AT CPHPOST.DK

Politicians want football clubs to pay for extra police presence after arrest of 24 fans at Sunday’s FC Copenhagen-Aalborg match

CHRISTIAN WENANDE

A RRESTS, � res and last-minute goals featured as FC Copenhagen kicked o� its spring season on

Sunday. Dozens of fans were ar-rested in violent clashes, and the game itself su� ered from delays caused by crowd trouble as the league leaders escaped from Aal-borg with a 1-1 draw after both teams scored in the last mo-ments of the game.

But it was the action in the stands and on the streets that has attracted all the attention, due to the arrest of 24 in incidents that occurred both before and after the match.

Following the game, both clubs were highly critical of their respective fans’ behaviour, and despite the Danish Football Union (DBU) initiating disci-plinary cases against both clubs, the issue has now transcended the pitch and sparked a politi-cal debate.

Michael Aastrup Jensen, a spokesman for the opposition party Venstre, told the newspa-per Berlingske that football clubs should be made to contribute more to the extensive costs in-volved in providing police pro-tection during football � xtures.

“We have to come to terms with the fact that the police spend an increasing amount of resources � ghting the trouble-makers at football games. As a result, we need to look at alter-native payment methods now to force the football clubs to clean up their ranks,” Jensen said.

� e Policemen’s Union sup-ports the idea of football clubs footing part of the bill – refer-ring to the Swedish model, where football clubs pay 920 Swedish krona an hour per po-liceman during high-risk match-es – as an incentive to come up with ways to reduce the number of police needed.

“When we have to devote hundreds of o� cers every week-end to maintain order and secu-rity at football games, the rest of the Danish population will nat-urally see a waning police pres-ence in the rest of the country.”

Responding to “we are the champions” chants from Copen-hagen fans, Lars Lynge Jakob-

sen, the Aalborg sports director, referred to them as “champions of idiocy”, but at the same time contended that the football clubs can only do so much.

“I feel completely power-less. I really can’t see how I can solve this. It’s easy for politicians to sit there and comment, but they should really be contacting the football clubs and helping us solve this problem. � e game was delayed because we spent ex-tra time frisking the fans. � ey still managed to smuggle � re-works in.”

Both the Radikale (R), a member of the governing coali-tion, and the opposition Kon-servative (K) have dismissed any notions of the football clubs having to pay for the police pres-ence, indicating that this will

only lead to a slippery slope, as Jeppe Mikkelsen (R) explained.

“It’s about precedence really. What’s next then? Will the bars that serve the fans before the games also have to pay?”

Hooliganism is not wide-spread among Danish football fans, but steps have been taken to prevent it entirely, including fan registration and the manda-tory bussing of away fans. Fin-gerprinting has also been men-tioned as a possible solution. � e justice minister, Morten Bødskov (S), told Berlingske that high-risk games could also be moved to earlier times to stem the violence.

“Playing games earlier in the day means troublemak-ers can’t consume the same amounts of alcohol and the po-

a similar action is likely when the two clubs meet in Copenha-gen on April 5.

Fortunately, crowds re-mained civil at the other football games played over the week-end as Brøndby, Lyngby and Horsens all secured wins, while Aarhus club AGF and second-placed FC Nordsjælland battled to a 1-1 draw. Monday evening saw Odense’s OB squander a two-goal cushion as Silkeborg escaped with a valuable point from Odense.

Police spend an increasing amount of resources � ghting the troublemakers at football games

lice have an easier time control-ling the crowds.”

� e fans themselves have been critical towards the steps, and FC Copenhagen fan group FCKFC argued that law-abiding fans should not have to su� er because of a few unruly types.

“� ese developments are

dangerous for the future of Dan-ish football. Firstly, it’s stereotyp-ing all the fans as criminals, and secondly it creates a pall of fear around the culture of attending football games. Additionally, it is understandable that free citi-zens don’t want to have to take a bus, which may leave miles away from where they live, just to watch a football game.”

Fans a� ected by bussing requirements have begun boy-cotting matches in response to the measure. Supporters of archrivals Copenahgen and Brøndby have been among the most vocal opponents of the bussing requirement. When the two teams last met in No-vember, only a handful of Co-penhagen fans made the trip to Brøndby, and Brøndby fans say

Who will man the goal for Denmark at Euro 2012? See page 14

Who will man the goal for Denmark at Euro 2012? See page 14

When the game is the sideshow: Fan antics sole the spotlight at Sunday’s match and have led to political pressure to get hooliganism out of the game

59 - 15 March 2012 The Copenhagen posT CphposT.dk news

L anguage develop-ment is a major milestone for any child, and a grow-ing number of children in

Denmark are now tackling not only one, but two languages as early as the kindergarten class, the first year of school (six to seven-year-olds).

The Ministry of Children and education reports that since gaining permission to begin early english education in 2010, 45 public schools have added it to their curriculums. Several other councils say they will allow their schools to start teaching english to the kindergarten class next au-tumn, and many of the country’s private and independent schools have taught students english from their very first school day for the past five years.

Research suggests that when very young children learn a sec-ond language, it increases listen-ing ability, memory, creativity and critical thinking.

Michael graugaard, the headmaster of gummerup School, agrees. His school has been teaching english to the kindergarten class for the past five years.

“Students who get a head

get ‘em while they’re young: Children learning english as early as age sixTeaching english early gives kids a bilingual edge, proponents say

Ray WeaveR

start in english have more linguistic awareness, and that helps them become better read-ers,” graugaard told Jyllands-Posten newspaper.

The education minister, Christine antorini (Social-demokraterne), is not complete-ly onboard with the plan. She prefers the traditional method of students waiting and starting english a bit later.

“english education works fine when it is started in the third grade,” she told Jyllands-Posten. “If a school wants to start earlier, that is up to them, but we do not want to make it compulsory.”

The former education min-ister, Troels Lund Poulsen (Ven-stre), had discussed the idea of implementing english in public schools from the first grade, but antorini said she would not fol-low through on that plan.

She said schools should fo-cus more on the core subjects like Danish and mathematics.

niels egelund, a professor at aarhus university and an ex-pert in the national school sys-tem, disagreed with antorini, saying that children are ready to learn a foreign language as early as the age of six.

“It is a bit negative to sug-gest that children should wait

until the third grade,” he said. “By the end of kindergarten, children have already learned many english words from video games and films.”

egelund believes if children start to absorb a language from an early age, it will be easier for them to learn and will help them develop critical-thinking skills. He added, however, that teach-ing very young students requires a different approach and special materials.

“It is absurd to think that one can just take old material from the upper grades and use it in kin-dergarten class. They need plenty of songs, games and rhymes.”

sugar taxcontinued from front page

Many students are now taking english lessons as early as the kindergarten class

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sHouLD students in pub-lic schools in Denmark be required to learn about

Christian IV? or Hans Chris-tian andersen? or is it up to the individual teachers of history and literature to decide the cur-riculum in their classrooms?

Those questions are being raised once again in the lat-est showdown on education, with the Socialdemokraterne (S), Socialistisk Folkeparti (SF), Radikale (R), enhedslisten (eL) and Liberal alliance (La) on one side and Venstre (V), Konserva-tive (K) and Dansk Folkeparti (DF) on the other.

The public school cur-riculum, including the so-called ‘kanonlister’ – lists of people and topics that school children are re-quired to know – was established under the previous government. upon leaving the ninth grade (children aged 15-16), students were expected to have knowledge of 25 different points of history and have read the works of 14 different Danish authors. The in-struction is designed chronologi-cally, so students learn different parts of the curriculum at differ-ent grade levels.

The current government and its partners, however, believe that the curriculum is too restrictive and want teachers to have more freedom in the classroom.

“We should not microman-age classrooms from Christians-

borg,” Troels Ravn, S’s education spokesperson, told Jyllands-Posten newspaper. “Teachers should have the freedom to edu-cate without being restricted by mandatory lists.”

Ravn emphasised that S felt that the lists contained “relevant and good material” but that they should not be required, and that teachers should be free to include other writers and historical events.

V spokesperson Karen el-lemann said her party disagrees with dropping the current cur-riculum.

“Students are cheated and society’s values are weakened if a thorough knowledge of our own cultural heritage is not taught in school,” she said. “This is a real threat.”

ellemann said that V would immediately reinstate the old curriculum if they regain politi-cal power.

a recent study revealed that many teachers could not answer some of the questions that their students were required to know.

The chairman of the Danish Teachers union, Jens Raahauge, argued that the study’s results were not valid.

“Individual teachers taught different parts of the cur-riculum at different times and shouldn’t be expected to know the answer to every question,” he told Politiken.

Raahauge expressed concern over abandoning the required course of study and believed the change will require a significant restructuring of how teachers are educated. He was a mem-ber of the 2005 committee that developed the old curriculum’s compulsory literary section and said that before the rules were established, teachers were failing to teach classic Danish literature.

Ravn is not concerned that will happen again.

“There are still targets and required knowledge for each subject. We have nothing against lists suggesting academic con-tent,” he told Jyllands-Posten. “The question is should they be voluntary or compulsory.”

hans Christian Who?parliament debates education prioritiesWhile government argues teachers should have more freedom, V says not knowing danish history is “a real threat”

We should not micromanage classrooms from Christiansborg

Ray WeaveR

Under the plan, some traditional subjects would be optional

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soCIaL affairs minister Karen Hækkerup (Social-demokraterne) is calling

for an “update” of the nation’s marriage laws that would make it easier for couples to divorce.

The way the law is currently written, a 500 kroner fee and a separation period of six to 12 months is usually required of couples looking to split. Faster divorce is only possible in cases of violence, bigamy, child kid-napping or adultery.

“The marriage laws are out of date and should be modern-ised,” Hækkerup told Politiken newspaper, adding that the revi-sion would come in conjunction with changes already planned for this year that will give homo-sexuals the right to marry.

Before any changes are made to the law, Hækkerup said she would consider the opinion of decision makers and the public. She suggested, however, a com-promise solution where couples could choose between an imme-diate divorce without a separa-tion or a slower process includ-ing therapy and counselling,

Divorce counsellor Mette

Haulund said that current laws are based on what she saw as the state’s antiquated ideas about family and morals.

“There is this idea that the nuclear family is the only right thing, that divorce is bad, and for that reason it should be hard to get divorced,” Haulund told Politiken newspaper.

Haulund added that al-though she felt it was better when couples worked through their issues without divorc-ing, she did not think the state should interfere in personal de-cisions.

governing coalition mem-ber Radikale and the far-left enhedslisten agree with the sug-

gestion. Socialistisk Folkeparti, which also sits in the govern-ment, is onboard as well, provid-ed attempts are made to discour-age hasty divorces.

Tom Behnke, a spokesper-son for the opposition Konserv-ative, said his party was against changing the law.

“It undermines and deni-grates marriage. Marriage should not be entered into lightly. It is something deliberate and im-portant between a man and a woman and based on Christian traditions.”

of the nearly 15,000 cou-ples divorced in 2010, 78 per-cent were required to sit out the waiting period. (RW)

taxes have argued that they are stealth taxes designed to prop up the state’s finances in times of economic hardship.

The sugar tax may also lead to an exodus of Danish work-places, as businesses who pro-duce sugary products have said they will struggle to continue to turn a profit in Denmark and will seek to move their operations to cheaper countries abroad.

one such company is Fynbo foods, who told online news-paper Den Korte avis that 60 employees at a jam factory near Hjørring risk losing their jobs as a result of the tax.

“If a tax of this level is intro-duced it will definitely affect de-mand and thereby employment,” Fynbo’s quality manager, Richard Fynbo, told the newspaper.

While she didn’t address the effect on employment, Dyhr added that the sugar tax was im-portant for changing the Danish diet for the better.

“We know levies work. We have seen with the water levy that Danes use much less water, and the same with energy and other areas,” she said. “We know they are a good instrument and we want to use them to make sure Danes eat less sugar because it’s bad for their health.”

easier divorce rules proposed

If you thought the marriage ceremony dragged on, just wait until the divorce proceedings begin

Minister calls for dropping the waiting period required for couples to go their separate ways

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6 9 - 15 March 2012The Copenhagen posT CphposT.dk

sions and sanctions helped to quell the bill then, but it has now popped back up on the Ugandan political agenda.

Søren Pind (Venstre), the former minister of development, was adamant that the Danish position must be clear and un-compromising.

“I informed Uganda last year that consequences would be severe if that bill passed,” he told Politiken. “There must be a clear outcome here. We simply can-not operate in a place where it is legal to kill homosexuals simply because they are homosexuals.”

The controversy surround-ing the bill follows in the wake of violence against several prom-inent activists in Uganda. Last year, David Kato, a leading gay-rights activist, was murdered in Kampala and tensions have once again forced gay advocates, such as award-winning activist Kasha

News

enVIronmentaL or-ganisations have warned that the Danish sea floor

is not being adequately pro-tected from dangerous fishing practices such as trawling and dredging, and experts are now arguing that only a total ban would allow marine ecosystems to recover.

one of the ecosystems most at threat are boulder reefs that can be home to tens of thou-sands of marine species. But the boulders have been exploited for many years for use in sea walls and harbour defences, re-ducing the extent of these frag-ile habitats to a fraction of their former extent.

Danish boulder reefs were included in the european Com-mission’s (eC) natura 2000 list of the eU’s protected environ-mental areas, though trawling and dredging is still allowed near them – practices that experts ar-gue should be banned outright.

The eC last week chastised Denmark for not doing enough to protect sea floor habitats in natura 2000 areas, threaten-ing legal action unless commit-ments were upheld.

responding to the call, the fisheries minister, mette Gjer-skov, said action needed to be taken and that she would delay handing out mussel-dredging permits in the Lillebælt water-way for three weeks while the government examined the issue.

“The former government

took their time identifying ma-rine areas to be covered by natura 2000 and making plans for them. now we are ready for banning trawling and dredging on both bubble and boulder reefs,” Gjer-skov told Politiken newspaper.

Greenpeace welcomed the decision, but argued it had been a long time coming.

“today it is completely legal for trawlers to drag their heavy nets right through a boulder reef that the government had otherwise selected as an area worthy of protection” Green-peace fisheries correspondent Hanne Lyng Winter wrote on the organisation’s website.

Lyng criticised the gov-ernment’s decision not to ban trawling outright, a practice Greenpeace argues can wipe out life on the sea floor. according to Politiken, only the boulder reefs protected as natura 2000 areas will be protected with 240 metre buffer zones from trawl-ing and dredging.

She said that the buffer zones would not be very effec-tive, would be difficult to en-force, and would create small protected pockets on the sea floor – a practice the eC advises against.

Lyng conceded that the government’s efforts were a first step in the right direction, but added that much more needed to be done to help Denmark’s marine wildlife recover from overfishing. (PS)

eU pressures denmark on reefs

o n 1 marCH 2007, heavily-armed police stormed and evicted the residents of the squatter

residence Ungdomshuset, spark-ing riots that led to the arrests of over 700 people and damage amounting to at least 14 million kroner. Five days later, the house at Jagtvej 69 was demolished. The land on which it stood still stands bare, as developers con-template how to use the empty plot without falling victim to reprisals.

