Denmark’s only English-language newspaper | cphpost.dk6 -11 April 2013 | Vol 16 Issue 14

T HE DEFENCE Ministry did not relay accurate information to parliament about the safety of the Afghan interpreters who as-

sisted Danish forces, according to Infor-mation newspaper.

� e inaccuracies were exposed in a report prepared by the military’s chief of defence, Peter Bartam, which was deliv-ered to parliament’s Defence Commit-tee on Tuesday.

� e report revealed that the De-fence Ministry knew that � ve interpret-

ers had been killed and 12 others had been injured while working with Danish forces. In January, the defence minister, Nick Hækkerup (Socialdemokraterne), told Jyllands-Posten newspaper that he did not know of any killed or injured interpreters.

Hækkerup later attempted to clarify that he knew that interpreters had been killed, but not that they were working for Danish forces, because that informa-tion had not been relayed to him.

� e Danish military’s lack of ac-curate information on interpreters was blamed on the fact that Denmark does not directly employ its interpreters, but instead leases them from the US and British forces.

� e report states that “[the Defence Command] has been largely dependent upon information made available by

Report contradicts Defence Ministry on Afghan interpretersand that the interpreters were not drawn from the local communities where they worked, thus making them less suscepti-ble to reprisal attacks from Taleban forces.

Following evidence that at least eight of the 195 interpreters Denmark used were drawn from their local com-munities, Hækkerup announced on Tuesday that those individual interpret-ers would be o� ered help.

“We need to take all the interpret-ers into consideration, but these eight are particularly threatened because they have to return to the same local region where they have worked as interpreters,” Hækkerup told Politiken newspaper.

Hækkerup added that the details had yet be agreed upon, but they could involve paying interpreters and their families to relocate to less dangerous ar-eas of the country.

Did Jesus really die upon that cross?

Steroids are an accepted part of many Danish gyms

106

After weeks of warning, the teacher lockout is on

Defence minister o� ers help to eight Afghan interpreters, but new information raises questions over whether Denmark should o� er help to far more

foreign partners, and the Defence Com-mand therefore only has a limited ability to validate the information.”

� e report was commissioned in March by the Defence Ministry follow-ing revelations that the Danish forces had used interpreters drawn from their local communities, contradicting re-peated statements Hækkerup made to the contrary.

� e revelations sparked a debate about Denmark’s responsibility for the safety of interpreters after the NATO-led ISAF forces withdraw from Afghani-stan, with many arguing that the inter-preters ought to be o� ered the chance to seek asylum in Denmark.

Hækkerup has previously argued that Denmark has no responsibility to take care of the interpreters. He said that Denmark did not employ them directly

PETER STANNERS

SPORT

A new rugby union youth initiative could see the country become super-competitive in the 2020s

14

NEWS

As search for missing Dane in Switzerland turns up no leads, police suspect suicide

7

Injection room works

7

Copenhagen’s fi rst legal drug injection room saves 30 lives in its fi rst six months of operation

Not enough workers?

15

With the government’s investments in infrastructure, there are concerns about the lack of skilled labour

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After weeks of warning, the teacher lockout is on

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Part II of our series: � e ups and downs of when Danes and non-Danes marry

Colliding cultures4

2 6 - 11 April 2013The CopenhAgen posT CphposT.dkWeek in revieW

EvEry weekend young party-goers bog down the 112 emer-gency number by calling am-bulances for friends who have become too drunk. The boozy youths think that they can obtain a medic to take over the care of their drunken friends so that the party can keep going. Often those placing the calls are too drunk to

be understood over the phone. The ambulances say that they are not a taxi service and that picking up drunken teens could be very dangerous for people who actu-ally need help. After metroXpress reported the story, its readers were furious and suggested that those who abuse the emergency line should be punished harshly.

FOr thE first time in history, it will be up to estate agents to sell the closed churches on the free housing market, accord-ing to Kristeligt-Dagblad news-paper. The congregations of Samuels Church (pictured) and Blågårds Church, two of the 14 churches threatened by closure in Copenhagen, have decided to

sell now rather than wait several months for the other churches to make a decision. The roughly 90-year-old churches, however, do not want to be sold to own-ers who will turn them into a su-permarket or a discotheque. Ac-cording to a realty expert, there should be no shortage of poten-tial buyers for the two churches.

THE WEEK’S MOST READ STORIES AT CPHPOST.DK

Growing up half-Danish: A tale of two cultures

Danish money is the dirtiestin Europe

The teachers’ conflict: What it’s all about

Nation scores lowest in western Europe in stance towards foreigners

She left Denmark in order to find success here

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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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Welcome home

The Danish military aircraft Hercules returned to Aalborg on Wednesday from Afghanistan, carrying with it 36 soldiers who have been gone for 15 months. Awaiting their arrival were family members, friends, and of course the Dannebrog

CORRECTION On page 19, we referred to Jørgen Leth’s documentary as both ‘Det erotiske menneske’ and ‘Den erotiske mand’. The first is correct.

Cheap taxiFor sale

GrEENLAND’S newly ap-pointed labour and industry minister, Jens-Erik Kirkegaard, has said in an interview that he intends to look into doing away with the nation’s zero tolerance approach to uranium. Kirkegaard argued that Greenland would likely follow in the footsteps of the EU when it comes to uranium,

switching from the current 60 grammes per tonne (Greenland’s status of zero tolerance) to 1,000 grammes per tonne. Kirkegaard said that Greenland is looking to its neighbour Canada for inspira-tion on its approach to uranium. Kirkegaard formally assumed his ministerial post on Friday when the new government assembled.

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nøgen (adj) – naked. Where you heard it: The format of ‘X Factor’ host Thomas Blachman’s new show, in which two men sit with and discuss a naked woman, has been pilloried by many as sexist CPH POST WORD Of THE WEEK:

TEN YEARS AGO. Some 1,500 Muslim men and women congregated at Rådhuspladsen for the first ever Copenhagen public prayer.

fIVE YEARS AGO. Copenhagen’s Metro is named the world’s best underground system by a panel of international experts.

ONE YEAR AGO. father in the Rebild sexual assault case sentenced to indefinite detention by an Aalborg court.

fROM OUR ARCHIVES

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36 - 11 April 2013 The CopenhAgen posT CphposT.dk News

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ANZAC DAY CEREMONYCOPENHAGEN

Thursday 25 April 201310.00 am to 12.00 pm

at the Residence of the Australian Ambassador,Øregårds Alle 27, Hellerup (Copenhagen)

Australian and New Zealand citizens and other interested members of the public are invited to attend. Due to security requirements,

participants must pre-register. Please RSVP to the Australian Embassy by email, copenhagenanzac@gmail.com or call +45 7026

3676 to register your name no later than Monday 15 April 2013.

As this will be an outdoor event,please dress accordingly.

Lest we forget

Around 69,000 teach-ers have been prevented from showing up to work this week because their

collective bargaining agreement expired on Sunday and a new one has not yet been reached.

The lockout has affected almost 900,000 children and adults who are taught by teach-ers whose working conditions are outlined in the agreement between the teachers union, danmarks Lærerforening (dLF), and the state and the lo-cal government association, KL.

Without the new collective bargaining agreement, teachers cannot come into work, throw-ing families into disarray and leaving hundreds of thousands at a loose end.

rikke Østergaard is a mother of three in Måløv. Teachers at the school of her two eldest chil-dren, aged 12 and 9, are currently locked out, forcing the family to come up with alternative plans for care and education.

“right now, the boys think it is pretty exciting,” Østergaard told The Copenhagen Post on Tuesday. “Today and tomor-row they are with their paternal grandmother, and the follow-ing two days, my parents will come over and do some lessons with them. Every day during the lockout, they will be doing their school work following a plan that we have developed with them.”

nationwide, there are just over 8,000 teachers who are not employed through the collective bargaining agreement. They must show up to school as normal, but neither they nor substitute teach-ers are permitted to take over work from teachers who cannot work because of the conflict, however. That leaves many stu-dents with a haphazard schedule.

In order to reduce the bur-den on parents who would have to look after their children in the intervening time, some schools have chosen to restructure their schedules so students are taught in blocks of lessons as far as pos-sible. However, many students will go completely without les-sons until the conflict is resolved, placing enormous pressure on families to find ways to keep their children occupied and supervised during working hours.

Some businesses and organi-sations have stepped up to enter-tain the affected children. In Co-penhagen, for example, children who are members of the football association Boldklubben union can head to football school be-tween 7:30am and 4pm every day while the conflict is going on, and the bakery nordisk Brødhus on rantzausgade is offering chil-dren the opportunity to bake be-tween 9am and 2pm.

The conflict has arisen be-cause KL and the government

want to give schools more flex-ibility in how a teacher’s working hours are divided by scrapping the current 25-hour limit that teachers are allowed to teach. The limit was designed to allow teach-ers plenty of preparation time, and teachers argue that scrapping the limit and giving headteachers more power to set working hours will only end up reducing the quality of education.

With the two sides looking increasingly entrenched in their position, it looks unlikely that they will reach a compromise. The conflict could in theory last indefinitely, though it is unlikely to last more than the two months that the teachers’ union can af-ford to cover the salaries of the teachers who are locked out of their workplaces.

If the parties cannot find a compromise, the government can step in and write a law to settle the conflict, though this would violate the danish labour market model that has historically settled work-ing conditions through consensus and negotiation instead of law.

While commentators specu-late that an intervention is proba-bly the most likely way to resolve the conflict, PM Helle Thorning-Schmidt (Socialdemokraterne) refused to say if and when the government would get involved.

“Let the conflict run in ac-cordance with the danish mod-el,” Thorning-Schmidt said at her weekly press conference on Tues-day. “It’s wrong to already talk about a legal intervention.”

Teacher lockout leaves children and parents at a loose end ...Teacher negotiations have reached an impasse, leading to speculation that the government will have to intervene

... but is a financial boon to both the government and the leisure industry

Peter StannerS

But will the short-term savings add up to long-term losses?

ray Weaver

D EPEndIng on how the numbers are crunched, the teacher lockout is either sav-

ing or costing the public sector money. Wages adding up to just over 100 million kroner each day are not being paid, but at the same time, 56 million kro-ner in taxes are not being paid into the public coffers.

The think-tank Kraka has taken a closer look at the eco-nomic consequences of the dis-pute between Kommunernes Landsforening (KL), the local government association, and the teachers who are locked out from their jobs.

Kraka’s calculations sug-gested that while the state and local governments seem to be saving money in the short-term, the loss in productivity and the social costs of the conflict could actually result in the final tally winding up in the loss column.

The think-tank included in its figures the loss of productiv-ity caused by employees who have to take children with them to work and are therefore not as effective as usual.

“There is a public expendi-ture side that you would not

normally think about,” Kraka’s senior economist, Kristian Thor Jakobsen, told Politiken news-paper, adding that the drops in productivity and efficiency will get worse if the conflict grinds on and continues to put greater burdens on parents and kids.

Jakobsen also factors the classroom hours that the children are missing into his spreadsheet.

“Losses for the children are losses for everyone, given that these classes will not be made up later on,” he said.

one sure, if somewhat sheepish, winner during the lockout is the country’s leisure industry. Cinemas and amuse-ment parks expect an increasing number of visitors because of the lockout.

The thousands of children who are currently not in class-rooms are expected to be a boon to the leisure industry. As such, theatres and amusement parks have expanded their pro-grammes and opening hours to help – and attract – lockout-affected families.

“There will probably be some grandparents caring for kids that cannot go to school,” Henrik Hörmann, the head of Legoland amusement park, told the freesheet metroXpress.

nordisk Film Cinemas have also prepared for an increasing number of guests.

“We are staying open longer and have more films on the pro-gramme in the coming weeks,” nordisk Film Cinema’s head, John Tønnes, told metroXpress.

Tønnes said that entire school classes have been buying up blocks of tickets, but stressed that nordisk Film Cinemas is not trying to exploit the conflict.

“It is a difficult balance, be-cause it is not our desire to profit from it, but we have an obligation to offer cultural entertainment if people demand it,” he said.

The animals at the Copen-

hagen Zoo are also seeing a ben-efit from the lockout as they are being fed more often.

“We have received calls from parent groups who have come together to look after the stu-dents,” Sami Widell, an event arranger for the zoo, told me-troXpress. “We have expanded the programme this week with more feedings and greater access to our workshop.”

Kraka based its calculations on about 48,000 locked-out full-time positions with an average annual salary of 460,000 kroner.

while classrooms sit empty across Denmark, movie theatres, zoos and amusement parks are packed

Perspectives on the lockout

two teachers weigh in on the ongoing conflict Opinion, pages 8-9

4 6 - 11 April 2013The CopenhAgen posT CphposT.dkCover Story

Raising international children: Challenges and rewardsCultural differences that can start off as endearing often turn into stumbling blocks when it comes to parenting

Ray WeaveR

R omances between expats and Danes and the children born out of the musician/bartender/

pub scene are so common they are clichés. The government certainly doesn’t need to start a pilot programme to attract more foreign bartenders or guitar-slinging troubadours to Danish shores. expat families based on the Guinness pipeline abound across the country.

Whether they meet over an Irish coffee on a cold copenha-gen night, or during a steamy holiday in spain, they have a fling and become infatuated, each perhaps entranced by the other’s uniqueness compared to the same-old-same-old back at home. Despite the dire warn-ings of those who have braved the same path before them, the happy couple set up home, get married and have kids.

a totally unscientific chat with three international couples battling cultural differences – and occasionally each other – as they struggle to guide their offspring through childhood in Denmark revealed both the differences and the mutual respect the couples lean on to help them through.

Jerome Lacarriere is the full-blooded Irish owner of a pub in aalborg. He and his Danish wife Gitte have two children. she is a designer and artist, so both parents juggle intensely time-consuming careers while raising their nine-year-old daughter molly and six-year-old son Luca.

The Lacarrieres strive to cre-ate a sense of balance between the two cultures.

“We were brought up in dif-ferent countries with different mentalities,” Gitte said. “even though most of our norms are probably Danish, we try to mix both.”

While many blended cou-ples say that Danish society is the more permissive, Jerome feels that Gitte actually lays down “a few more rules than myself ”.

Both agree that exposing their children to different cul-tures is a plus when it comes to language and education, though Gitte said that the integration process is sometimes a challenge.

and then there is the whole sex and drinking thing. The el-ephant on the Tivoli table. For better or for worse, sex and alco-hol are subjects that parents are forced to confront much sooner in Denmark than in, say, Denver.

Programmes full of drunk, bare-bottomed and breasted, en-thusiastically rutting, teenagers are a regular part of Danish TV, and they are not restricted to a late hour after the kiddies have been trundled off to bed. no, they are on right there at dinner

time. The non-Danish parent is often a bit perturbed at sharing a Thai takeaway with little Lars and anna while watching bare boobs bounce across the flat screen.

as a pub owner, Jerome is neither a teetotaller nor a prude, but he does feel that children in Denmark often get the wrong message.

“It’s the environment and culture that surrounds them with superficial reality shows like ‘Paradise Hotel’ telling them that it’s okay to drink, smoke and cover your body with so-called cool tattoos,” he said.

Jerome said that molly was occasionally miffed with him because she wasn’t allowed to watch programmes that her other friends could watch, but both parents were in complete agreement on who was the final decision-maker in the Lacarriere household: “The Dane”.

Where to settle down?

more oFTen than not, the english-speaking man or wom-an decides to chuck it all and come to Denmark to start their own fairytale life in Hc an-dersenland. The first and easiest job that many expats can get in Denmark is to sling drinks – or, if they can manage a passable version of ‘Whiskey in the Jar’, to perform – in one of the coun-try’s ubiquitous Irish/english/scottish/american pubs.

shaun Patterson works as a bar manager in aalborg. He and his Danish wife Tine, a nurse, were recently married. Their sit-uation is a bit different, because shaun, who is scottish, has two children from an earlier mar-riage to another Danish woman.

Tine said that most of the big decisions concerning emily (15) and alisdair (13) are dis-

For the Lacarriere family, there is a constant effort to balance the couple’s Irish and Danish cultural roots

cussed between shaun and his ex-wife. Tine concerns herself with the day-to-day when the children are at home with her and shaun, and she helps shaun with guiding emily through the Danish teen drinking culture.

“It is just as much typical father/daughter things as it is cultural differences that we dis-cuss,” said Tine. “shaun raises his son differently than he does

his daughter. He also doesn’t care much for the Danish drinking culture, but I am a bit more relaxed. I sur-vived it.”

shaun said that he is definitely more conservative than both his ex-wife and his current one, so he expects that there may be some battles as the kids get older. He said that he wasn’t as con-cerned about cultural differences so much as everyone agreeing on what he called “the ba-sics of parenting”.

“I asked emily if she felt a difference be-cause she had parents

from different countries, and she said she didn’t,” said Tine. “some of her rules might be a bit stricter, but not unfair.”

From Bangs to rites

KeVIn Freeman is musician from Texas. He met his now ex-wife Lisa, a travel consultant from Glostrup, when she was an ex-change student in the tiny Texan town of Bangs nearly a quarter of a century ago. They fell in love, married and had two sons, Dan-iel (13) and Douglas (10). They have tried life in both Texas and Denmark during their marriage, ultimately settling here. recently divorced, they remain close and share custody of their sons.

Both say that having their children always being away from one half of their extended family is the toughest part of an inter-national relationship.

“There is always someone who they miss,” said Lisa. “They always have a sense of being split between the two places.”

The decision about where to live “remains hard, even after 23 years”, said Kevin.

although he firmly believes his sons have benefited from growing up in two cultures, he knows that there are challenges ahead.

“We are just beginning to en-ter the teenage years, so we will have to continue to work on find-ing a middle ground between the more permissive views in Den-mark and the more conservative ones in the Us,” he said.

Striking a balance

many Is the expat who has bristled upon the first time a kindergartener had addressed them by their first name or when a six-year-old has dropped the F-bomb at christmas dinner with Granny over visiting from Dub-lin or Houston.

Lisa said that they take each issue as it comes and work to strike a balance between the two cultures.

“It would be easier to just al-ways go with the Danish ‘flow’, but some things that are common in Denmark – like the F-word for example – are no-gos for us,” said Lisa. “The kids know that it is still considered a very inappropriate word in the Us, so we do not use it in our home.”

Both Kevin and Lisa say that they would be raising their sons in exactly the same way, regard-less of which flag they were liv-ing under.

“our parental decision-making has always been a bal-ance between the two of us, and it remains that way even though we are divorced,” said Kevin.

every parent knows that even raising kids with a partner who grew up next door is already a challenge. after a few years, both sides of a mixed couple often begin to realise that their differences, which were at first so endearing and enchanting, can turn into stumbling blocks the size of stonehenge when it comes to blending cultures, and yet somewhere in a pub tonight, another young man from york or Brisbane is twisting his tongue and trying to say, “Jeg elsker dig” without sounding like a fool.

This is the sec-ond of a three-part series. The first instalment looked at the chil-dren of mixed marriages who find themselves navigating two cultures. it can be found on our website. Up next week will be the phenomenon of ‘third-culture kids’, who are brought up in Denmark with-out a connection to their par-ents’ home countries.

Series: Half-Danes

even though the Freemans’ children are now older, the decision on where to live remains a difficult one

Shaun Patterson, a Scot, has to navigate the Danish drinking culture with his daughter emily

It would be easier to just always go with the Danish ‘flow’, but some things that are common in Denmark are no-gos for us

56 - 11 April 2013 THE COPENHAGEN POST CPHPOST.DK NEWS

Financially, a Romanian student will get more out of working and studying in Denmark than a Dane would

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THE EUROPEAN Union ruling on the state-allo-cated student allowance (SU) in February will cost

the Danish state upwards of 200 million kroner a year, according to the Education Ministry.

� e EU decision means that students from other EU countries studying in Denmark have the right to receive SU if they are employed two months before their studies begin, or if they work a minimum 10-12 hours per week while they study. If EU citizens meet these work requirements, they will be seen as ‘workers’ and thus can-not be denied social bene� ts such as SU.

According to the education minister, Morten Østergaard (Radikale), the EU ruling will change the educational land-scape in Denmark.

“It means that we will have to change our practices in the area,” Østergaard told Ritzau news service.

� e decision also means that there are a number of pending and previously rejected cases that will have to be re-examined.

� e Education Ministry es-

timates that there are 342 cases that were put on hold while the EU decision was being deliber-ated, and a further 600 or so cases that could be reopened if the former students decide to appeal.

Østergaard believes that the EU ruling will give EU students a considerable incentive to come to Denmark to study and he expects SU expenses to rise in the upcoming years.

“We will have to wait and see what develops. � e SU reform is designed to ensure that we have an SU sys-tem that is geared to handle many more s t u d e n t s and to pro-vide a plat-form to in-vest in job creat ion,” Østergaard said. “� e EU deci-sion is a result of our member-ship in the union, and we must adhere to it, even when the deci-sions go against us.”

While opposition party Venstre (V) agreed that the rul-ing will attract many more EU students to Denmark, it said that the 200 million kroner es-timate is far too low and called for the negotiations regarding the SU reform to come up with

a solution that would make it less � nancially attractive for foreign students to come to Denmark.

“� e main problem is that, � nancially, a Romanian student will get more out of working and studying in Denmark than a Dane would,” Mads Rørvig, a V spokesperson, told DR News.

V’s position was backed up by right-wing party Dansk Folkeparti (DF), which said that the decision would lead to students � ocking to Denmark to receive an education that is

funded by Danish taxpayers.

“According to the government’s evaluation of the ruling, students just need a 10-12 hour-per-week job, which is equal to a newspa-per route, in order to receive SU,” Jens Henrik � ulesen Dahl, a DF spokes-person, explained

to DR News. “It’s incredible that the EU can coerce us to pay for the education of everyone in the EU. It will undermine our SU system and force us to restructure the entire system.”

� e 200 million kroner will be found in the budget agree-ment and will be added to the already 19 billion kroner that the Danish state spends on the SU scheme every year.

EU ruling on SU to cost millions

Opposition parties warn that the SU system is far too lucrative and will attract hordes of EU students looking to cash in

CHRISTIAN WENANDE

DANISH universities have to pay � nes totalling 97.5 million kroner for accept-

ing more foreign exchange stu-dents than they send abroad, ac-cording to metroXpress. � e � nes stem from the universities having broken regulations that state that the number of incoming foreign students must be equal to the number of Danish students that

go to foreign universities. “� e goal is to get more

Danish students to go out on foreign exchange,” the minister of higher education, Morten Østergaard (Radikale), told me-troXpress.

Kristian � orn, the deputy rector of Aarhus University, said that the punishment is self-de-feating.

“It is very inexpedient that we are being punished for at-tracting students from abroad when the national ambition is to make Danish universities more international,” � orn told me-

Too many foreign students leads to � nesNearly 100m kroner in � nes handed out for not adhering to regulations regarding the balance of exchange students

troXpress. “Foreign students add great value to our universities and to the study environment.”