Since the early 1980s, Un-gdomshuset (‘the youth house’) was the site of a bustling com-munity of art, music and poli-tics connected to the anarchist scene. The often uncompro-mising nature of its residents, the Ungerne (‘the youths’), po-larised public opinion. Their reputation was not helped after a group of people with ties to Ungdomshuset confronted Pia Kjærsgaard, the leader of the far-right Dansk Folkeparti par-ty, on nørrebrogade in 1998, forcing her to seek shelter in a bank until the police could es-cort her away.

after the demolition of Un-

gdomshuset in march 2007, demonstrations were held every Thursday to demand a new home. In July 2008, the Un-gerne were eventually handed the keys to their new building in outer nørrebro at Dortheavej 61.

But the ‘new’ Ungdomshu-set never really developed the same following, and the Un-gerne still carry a grudge at los-ing their original home. Put up for sale by the City Council in 1999, the house landed in the

hands of the radical Christian sect Faderhuset, which turned down three attempts by a foun-dation representing Ungdom-huset’s users to buy it back in the months before it was de-molished. It seemed to be a con-scious attempt to cleanse nør-rebro of the anti-establishment, anti-fascist, anti-sexist and anti-homophobic youths.

Last summer, american street artist Shepard Fairey was commissioned by the council to produce a number of murals

Five years after building falls, still nothing forgotten

across the city. one of the sites was the bare wall beside the empty lot at Jagtvej 69. His four-storey painting, which included a dove, the word ‘Peace’ and the number 69, was quickly defaced with paint bombs. artists from the Ungdomshus community painted over the lower portion of the mural several days later with a depiction of a battle scene of riot police, bearing the motto: “Intet Glemt, Intet tilgivet” (“nothing Forgotten, nothing Forgiven”).

Five years after the eviction,

Ungdomshuset supporters still harbour feelings of betrayal over decision to tear down home

Peter StannerS a banner bearing the same motto was carried by several hundred supporters as they marched from Dortheavej last week on Thurs-day, past the empty lot at Jagtvej 69 before heading to Folkets Park in nørrebro. Speaking to The Copenhagen Post, some march participants and members of the Ungdomshuset commu-nity explained that the pain of being abandoned by the council meant they could never forgive.

But Jonas olsen, a 37-year-old long-time member of the Ungdomshuset community, was philosophical.

“I can never forgive that they took away the most democratic house in Copenhagen,” olsen said. “It’s a scandal that they tore it down when we had a historic right to it.”

“But by tearing down my favourite place in the world, it made the council realise that they needed to give kids places to go. and now there’s never been as many free spaces in Copenhagen where artists and young people can go and express themselves. Before, everything was concen-trated in Ungdomshuset,” olsen said. “But if it were up to me, we would still have 69 and not have had all the riots.”

at that point, a voice shout-ed over the chattering and punk music that some of them were heading back to Jagtvej 69.

“We’re going home!” the voice called.

supporters took to the streets last week on Thursday, five years after Ungdomshuset was tore down

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U GanDa is in danger of losing critical Danish development aid as a no-torious anti-gay bill re-

turns to its parliamentary agenda.The development minister,

Christian Friis Bach (radikale), has come under intense fire for his perceived lenient stance on the discrimination and intoler-ance being promoted by Ugan-dan officials. Bach told Politiken newspaper that financial threats are ineffectual and outdated, and that the best course of action is to maintain a presence in Uganda.

“The proposed law is sim-ply unacceptable and we must do what we can to ensure it fails to pass. The best way to handle this situation is not to threaten to leave, but rather to threaten to stay,” he said.

Denmark’s financial support is of vital importance to Uganda. Between 2010 and 2011, Den-mark was the third largest donor to the country.

The anti-gay bill, also omi-nously referred to as the ‘Kill the gays’ bill, was first introduced in Uganda in late 2009. The bill would make homosexual-ity a crime punishable by death. Threats of financial repercus-

Jacqueline nabagesera, to flee to neighbouring Kenya.

The persecuted homosexual communities in Uganda already face stiff fines and lengthy jail sen-tences. although discrimination against homosexuals is a massive issue in Uganda, local campaign-ers, such as Frank mugisha from Sexual minorities Uganda, main-tain that it is important that Dan-ish aid to the embattled nation should not be cut.

“I don’t support slashing the support to Uganda due to dis-crimination of homosexuals,” he told Politiken. “We need it. Give us the aid, but ask Uganda to work on their human rights efforts.”

The Danish gay community also voiced support for continu-ing the aid to Uganda, saying that cutting aid could just add fuel to an already dire situation.

“I am not a supporter of

threats to leave, because this is a double-edged sword,” ri-chardt Heers from the Danish association of LGBt explained to Politiken. “The missing aid could easily have consequences for the poor, agricultural groups or the handicapped. as a result, the homosexuals in Uganda could be blamed and face fur-ther prejudice.”

In a country where the na-tional media has published a list containing the names and addresses of supposed homo-sexuals, along with an appeal to arrest them, it is clear that an escalation to outright violence is far from unrealistic. The former minister of foreign affairs, Per Stig møller (Konservative), said that something must be done.

“It must be made clear that the aid will be under threat,” he said. “It has to sting, or else it will have no effect.”

Bach has agreed that poten-tial ramifications must be severe, and that involving the eU will assist in applying further pres-sure to Ugandan officials, citing the Cotonou agreement, a part-nership agreement between eU and developing countries.

“I believe that all the eU members will be on board so we can intensify the process,” he told Politiken. “[The Cotonou agreement] is a subject that will definitely be discussed. There must be consequences if that law is passed.”

parliament is split over whether to cut the 300 million kroner in aid to Uganda

ChriStian Wenande

THe DeCISIon by Ven-stres Ungdom (VU) – the youth wing of the larg-

est opposition party – to in-vite Holocaust denier Daniel Carlsen for a debate in Copen-hagen led to a confrontation between police and over 100 agitated anti-fascist activists on tuesday night.

The activists attempted to block the building’s entry and in the ensuing confrontation, police drew batons and pepper spray to disperse the crowd. at least two activists and one po-liceman were injured. one per-son was arrested.

“We showed that there are many who believe that it’s fun-damentally wrong that Venstres Ungdom validates nazis by invit-ing them to meetings,” one dem-onstrator, Steffen Sørensen, told left-wing news portal modkraft.

VU’s chairman, morten Dahlin, countered that totali-tarianism and extremism is best fought through democratic means such as debate rather than through violence.

Carlsen, 21, is the leader of far-right group Danskernes Parti and has expressed sympa-thy with Hitler and argued that the Holocaust is communistic propaganda. (PS)

Uganda’s anti-gay bill puts danish support in question

Denmark was the third largest donor to Uganda from 2010-11

police break up anti-nazi protestors

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8 9 - 15 March 2012THE COPENHAGEN POST CPHPOST.DKOPINION

Peaceful Ungdomshuset march shows value of treating kids like adults

Russia denies Danish election observers

We were rather disappointed to read unsupported allegations in your newspaper that the Rus-sian Embassy has denied Danish observers visas to Russia. It is a far cry from truth for no elec-tion observers from NGO SILBA (Support Initiative for Liberty and Democracy) have turned to the Russian Embassy. ­ ere was a group of the youth who wanted to participate in the seminars ar-ranged by the Russian political party Jabloko. ­ e Russian Em-bassy explained to them what papers they should have provided to the embassy so that it could is-sue visas to them. However, the embassy could not do that on the basis of the direct letter of invita-tion from Jabloko they have sub-mitted to us. ­ is is clearly stated in the agreement between the Russian and Danish government on the facilitation of the issuance of visas to the citizens of Russia

and Denmark. We suggested that they apply to either the Russian Foreign Ministry or Federal Mi-gration Service for a proper invi-tation.

Unfortunately, misinterpreta-tion of those details resulted in unsupported accusations in some Danish media that the Russian Embassy was motivated by politi-cal reasons dealing with the visa issues of these young people. We believe that if media want to be impartial, they should have clari-� ed the issue with the embassy. ­ us we expect that you � nd it possible to print the position of the Russian Embassy as well.

We would also like to add that Russia has long negotiated with the EU for visa-free trips for the citizens of Russia and the EU member states, which would greatly facilitate connections be-tween people. ­ e issue, as you probably know, is delayed by the EU. Teymuraz Ramishvili by website(Russian ambassador in Denmark)

Still Adjusting | In defence of the Danes

­ e comments are the most in-teresting part, precisely because they’re not the boosterish ‘every-thing is wonderful’ stories that have got so tiresome. CPH Post readers’ comments have helped me think again about life here. Reading their stories made me care again after being disengaged for many years.Mark Stevens By website

I would guess that most of the regulars here would diagnose me as a su� ering from severe bitter for-eigner syndrome (BFS) and in my case Justin, it took at least 14 years to set in-so it appears to be a slow growing tumour.

Personally, I don’t think I have full-blown BFS, but am rather at odds with the way Danish poli-tics is being run. And since a very signi� cant portion of my earnings support the Danish political proc-ess (aka ­ e Holy Welfare State), I

take the political process rather seri-ously. I � nd it, however, di� cult to be taken seriously as a foreigner in DK unless I parrot the patent, so-cialist party line that all is wonder-ful in DK, and that Danes are the world’s übermensch, which is not always my opinion, but is often the theme of CPH Post articles.� orvaldsen By website

­ ere are still things that irritate me about Denmark, but I am one of those Brits who has perfected the art of complaining. It did take me about � ve years to settle in, but now I am in my sixth year here, I feel that I � t in more, and am no-ticing fewer and fewer di� erences. Now I just need to get hold of de-cent cheddar and a regular supply of Weetabix!Anj Lawrence By website

Try Føtex for Weetabix, amaz-ingly enough they do have them!Djeep By website

MIKE HOFMAN

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READER COMMENTS

Five years after the physical destruction of the anarchist hangout Ungdomshuset, the � rst urge is to try to � nd some place to pin responsibility for the ensuing rampage that did 14 million kroner worth of damage to buildings

and cars in the Nørrebro district.But while it’s important to identify a cause in order to pre-

vent similar events from happening again, it’s also important to ask why last week’s commemorative march went o� without incident – and why fewer people (500) attended than were ar-rested (700) during the original riots.

Few who witnessed the violent outbursts in 2007 would have predicted this would have been the case, but it shows that giving disa� ected groups a place of their own helps to prevent further outbursts of frustrated anger.

For the young people associated with Ungdomshuset spe-ci� cally, it shows them that the city is serious when it comes to o� ering them creative outlets for a youthful energy that experi-ence has shown can just as easily manifest itself into destructive acts.

­ e impetus to engage the young people, culminating in them being given a new building to use as a hangout, wasn’t so much the demonstrations themselves – Copenhagen is certainly no stranger to public displays of dissatisfaction – but the depth of their anger. Once the � res of consecutive nights of rioting had burned out, the young people moved on to holding weekly demonstrations for an entire year until the city gave them a new Ungdomshuset to call their own.

When that happened, critics shook their heads and said that acquiescing in the face of violence opened the door to similar tactics being used each time someone wanted something. But those critics should have also considered whether the violence of the method used to evict the young people – a commando-style raid by anti-terrorist police dropped in by helicopter – also in¤ uenced the way they would approach adults.

It could be argued that instead of caving in to a tantrum, the city chose to treat the Ungdomshuset group like adults by giving them a building of their own and emphasising that it saw the ex-istence of an Ungdomshuset, wherever it was located, as normal.

­ at may not have done anything to get the young people to forget or to forgive the way they were treated, but that ap-parently hasn’t prevented them from taking an adult attitude towards the issues that are important to them. It’s hard to im-agine this would have been the case if they were still out on the street burning cars.

crucial to an e� ective stay here in Denmark.

1. Learning the Danish mentality. ­ is is impor-tant because every society has a certain mentality and its ‘values’ are mere re¤ ec-tions of this mentality. From my observations Danes like everyone to appear equal and this I understand is be-cause of a theory called Jan-teloven. Understanding this is of paramount importance. Danes are also very trusting of one another, so if you earn a bad reputation with a few, chances are, you are screwed in many other circles because news and gossip spreads like wild� re. I have also observed that Danes like to put things in boxes, quite literally and � guratively. Try to under-stand in which ‘box’ your Danish colleagues put you in. Are you just a bar friend, a close friend, a poor African etc? Danes from my perspec-tive like to de� ne things, and therefore if they can’t de� ne you, they will often distance themselves. So one has to help them in this process. ­ is is why they always ask ‘foreigners’: “So what are you doing in Denmark?” A ques-tion I am sure most foreign-ers have come across.2.Working around the Dan-ish mentality is the key, because then if you are a foreigner you won’t be frus-trated if Danes behave in a certain manner. I often am frustrated as well, but am learning to simply say to myself: “­ at’s just how it is here; you gotta work with it somehow.” Frustration because of failure to under-stand Danes leads to many isolating themselves. Never isolate yourself.3. In Denmark it pays to drink beer. Trust me on this.

Now, according to Wikipe-dia, integration in social science means “the movements of mi-nority groups, such as ethnic mi-norities, refugees and the under-privileged into the mainstream of societies. Members of the minor-ity groups thus gain full access to opportunities, rights and serv-ices available to members of the mainstream.”

Of course when I look at this de� nition in the context of colo-nialism, I am forced to turn this de� nition upside down into what I can call ‘disintegration’, or ‘di-vide and rule’.

Why am I saying this? Well that’s the underlying issue in my social research. Is integration per-haps ‘disintegration’?

I dislike the term ‘integra-tion’. I think that people should be ‘connected’ instead. When people are connected they will work together e� ectively despite their racial, social, cultural or reli-gious di� erences.

I have met a fellow African brother who told me he sent over 40 job applications about half a year ago and he is still waiting to hear anything. Now, this brother, who I shall call ‘James’ is quite an intelligent guy from central Af-rica and he speaks good Danish as I understand it.

But, you see, James doesn’t drink beer. He has lived here for some time now and he has a handful of Danish friends. He always tries his best to make new friends and so he puts up with smoke-� lled bar rooms and drunken patrons while he gently sips Coca Cola at the bar, waiting to crank up a conversation with anyone. ­ is is his primary strate-gy of networking as he has under-stood that generally when Danes are a bit tipsy, they tend to be less shy and more open. But is this a good strategy for integration?

I think there are other things a little more important than learning to speak Danish that are

I have been living in Aarhus for about seven months now and at this stage I am more acquainted with the city and

some of its social issues than when I � rst arrived. One of the issues I have come across a little more often than any other issue is that of ‘integration’.

A good friend of mine told me quite early in my stay in Aarhus: “You can never be inte-grated in Denmark unless you speak Danish ¤ uently and adopt their values.”

I have been told this similar remark by several other friends as well, including Danes and for-eigners alike. But is it true?