Aarhus University is facing a � ne of ten million kroner.

Emilie Normann, the head of international a� airs at Aalborg University, agreed with � orn.

“It is important to accept international students,” she said. “It is very frustrating that we must now limit the number we can admit because there has to be a balance.”

Østergaard said that he is now considering revising the regulations. (ET)

A UNIQUE Sino-European research centre, a collabo-ration between China’s

Fudan University (FU) and the University of Copenhagen (KU), will open its doors on April 16.

� e Fudan-Europe Center for Modern and Comparative China Studies, which will open in KU’s Nordic Institute of Asian Studies (NIAS), will pro-vide European and Chinese re-searchers with a better opportu-nity to study each others’ social, political and economic systems.

“� e University of Copen-

hagen has strategically invested in research on Asia over many years,” KU’s rector, Ralf Hem-mingsen, stated in a press release. “� e new centre will consider-ably strengthen the university’s research and give us a prominent position in Europe within this broad and important � eld.”

While research collabora-tions between Europe and China have traditionally focused on the natural sciences, the Fudan Cen-tre will instead focus on political and social issues.

FU’s rector, Yang Yuliang, said that this humanities-based research may provide Chinese and European researchers with new and novel insights.

“We hope that the centre will function as both a bridge

and a platform for the exchange of views between European and Chinese researchers,” Yang stat-ed in a press release.

According to Geir Helges-en, who will be one of the cen-tre’s directors, China is particu-larly interested in the Nordic welfare model.

“China has been studying our collective welfare systems in the Nordics for a long time, but now China is also looking more broadly at the classic Nor-dic social institutions, not least the underlying political culture,” Helgesen said.

According to Politiken newspaper, this marks only the second time that a Chinese uni-versity has established a centre abroad. (PS)

China-Europe research centre openingCollaboration between China’s Fudan University and the University of Copenhagen hopes to provide cultural insight

6 6 - 11 April 2013The CopenhAgen posT CphposT.dkNews

There are fitness centres across the country where the use of doping agents, including anabolic ster-

oids and growth hormones, is such an accepted part of the cul-ture that the illegal substances are bought and sold openly in-side the centres.

The prevalence of banned sub-stances in Danish fitness centres is supported by both anonymous internet sources and the country’s leading fitness researcher.

“There is typically a distribu-tion, resale and organised recruit-ment network bringing together new potential clients inside these centres,” Kasper Lund Kirkeg-aard, a researcher for Danmarks Idræts-Forbund (DIF), the coun-try’s athletics association, told Politiken newspaper.

The environment inside the centres is such that clients shooting themselves up with steroids are generally left alone, and centres often choose to

deny access to the watchdog group Anti Doping Denmark. Although the substances are illegal, police departments do not see them as a high priority.

“Doping is not an organ-ised crime area that we are tar-geting,” Steffen Steffensen, the commissioner of Copenhagen Police, told Politiken.

As many as 44,000 Danes have admitted to using steroids,

The nation is a key player in the manufacture, sale and smuggling of doping agents, and steroids are now an accepted part of the culture at many fitness centres

Denmark a hotbed of illegal steroid use

according to a study by the Uni-versity of Southern Denmark. The exact number of centres act-ing as ‘doping havens’ is unclear, but Kirkegaard said his research suggests that as many as 20 centres may be turning a blind eye to dopers. Contributors to various internet forums estimate that there may be as many as 50 of the so-called ‘iron caves’ scat-tered around the country.

‘Iron caves’ are easily spot-ted. They often host racks of dumbbells weighing as much as 105 kilos, are open around the clock and grant access to those with a personal chip card. They do not get involved in mem-bers’ personal choices regarding steroids, and the sale and use of banned substances are often conducted in plain sight.

“I have seen several athletes

walking around with a syringe in their hand, and sales are not exactly hidden either,” wrote one anonymous poster on bodybuilding.dk.

The Temple Gym in Amager is one of the most notorious cen-tres in the country. The facility is home to many members of the Danish bodybuilding elite, and is known as a place where mem-bers both make and sell steroids. Although many anonymous sources confirmed the rumours, the head of the centre, Bo engv-ing, rejected the accusations.

The penalties for steroid use will increase in the autumn from two to six years, and the culture minister, Marianne Jelved (radikale), said the high-er penalties will inspire the po-lice to take action

“The higher penalties give police better tools to address the problems of sales and pur-chases,” she told Politiken.

The increased penalties will bring Denmark into line with Norway and Sweden.

Danes busted in international doping case

MeANwhILe, two Danes are among those now charged in what is being called europe’s

biggest doping case ever. Inves-tigations by Swedish and Nor-wegian police into an organised crime operation have revealed that Denmark plays a central role in smuggling banned sub-stances into Norway, and that steroid smugglers view Denmark as the preferred gateway to the other Scandinavian countries.

The two Danes are charged with involvement in the organ-ised trade and smuggling of doping agents in Norway, and Norwegian police said that the Danes are part of a much larger network. Norwegian investiga-tors are said to have in their sights another group of Danes with, what police called, “a more central role” in the operation.

More than 100 people are accused of being part of the Norwegian doping ring, which has had a turnover of more than 100 million kroner over the past seven years.

Norwegian police said the smugglers used Denmark be-cause of the country’s relatively lax laws surrounding steroids.

The justice minister, Morten Bødskov (Socialdemokraterne), chose not to comment on the specific case, pointing only to the plan to strengthen penalties in the autumn.

At many fitness centres in Denmark, pumping iron is not enough – clients also openly use and sell steroids

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For The first time, state rail operator DSB has re-vealed in its annual report

just how much the scandal-rid-den electronic travel card rejse-kort has cost so far.

The reported damage was one billion kroner, but because DSB owns a 50.5 percent stake in rejsekort A/S, the company behind the card, the actual price tag could be over two bil-lion kroner.

“The rejsekort is clearly a scandal, almost on a par with the IC4 trains,” henning Jens-en, a consultant at PLUSCoN, a company specialising in elec-tronic payment systems, told science weekly Ingeniøren.

DSB had not previously revealed its total investment to date in the troubled card.

The bloated price tag is just

the latest in a series of negative news reports surrounding the re-jsekort. A recently released 2010 report from Gartner, a US IT consultancy firm, indicated that the electronic public transport ticketing system has problems with its payment system. The full report was buried by the Trans-port Ministry for two years.

The ministry only publicised a summary of the report, and this did not include the critical details of the financial aspects of the rejsekort project, which Gartner identified as the main problem with the system. Criti-cism of the missing report only surfaced when Ingeniøren com-plained to the parliamentary ombudsman after the ministry denied it access to documents.

Jensen said that it was “deeply shocking” that it has been so hard to get clear an-swers regarding what the sys-tem costs. he also said that the growing use of smartphones to order train, bus and Metro tick-ets creates even more problems for the rejsekort system.

“Many people get their tick-

TrANSPorT authorities in Greater Copenhagen have announced that as

of July 1 this year, the ten-ride punch ticket, klippekort, used on trains, buses and the Metro, will be no more.

The klippekort has since 1979 taken residence in the pockets of the nation but Movia, which co-ordinates public transport on the entire island of Zealand, now thinks that after all these years of being washed, tumble dried, lost, folded, bent, dropped in the rain and abandoned on train tracks, it is about time that the klippekort be retired.

Movia recommends that commuters swap out those

wrinkled cards for the newly introduced – and widely delayed and criticised – rejse-kort, or use one of the company’s smartphone applications to pur-chase single tickets or monthly passes.

There is no need for nostalgics to cry yet, though, because the klippekort will still be usable up until 30 June 2014, and for those not planning on framing their last memories of the coloured card, it is possible to get a refund of the remaining clips until 30 June 2016, which is when the public transport icon will be buried once and for all.

If you are not so keen on getting a rejsekort – and re-ally, who could blame you (see story to left) – you will still be able to buy single tickets on your phone via text message, by us-ing ticket apps for smartphones

The end of an era as plastic replaces paper on public transport system

After 34 years, the colourful public transportation payment method, klippekort, will no longer light up Danish kiosks – or crumble in the wash

IMProveD energy efficiency and reduced energy consumption have resulted in a significant drop in Co2 emissions in 2012, ac-cording to new figures from the Climate Ministry. The climate, energy and buildings minister, Martin Lidegaard (radikale),

stated in a press release that he was encouraged by the new fig-ures that show Denmark is on track with its plan to adopt more renewable energy and reduce en-ergy consumption. Despite the developments, Lidegaard stressed that “we can’t rest on our laurels.”

CO2 emissions dropped sharply in 2012

Online This week

A 29-yeAr-oLD man who was arrested last week after an outburst on an Aarhus bus has been admitted to a psychiatric hospital. The man was sentenced to police custody in absentia for his actions. The man was rid-ing an Aarhus city bus last week on wednesday when he started shouting that he was a terrorist.

he threatened to blow up the bus and also made threats aimed at controversial cartoonist Kurt westergaard, the man behind the most inflammatory image from the 2006 Cartoon Crisis. west-ergaard has been the subject of numerous death threats since Jyl-lands-Posten published the Mo-hammed drawings in late 2005.

Man behind Aarhus bomb threat admitted to pysch wardIT IS LIKeLy that you think of the month of March as a time to soak up the rejuvenat-ing sun rather than a month to battle the unforgiving eastern wind. And you would be right. DMI, the Danish meteorologi-cal institution, said that when it comes to the difference be-tween this March and the last,

it “has never seen anything like it.” Around this time last year, day temperatures were around the 15°C mark, with an average for the entire month of 5.7°C. March 2013, however, only produced a measly average tem-perature of -1°C. That makes the month the coldest March since 1987.

March was the cruellest month ... this year

ReAD These sTORies AnD MORe AT CphpOsT.Dk

and at ticket machines. Further-more, the brilliant brains behind the rejsekort have not come up with a solution for the monthly passes, so standard monthly passes – whether in paper form or the newly-introduced period card app – still remain an option for commuters.

Apps for ticket purchases can be found by searching ‘Mo-bilbilletter’ for single and multi-ride tickets – a virtual klippekort if you will – and ‘Periodekort’ for monthly passes.

SigRid NeeRgaaRd

ets on their smartphone today, and the rejsekort cannot keep up,” he said.

Dr News has previously re-ported that the rejsekort could wind up costing the country’s rail and bus companies nearly three billion kroner more than their current systems over the next 15 years.

The national auditor’s office, rigsrevisionen, has also blasted the project as “amateurish and sloppy” in a report, and the read-ers of Computerworld magazine have nominated rejsekort as their “IT Flop of the year” sev-eral times since 2010.

Rejsekort price tag: two billion kroner

Runaway costs and a four-year delay have the electronic travel card looking like yet another DsB boondoggle

Ray WeaveR

Is this little blue pole really worth two billion kroner?

They were colourful, familiar and often fell apart, but from July they will be gone

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76 - 11 April 2013 The CopenhAgen posT CphposT.dk News

My ambition is to extend the service to both Sundby and Nordvest

Swiss police suspect suicide in Dane’s disappearanceWith no other leads to work on, police think Danish student drowned herself, but her family is not convinced

Sigrid Neergaard

At the time this publi-cation went to press, Swiss police were operating un-

der the assumption that 20-year-old Olivia Østergaard, a Danish student living in the Swiss city of Zug who disappeared on march 26, has committed suicide.