Now I shall begin by tell-ing you about Africa. You may be wondering why Africa? You see dear friend (I hope you don’t mind me calling you a friend), many years ago white colonialists settled all over Africa and many of their descendents live in Africa peacefully to this day. ­ ey have never really learned to speak the local indigenous languages nor have they adopted the indigenous values, yet they are pretty much ‘integrated’ and live quite happily and comfortably in Africa.

On the contrary, it was the African indigenous inhabitants who were forced to ‘integrate’ and adopt European culture, re-ligion and certain ‘values’. ­ is happened in all African countries.

Integration or Connection?

TENDAI TAGARIRA

Beer is the palm oil with which social interaction is oiled.4. Participating in voluntary activities of associations and charitable or cultural events is of paramount importance. Danes don’t meet people and greet them on the street. So in order to meet the Danes, one has to participate in many events where network-ing takes place over beer and food.5. ­ e biggest secret as I have come to understand for ac-cessing opportunities in Den-mark is a good network. Your network is your net worth. Without a good network you are primarily screwed. Danes as I understand would rather not go through piles of CVs when they can simply ask their colleagues if they know someone who can � ll the va-cancy. ­ is is because Danes trust each other, so if a Dane refers you, chances are you will be hired. ­ at is just how it works here as I come to un-derstand it, and simply learn-ing to speak the language and values and hoping for a miracle is not good enough (although it’s an added ad-vantage to learn the language as well.)Now I have come to the end

of my article and I would like to conclude by saying that induced integration is social, cultural and moral imperialism. I think this world will be better o� getting connected through openness and friendliness.

Due to space constraints, this article has been edited. � e full version is available at cphpost.dk.

Tendai Tagarira is a Zimbabwean author currently living in Aarhus and was the � rst persecuted au-thor to be housed here under the ICORN cities of refuge programme.

99 - 15 March 2012 THE COPENHAGEN POST CPHPOST.DK OPINION

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’

To Be Perfectly FrankBY FRANK THEAKSTON

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?

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’ 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 DICKY’ 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’

THOSE OF YOU who are more-or-less regular readers of e Copen-hagen Post cannot have

failed to notice the burgeon-ing of exhortations to learn Danish that now festoon these hallowed pages. ere have of course always been ads for Danish lessons, but of late they have mushroomed to the extent that they now appear through-out the Post, often   lling entire pages. ere is clearly money in the business, re­ ecting a sub-stantial rise in the numbers of foreigners coming to Denmark

to work or study. One of these ads goes so far as to suggest that its method of teaching is so e� ective that the next time you read a newspaper it could be a Danish one. Remembering how long it took me to master

the language su� ciently to be able to understand the Danish press, I’m not sure that isn’t bordering on the misleading. In any case, it’s downright cheeky: encouraging the readers of the paper you’re advertising in to read something else instead!

On the face of it, of course, it’s quite reasonable and under-standable that services should be o� ered to help people learn the language of the country in which they live (albeit perhaps temporarily). All things be-ing equal, that is. But the fact is that all things are not equal. According to Politiken news-paper, all 305,000 foreigners who came to Denmark in the last   ve years to study or work were met with information from their kommune written exclusively in Danish. eir tax return was in Danish, as was information on schools and kindergartens and on how to use the NemID system and the Borger.dk website – “your gateway to the public services”. Even the invitation to their   rst Danish language course was in Danish! So the (largely private) business community, which needs to attract foreign expertise, is stymied by a pub-lic service sector that doesn’t see the need to communicate e� ec-tively by using a language that newcomers to the country can understand.

Lingua Danica or Lingua Franca? e excuse of course is the

usual one: a lack of resources. It’s used every time there’s criticism that can’t otherwise be rebutted with a good expla-nation. But I   rmly believe in the good old English proverb: ‘Where there’s a will there’s a way.’ e fact is there just isn’t the will, political or otherwise, to make things easier for non-Danish speakers in Denmark. Witness, for example, the lack of signage in anything but Danish. As Politiken also notes, even the sign to e Lit-tle Mermaid – perhaps the only place of interest in Denmark known to tourists – is only in Danish. at surely can’t be be-cause of a lack of cash!

“What?” I hear you say. “No political will to welcome foreign students, workers and tourists? We hear nothing but that from the government and the Copenhagen authorities.” is is true, and a lot of money is no doubt thrown at this no-ble cause, but public proclama-tions of intent and what actu-ally happens are notoriously fraught with contradiction. e fact is that for some, the integration mentality is so in-grained that any thought of us-ing a foreign language is almost anathema. It is apparently un-thinkable that people coming to live in this country for three years or so should not make an

e� ort to learn the language and ‘integrate’.

ere are of course always newcomers who will embrace an opportunity to learn more about the society they   nd themselves in. But equally there are those who expect they will be able to commu-nicate adequately, if not in their own mother tongue, then in some major language – a lingua franca – which is usu-ally English. For these people, struggling to master a minority language (and a di� cult one at that) that will be of no use to them in the future is close to futile. It’s like being invited to join a club, only to   nd that you will not be considered a full member until you have undergone certain rituals à la Freemasons and been consid-ered suitable.

If Denmark really wants foreigners to come here and enjoy its lille smørhul, then it needs to prove that it does by welcoming them wholehearted-ly rather than giving them the impression that they are just something to exploit. ‘ em and us’ doesn’t work in the modern world, and certainly not in a western European de-mocracy with (albeit quali  ed) membership of the EU.

More on this next time, and perhaps with just a hint of a silver lining …

Even the sign to The Little Mermaid – perhaps the only place of interest in Denmark known to tourists – is only in Danish

WWW. MORMORANDME.COM

10 9 - 15 March 2012The Copenhagen posT CphposT.dkNews

Tivoli released its Fredag-srock (Friday’s rock) line-up last week. Starting from April 13, Copenhagen’s most enchant-ing venue will host a concert every Friday night until Sep-tember 21. Made up of mainly national acts, the line-up also

includes Swedish pop sensations The Cardigans (June 8), Danish classic rock acts D-A-D (June 1) and Kashmir (June 15), Aus-sie stoner-rockers Wolfmother (June 22), and last year’s Dansk Melodi Grand Prix winners A Friend in london (July 13).

Tivoli: summer’s Friday hang-out?

online This week

The GlobAl Cleantech in-novation index, compiled by the CleanTech Group and the World Wildlife Fund, ranks Denmark as the country currently providing the best conditions for cleantech (eco-friendly) technology. israel, Sweden, Finland and the US complete the list’s top five. A to-tal of 38 countries were assessed,

based on 15 indicators relating to the manufacture and commer-cialisation of cleantech start-ups. The study measured the potential of each country - in relation to its economic size - in order to pro-duce entrepreneurial cleantech start-up companies and commer-cialise clean technology innova-tions over the next 10 years.

denmark ranked number one in clean technologyA 22-yeAr-olD man was found dead on Saturday after-noon in a wooded area near rødvig, south of Copenhagen. hansen was last seen alive on Fri-day as he left home to walk his dog. When he failed to return home, relatives immediately be-gan to search for him. hansen, who hails from the town of Ste-

vns, was found lying next to his vehicle by a jogger at the end of a small road in the woods with his dog locked inside. Police are convinced that hansen was not killed at random, but that he had some outstanding business with someone. his girlfriend told the tabloid ekstra bladet that he was meeting someone that evening.

grisly murder not a random act, police say

Read The Full sToRies aT CphposT.dk

a hAnD-KniT baby blanket and some old magazines cost Frances Jørgensen nearly 500

kroner this year after a muddle with postal authorities.

The American’s mother gave the package a high value on cus-toms declaration forms due to its sentimental value, and as a result it was assessed a fee of about 500kr, which Jørgensen had to hand over in order to receive the package. Another package from Jørgensen’s family and friends was inspected and assessed a fee as well. now, she’s fed up with the process.

“i’ve basically told everyone to stop sending anything to me of any value,” she said.

navigating the postal and customs rules for goods im-ported from non-eU countries is difficult, and one misstep can cost hundreds of kroner in du-ties and taxes.

Jesper bremholm, who heads up the international mail centre at Post Denmark, said that a detailed customs declaration on packages coming into Denmark helps assure that goods arrive without trouble. A customs dec-laration should include the price and description of items in the package. it helps if new items also have an attached receipt and used items should have signs of basic wear and tear.

packages shipped from outside the eu often come wrapped in red tape

Stephanie Kinch “it’s very important that the declaration is correct,” brem-holm said. “We often experience that the declaration has a value of 250kr, but the goods inside of the package are worth 1,000kr.”

The system for actual taxa-tion on goods sent into Den-mark is complex. here are some basic rules:

•  Gifts sent from individu-als are tax-free if they have a value of less than 340kr. A gift can only be received from a private person, not from a company. •  if the gift is worth more than 340kr, 25 percent vAT is charged. •  Gifts over 1,150kr are also charged a duty. Gifts between 1,150-2,225kr are charged a flat 2.5 percent, and those valued above that have a duty assessed based on the type of item. Shoes and clothes, for example, have a 12 percent duty. headlights for your car have a 4.7 percent duty. books and magazines are not charged a duty. •  items bought from compa-nies or online retailers out-side the eU are free if they are worth less than 80kr. Above that, 25 percent vAT is charged. items worth more than 1,150kr that are not gifts are also charged a duty. •  Adding to vAT and du-ties is a 160kr assessment fee charged by Post Danmark.

it’s a complex system to say the least, and after adding it all up, many foreigners have found that it doesn’t pay to buy outside of Denmark.

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i’ve basically told everyone to stop sending anything to me of any value

handled with care – and scrutiny

When American Angel Greer hjarding had two Amer-ican-style keyboards shipped from the US she ended up hav-ing to pay more in taxes, duties, and fees than the cost of one of the keyboards. The entire proc-ess took over a month.

“When people talk about how glamorous and glorious it must be to live the life of an expat they are missing out on stuff like this,” she said. “We have to go around the world and back again just to get two simple keyboards.”

lorry Fach-Pedersen had similar trouble when she ordered towels from a US company when she moved to Denmark from the US in 2007. The towels were worth 500kr, and by the time they arrived at her new home in herlev, they were assessed a tax fee of approximately 400kr. What Fach-Pedersen didn’t know at the time was another loophole in the tax law: if you’re shipping your own items to yourself they are tax-free. had she shipped her own towels, she wouldn’t have paid a duty.

“it’s very important that we can see that these are your own goods and they are used,” said bremholm.

While many posters on the Americans in Denmark forum on Facebook noted that they have increasingly had their packages inspected, destroyed, and taxed over the past three months, bremholm claimed that the rules for taxation of goods and Post Denmark’s procedures had not changed. To avoid un-necessary hassle, he suggested a clearly marked customs declara-tion form, a receipt attached to the outside of the package, and a package that does not contain any of the following:

• Food: Food can’t be im-ported to private people in Denmark. Packages with food in them will be de-stroyed.• weapons: Weapons, as well as weapons supplies and parts, cannot be imported. This includes pocket knives.• Medicine: While medicine can be imported to Den-mark, it is a very complex process and packages must be first inspected and ap-proved by health authorities before being sent to a private customer. For others, the best way to

avoid taxes, fees, and headaches has been to stop getting pack-ages altogether. For Jørgensen, paying 500kr for old magazines and a baby blanket was the last straw.

“i’ll just be better about bringing things back with me when i visit in the future to avoid the extra cost.”

A full list of duty rates can be found at bit.ly/Ab1pvm (link in Danish).

“You want me to pay HOw much to get my package?”

iT CAn be a bit of a lottery when you get your annual tax return from national tax

authority Skat. A blessing or curse — depending on whether you owe or not — the annual tax return gets emotions going, as people often walk a tightrope when they budget for the year.

however, if you are one of the unfortunate third of citizens who have tax money to pay back, there is good news. According to Skat official henrik Kähler, you likely won’t have to pay it back until 2013.

“if you can’t pay your back taxes and the amount is less than 18,300 kroner, we collect the money through monthly pay-ments starting in 2013,” he told metroXpress newspaper. “As well as paying your taxes for income attained in 2013, every month we will take a 12th of your back taxes from the previous year out of your wages”

if the amount owed is over 18,300 kroner, it must be repaid through the months of Septem-ber, october and november of this year. it is also possible to pay smaller back tax amounts this year to avoid paying interest in the future.

historically, the release of the annual tax return is a great tech-nical burden for Skat, contribut-ing to the release of the returns already last week on Friday, three days early. by Sunday, 1.7 million people had already logged in to see their annual tax return. Käh-ler hopes that the system won’t be

overloaded this week.Give that manoeuvring

through the tax jungle can be a formidable challenge in any language, it can be consoling to know that Skat has a significant amount of information available in english on its website.

Kähler also highlighted a few pointers for handling the potentially daunting task of sub-mitting your annual tax returns.

• Deductions: it is up to you to submit any deductions you may have. The vast range of deductions available in-clude work-related expenses like commuting, child-relat-ed expenses like alimony, and deductions on stock losses.• Income: it is essential to declare all avenues of income. This could be anything from rent obtained through a lease, profits made from shares, inheritance and even poker winnings. basically, any kind of income has a good chance of being taxable.• Be prepared: one use-ful habit to get into is to be prepared and update the amounts as they occur in next year’s self-assessment.• Important dates: Up until March 15 it is possible to al-ter figures in your tax return to avoid an incorrect amount being imposed upon you. This date is also the cut-off for the payment of arrears, which is overdue debt previ-ously accumulated that will count against any tax surplus you may be expecting. Ad-ditionally, May 1 is the dead-line to make final changes to your annual tax return from the previous year. (CW)

Tax season is officially upon us, but fret not, back taxes can wait until next year

The tax man cometh

arMeD gang members, many wearing masks and bulletproof vests, attempt-

ed to disrupt the trial of two men allegedly connected to a biker gang, leading to the mass arrest by police of 140 people outside the courthouse in Glos-trup on Tuesday.

The crowd threw objects at police, who used batons and pepper spray to take control.

Three knives, a dart, a screw-driver, two hammers, two crow-bars and six wooden clubs were discovered discarded by the gang members. A search of nearby cars also turned up bulletproof

vests and clubs.“We were well prepared for

the situation,” Michael Kris-tiansen, of the vestegn Police, wrote in a press release. “We will not accept this sort of destruc-tive behaviour at trials.”

All but five were released lat-er in the day, with four now fac-ing charges of assaulting a police officer and one for threatening the life of an officer.

before they were arrested, gang members attempted to make their way into the court-room where two men are ac-cused of a gang-related shooting in ballerup on February 14. (PS)

140 armed gang members arrested outside court

119 - 15 March 2012 THE COPENHAGEN POST CPHPOST.DK COMMUNITY

The world-famous City Hall pancakes, eagerly enjoyed by all.

“I’ll put my wine away so I won’t look like an alcoholic,” said Britain’s Tim Jones, who shows Danish street scenes and archi-tecture in his paintings via a new point of view, experimenting with light, shadows and re­ ections.

Always looking at the comic side of things, Iven Gilmore is a British professional illustrator, photo-montage maker, car-toonist, animator, journalist and writer. Oh, and a musician, children’s entertainer and actor.

Denmark’s Nina Nørgaard, proudly posing in front of her sculp-ture, which symbolises her travels (and relationships – one in every continent, she confessed) around the world.

British � gurative artist Eira Pryce, who took a shine to our pho-tographer Clive, has lived in Australia, Malaysia, Thailand, Burma, Nepal and India, and always capturing the cultural diversity she saw around her with her pen and brush.

Irish painter Patrick Stack came to Denmark for the women, which is also one of his favourite subjects for his paintings (especially, it would appear, their bottoms).

Here are seven of the nine contributing artists - the other two were too busy sipping their wine apparently- (from left to right) Patrick Stack, Don Johnson, Iven Gilmore, organiser Ed Kowalski, Eira Pryce, Erik Møller Andersen, Nina Nørgaard Kristiansen and Damon Hope.

The Art Pak group, consisting of eight international artist who all live and work in the Copenhagen area, exhibited their works at City Hall on Febru-ary 18 – an event attended by an estimated 300 people.

Among the onlookers was The Copenhagen Post’s very own columnist Frank Theakston, who is no short of fans himself following his appearance in the Copenhagen Theatre, Circle’s Christmas, pantomime ‘Cinderella’. Talking of which, Frank is directing the next CTC production, ‘The Good Doctor’, in April.

PHOTOS: CLIVE THAIN WORDS BY MIKE HOFMAN

Hollywood had the Brat Pack, Copenhagen has the Art Pak

WWW.CPHPOST.DK

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

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Harrington w. Kenn Lending Blues Band [US/DK]

Keith Dunn Band [US/NL] | Johnny Max Band [CA]

Delta Blues Band | The Healers | Shades of BlueThorbjorn Risager | Troels Jensen | Alain Apaloo

H.P. Lange | Mike Andersen & Jens Kristian DamTutweiler | Fried Okra Band | The Blues Overdrive

Bluesoul | Grahn & Malm | Ole Frimer | Paul Banks

Jacob Fischer Trio | Svante Sjöblom | Jes Holtsoe

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SPORT

National coach Morten Olsen’s new

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until after the 2014 World Cup.

14

NEWS

Dane unable to obtain family

reunifi cation for his � ai girlfriend

says residency rules are a Catch-22

6

Exploiting ‘fat tax’

NEWS | 3Supermarkets are scamming

their customers under the guise

of the new national ‘fat tax’

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HISTORY | 19

How Christianity borrowed from

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ILLUST

RAT

ION

BY

PET

ER

STA

NN

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S

CAN YOU HAVE your cake and

eat it too? Conventional wisdom

says no, but with their � rst budg-

et plan since the shift of power,

the new Socialdemokraterne-Radikale-

Socialistisk Folkeparti (SRSF) coalition

appear to be giving it a shot.

Many of the elements of the new

budget – which is expected to be re-

leased in its entirety on � ursday – will

increase state spending at a time when

the budget de� cit has increased. But

where the money would come from re-

mained a mystery.

A number of the new budget items

reinstate spending cuts made by the pre-

vious Venstre-Konservative (VK) govern-

ment. Here are a few of the major points:

Families: VK limited the state’s

monthly child support handouts (bør-

necheck) to 35,000 kroner per fam-

ily. � at limit has now been abolished,

meaning that many families will get

larger child bene� ts. � e government

will also pay for fertility treatments and

voluntary sterilisations.

Welfare: VK and Dansk Folkeparti

(DF) introduced specialised welfare pro-

grammes that reduced the cash bene� ts

for new immigrants. � ose programmes

have now been eliminated and going

forward all residents in need of state

support will receive the same welfare

bene� ts. Higher education and research:

Universities will get an extra one billion

kroner over two years to cover costs as-

sociated with a predicted increase in

the number of students. Moreover, stu-

dents will no longer pay administrative

fees, and prospective Master’s students

will have prerequisite course tuitions

paid. � e government will also fund

1,500 more state-supported internship

positions.Infrastructure and job creation:

Some 17.5 billion kroner will be in-

vested over two years in infrastructure

projects, such as a new rail line between

Copenhagen and Ringsted, a project to

widen the Holbæk motorway, erosion

protection e� orts along Jutland’s west

coast, and renovations to public hous-

ing. Prime minister Helle � orning-

Schmidt has said that these ‘kickstart’

projects will create 20,000 new jobs

from 2012-2013. � e Danish Construc-

tion Association predicts 10,000.

Tax break: � e unpopular ‘mul-

timedia tax’ introduced by VK will be

abolished, saving some 525,000 Danes

with business laptops and mobile

phones 3,000 kroner per year.

Not everyone, however, can look for-

ward to a cash infusion. Smokers and junk

food lovers will be taxed higher on their

vices, while international corporations

will also see higher tax bills. SRSF plans

to raise revenue by closing a number of

tax loopholes going back nearly 20 years

that allowed international corporations

in Denmark to escape paying corporate

taxes (see more on page 15).

All told, the spending increases in the

new budget are not as big as the minister

of the economy and interior, Margrethe

Vestager (R), would like. She noted that

VK under-reported the de� cit for 2012,

making it imprudent to spend more. But

Denmark will still meet the EU’s � nan-

cial responsibility benchmarks, despite

the larger de� cit, she added.

A new budget to ‘kickstart’ the economy

SRSF’s � rst budget will spend 17.5 billion

kroner on infrastructure and abolish

previous taxes and restrictions

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12 9 - 15 March 2012THE COPENHAGEN POST CPHPOST.DK

ABOUT TOWN PHOTOS BY HASSE FERROLD (UNLESS OTHERWISE STATED)

COMMUNITY

W HEN I FIRST arrived here I met a guy at a friend’s party who I instantly liked. He

was fun, cute, and knew that a ‘kiwi’ was not just a person but a large brown bird. So I asked him out. Granted I didn’t use the ‘date’ word but I thought it was obvious – any situation past 8pm at night that involves a man and a women getting together with the intention of having a good time is a date. Period. Not so according to the Danish rules of courtship.

Four months later, after � lms, drinks, a double date, a bit of hand holding under the guise “let me help you so you don’t slip on the ice” (funny that the ‘ice’ lasted for a kilometre) and I’m thinking this is going great ... I knew perfectly well we weren’t a couple, but I de� nitely thought we were on the way to something. So after much frustration one night when my � irting techniques were really getting me NOWHERE, I said the three forbidden words in the Danish Dating Dictionary: “I like you”. From the look on his face you’d think I’d said: “I love you”. He was in shock.

Needless to say he thought we were “just friends”.

You see, the Danish rules state that unless explicitly stat-ed no man or woman is your date/love interest/boyfriend/girlfriend/partner until explicitly stated. Until then you should feel free to act as openly as you like: � irt as much as you like even if you have no intention of follow-

ing through, spend long-drawn out periods of time together shar-ing your most intimate secrets, introduce them to your parents, and bring them back cute trin-kets whenever you travel.

� e line between friend-ship and dating here is horribly messed up. � e fact that Danish men (and women) pursue purely platonic relationships with the opposite sex has meant their dat-ing culture su� ers badly.

So here’s the big mistake I made here: I tried to play the

Danish dating game accord-ing to New Zealand rules: if we like someone we ask them out (heaven forbid) out loud, we � irt with the objects of our a� ections and not with our friends, and we consider the op-posite sex a thing to ‘date’ not to ‘befriend’.

� e Danes didn’t accept them. Most Danes consider a solid friendship as the only way to start a relationship – the thought of an ‘awkward’ date or blunt comment like “I like you” is way too much for them to handle.

Most Danes I know have hooked up with half their friends and dated about a quar-ter of them. Furthermore they don’t consider it weird (quite the opposite) to shamelessly � irt to the point that any nor-mal human being would con-sider it a sign they’re into you.

My advice to any foreign woman here is to forget what-ever rules you thought applied. Here in Denmark it’s a whole new ball game. � ere are no fouls, no outs, no red cards and of course no rule books. While much of the time I would like to hand out red cards to Dan-ish men – I can’t – although I can try to twist the game in my favour.

A FTER ARRIVING in this country late last year with a fellow foreigner and subsequently being

unceremoniously dumped, I set out to explore the dating world of Denmark. What I found is a jungle of good-looking, usually well-spoken, trendy metrosexu-al men who are eager to impress a foreign heart.

What I also discovered, un-fortunately, is that on the whole Danish men fall under one cat-egory. � ey’re boring.

Now whilst I don’t hail myself as some kind of guru on the sub-ject, this is a thought that many a foreign girlfriend has echoed.

My � rst date with a Dane still to this day stands out in my mind.

It all began when I was work-ing at a wedding. As I moved around the bar serving drinks, I was drawn to this good-looking, slightly big-nosed man who ap-peared to be intent on attract-ing my attention. He seemed forthcoming and interesting, and when he asked if I’d be interested in co� ee, I thought why not – lit-tle did I know that he was only interesting after he’d had a thou-sand gin and tonics.

Later in the week we met at the predetermined place and from the get-go I was faced with a very di� erent man from the one I’d said yes to. As we walked to-wards the co� ee place I was nearly knocked over when his hand � ew across and hit me in the chest. As we continued I discovered that he wasn’t actually trying to cop a sneaky feel (it would have been

better than the truth), but that he was actually holding me back from the road to ensure there wasn’t any tra� c coming.

Now whilst I was perplexed by this and secretly thinking: “I’ve been crossing roads alone for quite a few years now,” I let it go and shrugged it o� as a cultural mishap.

Once we’d settled in at the co� ee shop, where he’d booked a table, we began to talk or rath-er I began to talk. Quite rusty at the dating game, horror start-

ed to set in. Was I talking too much, and is that why he isn’t talking? But once I’d stopped, he didn’t really start.

He proceeded to tell me that he was 27, a banker, well-o� and yet, despite not being too bad to look at, I couldn’t do anything but stare at my watch as the min-utes slowly ticked away. After a rough start, things began to look up as he proceeded to tell me he’d read a bit about Australia as he knew I was from there.

� is initial excitement only lasted two seconds before I saw the notecards come out of his pocket. Ohh yes, he’d prepared talking points. Now whilst I’m all for a man who wants to take an interest in my home country, Australian immigration facts don’t exactly get my motor run-ning.

After this I decided it was time to head o� , and it was as I climbed onto my bike that he left me with the parting line: “Perhaps I can oil your bike chain sometime.”

After recomposing myself, I felt there was nothing left to say except: “Not to worry, I do that myself already,” and with that I cycled o� into the cold Copen-hagen night with thoughts of a better day and hopefully a better date to come.

Babaylan Danmark organised an event called ‘A Glimpse of Filipino Culture’ on Saturday at Munkegårdsskolen in Gentofte, to which Danish au pair families and Danes in gen-eral were invited to learn more about Filipino culture. Among those in attendance were (left-right) Gentofte mayor Hans Toft, Babaylan DK chairperson Judy Jover, Babaylan DK secretary Ana Lindemhamn, Babaylan DK auditor Lemy Gaddi, Babaylan DK’s founding chairperson Filomenita Høgsholm, and the Philippines consul general Povl Krogh. While in the second photo are Babaylan’s dance troupe, who performed dances from the indigenous tribes of Mindanao. Photos: Babaylan DK.

In the build-up to the one-year anniversary of the Japanese tsunami on Sunday, the Japanese Embassy is holding several events to mark the catastrophe. The � rst of these was a charity concert for the victims at the ambassador’s residence last week on Friday. Pictured on the left is Japanese ambassador Toshio Sano with the musicians. And on the right, the ambassador can be seen admiring the work of artist Yoshiki Nakahara, which he painted to commemorate the loss of life.

Crown Prince Frederik was an esteemed guest at the opening of ‘Per Kirkeby and Green-land: The Secret Reservoir’, the Danish artist’s latest exhibition, which runs until Septem-ber 2 at Ordrupgaard.

The American Chamber of Commerce organised another Meet the Leaders event on Monday, this time featuring Denmark’s defence minister Nick Hækkerup, at the Radisson Blu Royal hotel in Copenhagen. Among those in attendance were: (left-right) the hotel’s general manager Roy Kappenberger, US am-bassador Laurie S Fulton, Hækkerup, and AmCham chairman Kim Østrup. Photo: Pamela Juhl

True, the Antipodeans hate being mistaken for one another and rarely agree on anything, but they are well-known for speaking their mind, so who better to ask for an opinion on dating Danish men than New Zealand’s Emily McLean and Australia’s Jessica O’Sullivan, two tough-talking girls who might have to kiss a lot of frogs to   nd their prince. After all, nobody ever said Dating the Danes was going to be easy.

DATING THE DANES

EMILY MCLEAN JESSICA O’SULLIVAN

“I like you”. From the look on his face you’d think I’d said:“I love you”.

He left me with the parting line: “Perhaps I can oil your bike chain sometime.”

139 - 15 March 2012 THE COPENHAGEN POST CPHPOST.DK

With extensive experience in the US and Guatemala, Reverend Ronald Rentner is the ideal choice to take care of a parish made up of 25 di� erent nationalities and various christian denominations

T HE INTERNATION-AL Church of Copenha-gen (ICC) celebrated the installation of its new

pastor, Reverend Ronald Rent-ner, a week last Sunday.

Leading the service was Reverend Arden Haug, the Eu-ropean representative for the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), while the bishop of Copenhagen, Peter Skov-Jakobsen, attended on behalf of the Church of Den-mark (the Folkekirke).

With a strong Lutheran heritage, the ICC remains inde-pendent from both the ELCA and the Folkekirke, but as Ail-een Itani, chair of the music and worship committee, explains, it welcomes their support.

“ICC’s congregation is made up of Danes and expats from all over the world, hailing from many christian denomi-nations,” Itani said. “But the support of these churches lends our pastor a professional net-

work and legitimacy that ben-e� ts both him personally and, through him, the congregation generally,”

Established in the late 1950s by American Lutherans living in the city, ICC is the oldest English-speaking ecu-menical congregation in Co-penhagen. ICC regularly min-isters to worshipers from over 25 countries with a variety of di� erent christian backgrounds including Lutheran, Orthodox, Baptist and Anglican.

Drawing on its Lutheran roots, the ICC provides Sunday worship that re� ects the diver-sity of its congregants and also o� ers midweek bible studies

and programmes for children.According to Pastor Rentner,

the ICC is an example of what the church expects to be at its best.

“People from around the world gather here,” Rentner said. “Instead of being sepa-rated by di� erences, they are drawn close by faith. People from the widest possible wor-ship traditions in the christian family learn here from each other. We are united by god’s good news. It is a model for the church to come.”

Pastor Rentner is joined by his wife Vonnie. � ey have also served churches in California, Nevada, and Guatemala.

DENMARK HAS a reputation for having some of the happiest people in the world, but does happiness always come from

within? Not in the case of Jack Davis, the American co-founder and owner of Yogacentralen (YC), a yoga centre in Frederiksberg that brings contentment to all who frequent it.

Davis founded YC with his Danish partner Peter Huber as a sanctuary for body, mind, and spirit. Bilingual and accessible, it hopes to contribute posi-tive energy to the lively pulse of the sur-rounding community. � is authentic and grounded space is home to a broad range of yoga styles, traditions, teachers and levels - there’s something for every-one.