Østergaard disappeared last week on tuesday in Switzerland. The girl lives with her boyfriend in Zug and left their apartment at 5:30am to go to her univer-sity in Zurich. After not hearing from Østergaard, the boyfriend reported her missing the follow-ing day.

Swiss police on Wednesday said that a witness came forward with a claim that they saw Øster-gaard near the Lake of Zug. As the police have still not found any other leads in the woman’s disappearance, they now believe that she has drowned herself.

“The evidence suggests that her death is a suicide in the Lake of Zug,” the Swiss police wrote in a press statement.

Østergaard’s family, how-ever, finds the police’s position very odd.

“We wonder why the police

would make such a statement,” the woman’s uncle, Karsten Østergaard, told tV2 News. “her body has not been found – the only thing they have is a witness statement from a person who may have seen her by the lake.”

They also find it hard to believe that the student would commit suicide as she did not leave a note and her friends said that she seemed happy in the days leading up to her disap-pearance.

The Swiss police have not been able to glean any informa-tion from surveillance cameras, and as of Thursday, their efforts using search and rescue dogs, helicopters and boats had not turned up any clues.

Police have, however, report-

tWO bOyS, aged 15 and 17, were arrested by police on tues-day in connection with the spate of over 100 arson attacks that have plagued Albertslund over the past six months. A 14-year-old boy was also detained and questioned but released to social

services because he was not yet 15 years old, the legal age of crimi-nal responsibility. The two older boys have been jailed and will be held in custody while the police build their case. Also jailed was a 16-year-old boy who was charged with robbery and theft.

Two arrested for Albertslund arson attacks

ONliNe ThiS Week

DeNmArK is bringing new meaning to the phrase ‘dirty money’. According to tests from Oxford University that measured the amount of bac-teria present on european cur-rencies, the Danish krone is the dirtiest currency on the continent. researchers tested bank notes across six european

countries and found that kro-ner banknotes were the dirtiest, containing 40,266 bacteria on average. in comparison, bank-notes across the other countries averaged 26,000 bacteria. The euro note contained 11,066 on average, while the cleanest, newest bills tested contained only 2,400 bacteria.

Danish money is the dirtiest in europetWO meN were jailed on Wednesday and a third is still wanted in connection with the murder of a 30-year-old man last month in a ballerup car-park. Police say the victim, who died two days later from a stab wound that cut an artery, was probably attacked because of a debt he owed. two men, aged

32 and 34, were jailed for four weeks each for their involve-ment in the stabbing, although police suspect the third man of actually carrying out the knife attack. Police refused to release any information about the third suspect other than him being younger than the other two men and coming from ballerup.

Two jailed for Ballerup carpark murder

ReAD TheSe STORieS AND MORe AT cphpOST.Dk

S ix DANiSh men were spotted urinating on a highway in Shanghai late

last month. After a passerby snapped a picture of the pee-ing sextet and posted it on the Chinese twitter-like site Sina Weibo, outrage spread across the Chinese blogosphere. many sug-gested that the urinating Danes should have their visas can-celled, while some sympathetic souls said that Shanghai should provide more public toilets and outfit tour buses with a place for travellers to relieve themselves.

With the help of surveillance cameras, the police tracked down the bus driver who said that the men were Danish tourists who had just been to the Shanghai international Circuit, a motor-sport track and the home of the Chinese Grand Prix. There, they had allegedly expanded their bladders with copious amounts of beer. The driver claims that the men forced him to pull over so that they could answer na-ture’s call. The offending action took place on a busy overpass in Shanghai, China’s most popu-lated city.

“They even tried to grab the steering wheel and could have caused a traffic accident,” the bus driver told South China morning Post.

The police are now consider-ing punishment for the men.

The incident is not the first time Danish tourists have caused a scene this year. in February, up-per-secondary school students in Prague trashed hotel rooms and had violent fights, two of which included stabbings. The Chinese peeing episode also comes just a month after Danish female gymnasts caused a stir in rio de Janeiro by exposing their Nordic breasts to the brazilian sun.

pissing Danes piss off the chinese

Bus driver claims that Danish tourists were drunk when they forced him to pull over so they could urinate on the road

Sigrid Neergaard

Waterfront controversy costs DSB executive his jobAn investigation into DSB’s alleged payment to pR firm Waterfront to keep a critical journalist silent finds plenty of circumstantial evidence but no definitive proof

Sigrid Neergaard

NAtiONAL rail provid-er DSb has sacked one of its executives follow-ing an investigation

into the controversy surround-ing the company’s use of the Pr firm Watergate.

The law firm bruun og hje-jle has been investigating DSb’s use of the Pr firm since Janu-ary when emails indicated that DSb paid Waterfront money,

which it then used to hire the journalist Lars Abild and keep him busy so that he would not continue to write critical arti-cles about DSb. The investiga-tion, however, failed to prove definitively that DSb’s funds went directly to Abild’s salary.

“it cannot be document-ed that DSb paid the critical journalist Lars Abild’s salary from the Pr firm Waterfront. We cannot conclude on this,” the government’s legal advisor, Karsten hagel Sørensen, who helped the private firm with the investigation, said at a press conference on Wednesday.

Sørensen said, however, that there is enough circumstantial evidence that DSb did attempt to silence Abild’s criticism.

Following the release of the investigation results, DSb an-nounced the firing of one of its executives, Peder Nedergaard Nielsen. According to DSb, it will now start a reassessment of its ethical rules and improve internal processes regarding ac-cess to public information. Fur-thermore, the state-run com-pany said it will implement a ‘whistleblower’ arrangement.

“There must not be any doubt that DSb wishes to have an open, honest and direct dialogue with all its partners,” DSb’s managing director, Jesper Lok, said in a statement, adding that DSb will co-operate with the government in order to make clear guidelines to ensure that this will not happen again.

StAFF at Copenhagen’s first legal drug injection room have saved 30 lives since it

opened last autumn, according to metroxpress newspaper.

Since heroin users were in-vited to take their drugs under the supervision of trained health workers – two nurses are always present during opening hours – the facility in the Vesterbro district of Copenhagen has been used over 34,000 times.

“We are able to step in when a user has an overdose,” the in-jection room’s manager, rasmus Koberg Christiansen, told me-troxpress. “We have the same antidote that ambulances have

so there is no longer the same need to call for one when some-one has an overdose.”

The deputy mayor for social affairs, mikkel Warming (enhed-slisten), contends that the success of the injection room should be expanded across the city.

“my ambition is to extend the service to both Sundby and Nordvest by the end of the year,” Warming told metroxpress. The deputy mayor, however, is not likely to get the Konservative party to support the move.

“i am still an opponent of the injection room,” Konservative’s legal spokesperson, tom behnke, told metroxpress, adding that while he valued that people’s lives had been saved, the facility was no long-term solution.

“These people’s lives were saved after taking their drugs, but what about tomorrow when

injection room saves 30 livesDeputy mayor wants more drug-taking facilities across the city, but opposition party konservative is still against legal injection rooms

OVer the easter holiday, the City Council began replacing old traffic lights

with new ones that communi-cate with the buses’ GPS sys-tems in order to help them get through the city easier via a flow of green lights.

The council is now looking into providing a similar service for cyclists that would moni-tor the cyclists’ average speed so that traffic lights could ad-just automatically to weather conditions. “The cyclists will for example experience that the signals will be able to determine whether it is a windless sum-mer day or if there is a snow-storm and head wind,” the city’s deputy mayor for technology

and environment, Ayfer baykal (Socialistisk Folkeparti), told metroxpress newspaper.

The city has not yet fig-ured out how the lights would monitor bikes, but the ideas being pursued include using bluetooth technology to com-municate with cyclists’ mobile phones and providing cyclists with a tag that could be put on their bikes and be read by mon-itors on the traffic lights. (SN)

copenhagen’s cyclists get green lightA new idea will help cyclists reach their destinations faster in copenhagen

The photo that caused a stir

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ed an increase in phone calls that they hope can lead to the Dane’s whereabouts.

“We have received more calls from the public, which we are now analysing. but so far we do not have any ideas about where she is,” marcel Schlatter, a spokesman for Zug police, told ritzau on tuesday.

According to Østergaard’s family, it is very uncharacteristic of the girl to disappear without a trace. They have not heard from her and her phone is turned off. They are hoping that she has just run away to get some time off, even though they find it hard to believe that she would do so.

She has been reported miss-ing across europe, and police departments throughout the eU are on the lookout.

swiss police fear that Olivia Østergaard (inset) has drowned herself

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they don’t make it into the in-jection room and have an over-dose?” behnke argued.

instead, behnke would rath-er introduce prescription heroin and increase efforts to rehabili-tate addicts.

“in that way, we solve the health issues and the crime as-sociated without having to buy drugs from dealers who earn handsomely from other people’s misfortunes,” behnke said. (PS)

8 6 - 11 April 2013THE COPENHAGEN POST CPHPOST.DKOPINION

unwillingness to fully engage in negotiations is a clear violation of good faith.

HERE IS another context in which to view this lockout. To this day, I often encounter peo-ple who, while arguing that their own business required years of time and serious e� ort to learn, consider themselves experts on � lm-making. And why? Because they have seen countless � lms. Of course they must know how to make them at least as well as this year’s Oscar winners, if not better.

I believe a similar construct is at work here. Of course, the poli-ticians who have contributed to the current proposal believe that they are capable of designing a comprehensive system of teaching reform. � ey are experts by dint of their experience of being taught themselves during their illustrious school careers. Being on the other side of the desk is immaterial.

Prior to changing careers, I might have felt the same. � e ex-perience of teaching changes one’s perceptions. Teaching is substan-tially harder than it looks and, as in many occupations, is as much an art as learned knowledge. Even if one has a talent for it, the knowl-edge base for how children learn has expanded exponentially over the past two decades. � rough a combination of continuing education and collaboration with colleagues, I can now both under-stand and apply in the classroom such concepts as co-operative learning, di� erentiated learning and formative assessment. I � nd myself wondering if the politicians who drafted the proposed working contract could say the same.

THERE IS one � nal area of con-text that stands scrutiny. Teachers are employed by either KL (pub-lic schools) or Moderniseringssty-relsen (private schools), which is a part of the Finance Ministry. Both are subsidiary branches of the government. A democratic government is, by de� nition, em-ployed by the people. By refusing to negotiate fairly with their em-

day’s � lming. At 9:00am they stopped work and gathered at a neutral point just outside of the location we were � lming at. At 10:00am, they returned to work and we resumed � lming.

During the hour of the work stoppage, the other producer I was working with was furious, virtually frothing at the mouth. But by that evening, he was hav-ing a pleasant social dinner with one of the crew members in-volved in the action. � e reason this could happen was that each side easily understood the posi-tion of the other. Both I and my producing colleague had previ-ously worked as crew ourselves. Many of the crew had served in producing or directing capacities on their own smaller projects. Be-cause of this, it was relatively easy to act in good faith and assume that the other side was acting in good faith as well.

� e website thefreediction-ary.com de� nes ‘good faith’ as an honest and sincere intention to deal fairly with others in ac-

cordance with standards of trust and decency. In labour law, most national legal systems mandate good faith bargaining by unions and employers in order to reach agreement.

By this de� nition, the behav-iour of KL (the national associa-tion of local councils) and Mod-erniseringsstyrelsen (the state agency responsible for modern-ising the state’s human resources practices) does not rise to the lev-el of good faith. Even excluding the possibility that this con� ict was planned and orchestrated over a year before the fact, their

A S I SIT before my com-puter googling such top-ics as union busting and the US air tra� c control-

lers’ strike of 1981, I am struck by the thought that there is very lit-tle of substance I can contribute to the present debate surrounding the government-initiated lockout of teachers we � nd ourselves em-broiled in. I have no � rst-hand knowledge of secret meetings with the national government, have only a cursory understand-ing of the Finnish model, and am constrained by my limited Dan-ish to following the arguments in the news at a very surface level.