YC also embodies a sanctuary for the belly: food that’s good for the body and the soul. Davis, a professional chef, serves fresh, homemade vegetarian meals after selected weekly classes and workshops. Practitioners can enjoy clas-sic dishes that have been imaginatively re-created or try something new and innovative. Whatever the season, Jack’s dishes are healthy, colourful, and deli-cious, prepared with the most impor-tant ingredients: mindfulness and love.

YC understands that healthy food is as important as yoga practice, and

The sanctuary where human contentment is the order of the day

ICC welcomes its new pastor

that the choice of food directly a� ects wellbeing. YC therefore supports a con-scious, healthy, holistic lifestyle from top to toe, and it has plans to introduce demos, workshops, and cooking classes for those wishing to incorporate yoga principles into their diet and eating life-style.

“Food and yoga are interlocked in many di� erent ways,” says Davis. “I particularly love how both cooking and the practice of yoga are both a science and an art form - that with a devoted attention feeds both the body and soul.”

Most yoga studios in Copenhagen are focused on a single style of yoga and teach only that style. But people live very di� erent lives and have very di� erent re-quirements. While all yoga styles seek to balance body, mind, and spirit, they go about it in various ways. Yoga, being universal, is truly owned by no-one and no style is better than the other; it is a simple matter of personal preference.

YC accommodates this need for variety, o� ering di� erent styles, courses and workshops tailored to di� erent age groups, body types, and those su� ering from health-related conditions such as stress and obesity. YC is the only studio in Scandinavia to o� er yoga classes for the blind and deaf.

YC is a platform for the teachers to teach from a variety of yoga traditions, and they are given the freedom to run their own classes independently and to apply their own personal touch to them. Classes range in size, o� ering both large room workshops and classes and smaller, more intimate sessions where teachers Jack Davis, clearly at home in the kitchen

� e rather tall Reverend Ronald Rentner addresses his congregation with Reverend Arden Haug and Reverend Peter Skov-Jakobsen looking on

The American owner of a Frederiksberg yoga centre is a chef who provides food that’s good for the body and the soul

COMMUNITY

can provide even more individual fo-cus and tips for proper alignment. Yoga styles range from faster � owing classes, to slower, restorative sequences. Some of the many yoga styles available include Dynamic, Ashtanga, Hatha, Iyengar, Tara, Shadow and Kundalini.

“At Yogacentralen, the sky’s the limit,” enthuses one of the teachers, Ulla Elena Nielsen. “� ere is a sense of unity and there are no pretentious rules on how anyone should be. We are able to teach from our own experiences and al-low our personalities to shine through. All of the teachers are experienced, pas-sionate and come from a range of experi-ence – this itself gives me a spark.”

YC wants to o� er the best oppor-tunity for practitioners to � nd a teacher they can relate to and a style that fur-thers their own personal growth.

“Yogacentralen is my second home!” reveals Sze Huei Yek, a YC student. “I feel very welcome there. � e teach-ers know their stu� and are really ap-proachable. You can choose from di� er-ent types of yoga if you want and meet many di� erent people from all walks of life - especially at the dinner table. It’s a place where you can feel comfortable no matter where you come from - al-though the best thing is how wonderful the food is!”

New customers are welcome to take ad-vantage of an introductory reduced price, and beginners are welcome to contact us with any questions. Consult the YC website, www.yogacentralen.dk, for more information.

COMING UP SOONAudition for new sitcomFor a new sitcom in the making, Xinxin is looking for English speaking actors/actresses. Audi-tions are being held on Satur-day March 10. If you’re inter-ested, send an email to xinxin@xinxin.dk, enclosing personal details and two photos.

Dutch � lm screening in ValbyNordisk Film Kinografen, Mo-sedalvej 14, Valby; Fri 9 March, 18:00; tickets: 50kr, register at � lm@dndv.dk; www.dndv� lm.wordpress.com NDV� lm and the Dutch Em-bassy in Copenhagen cordially invite you to the screening of ‘Jungle Rudy’, a � lm by Dutch director Rob Smits. Due to the limited capacity of the cinema, it’s necessary to reserve your seat by sending an email to � lm@dndv.dk.

Capoeira Meeting CopenhagenKorsgadehallen, Korsgade 29, Cph N; Sun 11 March, 13:00; free adm, www.capoeirameeting.comCapoeira Meeting Copenhagen has grown to become the big-gest capoeira event in Scandina-via and takes place from March 8-11. For those interested in capoeira and Brazilian culture, you can attend a free trial les-son on the last day of the event. � ere is no need to sign up - just make sure you wear some loose-� tting clothes.

CTC improvisation workshopVerdensKulturCentret, Nørre Allé 7, Cph N; Tue 12 March, 19:00; free adm; www.ctcircle.dk� is improvisation workshop leads you through a range of activities designed to get you out of your shell and get per-forming. � ey will wrap up the evening at around 21:30 and head to a local bar afterwards for a few drinks. Check www.meetup.com for more details.

Photowalking in CopenhagenKongens Nytorv metro station; Sun 11 March, 15:00; free adm; www.meetup.com Photowalking is the act of walk-ing with a camera for the main purpose of taking pictures. � ey start at the Kongens Nytorv metro station and move towards Christianshavn. � e only rule is to take pictures that have yel-low, green and/or red colours in them, which will make sure you focus on colours rather than tak-ing random images.

Start your own businessKøbenhavns Erhvervsservice, Njals-gade 13, Cph S, Wed 16:00; free adm, www.expatindenmark.dkAt this meeting arranged by Københavns Erhvervsservice, you’ll learn all the essentials needed to your own business in Copenhagen. Check www.expatindenmark.dk for how to sign up.

Celebrate Holi with IDDPeder Lykke Skolen, Brydes Allé 25, Cph S; Sat 19 Mar, 16:30; free adm (only members); info@indiansindenmark.comCelebrate the traditional Hindi spring festival ‘Holi’ with IDD (Indians in Denmark) where it is customary to throw scented powder and perfume at each other. Dinner is available for 50kr – a reservation is necessary and should be made by sending an email to info@indiansinden-mark.com. � is event is for members only, so remember to sign up before you go.

Round-table with EPWNDEFAP, Frederiksgade 21, Cph K; � u 15 March, 18:30; www.europeanpwn.net/copenhagen� e European Professional Women’s Network o� ers a range of forums for discussion and professional development opportunities. � eir round-ta-ble events are targeting smaller groups and more interactive participation, allowing for deeper levels of discussion and understanding. � e � rst round-table of the year will be focus-ing on ‘positive psychology’. � ere are limited numbers so sign up quickly at www.euro-peanpwn.net/copenhagen to be sure to get a seat.

MIKE HOFMAN

DAVE SMITH

DAVE SMITH

14 9 - 15 March 2012The Copenhagen posT CphposT.dksport

Handball’s ruling body, the iHF, has confirmed that den-mark will enter the Olympics as one of the bottom seeds. Origi-nally a top seed after finishing in the top four at the 2011 Worlds, denmark were demoted for win-ning the Euros, joining the other winners of the continental cham-pionships. Complaints ensued but the iHF has held firm, even though two of the top seeds have not yet qualified.

MikkEl HansEn has been named the 2011 iHF World Player of the Year – the first ever dane to win the handball honour since it started in 1988. Voted for by fans, media and an iHF panel, Hansen received 31 percent of the votes, ten clear of his next nearest rival, last year’s winner Filip Jicha of the Czech republic. during 2011, Hansen helped denmark to the final of the World Championships.

danisH First diVisiOn club FC Vestsjælland will ex-change knowledge and expertise with the indian i-league outfit shillong lajong, following an-glian Holdings’ acquisition of stakes in both clubs as part of its diversification into the global game. The multinational’s indian owner is keen to improve foot-ball in his country and hopes the Vikings’ expertise will help take lajong’s game to “the next level”.

Raw deal for danesBest in the world Indian deal for Vikings

spoRTs news and BRIefs

FC COPEnHagEn are of-fering free tickets to fans fol-lowing the less than cordial spring season kickoff on sun-day. The initiative is to show that football and fan culture are about the love of the game and not the violent scenes the unfolded in aalborg. FCk will be hosting sønderjyskE on sunday afternoon at 4pm. get your free tickets at www.sam-menhold.fck.dk.

danisH gOlFEr line Vedel shot a final round 74 to finish 16th equal in the World ladies Championship held in China last weekend. tenth at the halfway cut thanks to rounds of 71 and 70, the 23-year-old was already six shots behind the leaders and failed to mount a challenge over the week-end. Meanwhile, fellow danes Malene Jorgensen and Julie tvede missed the cut.

free tickets for fCk! Viddy well for Vedel

THOMas sørEnsEn’s ‘miss’ is well on its way to becoming viral, as football fans all over the world shake their heads in

wonder at the danish keeper’s bizarre attempt to save andrey arshavin’s shot that led to russia’s second goal in their 2-0 win at Parken last week on Wednesday.

Much to the relief of arsenal’s fans, the russian forward was recently loaned out to Zenit st Petersberg. He had only scored twice all season, and not since October. so it was always going to be ‘one of those goals’, and sørensen, 35, obliged with the kind of phantom leap not seen since devon loch in the 1956 grand national.

One down after four minutes, denmark improved as the first half progressed, with simon Poulsen, nick-las bendtner and simon kjaer all com-ing close to an equaliser. and with time running down on the clock, and aim-less arshavin on the ball, they looked a good bet to finish the half just one goal in arrears.

but they hadn’t banked on wobbly sørensen, who was making his 100th appearance for the national team. sure, arshavin’s shot from outside the area was powerful, but it was straight at the dane and only moved a little in the air. still, sørensen saw otherwise and jumped to his right, clean missing the ball in the process.

russia, undefeated in ten games, never faltered in the second half. The closest denmark came to scoring was through substitute tobias Mikkelsen, who was impressive in what was only his second start for the red and whites.

“i’d rather this happened now,” sørensen told uefa.com following the game. “We needed to put more pressure on arshavin, who easily got the chance to shoot. Of course, this doesn’t change the fact i should have saved it. We lost the ball and i couldn’t see the ball behind simon kjær, but that’s just how it is.”

sørensen, instead, preferred to look ahead to Euro 2012. “somebody told me there’s 100 days to go before the tourna-ment starts,” he continued. “We need to be careful not to get our hopes too high. There is still a long way to go. We have a good, long time to prepare so it will be completely different at the Euros.”

However, his gaffe and another similar one for his club, English Premier league side stoke City raises some seri-

keeper’s phantom leap in 0-2 defeat to Russia was reminiscent of devon Loch’s jump in the 1956 grand national

ben hamilton

will sørensen’s howler come back to haunt him ahead of euro 2012?

factfile | who will be denmark’s keeper at euro 2012?

ous questions about who should start in goal against the netherlands on June 9. With anders lindegaard, 27, in fine form for Manchester united (before an ankle injury sidelined him in late Janu-ary for six weeks), national coach Morten Olsen faces a tough decision over the coming months.

Meanwhile, the ladies’ international team got off to a disastrous start in the algarve Cup in Portugal, losing 5-0 to the us in their opening match of an an-nual tournament that is widely consid-

FOllOWing On from kevin Magnussen’s promotion at Formula One team Mclaren, another young promising dane has been signed up – this time by lotus. Marco l sørensen, 21, will this year compete for the team lotus Junior team in the World series 3.5, with F1 test-driving a possibility in 2013. lo-tus were keen to emphasise how sørensen had succeeded “solely because of talent”.

Lotus sign up young talent

The look on sørensen’s face says it all - but if you thought that was bad, check out the footage of Devon Loch (see inset) via our website.

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ered as the most prestigious in the game after the continental and world cups.

denmark trailed 2-0 at half-time af-ter conceding a goal in injury time, and then held out for half an hour before ca-pitulating in the final 15 minutes.

and things didn’t go that much bet-ter in their second game on Friday in which they lost 2-0 to Japan, who went on to beat the us and top the group. The 12-team tournament has a peculiar format that gives every participant a final placing. Heading into the cup, the worst

denmark could do was finish bottom of group b with a worse record than the fourth-placed team in group a, and then lose to the runner-up of group C to finish tenth.

but in the end denmark beat nor-way 1-0 in their final game to set up a fifth/sixth place playoff game.

denmark have participated in every algarve Cup since it started in 1994, fin-ishing second five times, and in the top four ten times, but they have never man-aged to win.

thomas sørensen

Age: 35Caps: 100Club: stoke CityCareer highlight: played at 2002 and 2010 WCs

as one of the most respected keepers in England over the last 14 years at firstly sunderland, then aston Villa and now stoke City, sørensen took the gloves many thought impossible to fill from Peter schmeichel, and he is now even closing in on his 129-cap haul.

anders lindegaard

Age: 27Caps: 12Club: Manchester UnitedCareer highlight: signing for Man United

absolutely sørensen’s biggest rival. before injuring his ankle in late Janu-ary - he is expecting to return to ac-tion imminently - he had managed to wrestle the number one position away from david de gea, and at one point went five Premier league games with-out conceding a goal.

Jesper Christiansen

Age: 33Caps: 11Club: oBCareer highlight: Danish keeper of the year, 2005-07

sørensen’s unused understudy at the 2002 and 2010 World Cups, Christiansen’s are the reliable hands Morten Olsen has turned to over the last decade. as the first choice for FCk for four years from 2005, his club career started to stumble some-what after he lost his place to swedish stopper Johan Wiland in 2009.

stephan andersen

Age: 30Caps: 8Club: ÉvianCareer highlight: started three 2010 WC qualifiers

good form for brøndby rewarded him with the chance to replace Thomas sø-rensen in three 2010 World Cup qualifi-ers, including both pressure cooker games against Portugal. after beating them 3-2 away, andersen produced a mammoth performance to keep them at bay in a 1-1 draw at Parken in september 2009.

Kasper sChmeiChel

Age: 25Caps: 0Club: Leicester CityCareer highlight: 2007 Danish under-21 talent

no longer a promising prodigy who is the son of a legend, schmeichel is now 25 and still playing his football in the second tier of English football. Called up to the national squad for the first time last year, he has yet to win a cap – a far cry from his four clean sheets in seven games in the EPl in 2007.

159 - 15 March 2012 THE COPENHAGEN POST CPHPOST.DK BUSINESS

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able the business is for the three oil companies operating in the North Sea – Chevron, Shell and Maersk, who work together as the Danish Underground Con-sortium (DUC) – that negotiat-ed the 2003 deal with the former government.

According to the report, be-tween 2004 and 2010, the DUC companies earned an annual pre-tax yield of 60 percent of their investment, and 24 percent after tax – triple what average businesses earn.

� e report contributes to numbers released last Decem-ber that showed that the DUC earned 88 billion kroner from a 150 billion turnover in the same period.

Oil companies were pro� t-ing much more than was ex-pected after the spectacular rise in the price of oil from 22 dollars a barrel in 2003 to over 120 dol-lars a barrel today.

Det Miljøøokonomiske Råd � nds that while there is a case for renegotiating the 2003 deal,

Sell 5.78 5.49 7.33 0.07 0.18 0.81 6.06 8.75 5.52

Buy 6.30 5.94 7.56 0.07 0.21 0.85 6.26 9.11 5.78

AustralianDollarsAUD

CanadaDollarsCAD

EuroEUR

JapanYenJPY

RussiaRublesRUB

SwedenKronor

SEK

SwitzerlandFrancsCHF

UKPoundsGBP

United StatesDollarsUSD

Exchange Rates

Price in kroner for one unit of foreign currency Date: 7 March 2012

THE GOVERNMENT has a fair claim to a great-er share of pro� ts from North Sea oil, a report

from independent organisation Det Miljøøokonomiske Råd ar-gued last week.

� e report echoed calls from politicians and the think-tank Concito for the government to renegotiate the 2003 deal, which set their share of the North Sea oil pro� ts.

“� e state should earn a greater share of the income from the resources than is currently the case with the current rules,” the report states, adding that the oil is owned by the Danish people, who ought to be making a greater pro� t from the limited resource.

� e 2003 deal ignored the recommendations made in 2001 by the ‘hydrocarbon committee’ formed to advise the govern-ment on the best method of tax-ing North Sea oil.

While they suggested an ef-fective tax rate of 84 percent of pro� ts, the result of the deal means that the state currently takes home 71 percent of the pro� ts – much lower than the Norwegian state’s 85 percent re-turn on its share of North Sea oil.

According to Concito, the state has missed out on 75 bil-lion kroner by not following the committee’s recommendations.

New � gures released by Det Miljøøokonomiske Råd reveal that Maersk has made 67 billion kroner in pro� t from North Sea oil since 1994.

� e report does not indicate how much more money the gov-ernment could have earned from a higher tax rate, though it does make it clear just how pro� t-

it draws attention to the “prob-lematic” compensation clause in which the DUC companies can demand to be reimbursed from lost earnings if the deal is altered before it runs out in 2042.

� e compensation clause has been the focus of some at-tention, not only because it is unique – no other industry has made such a clause with the gov-ernment – but because it seems to undermine the state’s inalien-able right to demand taxes.

� e government has estab-lished a committee to examine whether it would be possible to raise the taxes, though Maersk has categorically refused to re-negotiate.

“We do not see the basis for renegotiating the North Sea deal,” Maersk’s head of public a� airs, Anders Würtzen, told Jyllands-Posten newspaper last December. “� e deal lives up to what the parties discussed during negotia-tions in 2003 – negotiations that were long and thorough.”

According to MP Pernille

Independent report argues that the government’s share of pro� ts from North Sea oil should be higher

PETER STANNERS

Report: state’s share of oil too small

BUSINESS NEWS AND BRIEFS

A NEW PILL that helps to re-duce alcohol consumption is un-der development at the medical company Lundbeck. � e pill is not intended to lead to absti-nence, only a lesser intake, and over six months tests show that the pill has reduced the con-sumption of the test patients by two thirds.

Alcohol pill shows promiseTHE ICE CREAM van busi-ness Hjem-is is facing some seri-ous competition from newcomer Viking-is, according to Politiken newspaper. By the end of the month, eight Viking ice cream vans will hit the streets in east-ern Denmark, including most of Zealand and Lolland-Falster, but not yet in Copenhagen.

� is is despite an injunction from Vestre Landsret forbidding Viking-is from copying Hjem-is’s routes and franchise model. � e Nestlé-owned Hjem-is’s 35-year-monopoly on operating ice cream vans was broken a year ago, so now they have to face the compe-tition from the ice cream brands Frisko and Ben & Jerry’s.

Ice cream wars heat up

FOR THE SECOND time in less than a year, Novo Nordisk is facing legal ac-

tion in the US over its alleged failure to pay overtime to its sales representatives.

On Monday, a US law � rm � led a $70 million (395 mil-lion kroner) lawsuit in a federal court in New York against the Bagsværd-based pharmaceuti-cal maker on behalf of current and former sales representatives in the states of New York and New Jersey.

According to a statement released by the � rm, the class and collective action complaint has been � led on behalf of two plainti� s and current and former sales representatives.

Steven Wittels – a lawyer for Sanford Wittels and Heisler, LLP – said Novo Nordisk is vio-lating employee rights in a lust for pro� ts.

“Novo Nordisk has system-atically trampled on its dedi-cated employees’ rights to be paid for their overtime work,” said Wittels. “It misclassi� es its sales representatives as salaried

Rosenkrantz-� eil (Social-demokraterne), the government is not yet ready to say whether it will demand a renegotiation.

“Our investigation of the deal will be completed by au-tumn,” she told public broadcast-er DR. “Before that is complete, we won’t make a decision. We are talking about amounts that are so large that it’s important to turn over every stone instead of mak-ing hasty decisions.”

Oil companies say they see no reason to change the current deal before it runs out in 2042

Novo Nordisk hit with US overtime lawsuit

Pharmaceutical giant hit with class action suit – its second within a year

RAY WEAVER employees exempt from the ben-e� ts of federal and state overtime laws, when they are not exempt at all.”

Wittels said that there was “something rotten” about a company that earned more than $3 billion (18 billion kroner) in pro� ts in 2011 and at the same time refuses to pay its employees for overtime.

Lawyer Deborah Marcuse accused Novo Nordisk of not living up to its “own self-pro-fessed ideals”.

“Novo Nordisk’s annual re-ports tout the company as be-ing highly ethical and sensitive to the needs of its employees,” Marcuse said. “But this is a case of protesting too much. Novo Nordisk willfully deprives its sales reps of overtime pay, not-withstanding the requirement of the law and Novo’s bulging cash co� ers. Our lawsuit is designed to remedy this injustice.”

Novo Nordisk reported total 2011 sales of more than 66 bil-lion kroner ($10 billion) and an 18 percent annual pro� t increase.

� e company had no imme-diate comment.

A Californian law � rm � led a suit against Novo Nordisk in July on behalf of sales repre-sentatives who also alleged that the company failed to pay them overtime.

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16 9 - 15 March 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. Mob: +45 60668239

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SPOUSE: Isabel Douglass FROM: San Francisco-USASEEKING WORK IN: Music EducationQUALIFICATION: BA in Music.EXPERIENCE: 10 years of internationally touring performances and 7 years of accordion teaching experience.LOOKING FOR: I o¥ er piano accordion lessons to individuals and small groups. In the courses students will learn a repertoire of songs ranging in styles including French musette, Argentine Tango, and Klezmer while strengthening there technique and understanding of music theory. Please visit www.myspace.com/isabeldouglass to learn more about me.LANGUAGE SKILLS: Native English Speaker.CONTACT: isabeldouglass@gmail.com Phone: 60653401

SPOUSE: Heike Mehlhase FROM: Berlin, Tyskland SEEKING WORK IN: A job opportunity in Copenhagen (administrative position, research assistant or psychosocial care).QUALIFICATION: MPH, Master degree in Psychology, Lerntherapeutin.EXPERIENCE: Five years experience in psychological research and child psychology.LOOKING FOR: Looking for: a position to expand my experience where I can use my excellent organisational, social and communication skills.LANGUAGE SKILLS: German (mother tongue), English ( ̈uent), Danish (Module 2).IT EXPERIENCE: I am pro© cient in software such as word processing, spreadsheet, presentation software and basic graphic editing programs (Microsoft O� ce, Open O� ce) plus statistical software (SPSS).CONTACT: heike@mehlhase.info

SPOUSE: Sarah Andersen FROM: United KingdomSEEKING WORK IN: CopenhagenQUALIFICATION: BA Honours Design Management.EXPERIENCE: Creative and versatile Project manager with experience of working in both agency and client environments on projects including; digital, print and event management. Worked with a range of international clients, including Panasonic and Disney. Previously employed by NMA Top 100 Digital Agencies and D&AD Awards in London. Able to manage projects from concept to production and to meet tight deadlines. LOOKING FOR: Digital Project Manager or Event Production Manager (full, part time or freelance)LANGUAGE SKILLS: English (native), enrolled for Danish language class.IT EXPERIENCE: O� ce, Project, Visio, FTP and CMS.CONTACT: www.sarahandersen.net for portfolio, CV and contact

SPOUSE: S.M. Ariful Islam FROM: BangladeshSEEKING WORK IN: Copenhagen QUALIFICATION: PhD student (2nd year) in Language Policy and Practice in Aalborg University, MA in Bilingualism, MA in English Linguistics, BA in English.EXPERIENCE: 18 months as a University lecturer in English in Bangladesh. Taught advanced grammar, four skills (listening, speaking, reading & writing), ELT courses, Second Language theories, Psycholinguistics, Sociolinguistics.LOOKING FOR: A position of English teacher/lecturer in English Medium Schools, Colleges and Universities.LANGUAGE SKILLS: Bengali (mother tongue), English (second language), Danish ( ̈uent), Hindi and Urdu (Spoken) and Swedish (basic).IT EXPERIENCE: MS O� ce.CONTACT: Mail: ariful@id.aau.dk, arif401@yahoo.com, mobile: +45 42778296

SPOUSE: Lena Schulz zur Wiesch FROM: Berlin, GermanySEEKING WORK IN: Copenhagen and Capital Region.QUALIFICATION: Cand. scient. pol. from the Humboldt-University Berlin and London School of Economics. EXPERIENCE: Seven years work experience from the German Parliament (EU-consultant) and as distinguished research associate at the Humboldt-University (urban planning). Strong analytical and inter-cultural skills. Team-worker.LOOKING FOR: Jobs in consulting, public administration, politics, NGOs, international institutions or companies.LANGUAGE SKILLS: German (mother tongue), English, Spanish, French, Danish (all ̈uently).IT EXPERIENCE: Microsoft O� ce, CMS.CONTACT: lenaszw@web.de

SPOUSE: Jennifer Bouma FROM: The NetherlandsSEEKING WORK IN: Egedal Kommune, Copenhagen 30 km.QUALIFICATION: Managers Secretary, hands on, reliable, structured, self reliant, social, team player).LOOKING FOR: Secretary job.LANGUAGE SKILLS: Dutch, Danish, English, German, French, Italian.IT EXPERIENCE: MS O� ce ( Word, Excel), Outlook, SAP.CONTACT: jenniferbouma@ hotmail.com

SPOUSE: Isabel Douglass FROM: USASEEKING WORK IN: CopenhagenQUALIFICATION: My lessons are organized, fun, and based around your individual needs! My role as your private tutor is to provide you with the information you need, to keep you on schedule with your educational goal, and to provide lessons that © t your learning style. In addition, I aim to keep you excited to learn by introducing interesting material such as news articles, movie clips, and song lyrics.EXPERIENCE: 5 years of experience.LOOKING FOR: English TeachingLANGUAGE SKILLS: Native English SpeakerCONTACT: isabeldouglass@gmail.com Phone: 60653401

SPOUSE: Suheir Sharkas FROM: SyriaSEEKING WORK IN: Copenhagen, Odense, Aarhus and the nearby areas of the mentioned cities. QUALIFICATION: MBA–International Management, Bachelor in English Literature.LOOKING FOR: Positions in Organizations/Companies in the © elds of: Administration and organization, Event & Project Management, and Assistance Management.LANGUAGE SKILLS: Arabic: Native speaker, English: Fluent (understanding, speaking and writing), German: Fluent (understanding, speaking and writing), Danish: Basic 3.3 (understanding, speaking and writing).IT EXPERIENCE: Microsoft O� ce (Word, Excel, Outlook, Access, Power Point) and web publishing. CONTACT: ssouheir@gmail.com, Tel: 533 721 20

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: Jawon Yun-Werner FROM: South Korea SEEKING WORK IN: Healthcare, Hospitals, Elderly/Child Care (in Greater Copenhagen Area).QUALIFICATION: B.A. in Nursing, Masters in Public Health. I am AUTHORIZED to work as a Nurse in Denmark. (Have Danish CPR and work permit).EXPERIENCE: 1O years of experience as a nurse and midwife from the prominent hospitals.LOOKING FOR: Any healthcare related jobs (hospitals, clinics, elderly/childcare places). I am open to any shift or day.LANGUAGE SKILLS: English, Korean, Danish (Intermediate, in progress, Module 3).IT EXPERIENCE: MS O� ce, SASS Statistical SoftwareCONTACT: cuteago@yahoo.com +45 30 95 20 53

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: email: megmagsritchie@googlemail.com tel: 71182949

SPOUSE: Katarzyna Szkaradek FROM: PolandSEEKING WORK IN: Mental hospitals, voluntary(Ngo) organisations, kindergartens, nurseries, babysittingQUALIFICATION: Ma in Psychology (2008), post graduate studies in psychotherapy (4th year/ 5 year). EXPERIENCE: I am a highly motivated and creative individual with excellent communication skills. From January 2010 till August 2010 I worked independly in private practice. For the last 2 years (January ,2009 -October, 2010) I worked with children (also with special needs -Autism, Asperger, Down syndrome etc) and their families as a psychologist. My duties included organizing games, monitoring children’s development , consulting teachers and parents where appropriate and providing individual therapy. For the last 10 years I was member of NGO organisation and I was a volunteer in Israel, Italy, Portugal and Romania.LOOKING FOR: Internship in mental hospitals, part – time or full time jobs in kindergartens, nurseries, job as a babysitter, voluntary job in hospitals.LANGUAGE SKILLS: English–advance level (C1), Danish – (module 3 /module 5), Polish-native speakerIT EXPERIENCE: MS Windows, basic MS O� ce, Internet.CONTACT: szkasienka@gmail.com tlf. 50828802

SPOUSE: Natalie Gri� ths FROM: AustraliaSEEKING WORK IN: CopenhagenQUALIFICATION: I have over ten years of experience in production management, sales and marketing in the advertising and media production industry. The past © ve years I have run my own creative production agency Sonique which I started in 2005 in London. Sonique (www.soniqueltd.com) specialized in audio-visual and digital production for direct clients and advertising agencies, from TV commercials to online corporate videos to virals to radio and music composition for clients including Barclays Bank, Santander, McDonalds, Lexus and many more. I have experience in localizing content and working with translators.Working with these large clients and their agencies, project managing every job from brie© ng stage through to completion, I have excellent knowledge of processes both agency and client-side. My attention to detail, personal commitment to each job, high standards of quality, creative vision, ability to keep my calm and my humour under pressure I believe make me well-quali© ed to work on any ad agency team.LOOKING FOR: Project Management, Customer Service, New Business Development, Account ManagementLANGUAGE SKILLS: Fluent English. Fluent Italian. Currently studying Danish and at intermediate level.IT EXPERIENCE: MS O� ceCONTACT: +45 21555823 or natgrif47@hotmail.com for full CV and references.