I can, from personal experi-ence, note that teachers at my school are as likely to put in more hours than their contract calls for than not. But this is anecdotal, and I can’t quote statistics to back this up. � ere is only one thing that I feel I can add to this national con-versation, and that is context.

I feel quali� ed to provide context because I have been on the other side of this table be-fore. For the past seven years I have been teaching full-time at a private school in Hellerup. But prior to changing careers and my subsequent move to Denmark, I worked as a mid-level producer in the � lm industry. As such, I once found myself on the management side of a short-lived union dispute.

THE DISPUTE played out as follows. � e � lm crew showed up at their requested 7:00am call time and set up dutifully for the

The teacher lockout: Putting it in context

Forced EU austerity seriously undermines social welfare

While I � nd this opinion on the outlook of Europe amusing, I also � nd that you have left this reading open-ended by stating that a new approach is neces-sary. You obviously have views and opinions but have not the slightest clue of any solution. Let me tell you about a little disease of the American lot called ‘the desire to get bigger and bigger and bigger’. It all ends in naive consumerism unless counterbal-anced by these so called austerity measures.Swineexterminater ryu By website

Executive salaries skyrocketing

As an executive I’m right behind this. Last year was a little rough: my wife and I could only a� ord three weeks in the Seychelles.� ekarbot By website

Study: Newcomers not learning enough about Denmark

I actually think we are learning a little too much about Danish society, culture and politics, and I often feel like those are not language classes but assimilation classes. By all means, you can’t even approach a PD3 exam, never mind a Studieprøven, if you don’t have an understanding of society and the public system. I think I have a better understanding of the public sector in Denmark than I understand the one in my own country, although I’ve only been here for a tenth of my life.Simona By website

Aarhus brothers convicted of training for terror

One can only hope this will serve as a wake-up call to these people, and others who are still uncaught, that they are under scrutiny

for walking the path that leads to mass murder, and that they should actually get life instead. I don’t harbour any sympathy for them. Let these two get the maximum extent of punishment under the law. After that, maybe the kind of rehabilitation they do for cults might be necessary.Loroferoz By website

� e Lynch Report | How to bait a Jehova’s witness

Why can’t you just be respectful and simply say: “� ank you, but I’m not interested?” Switch your ‘bait a Jehovah’s witness’ line with ‘bait a homosexual’, or a Muslim, Mormon, black person or Asian, etc and it’s not so funny. I am not a Jehovah’s Witness, but I respect their rights and treat them as I would anyone else, with dignity and respect. Do they approach me? Yes. Do I engage in conver-sation? Yes, sometimes. But it is

productive, not provocative and degrading. We usually end up smiling and saying: “� ank you, it was nice to talk with you. Have a nice day!”Traveladam By website

Growing up half-Danish: a tale of two cultures

While my son looks Danish be-cause of my American/Cauca-sian background, he is still half-Danish and half-American. He embraces the best of both and rejects the worst of both. He has the intestinal fortitude to tell the full-blooded Danes that they are being jerks, and he does the same with his American buddies. Teach your children to be proud to be intercultural. Teach them that it is an advantage, not a peculiarity, and that they are better prepared for the world as a result of being intercultural.Tom By website

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READER COMMENTS

ployees, these agencies are in fact refusing to negotiate fairly with their employers.

Of course, one can only take this metaphor so far. But as I un-derstand it, the Board of KL is ap-pointed every four years. � e KL delegates who appoint this board consist of 98 elected mayors and 66 elected representatives-at-large. Moderniseringsstyrelsen is a part of the present nationally-elected government. Both local and national elections should, in theory, re� ect the make-up of their respective electorates. � erefore, these politicians have been elected with the support of their communities – of whom some, at least, must be teachers.

IF WE combine lack of good faith negotiations with the idea that a quality teaching model can be constructed without the bene� t of input from teachers, we are left to arrive at only one possible conclusion. � e local and national governments do not respect at least a portion of the electorate that put them in power. While this is not quite as damning a connection as Mitt Romney’s infamous “47 percent” comment, it is a clear declaration that elected o� cials consider a portion of their constituents un-reasonable and not worthy of ra-tional discussion. It is ironic that these constituents are the very people who they wish to educate their children.

� is is the issue that should be at the top of the national gov-ernment’s mind as it considers the next step in this sad process. � e resolution of this con� ict will certainly impact on perceptions come the next round of elections. My only hope is that all partici-pants in this process will keep this � rmly in mind, and that level heads will � nally prevail.

At least, that’s the context that I see it in.

� e author is an American cur-rently teaching physics, chemistry and astronomy at Rygaards Inter-national School in Hellerup.

MATTHEW GAYNE

A childish dispute

IN SOME WAYS, the current labour dispute between teach-ers and their employers is a lot like a messy divorce. While both sides stubbornly argue they have their children’s best in-

terests in mind, it really winds up being the kids that su� er most.At the heart of the current con� ict is whether teachers

should be required to spend more time in the classroom. � e councils propose eliminating the current 25-hour cap on teach-ers’ weekly classroom hours.

Teachers, understandably, disagree. � ey argue that even though they only spend an average of 40 percent of their time teaching, the hours outside the classroom are needed to ensure the quality of their lessons.

Councils, for their part, think children are best served when teachers spend most of their day with students.

Both sides can present data supporting their position, but the reality is that by failing to come to an agreement, they are showing that what matters � rst and foremost to them is winning the argument, not serving their students’ best interests.

One of the hallmarks of being a responsible adult is a will-ingness to set di� erences aside and come up with a fair compro-mise. Neither side can be said to be doing so in this con� ict, and that leaves government intervention as the only option.

In Danish labour negotiations, the government is mostly a spectator, stepping in only when con� icts prove themselves in-tractable or detrimental to the nation. Even though the current government has pledged to respect that set-up in this situation, the best thing it could do is step in now.

Even before the lockout started, it was clear that neither side was willing to budge. Nothing indicates that this will change in the days and weeks to come, and the longer the government waits to step in, the more class time children lose. Worse, the longer teachers and their employers take to � nd a solution, the rockier their relationship is bound to be once the dust settles. � e government might get � ak for stepping in early, but aside from keeping up appearances, there is no bene� t to waiting.

Getting kids back in school as quickly as possible is the one thing teachers, their employers and parents can all agree on. Even most children themselves want to go back to school, mak-ing this one instance where the teachers (and their employers) can learn something from their pupils.

With neither side of the teacher lockout looking ready to budge, the government should step in now – for the kids’ sake

Teaching is substantially harder than it looks and, as in many occupations, is as much an art as learned knowledge

96 - 11 April 2013 THE COPENHAGEN POST CPHPOST.DK OPINION

NEXT WEEK IN 2 WEEKS IN 3 WEEKS IN 4 WEEKS

Sarita RajivTHE BALANCING ACT

Özcan Arjulovski Stuart LynchTHE WORDS OF ÖZ THE LYNCH REPORT

You’re Still Here?BY KELLY DRAPER

Kelly Draper is a British teacher who came to Denmark four years ago for work. She has been acting informally as a critical friend to Denmark. This has not gone down particularly well with Danes, who often tell her she should like it or leave it. Her blog is at adventuresandjapes.wordpress.com.

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

To Be Perfectly FrankBY FRANK THEAKSTON

CPH POST VOICES

AS THE SCHOOL lockouts are now a reality, there is a lot of confusion about what is go-ing on and why it is happen-

ing. Many people are even calling it a ‘strike’, as if the unions have called for the action, when in reality it is the local government association, Kommunernes Landsforening (KL), which has told teachers that they can’t come to work. But this is not even the biggest miscon-ception about the breakdown in negoti-ations about working-time agreements.

Many misconceptions have been cynically planted by politicians and their media advisers. Playing on every-one’s memories of their worst teacher, there was a � urry of news stories about lazy teachers earlier in the year � e news has reported faithfully that Dan-ish teachers teach 16 hours a week and that teachers in Denmark have the few-est student contact hours in the world. Neither of these things are true, but they have been reported as a given.

� e truth is dripping out, but the damage has been done. Hearing reason-ing like ‘If you remove outliers such as librarians, the average is more like 25

lessons a week’ does not undo people’s perceptions. Besides, if the media says that teachers ‘teach’ x hours a week, what many people hear is that teachers ‘work’ x hours a week.

Talk of ‘normalising’ working hours was calculated to plant the sug-gestion that Danish teachers do not work full-time. I am a teacher, and I work full-time. I just have a lot more tasks than simply teaching.

Each lesson takes place on a cycle. To be able to teach, you need to plan. To be able to plan, you need to assess. To be able to assess, you need to teach. Reading, assessing and commenting on work takes hours. Calling both planning and assessment ‘preparation’ means that some people get the idea that ‘preparation’ is deciding what you are going to teach.

Even though I reproduce topics and lesson ideas, I have never entirely repli-cated a lesson plan. Teaching a lesson is like crossing the Rubicon in that way. A class is not a homogenous mass wait-ing for me to drop some truth bombs. A class is a group of individuals. Some of them have problems learning new

things, a few might have already learned what you intend to teach, and others will learn it straightaway. Everyone needs to get something out of the lesson.

Not that writing this will change minds: people who believe teachers are lazy scumbags refuse to listen to teachers.

� e problem with the teacher ne-gotiations is not that the unions are intransigent and contrary. � e unions have made several suggestions on how to improve schools and change work-ing-time agreements, referencing in-ternational studies. KL will not budge from its position.

Unfortunately for democracy, the other party in the negotiations is not at liberty to actually negotiate. KL met with politicians in secret and worked out its one and only suggestion. � e projected savings have already been spent in the minds of the ministries. � e anti-teacher propaganda was re-leased months before negotiations. Lockouts were threatened almost im-mediately. I think there is plenty of wiggle room for reform, so why make threats so quickly?

And why threaten a lockout? If

The truth about the lockoutcontact hours increase student achieve-ment, why punish students by with-drawing education for possibly weeks at a time? It is a cynical ploy to turn parents against teachers. It is as if the media advisors had a ‘House of Cards’ marathon on Net� ix before starting the talks. Finding childcare in the week is going to be di� cult. Sympathy with teachers is planned to wane.

� ese plans are devised only to save money, not to increase achieve-ment. � ey are not based on best prac-tice. When the government wins and these plans are forced through, Danish schools will be less expensive to run, but an opportunity to reform them into better places of education will be missed.

I am frustrated that this process is not about making Danish schools bet-ter, but about breaking the unions to save some money. � e appeal of Den-mark is that even though you pay high taxes, you get lovely working-time agreements and the state provides de-cent services. Taking away both great aspects of life here leaves only the high taxes. It hardly seems worth it.

IT WASN’T until the early 1960s, when I was just about to embark on the third decade of my life, that I was confronted with � rst-hand

evidence of serious social division with-in the UK. And where else would that be, but in Northern Ireland of course. My fellow botany students and I were on our way by car to County Clare on the west coast of Ireland, and we just happened to have chosen a route that passed through Belfast.

� e di� erence between this part of the UK and the one we had left by ferry just a few hours before was glaringly ob-vious in the form of the now infamous end-of-terrace gable paintings vehe-mently declaring allegiance to one side or the other. It was a frightening and, as the subsequent ‘troubles’ so clearly dem-onstrated, deadly consequence of the politico-religious split that began in the province as long ago as 1690. And the slogan that has always stuck in my mind was a Protestant one: ‘No Popery Here’.