SPOUSE: Cindy Chu FROM: Hong KongSEEKING WORK IN: Anywhere in Denmark.QUALIFICATION: MSc in Marketing from Brunel University (West London), B.A. in English for Professional Communication from City University of Hong Kong.EXPERIENCE: 4 years experience on strategy planning in marketing, project management and consumer research. I have 3 years experience working in global research agency as a project manager and a research executive for multinational marketing projects. I worked closely with marketing team for data analysis and delivering actionable insights. I am familiar with working with sta¥ s and clients form di¥ erent countries. I have also as a PR o� cer in a NGO for 1 year.LOOKING FOR: Jobs in project management, marketing and PR © eld.LANGUAGE SKILLS: Cantonese (Mother tongue), Mandarin (Native speaker), English (Professional), Danish (Beginner).IT EXPERIENCE: MS O� ce, SPSS, Adobe Photoshop & Illustrator.CONTACT: chocolate3407@gmail.com, +45 22 89 34 07

SPOUSE: Stephanie Bergeron Kinch FROM: USASEEKING WORK IN: The Copenhagen area.QUALIFICATION: Several years of experience writing for newspapers, magazines, and Web sites. M.S. in Media and Communications with focus on social media.LOOKING FOR: Full-time or freelance writing and communication jobs (copywriting / journalism).LANGUAGE SKILLS: Native English, Conversational Danish and Spanish.IT EXPERIENCE: Professional use of on-line social media, Microsoft Excel, PhotoShop, InDesign, Mac and PC operating systems.CONTACT: www.stephaniekinch.com or http://dk.linkedin.com/in/stephaniekinch

SPOUSE: Lorenzo Albano FROM: Venezuela (with CPR number)SEEKING WORK IN: Greater København and HovedstadenQUALIFICATION: PhD in Physics.EXPERIENCE: I have wide experience as an university lecturer in physics, physics laboratory, mathematics and informatics. I have done research in theoretical quantum optics and quantum information. I have done research and development / programming of numerical methods applied to geophysical problems, such as tomographic inversion and wave propagation, independently and as part of multidisciplinary teams. I have participated in gravimetric and magneto metric geophysical surveys.LOOKING FOR: Short and long term work in education in science and mathematics / research / scienti© c computing / oil exploration or other geophysical applications.LANGUAGE SKILLS: Fluent in Spanish (native), English and Italian. Basic Danish.IT EXPERIENCE: OS: MSDOS, Windows, Linux (Ubuntu), Solaris, incl. Shell scripting. Programming Languages: BASIC, ANSI C, C++, FORTRAN. Web: HTML, CSS, Joomla!. Typography: LaTeX2E.Software: Mathematica 7, MS O� ce and OpenO� ce suites, several Windows utilities.CONTACT: lorenzoalbanof@gmail.com. Tel: +45 50 81 40 73

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: Francesco Grandesso FROM: ItalySEEKING WORK IN: CopenhagenQUALIFICATION: Constructing architect.EXPERIENCE: 4 years at TFF Engineering 2005-2009, 3 years at ADproject 2002-2005.LANGUAGE SKILLS: English, Italian & Danish.IT EXPERIENCE: AutoCAD 2011.CONTACT: grandessodk@gmail.com, Mobile: 50110653

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: Anisha Kanjhlia FROM: IndiaSEEKING WORK IN: Arhus in Teaching/Training/Administration/Media/Public RelationsQUALIFICATION: Post Graduate in Advertising & Communication.EXPERIENCE: 6+ years of professional experience in Training, Customer Service, Promotions, Brand Marketing, Content Analysis and Team Management. Strong experience in planning and executing initiatives. Extensive training experience and in ̈uencing skills that will assist me in building a high potential, motivated and an e¥ ective team. Hands-on training in soft skills like crucial conversations and people management Branch Manager & Head of Training for Cosmo Aviation Training School in New Delhi, India. Pro© cient in analysing market trends to provide critical inputs for decision making and formulating training strategies.LOOKING FOR: Part time or full time in Aarhus.IT EXPERIENCE: Comfortable with all the basic computer knowledge like Excel, Word, Power Point, Internet browsing.CONTACT: anisha.feb@redi¥ mail.com, P: 4522305837

SPOUSE: Brian McNamee FROM: Australia / IrelandSEEKING WORK IN: Greater CopenhagenQUALIFICATION: Bachelor of Engineering and Diploma of Education from University of Melbourne.EXPERIENCE: Six years teaching Mathematics at Zurich International School, previously worked in Telecommunications.LOOKING FOR: Full or part time teaching position (available from July).LANGUAGE SKILLS: English (native) German (basic).IT EXPERIENCE: Microsoft Word, Excel, Power Point, Geometer’s sketchpad, Autograph.CONTACT: brian.g.mcnamee@gmail.com +41 79 362 83 67

SPOUSE: Barbara Liengaard FROM: GermanySEEKING WORK IN: (Greater) Copenhagen and surroundings.QUALIFICATION: Bachelor degree in Business Administration (Germany/France).EXPERIENCE: Profound 10-years’ working experience in strategic and operational marketing, product/brand and project management from di¥ erent big globally acting companies (automotive supplier, white goods and medical industry), working/cultural experience from di¥ erent countries (Germany, France, Spain, U.S.A., U.K., China, Denmark), © rst working experience in Denmark.LOOKING FOR: A challenging job opportunity in e.g. marketing, product/brand and/ or project management, import/export; preferably in an international-minded working environment or with particular need for German.LANGUAGE SKILLS: German (mother tongue), English ( ̈uent), French ( ̈uent), Danish (PD3 Prøvebevis), Spanish (good).IT EXPERIENCE: MS O� ce (Outlook, Power Point, Excel, Word), SAP (CMD-AP).CONTACT: babolz@yahoo.com

179 - 15 March 2012 THE COPENHAGEN POST CPHPOST.DK

Rygaards International SchoolInvites experienced, enthusiastic and well-qualified teachers, familiar with and experienced in British-style education, to apply for the following teaching position. Applicants should be lively, energetic and committed professional teachers. They must also be native English speakers. The job will be for April 2012.

Rygaards School has a Danish and an International English-speaking school each teaching its own separate curriculum. Rygaards International School consists of Key Stages 1 – 4 (Years 1 – 11).

Rygaards is a Catholic school founded in 1909 by the Assumption sisters.The school has strong ecumenical traditions and welcomes applicants who are interested in actively supporting Christian values. It would be an advantage but not a requirement that the applicant be willing to teach in the Catholic Religion Programme.

The teaching position is as follows:• A secondary school teacher with a combination of the following

subjects; English, Drama and Music. This is to cover a maternity leave.

Terms of employment in accordance with contract between The Ministry of Finance and LC (Teaching Unions)

Applications should be addressed to The Board of Governors and sent by e-mail to: The principal of Rygaards International School, Charles Dalton,charles.dalton@rygaards.com. Information about the school can be obtained from our website www.rygaards.com

Closing date for applications: Thursday the 15th March 2012

Description:Over the past decade the Equinor group has provided international tax advice, company administra-tion, and accountancy services to an international clientele consisting of private individuals, corporates, and funds. We have an experienced team of lawyers, accountants, and corporate secretaries from five countries.We are seeking a full time, experienced accountant whose primary role would be to assist with the prep-aration and finalisation of annual accounts for the holding companies we administer (assets typically include share capital, real estate, and aircraft).

the role woulD incluDe:• Ongoing bookkeeping and accounting preparation using Navision Financials;• Liaising directly with our international client base on accounting matters;• Liaising with Danish and foreign auditors regarding the finalisation of accounts;• Liaising with Danish tax authorities, the National Bank, Statistics Denmark, etc;• VAT administration;• Salary administration;• Developing client accounting systems for our ever expanding client base;

Qualifications:Preferred applicants are cand.merc, HD or similar qualification in Accounting or Economics/ Finance and have extensive experience of accounts preparation and internal auditing.

The successful applicant with also be a proficient user of:• Navision Financials• Microsoft Office Applications, in particular excel

Due to the international nature of our client base, an excellent competence in both written and spoken English is vital. Fluency in Danish will be useful, but is not a necessity. An experience and understanding of other cultures are also important in order to adapt and understand the needs of our clients.

Also of interest would be a working knowledge of French and Italian.

we offer: • The opportunity to work directly with a varied international client base spanning the globe;• Being a part of a highly motivated, enthusiastic team of existing staff;• An attractive salary package including pension and fringe benefits;• Opportunities for ongoing professional development.

Please send applications to a.soerensen@equinor.eu no later than 16th March 2012

accountant

Frederiksgade 21, 1265 Copenhagen a.soerensen@equinor.eu

Phone: +45 39166166

Denmark’s only English-language newspaper

Project Intern

Page 10

Cheering a Muslim as we do a Murderer!

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Copenhagen Renaissance Music Festival Special advertising section INSIDE!

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FROM SCHÜTZ TO GEISTEarly German Baroque Music 1600-1700In commemoration of Christian Geist (c.1650-1711)

SPORT

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

14

NEWS

Dane unable to obtain family reunifi cation for his � ai girlfriend says residency rules are a Catch-22

6

Exploiting ‘fat tax’

NEWS | 3

Supermarkets are scammingtheir customers under the guise of the new national ‘fat tax’

Warrior Jesus

HISTORY | 19

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

9 771398 100009

Discovering Israel: Inside the Holy LandSpecial advertising section INSIDE!

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

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C AN YOU HAVE your cake and eat it too? Conventional wisdom says no, but with their � rst budg-et plan since the shift of power,

the new Socialdemokraterne-Radikale-Socialistisk Folkeparti (SRSF) coalition appear to be giving it a shot.

Many of the elements of the new budget – which is expected to be re-leased in its entirety on � ursday – will increase state spending at a time when the budget de� cit has increased. But where the money would come from re-mained a mystery.

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

vious Venstre-Konservative (VK) govern-ment. Here are a few of the major points:

Families: VK limited the state’s monthly child support handouts (bør-necheck) to 35,000 kroner per fam-ily. � at limit has now been abolished, meaning that many families will get larger child bene� ts. � e government will also pay for fertility treatments and voluntary sterilisations.

Welfare: VK and Dansk Folkeparti (DF) introduced specialised welfare pro-grammes that reduced the cash bene� ts for new immigrants. � ose programmes have now been eliminated and going forward all residents in need of state support will receive the same welfare bene� ts.

Higher education and research: Universities will get an extra one billion kroner over two years to cover costs as-sociated with a predicted increase in

the number of students. Moreover, stu-dents will no longer pay administrative fees, and prospective Master’s students will have prerequisite course tuitions paid. � e government will also fund 1,500 more state-supported internship positions.

Infrastructure and job creation: Some 17.5 billion kroner will be in-vested over two years in infrastructure projects, such as a new rail line between Copenhagen and Ringsted, a project to widen the Holbæk motorway, erosion protection e� orts along Jutland’s west coast, and renovations to public hous-ing. Prime minister Helle � orning-Schmidt has said that these ‘kickstart’ projects will create 20,000 new jobs from 2012-2013. � e Danish Construc-tion Association predicts 10,000.

Tax break: � e unpopular ‘mul-timedia tax’ introduced by VK will be

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

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

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

A new budget to ‘kickstart’ the economySRSF’s � rst budget will spend 17.5 billion kroner on infrastructure and abolish previous taxes and restrictions

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The one-year general management full-time MBA at CBS focuses on Leadership, Entrepreneurship, and Practical Business Skills.E-mail lm.mba@cbs.dk or call 3815 6022 to sign up for the meeting.

Join Scandinavia’s most internationally diverse programThursday 17th November 17:30-19:00

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The one-year general management full-time MBA at CBS focuses on leadership, entrepreneurship, and real-world experience. Organise a personal meeting and hear how the MBA can give your career a new dimension.

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Free access to 65 museumsand attractions in the

entire metropolitan area

See more at copenhagencard.com

InOutThe CPH Post Entertainment Guide | 16 - 22 Sep

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

page G9

KIDS ON FILM

COPENHAGENwww.copenhagenbluesfest iva l .dk

FESTIVALSEPT. 28 - OCT. 2 · 2011

BLUESS e e f u l l p r o g r a m m e : w w w . c o p e n h a g e n b l u e s f e s t i v a l . d k & w w w . k u l t u n a u t . d k

John Primer w. Nisse Thorbjorn Band [US/DK]Joe Louis Walker [US] | Holmes Brothers [US]

Mud Morganfield w. Peter Nande Band [US/DK]Louisiana Red & Paul Lamb [US/UK] | Janice

Harrington w. Kenn Lending Blues Band [US/DK]Keith Dunn Band [US/NL] | Johnny Max Band [CA]

Delta Blues Band | The Healers | Shades of BlueThorbjorn Risager | Troels Jensen | Alain ApalooH.P. Lange | Mike Andersen & Jens Kristian Dam

Tutweiler | Fried Okra Band | The Blues OverdriveBluesoul | Grahn & Malm | Ole Frimer | Paul Banks

Jacob Fischer Trio | Svante Sjöblom | Jes Holtsoe

The Copenhagen Post is seeking a Project Intern to join our team immediately.

You will be assisting with various tasks including general administrative duties, customer service/sales support, and event planning.

We are looking for a candidate who has completed or is currently pursuing a marketing-related degree and who has experience planning and coordinating events. You must have excellent verbal and written communication skills in English and be able to work daily for approximately 20/25 hours per week. You should be an enthusiastic, self-motivated team-player with the ability to work independently at times. It would also be an advantage if you have a driving license.

The internship is unpaid but will offer the opportunity to gain valuable work experience.

Please send your application and CV to jeanne@cphpost.dk noting ‘Project Intern’ in the subject line.

For more information please contact Jeanne Thames on 3336 3300.

Biotech Job Vacancies

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

Resource & Systems Manager, Clinical Development Support (TEMP)Ethics Associate, Global Ethics Office(TEMP)Pharmacovigilance Database Manager, Global Pharmacovigilance

Ferring

Novo NordiskProject Manager / DFM coordinatorStrategic Purchaser – Plastic Components and Raw MaterialDocumentation Specialist – electronic submissionR&D Sourcing Project ManagerPostDoctoral position in biomolecular modelling procedures incorporating HX-MS dataR&D Sourcing Project ManagerProject ManagersProject Manager in Global Mobility - maternity coverMobility Project ManagerEnteric coating specialist - Oral protein formulation

Leo-PharmaOutsourcing Specialist, External ManufacturingHead of Section - Skin Inflammation, Department of Disease Pharmacology

Lundbeck

Novozymes

Specialist GCQA Systems

Scientist

EMPLOYMENT

18 9 - 15 March 2012The Copenhagen posT CphposT.dkculture

Who is ... Mikkel hansen?

Malene Ørsted

No, not the drummer with boy band Hanson, this guy’s a Dan-ish handball player.

So is half the population. What’s so special about him?From Helsingør and nicknamed the Hammer (every time he scores for his club AG Copen-hagen, they play ‘U Can’t Touch This’ – an incentive not to score, you would think), like his father Flemming, he has played for the national side since the age of 20. He’s just picked up the 2011 IHF World Player of the Year award – the biggest individual accolade in the game.

That’s impressive ... so how would I recognise him?Besides his pretty smug expres-sion, he has long and greasy hair quite similar to the Hanson brothers, who he might just be a distant relative of after all, as they supposedly have Danish roots.

He sounds like he’s cruising for a bruising.Well, kind of, but he’s also quite big 196cm tall and weighs 96kg – so he’s not exactly the kind of guy you would want to piss off.

I see. Would I have seen him away from the handball field?Probably. He’s quite attention-seeking and you could say that commercial opportunities are like passes from his teammates – he never misses one. So much so, it’s been a long-running joke with some radio hosts at P3, and probably others as well, because during a major championship his goofy face is everywhere.

What kind of commercials?Pretty much everything from Intersport and Head and Shoul-ders to Oral B toothpaste.

Head and Shoulders – are they going for the greasy look now?Apparently so. He does wash it in the commercial though, so maybe they’re thinking more about the before and after angle.

That sounds about right. Anything else?After playing for FC Barcelona for a while – who claim they “discovered” him – he’s back in Denmark playing for AG Copenhagen. He apparently missed the enthusiasm for the game over here, or maybe it was all those free male grooming products.

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THe jUSTICe minister is being asked to look into a decision by Roskilde Coun-cil to expropriate 60,000

sqm of land for the use of the Roskilde Festival, after accepting a donation of two artificial football pitches worth 7.5 million kroner from the festival.

Keld Bjerregaard runs a plant nursery on the soon-to-be expro-priated land adjacent to the Roskil-de Fairgrounds, which he rented to the festival each year until recently.

But in 2010 Bjerregaard can-celled the agreement, citing his dissatisfaction over a decision by the council to re-zone the area as land designated for outdoor sports facilities and service areas for large events at the fairgrounds. The re-zoning allowed the council to expropriate the land “for the com-mon good” and rent it back to the Roskilde Festival at a lower price than Bjerregaard demanded.

After cancelling the agree-ment, Bjerregaard, organised his own mini festival, Love Camp, with space for 5,000 guests, dur-ing the 2011 Roskilde Festival.

Roskilde Council has said that it attempted to purchase the land from Bjerregaard, but that it was forced to abandon the effort after failing to agree on the price.

The decision to formally expropriate two thirds of Bjerre-gaard’s 90,000 sqm property was put forward at a council meeting last week on Wednesday. Coun-cillor Torben jørgensen (Social-demokraterne) said the measure would benefit all of Roskilde.

“We are not doing it to an-noy anyone, but because it is important to us,” jørgensen told jyllands-Posten newspaper. “By securing the land we will have better space for sports facilities and for the festival. Of course I appreciate that [the owner of the land] is angry and it is unfortunate that we were not able to agree on a price beforehand.”

The decision to expropriate the land has been criticised for directly benefiting the Roskilde Festival not long after it donated two football pitches to the city us-ing profits from last year’s festival.

But Christina Bilde, a spokes-person for the Roskilde Festival – a charity that gives away its prof-its every year – said the festival’s management was “upset” by the bribery accusations.

“We have donated over 200 million kroner to causes locally as well as globally. We are very proud of what we support locally,” Bilde told Berlingske newspaper, adding that the deal to donate football pitches was made last September as a way to compensate the coun-cil for recreational space lost due to the expansion of a gravel pit.

Roskilde mayor joy Mogensen (Socialdemokraterne) also denied any wrongdoing.

“These are two decisions that have been in the works for a long time. For it to be bribery there have to be clear conditions that it is in exchange for a gift and that is clearly not the case,” Mayor joy Morgensen told Berlingske. “The law states that we are allowed to expropriate if it is in the common good. And there was one resident with whom we could not strike a deal despite lengthy discussions.”

Polticial party Liberal Alliance (LA) expressed concern that the council had abused its authority to expropriate the land.

Roskilde Festival accused of bribing council

The roskilde Festival might remain popular with thousands of revellers, but it’s a good guess that Keld Bjerregaard isn’t one of them

“In the past few years we have seen a slew of examples in which councils have expropriat-ed private property for the use of golf clubs, shooting ranges and now a festival,” LA legal spokes-person Simon emil Ammitzbøll wrote in a press release, adding that he wanted the justice minis-ter to look into the matter.

“It appears that expropria-tion has been the easy option for the Roskilde Festival because they didn’t want to pay the price that the landowner had

Festival management allegedly made donation to local council in order to influence its decision to expropriate land for use during annual music event

shakespeareUnplugged

Bodil best film and actor selections the same as the Roberts – what’s the difference again?

Peter stanners

demanded. If that is the case, then it is an abuse of the rules about expropriation and has to be stopped.”

Speaking to jyllands-Posten newspaper, landowner Bjer-regaard said the case exhibits a clear conflict of interest.

“How could it possibly be le-gal for the council to receive such a large gift before making the de-cision. I don’t understand it. It’s a you-scratch-my-back-I-scratch-yours relationship between the festival and the council.”

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Fine drop of winter’s ale a magnificent seven for Lars von Trier

a STAR IS RISING in the east, at Krudttønden thea-tre in Østerbro to be ex-act, in the form of Adam

Brix, who following his success in last autumn’s ‘The Zoo Story’ has nailed it again with some won-derfully contemporary Shake-spearean acting. Brix is Karl the barman in the play ‘Shakespeare Unplugged’, a brand new play penned by actor Ian Burns and director Barry McKenna of That Theatre.

Imagine entering an ordinary British pub where there are two bartenders - Karl and his colleague Signe (Vibeke Nielsen) – and two drunk Brits, Derek (Burns) and john (Andrew jeffers), who are in their element pounding down beers while chatting to fellow punters. Only this time, the pub’s a stage, and the punters merely the audience.

The play officially begins with them yelling out “eng-er-land, eng-er-land, eng-er-land!” as a football match is about to begin, but the sensitive barman Karl, who’s neither enthusiastic about the game nor hooligans – a comment that only makes the Brits yell louder turns on the telly, though he would rather enjoy his book.

The plot revolves around the works of Shakespeare with a fo-cus on the theme of love since the young and inexperienced Karl is miserably in love with the beauti-ful Rosalind. Only seconds after

THe ORGANISeRS of Denmark’s answer to the Oscars (or is it the Golden Globes?) might reconsider

renaming their awards after Lars von Trier, following yet another best film award for one of his movies – his seventh in all.

His sci-fi drama ‘Melancho-lia’ on Saturday night scooped the 2011 Bodil award for best film, adding to the Robert it won in early February. Nikolaj Lie Kaas likewise doubled up by win-ning the best actor award for his portrayal of Danish comic actor Dirch Passer in the film ‘Dirch’, while Lene Maria Christensen won best actress for her role in ‘en Familie’, her second Bodil in three years following her 2009 triumph in ‘Frygtelig Lykkelig’.

However, ‘Superclasico’, de-spite being short-listed for Best Foreign Film at the Oscars – it made the final nine but not the final five - missed out on the ma-jor awards, winning just one: the best supporting actress gong for Paprika Steen. While best sup-porting male went to Lars Ran-the, also for ‘Dirch’.

‘Winter’s Bone’ meanwhile won the Best American Film award – another peculiar deci-sion following last year’s choice of ‘A Single Man’, although there was no Danish connection like the Roberts’ selection of ‘Drive’. Since 1980, the Bodils have only twice mirrored the Oscars: ‘American Beauty’ in 2001 and

turning on the telly the electricity goes out, and so the (unplugged) Shakespearean magic begins as jon and Derek, being superior in the field of love and wooing – in their own opinion at least – take on the challenge of teaching the young Karl a few things.

The play takes you through several plays within the play in true Shakespearean style, and you have to watch your step as it jumps from play to play and scene to scene, of which some are more convincing than others. Talking as a true Shakespearean novice, it can be a bit difficult connect-ing all the dots, though some of them were obviously recognisable – even to Danes – like the ‘Romeo and juliet’ scene between Karl and a mysterious woman on the TV.

Recognisable or not, the dif-ferent plays take the audience on a journey through the lessons of love: from unrequited love and vanity, to love from a woman’s point of view. But it isn’t until Brix dresses up like a woman towards the end of the show that they re-ally hit the nerve of the audience with a scene (a play within a play within a play) from the comedy ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’.

The love scene between Brix as the enchanting Thisbe and her lover Pyramus (jeffers), who are separated by a wall (Burns), was something the audience really liked and – especially judging by the amount of giggling teenage girls – it was definitely the funni-est part of the poetic mix of drunk people and poetry.

So overall, there’s something for everybody in ’Shakespeare Unplugged’, and as long they have Brix on board, they’re capa-ble of anything.

‘The Lord of the Rings: The Re-turn of the King’ in 2002.

The Bodils, which began in 1948, are voted for by the country’s film critics, while the Roberts, just 28 years old last month, are selected by the in-dustry – namely the members of the Danish Film Academy. Many have questioned the wisdom of a small country like Denmark having two awards shows, par-ticularly when the recipients are so often the same. A quick look at the three major categories (best film, actor and actress – the Bod-ils have no best director award) reveals that in the last six years, 12 of the 18 awards have been duplicates.

One film industry profes-sional who believes the two award ceremonies should merge is Bo ehrhardt, the co-founder of Nimbus Film, the producer of ‘Festen’ and ‘Flammen og Citronen’.

“It is a problem that a lot of energy is being used to produce

two award celebrations, while both organisations are struggling to make ends meet,” he told pub-lic broadcaster DR last year. “We should be only doing one big event a year - to create a greater identity and a stronger brand around Danish film.”

However, according to jacob Wendt jensen, the president of the film employees’ union, a proposal was recently put to his members to merge the two, and it was rejected.

“Nobody talks about the Os-cars and Golden Globe merging together,” Mette Bubandt Aa-gaard of the Danish Film Acad-emy told DR.

As things stand, the likes of Von Trier can continue to look forward to more double triumphs. In addition to ‘Mel-ancholia’, he has picked up Bodils for ‘AntiChrist’ (2009), ‘Dogville’ (2003), ‘Breaking the Waves’ (1997), ‘The Kingdom’ (1995), ‘europa’ (1992), and ‘The element of Crime’ (1985).

Malene Ørsted Ben HaMilton

Von trier, pictured here at cannes last year, was the big winner at both the Bodils and the roberts

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199 - 15 March 2012 The Copenhagen posT CphposT.dk Denmark through the looking glass

The first, the third, the last, the children’s … and now you can add the danish, even if there were concerns over whether denmark’s 12th century war with the Wends had any religious motivation whatsoever

Who needed the holy Land when they could fight a crusade on their doorstep?

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Throughout the 12th cen-tury, Danish forces raided the northern coasts of germany and Poland time and time again. The

aim was to fight the region’s pillaging pagans, the Wends, a mixture of tribes that in turn attacked the Danish coast-line with regularity – raids that were particularly unwelcome during a Dan-ish civil war from 1146-57. Despite times of peace, trade and even inter-marriage between the Danes and the Wends (harald Bluetooth was indeed married to a Wendish princess), they were feared and hated by all in Den-mark.

In 1147 Pope Eugene III declared the Second Crusade in an attempt to reconquer the holy Land from the Muslims in the Middle East. Concur-rently, holy war was also made a uni-versal principle. This meant that any war waged against the enemies of god – such as the heathen Wends - was now viewed by the church as a holy war and would grant the Christian warriors di-vine privileges. The Danish Crusades were quickly proclaimed.

The warring parties laid down their arms and put the civil war on hold, so they could do god’s biding. They joined the princes and dukes of north-ern germany in the fight against the heathens in their backyard. The Saxons had been granted permission to fight the Wends by a powerful abbot, Ber-nard of Clairvaux, rather than joining the Second Crusade to the holy Land,

Sean Coogan

Malene ØrSted

svantevit, providers of quality barbecue woodchips for centuries – guaranteed to give your meat a heathenly taste

population that he could use to colo-nise the newly conquered areas. Val-demar, on the other hand, could not find Danes willing to accept the task of settling in the Wendish areas. It was simply too dangerous.

The Danish activity culminated with the historic conquest of the pa-gan stronghold of Arkona in 1168. The fall of Arkona signalled the Dan-ish conquest of the island of rügen and is described in detail by the Dan-ish chronicler Saxo. he described how King Valdemar and Archbishop Absa-lon (the founder of Copenhagen no less) had the pagan idol Svantevit de-stroyed. Not only was the big wooden idol chopped to pieces, they used the pieces as firewood and cooked the vic-tory feast for the troops with it, whilst the pagan temple was stripped of its treasures.

The population of rügen was then christened and the island remained un-der Danish rule until 1325, while the Danish church remained in charge of ecclesiastical matters until 1660.

to this day, Danish scholars are still arguing whether or not the Dan-ish expeditions against the Wends were crusades. The motives seem to have been very mixed indeed. An example is the conquest of Arkona, which was characterised by pillaging and taxation of the area on one hand, but also the

as other germans had done. Their decision made good financial sense. Expeditions against the Wends were much easier to organise and consider-ably cheaper than joining the crusade to the holy Land. It also opened the door to a future taxation of their de-feated neighbours.

Alas, it did not go very well for the Christian forces. The Danes and the Saxons were unable to defeat the Wends and ended up negotiating a peace agreement. The Wends agreed to

release their prisoners and accept the Christian faith as their own, but al-most as soon as the Saxons and Danes turned their backs, they returned to their pagan ways and escalated their at-tacks on the coasts of Denmark, which was once again embroiled in civil war.

But they hadn’t reckoned on Val-demar the great, who became king of Denmark in 1157 after decisively end-ing the civil war in victory. he immedi-ately launched an attack on the Wends, whose attack on Denmark had never

stopped during the civil war, and over the next 15 years he completed approxi-mately 20 expedi-tions against the Wends.

he joined forces with his old enemy henry the Lion, the duke of Saxony, in a shaky alliance. rather than just guarding themselves against Wendish aggres-sion, the two lead-ers expanded into the Wendish areas. henry the Lion was more successful, since he had a large

off on the crusade armed with musical instruments and sports equipment – no wonder they kept on losing supreme rulers: a depiction of Valdemar the great and Bishop absalon, the 12th century’s answer to the Clintons

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building of churches and other reli-gious institutions on the other hand. historians agree that the expedition of 1147 can rightly be called a Danish crusade as it was initiated by the Pope, who promised indulgence. But that is about it.

Some historians believe that all the Danish expeditions were crusades based on their claim that religious motives were the main reason for the expeditions. They believe that the Pope’s proclamation of a holy war as a universal principle was still valid after the Second Crusade (1147-49). other historians, in contrast, point to the Viking-like manner of the expeditions and argue that Saxo only described the expedition in 1147 as a crusade, whilst the others were described as conquests driven by vengeance against the pil-laging Wends. They believe that the religious motives were secondary and that the Pope gave up on the idea of a holy war outside the holy Land af-ter the fiasco of the Second Crusade, in which the christian forces failed to make progress in the holy Land.

regardless of the scholarly disa-greement, the expeditions against the Wends led to a Danish heyday, during which the country succeeded in estab-lishing itself as a dominant force in the areas surrounding the Baltic Sea – a su-premacy that lasted until 1241.

The Copenhagen posT CphposT.dk

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