My parents were token Church of England, so that’s what I became. It’s a system that has puzzled me all my

life, not because it’s di� cult to see the purpose in it, but because it is passively condoned by those who � nd themselves subjected to it. I grew up holding vari-ous worthy views, one of which was that people are individuals and cannot pos-sibly be told by others what they should believe. Religious belief, if one chooses to have any, should stem from a convic-tion that the belief in question is right for the person concerned. Anything else is manipulation for the sake of creating or maintaining power over one’s fellow human beings, which manifests itself as organised religion. And as we know, organised religion has been and still is, directly or indirectly, one of the greatest forces for evil in this world.

So why am I choosing to say these things now? Well guess! What has the media bombarded us with over the last few weeks? Gasp, the pope is going to ab-dicate! What will this mean for the insti-tution of the Roman Catholic Church? Today is Pope Benedict’s last address to the crowds in St Peter’s Square … his last mass … his last Sunday … his last day. Yawn … Gasp, the cardinals are arriv-

ing in Rome to be locked in the Sistine Chapel until they agree on a new pope (thinks … I do hope there are enough toilets in the Sistine Chapel). What col-our is the smoke? � ey’ve elected a new pope! Yippee! His name will be Francis – wow, how radical is that! It’s the new pope’s � rst day … his � rst Sunday … his � rst mass … his � rst address to the crowds. Good grief!! � ere’s more! � e two popes meet at Castel Gandolfo, the � rst time this has been possible in over 600 years. Wow! Wow!

But amusement aside, what are we to make of all this? I’m sure there are Roman Catholics who believe whole-heartedly that theirs is the one true faith. But of course that applies as much to the other Christian churches and, for

No-Hopery Here?that matter, to other religions. On the other hand, I’m totally convinced that a large proportion of those who adhere to an organised religion are either igno-rant of the issues, too powerless to do without the crutch that the church pro-vides, or simply cynically using the in-stitution for social advantage. A certain Tony Blair, I’m absolutely sure, didn’t experience any kind of epiphany when he converted to Catholicism; his wife and children are Catholics and it was socially inconvenient not to be one also.

If we want a clear example of the cynical use of religion as a social tool, we need go no further than our own doorsteps. Folkekirken (a signi� cant proportion of whose priests don’t even believe in God) is � nanced by the state and assiduously tempts all young peo-ple to become members through the so-cial rituals that Danes so enjoy. Con� r-mation is the Danish equivalent of Bar Mitzva or Bat Mitzva, a celebration not so much of religious belief but of mem-bership of the Danish clan. By such means are the age-old divisions into ‘us’ and ‘them’ sustained. God help us!

Stephanie Brickman Tendai TagariraBRICK BY BRICK GRAIN OF SAND

Christian WenandeCHRISTIAN VALUES

Organised religion has been and still is one of the greatest forces for evil in this world

Justin Cremer Vivienne McKeeSTILL ADJUSTING CRAZIER THAN CHRISTMAS

10 6 - 11 April 2013The CopenhAgen posT CphposT.dkNews

Per Lav Madsen, a senior doctor and registrar at rig-shospitalet, believes that

Jesus wasn’t dead when he was taken down from the cross.

Yes, you heard that right: 2,000 years after the death of somebody many non-believers dispute the very existence of, a doctor is speculating on the na-ture of his death, if indeed he has ever died.

Kristeligt Dagblad newspa-per reported that Madsen thinks that many of the conventional theories concerning Jesus’s death lack evidence from a physiologi-cal circulation standpoint. Mad-sen, who has researched what happens to the body’s circulation when one gets up from lying in a horizontal position, said his sug-gestion wasn’t meant to shock.

“I’m not looking to offend anyone, but I don’t think that Jesus was necessarily dead when he was taken off the crucifixion cross,” Madsen told Kristel-igt Dagblad. “His resurrection could be a sign that he woke up after passing out.”

Two of the more prevailing theories in history about how Jesus died involve suffocation and blood loss. In 1953, Dr Pierre Barbet revealed his the-ory that the position and angle of the cross slowly suffocated Je-sus, while 25 years later on, Dr Frederick T Zugibe contended that Jesus had succumbed to blood loss from wounds sus-tained before the crucifixion.

Madsen believes that his research proves that crucifixion victims most often passed out because they were forced to keep still while remaining upright.

“We have done some experi-ments in which we tilt people in order to investigate the flow of oxygen to the brain and heart. and the tests showed that if 100

people are tilted at a 50-degree angle, 90 of them will pass out within an hour if they can’t use their legs,” Madsen said.

Madsen referred to the queen’s guards who stand still and upright for long pe-riods of time and are told to “walk in their boots” so as to avoid passing out.

aside from the terrible pain that Je-sus endured during the whipping and crucifixion, the forced upright position on the cross would have made Jesus nauseous, dizzy and lose con-sciousness, Madsen maintained.

“It is possible that he was killed by a soldier, who according to the Gospel of John, checked if Jesus was dead with a spear. But it is also pos-sible that he passed out, was taken off the cross and placed in the tomb without being dead,” Madsen said.

The latter theory would be particularly miraculous given that there are no records of this ever happening before. In one case, cited by first century his-torian Titus Flavius Josephus, three men were pardoned and taken down, after which two died due to the injuries sus-tained on the cross.

Dr Niels Svensson, the au-thor of the book ‘Det sande ansigt om ligklædet i Torino’ (the true face behind the shroud of Turin), does not agree with Madsen’s theory.

“Per Lav Madsen is simply describing low blood pressure in an upright position because the blood is collected in the legs. Many people are familiar with standing still in a queue for a long time without moving and then feeling poorly,” Svensson told Kristeligt Dagblad. “Ortho-

Did Jesus survive being crucified?More Christ the dreamer than redeemer: doctor claims the Son of God didn’t die on the cross, he passed out

D uST thou art, and unto dust thou shalt return.” So says scripture, and 71 percent of Danes

accept that as fact, according to a recent poll. When asked what happens after death, only 16 percent of respondents said that they believed that they would be reunited with any sort of god, and just 12 percent said they be-lieved in reincarnation.

The questions concerning life and death were posed to 2,000 Danes in a survey con-ducted by the Palliative Knowl-edge Centre.

“I am surprised that so few have a religious framework in understanding what happens when we die,” Helle Timm, the head of the centre, told Kristeligt Dagblad newspaper. “The answers suggest that many Danes apparently have a very pragmatic and literal picture of what happens.”

Timm said that accepting that the body decomposes after death did not necessarily pre-clude believing in an afterlife, and that the survey could be used as a starting point to discuss spiritual-ity with the respondents.

Bispebjerg Hospital’s pas-tor Karsten Flemming Thomsen said that Danes tend to look more towards the earth than the heavens when facing death.

“What matters to people is how they die and whether they will be allowed to die with dig-nity,” he told Kristeligt Dagblad. “It’s not so much about existen-tial considerations.”

Thomsen revealed that when he talks with terminally-ill patients and their families, he attempts to “humanise death” while leaving the door open for spiritual conversation.

“My conversations do not include the question of whether one will go to heaven or hell,” he said.

Charlotte Chammon, the pastor of Nørre Herlev parish outside of Hillerød, believes the responses could be a result of how the questions were asked.

“I talk to many who believe in ‘something’ – they just cannot define exactly what it is,” she said. “and that is good enough. None of us can define precisely what is on the other side beyond God’s promise to take us in his hand.”

Mogens Balling is head of Landsforeningen Liv og Død, a humanitarian organisation that works to ensure that people have that chance to bid a dig-nified farewell to life. He said that it is important for Danes to open up about the process of death and dying.

“Denmark has no culture of talking about death or about what might happen afterwards,” he told Kristeligt Dagblad. “But it is valuable for a family to know what someone believes in if they

All dressed up and no place to go – after the funeral, few Danes believe that they are off to meet their maker, study shows

Danes reject the idea of an afterlife

someday will be called upon to arrange a burial ceremony.”

Balling said it gives survivors a sense of peace to know wheth-er the deceased believes they are going to God or will be reincar-nated as an earthworm.

Knud Larsen is a funeral director in Frederikssund and accustomed to discussing life, death and the afterlife as part of his work. He said that how one feels about life’s biggest mystery often depends on the situation.

“are they young or old? Healthy or dying?” he asked. “If you asked 2,000 Danes who were actually facing death right now, you might get completely different answers.”

Indeed, the study indicated that the closer one is to checking out, the more likely they are to be-lieve there is something awaiting them. respondents over the age of 70 were more likely to believe in an afterlife than younger people.

Larsen said that, in his ex-perience, the belief in life after death often brings peace to the dying and those left behind.

Danes are more likely to believe in decomposing in the grass than finding their way to the fabled white light

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MarIO Bollini, an ameri-can design and robotics student, has long wanted

to make a sustainable pencil. He posted an idea on the website kickstarter.com, which is based on a concept called ‘crowdfund-ing’ in which common people can invest in uncommon ideas. Three Danish men – Michael Staush-olm Christiansen, Kasper Tikjøb andersen and Jonathan Løw – were intrigued and developed the idea together with Bollini.

The notion of a sustainable pencil began to sprout and after about 2,000 people had invested a total of $37,000 in the idea, the first prototypes were made.

Nine months later, the first sustainable pencil – given the name ‘Sprout’ – was born and come June 1, it will be available for purchase in Danish stores.

By now, the astute reader is asking just what constitutes a ‘sustainable pencil’. The answer can be found in what happens after it outlives its purpose as a writing tool. When the ‘Sprout’ gets down to its last bit, which most people would normally throw away, it can be planted in soil. The pencil will then begin to sprout and provide edible herbs.

The sprouting pencil is pro-duced in seven different varia-tions: basil, dill, coriander, mint, rosemary, thyme and sage. The men are now working on even more options including tomato, jalapeno, chilli, parsley and vari-ous flowers.

The american-Danish team,

which has also designed and built the machines that produce the pencils, have several ideas for the use of the sustainable design

– other than just consumption.“We believe that Sprout

can serve several purposes,” said Christiansen. “Firstly, it can be a

Plant your pencilA new pencil developed by three Danes and an American will sprout in shops this summer

static hypotension was probably a minor factor, but certainly not the only one.”

But Madsen stands by his theory, pointing to the Gospels’ description that Jesus was resur-rected on the third day, some-thing that echoes old Jewish scriptures.

“The number three is a magical number and it could have been added at a later time. The historical Jesus could very well have resurrected right after coming off the cross, or woke up after passing out if you ask me,” Madsen said.

Madsen’s theory is in some ways not groundbreaking, as other scientists and researchers have mentioned the possibility that Jesus was not dead when he was taken from the cross.

“The idea that Jesus was just unconscious is not a new theo-ry, and you can see traces of it all the way back to the New Tes-tament,” Morten Hørning Jens-en, a lecturer at the theological faculty at aarhus university, told Kristeligt Dagblad. “But that theory has never caught on.”(CW)

According to a Danish doctor, Jesus might not have died on the cross

teaching implement for families with children to talk about recy-cling and sustainability. Second-ly, it can serve as an inspriation

for more pro-environmental of-fice habits. and finally, it is just a fun gadget for childish, creative and inventive souls.”

The pencil is made of clay, sustainable cedarwood and graphite, and it is completely organic. It is now being pro-duced, partly by hand, in america and will start selling in Denmark and thereafter spread to other european countries. Bollini is working on getting it to the american market.

When the pencil reaches its end, it can be stuck in the ground with the tip pointing up. Then it just needs “water, heat, sunlight and love”, according to the proudct’s website, plantdin-blyant.dk.

even after the pencil has sprouted, it can still be of use. The product developers say that the leftover bits can be fed to goats. They caution, however, that feeding it to other animals is not advised.

The new invention ‘sprout’ allows you to plant your pencil and grow herbs

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116 - 11 April 2013 THE COPENHAGEN POST CPHPOST.DK

A great Gallic gathering where the bonhomie knew no bounds

Pictured here enjoying the day, and presumably some French wine – anything else would have been sacrilegious! – are (left-right) Benin’s deputy ambassador, Romanian ambas-sador Matei Viorel Ardeleanu, Estonian ambassador Katrin Kivi, the Ivory Coast ambassador Mina Balde Laurent, Anne Schmidt, the head of the Institut Francais, Belgian ambas-sador Jean-François Branders, Luxembourg’s ambassador Gerard Philipps and Swiss ambassador Denis Feldmeyer, for whom language-related appearances must be a habitual requirement

The city’s French-speaking diplomatic corp once again made it an International Day of Francophonie to remember on March 20 at an event at the Copenhagen Business School, which was co-organised by the Department of International Business Commu-nication and the city’s Francophone embassies and included keynote addresses, round-table discussions and lavish displays of food and wine. First celebrated in 1998, the day has become a popular one for the 79 members of the La Francophonie organisation, which includes, along with the obvious candidates (France, Belgium etc), 20 less likely countries, which are known as ‘observers’ and mostly located in eastern Europe. Poland (pictured) is one such example

Benin’s deputy ambassador ...Also present were Slovenian deputy ambassador ...

Among the other countries present were Ukraine ... Greece ... Algeria ... France and ... Cyprus

and a contingent from Burkina FasoNathalie Byk, the wife of the Canadian ambassador ...

As well as its mother tongue, Estonia also boast two regional languages: Võro and Setu. Estonian ambassador Katrin Kivi (left) was at hand to explain more

Among the other VIPs present were Romanian ambassador Matei Viorel Ardeleanu (centre) ...

At an event like this, the Belgian ambassador Jean-François Branders (left) is practically royalty

and Ivory Coast ambassador Mina Balde Laurent (left)

Luxembourg has three o� cial languages: French, German and Luxembourgish. Its am-bassador Gerard Philipps (right) wasn’t letting on regarding his favourite

Czech ambassador Zdeněk Lyčka ...

PHOTOS: HASSE FERROLDWORDS: BEN HAMILTON

COMMUNITY

12 6 - 11 April 2013THE COPENHAGEN POST CPHPOST.DKCOMMUNITY

And then there was one ... Swapping New Zealand for Zealand for her second tour of duty, Emily McLean isn’t, as far as we know, getting hitched anytime soon. She’s out there kissing frogs to � nd her prince - nobody ever said Dating the Danes was going to be easy.

DATING THE DANES

What’s looks got to do with it?

 A S A FOREIGNER, it’s sometimes a little intimi-dating meeting Danish

men. Here are these guys, clearly out of your league anywhere else in the world, treating you like you belong in the latest Ralph Lauren catalogue with them.

Not that I mind of course, but coming from a country where looks-wise everyone knows what league they play in, and stays within it, to a land where men who are strong 8s come and play with women who are solid 5s is thoroughly bewildering.

I’ve come to conclude that Danish men must have a skewed perception of how they look. In Western worldly standards, they’re averaging a 7 or an 8 (out of 10), but this doesn’t seem to overtly in� uence their decisions when picking the one they want.

You see, they don’t neces-sarily go for the classic beauties even though they’re surrounded by them. It’s more a girl’s style and image they’re attracted to.

Take a good friend of mine, for example, who only wants the Stine Bramsens of the world: cute girls with balloon dresses and short hair.

So is it just me who’s the shallow one here?

Perhaps I’ve been condi-tioned by all those years of high school hook-up games where you scored points depending on how hot the guy was that you scored.

Even now it still feels like we’re “playing hook-up with hotties”. When I make the an-nual visit back to New Zealand and pull out a picture of the lat-est Dane I went out with, I’m always met with exclamations of “How did you nab him?” Ten points for me.

I’ll never forget Mr Aquatic Eyes aka Mr Part-Time Model. When I was 21, he set the bar high. I like to think that when we were together we looked like one of those fun couples in the Tommy Hil� ger ad ... I think in reality it looked more like I was the photographer’s assistant keeping the model company in between shoots.

But from that moment on, I realised that when it came to looks, I could always attempt to play outside my league here, even if I didn’t hit a home run.

However, things aren’t the same for foreign men when it comes to nabbing Danish beau-ties. � eir saving grace, though, comes in the knowledge that women generally choose part-ners based on personality rather than looks.

You’ll therefore � nd a plethora of Danish women with ‘Wind in the Willows’ type char-acters they’ve dragged back from England. However, I do feel for these loved-up foreign men who move here and then spend the rest of their lives admiring women 50 times hotter than their wives.

Moral of the story: if you’re a foreign woman here, you can nab a hot one for at least a few months. If you’re a for-eign man, however, just have a few jokes up your sleeve − you won’t beat a Danish man in the looks category, but you can in the personality stakes.

Michael Palin, Britain’s nicest man, was in town before Easter to attend the International Authors’ Stage at the Black Diamond where he spoke about his new book, ‘The Truth’, and no doubt added to his knowledge of one of his favourite artists, Vilhelm Hammershøi

Watch out your majesty, the sharks are out to get you! With that in mind, the queen and Prince Henrik left their court to enjoy the grand opening of the Blue Planet near Kastrup

And at Helligaandskirken church on Strøget, they were spreading the Easter message with da� odils. Not sure what the � owery transcript of the Easter hymn was supposed to do, but it certainly attracted the attention of a few shoppers in between their bouts of retail therapy

Life sucks in the city, but don’t trust the backdrop as Why Not Theatre enjoyed a suc-cessful premiere of its new play, ‘The City’, on Tuesday night at Bådteatret in Nyhavn. Pictured here basking in the success are (left-right) director Barry McKenna and the cast Sue Hansen-Styles, Emilia Poole-Jönsson, Andrew Je� ers and Vanessa Poole. See page 18 for a full review

It was Easter in case you missed it in Denmark’s ever-secular society, although you probably stumbled across a few egg hunts. Nevertheless, the church isn’t going any-where, and taking their mission to the streets were the clergy and congregation of Bethlehemskirken, although surely Palm Sunday was the weekend before

ABOUT TOWN PHOTOS BY HASSE FERROLD UNLESS OTHERWISE STATED

COMING UP SOONLars Løkke Rasmussen LunchBritish Chamber of Commerce Event, Kromann Reumert, Sund-krogsgade 5, Cph Ø; Fri April 19, 11:45; sign-up necessary at www.bbcd.dk/en/Events� e former prime minister, Lars Løkke Rasmussen, will o� er in-sight on his experiences in liberal government reform at this British Chamber of Commerce lunch. � e event is open to corporate and small business owners only.

Blue Planet Visit� e Blue Planet Aquarium, Jacob Fortlingsvej 1, Kastrup; Sat April 6, 13:00; tickets: 144kr, kids: 85kr; www.meetup.com/ameri-can-233/events/100535312; www.denblaaplanet.dkJoin Copenhagen international expats to explore the newly opened Blue Planet, northern Europe’s newest and biggest aquarium.

Spouses information meetingInternational House, Gylden-løvesgade 11, Cph V; � u April 11, 12:00-14:00; email cphca-reerprogram@bif.kk.dk by April 8 to register; www.facebook.com/copenhagencareerprogramLearn about how to start lan-guage, integration and job seek-ing courses, unions and unem-ployment funds, and how to go about starting your own busi-ness – all while enjoying co� ee, tea and cake.

Culture & Language Tasting EveningCLAVIS International, Nørre Voldgade 94-96 Cph K; � u April 11,17:00-18:30; free adm; www.meetup.com/The-Copenhagen-Culture-and-Language-Tasting-Experience/events/110346112Join Copenhagen’s newest Meetup group, the Culture and Language Tasters, to experience the various � avours of the city’s international community. � e group will meet monthly and o� er a ‘bite’ of three di� erent cultures from around the world each time, guided by a language instructor from CLAVIS. � e � rst meeting will explore Ara-bic, Russian and one surprise culture – you’ll have to attend to � nd out!

Copenhagen Writers’ Club Meetup� e Red Lion, Nikolajgade 18, Cph K; � u April 11, 18:30; tickets 10krIf you like writing poetry or short prose in English, come and share your musings and garner inspiration from other writers. Bring just a few lines or up to two pages related to the theme – this week’s theme is ‘� re’ . Remember a few cop-ies to share and the 10kr ad-mission fee, which covers the cost of the website. � ose who want to attend without bring-ing writing are welcome to join for the discussion.

Seeding Sunday: Urban Gardening & Food Systems Copenhagen International Volun-teer Club, CanDan Consulting Services, Tagensvej 249 Cph NV; Sun April 14, 13:00-16:00; free adm; www.meetup.comPlant a few seeds (better late than never!) and share stories and tips for battling the winter weather amongst other interna-tional gardeners. Just bring your favourite seeds – the club will provide the dirt and pots. Meet by the front o� ce, but if you’re late, join in at the park behind the building.

An Evening of ImprovCafe Cadeau, HC Ørstedsvej 28, Frederiksberg; Fri April 19, 19:00; free adm; www.ctcircle.dk CTC will once again be leading a host of zany improv activities.

Start Drinkin’ UpLocation TBD; � u April 25, 18:00; free adm; www.meetup.com/startdrinkinup� e hard-working startup founders around Copenhagen can now relax, network and meet others over a few drinks each week, thanks to newly-formed meetup group Start Drinkin’ Up. � eir inaugural event will o� er free drinks for attendees at an as-yet-undecided location – check the website for developing details.

JESSICA HANLEY

136 - 11 April 2013 THE COPENHAGEN POST CPHPOST.DK COMMUNITY

I wouldn’t have taken on the role if I didn’t feel that I could make positive changes to the school

 T HESE DAYS, the idea of a � lm and theatre school conjures up images of students randomly

bursting into song and dancing around the cafeteria, thanks in a large part to the likes of ‘High School Musical’, ‘Glee’ and the cringe-inducing British attempt, ‘Britannia High’. And it doesn’t help that the Danish school in question, the Holberg Film and � eatre School, which was es-tablished in 1995, is situated in an old chocolate factory.

However, the ridiculous no-tion that this might be another � ctional school is dissipated within seconds of meeting the half-English, half-Australian new headteacher of Holberg, Stuart Lynch. Here the former students don’t do kids’ stu� , they appear in ‘Forbrydelsen’. � is school is serious.

Lynch is charismatic in the truest sense of the word, and when he speaks you want to listen. Alongside Malene Belt-ofte Olsen, in a classic Danish partnership of art director and producer, they have a clear and direct vision regarding the future of a school that already has an impressive reputation. Being the � rst pure method acting school in Denmark for � lm, theatre and television and the largest independent school of its kind in Scandinavia, it’s an impressive history to uphold.

Method acting has a reputa-tion of its own. It makes many think of Daniel Day-Lewis, one of the most famous method ac-tors, who on the set of his most recent � lm, ‘Lincoln’, insisted that everyone called him ‘Mr President’. At Holberg, the Stan-islavski’s system is followed. It

 T HE TWO favourites in the Pan Scandinavian Rugby League Tournament met

on Saturday in Lund in the opening � xture of the season, contesting a thrilling encounter that saw the home side, Skåne Crusaders, edge out Copenha-gen RLFC 18-16.

Having pipped Copenhagen in the � nal of the Scandinavia rugby league 7s in Sweden the previous weekend, the Crusaders headed into the game con� dent, and within 15 minutes, they had established a 10-0 lead.

Nevertheless, Copenha-gen hit back through a try by captain Eugene Hanrahan and went into halftime just four points down.

DANISH ROWING is � y-ing at the moment thanks to the Olympic gold med-

al-winning exploits of Mads Ras-mussen and Rasmus Quist in the 2012 Olympics, who led a medal rush that saw Fie Udby Erichsen and Guld � ren (the golden four) also make the podium.

Still, that doesn’t mean to say the Danes are resting on their laurels blinkered to the possibil-ity that the international com-munity might have some world-beaters within its ranks – even if they do one day come back to haunt their host country by de-nying it an Olympic medal.

Far-fetched? Maybe! But you’ll never know whether you’ve got what it takes until

requires actors to draw upon authentic feelings for their per-formance by � nding a character within their psyche. Understand-ably, it can be quite emotion-ally draining. � e school also has a classical side to its training though. � ere are lessons every day on voice and body presence. Lynch believes that “strong inter-nal training allows for a strong externalisation onstage”.

Lynch was headhunted for the role, fresh from working with professional actors and street children in India, and he is quick to make it clear that certain things about the school will be changing. “I wouldn’t have taken on the role if I didn’t feel that I could make positive changes to the school,” he con-tends. Most critically, Lynch will be exposing his students to live audiences from an early stage in their education. � is, he be-

lieves, will empower them and give them the chance to learn how to engage with an audience.

As well as early exposure to a live audience, Olsen is keen to discuss another addition to the syllabus: business classes. As a for-mer student of the school and an employee for the last three years, Olsen has the advantage of seeing both aspects of school life. “Busi-ness teaching was lacking when I was a student here − any talk of it felt like selling out,” she says. � e new lessons will stress the impor-tance of understanding the busi-ness side of show business, how to fundraise, apply for arts grants, networking and how to make connections. “� is knowledge isn’t selling out but empowering,” enthuses Olsen.

A � rm team talk from team coach Nigel Kitching, a for-mer professional rugby league player, focused the troops for a second half in which they marched into a 16-10 lead thanks to tries by Rune Nord-vang and Robert King.

But poor handling and ill-discipline invited the well-drilled Crusaders back into the game and ahead again.

you give it a try, and on Monday April 15, the Lyngby Women’s Rowing Club is o� ering the in-ternational ladies of Denmark exactly that: the chance to at-tend an English-language intro-duction evening where they can try out a rowing machine and test their mettle.

And even if it proves to be a wasted journey (not that the ma-

It’s all in the method, says the expat appointed to head a Danish school

Awesome e� ort in Lund Oarsome evening in Lyngby

Copenhagen Post columnist Stuart Lynch, who has been headhunted to lead one of this country’s most prestigious drama schools, outlines his grand vision for the future

Copenhagen’s new rugby league side go down by two points in season opener in Lund

Does exercise while sitting down sound like fun? Then maybe rowing’s your sport

EVIE SARGEANT

Malene Beltofte Olsen and Stuart Lynch of Holberg Film and � eatre School contemplate the future

� ere were times when the union pasts of the players were all too-evident

Fancy row, row, rowing your boat merrily down the stream?

� e subject of power comes up again and again throughout our meeting. At one point the conver-sation is sidetracked into a discussion about gen-der inequality and the revival of feminism in topical conversation, due in large part to a recent spate of high pro� le news stories. Lynch is keen to foster an at-mosphere of gender equality at the school, although this is less of an issue in Denmark than in other countries. I think it would be fair to say Lynch is a feminist, but his ideas on power go further than this.

� e three-year course will teach students to own their sense of power; skills such as public speaking are often underrated, yet are still relevant to many jobs. � ese days nearly everyone is an amateur body language analyst, and so body position training is also a life skill. Lynch gives an ex-ample of one student who is now a police o� cer, pointing out that voice projection is a required skill for the job. Realistically not every graduate of the school will go on to be an actor: not through a lack of talent, says Lynch, but be-cause “acting has to be a calling”.

It isn’t just prospective ac-tors who have bene� ted from Lynch’s training. Politicians have also pro� ted from his acting and public speaking training, although Lynch is far too pro-fessional to give me any names. Of course Holberg isn’t the only acting school in Denmark, as it faces � erce competition from Statens Scenekunstskole.

“Statens is a great school with great teachers, but I really want to produce graduates who can give those pupils a run for their money,” contends Lynch. “I want to build the reputation of the training here so that at auditions the competition feel nervous.”

Lynch has only been in the job for a little over four weeks, so it will take time. But from Sep-tember, his new vision will start to take shape. Watch this space!

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Heading into the closing minutes, Copenhagen had a penalty kick to tie the game, but instead elected to go for the try. It proved to be the wrong deci-sion as the Crusaders held � rm for the win.

Next up for the Crusaders is their � rst home game, against an-other Swedish out� t, the Kungs-backa Broncos, on Saturday April 6 at Gladsaxe Stadion. (BH)

chines will take you anywhere), you can still enjoy a cup of co� ee or tea and a slice of homemade cake with some of the club’s members. You don’t even need to get wet. (BH)

Lyngby Dameroklub is based at Christians Winthersvej 24 in Lyn-gby. � e evening starts at 19:00 –email adk@adm.ku.dk to register

14 6 - 11 April 2013The CopenhAgen posT CphposT.dkSportS

Last week on Monday, the country’s best known card player Gus Hansen, a three-time win-ner on the world Poker tour, lost 1.4 million kroner in just under 24 hours in a cash game. still, compared to his recent form, it was just another day, albeit an extremely bad one, at the office. so far this year, he has lost 16.7 million kroner, and in 2012, he lost a staggering 24 million kroner.

Lars waLtHer has resigned as coach of Polish handball team wisla Plock. The Dane’s resig-nation followed a loss to Dan-ish team tvis Holstebro in the eHF european Cup. The defeat marked the end of the european hopes of Plock, and also those of walther renewing his contract, which was set to run out in 2014. walther, who had been at Plock since 2010, was voted coach of the season two years ago.

ICe HoCkey right-winger Nicklas Jensen, 20, made his debut for the Vancouver Ca-nucks on Monday in a 3-2 loss to the san Jose sharks. Jensen was called up from a (farm team) feeder side due to an injury crisis. He joins Jannik Hansen, a fellow Dane who has played for the team since 2007, and his debut brings the num-ber of Danish players in the NHL to eight.

aN eMaIL from the UCI, international cycling’s govern-ing body, suggests that a case of mistaken identity may have barred alex rasmussen from his comeback at the Circuit de la sarthe race in Le Mans on Monday. The Dane, who rides for the Garmin-sharp team, was set to compete in France following his return from an 18-month ban for unknown whereabouts during a doping

control. The email was sent by UCI president Pat McQuaid and indicates that tournament officials may have mistaken rasmussen for a fellow Dane, Michael rasmussen. The lat-ter rasmussen recently retired after admitting to years of dop-ing. tournament officials had initially claimed problems with Garmin-sharp’s insurance for not allowing alex rasmussen to enter the race.

tHorbJørN olesen’s par-ticipation in the upcoming Us Masters next week is in jeopardy following a car crash last week. olesen was involved in a four-ve-hicle collision caused by a driver who fell asleep behind the wheel. The accident caused olesen to pull out of the shell Houston open on doctors’ orders. olesen is set to make his Us Masters de-but on april 11. Thomas bjørn is also expected to compete.

All out of luck All out of Plock All together at CanucksA tale of two Rasmussens Masters bid hits skids

SPoRtS newS In bRIef

S oMetIMes the num-bers don’t add up. How can a tiny country like Denmark play so many

sports and have national teams in almost all of them? Football, handball, rugby league, rugby union, american football, aus-sie rules, gaelic football, kabbadi – get on public transport any-where in the country and you’re going to be within ten metres of an international sportsperson. It’s like rats in London!

It’s highly competitive out there − something that the na-tional rugby union is only too aware of. “we did a survey re-cently to find out if children knew what rugby was,” revealed Mikael Lai rasmussen, the technical director of the Dan-ish rugby Union (DrU). “and most of them said they did and then went on to describe ameri-can football!”

It is a problem that rasmus-sen is confident the DrU can overcome, but it will take time. “our new strategic plan is try-ing to grow the game from the bottom of the pyramid,” he said. “It takes ten years to develop a rugby player, which is why we’re targeting 10 to 12-year-olds.” Currently the DrU has only 1,507 pre-teen members.

while a handful of schools already play the sport in Den-mark, and university rugby “is

on the drawing boards”, the new DrU plan, in co-operation with seven existing clubs, hopes to double the number of its regis-tered members in four years and edge it ever closer to appearing on television.

“to be visible, so children know what rugby is, is a huge challenge,” said rasmussen. “More than one tV channel is looking at rugby, but we can only hope. The inclusion of sev-ens rugby at the 2016 olympics will obviously help. Ultimately it’s a money issue.”

Denmark is also participat-ing in a scandinavian project involving Norway and sweden, which has been endorsed by the international rugby body, the Irb. “It’s the first time that a re-gion has even been accepted for an Irb project,” enthused ras-mussen. “we’ll help each other at a grassroots level, and the pro-ject is a great tool to drive our school rugby.”

so by the 2020s, there might be a new generation of players breaking into the Danish nation-al team who have been coached for a decade playing club and school rugby. It’s a bright pros-pect. In the meantime, the red and whites are competing in eu-rope’s Division 2b, which is four divisions below the six Nations and features the teams ranked 22nd to 26th in europe. They play each other home and away over a two-year period.

Later this month, Denmark will reach the halfway point of their campaign. a 6-6 home draw against andorra back in october and an away 15-27 loss in Latvia in November has al-

An ambitious youth programme could aid Denmark’s bid to shoot up the rankings in a decade, but in the meantime, here’s Serbia

ready shown the team that this division is a lot tougher than 2C. The poor start, which leaves Denmark bottom of the group, makes the home game against serbia on saturday april 13, and then the away tie at group leaders Israel a week later, all the more important.

“Promotion is still possible, but it will be difficult,” contend-ed the DrU national coach Ivan andersen. “The division is hard-er than last year, primarily be-cause it seems as if all the teams can beat each other − maybe Is-

Ben Hamilton

bringing rugby union to the kids who think a try is a touchdown

Either this kid is very good ... or he’s playing by himself

The Australian number nine, a future Nick Farr-Jones in the making perhaps ...

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• rugby has been played in Denmark since 1931. The Danish rugby Union was founded in 1950 and joined both the sports Confed-eration of Denmark and association of european rugby in 1971, and the Inter-national rugby board in 1988.

• Denmark finished second in europe’s 2010-12 Division 2C. Five wins, one draw and two losses saw them finish be-hind Israel and face slovenia in a promotion play-off. How-ever, the slovenians, who had finished fourth in Division 2b, forfeited the game and

Denmark were promoted.

• In 1998, Denmark got within six games of the world Cup. They played six Nations member Italy, and two other 2011 world Cup participants, russia and Georgia, for a place at the 1999 edition, but lost all six of their qualifiers. Not long after, they reached a record-high world ranking of 36. today, their ranking is 66.

• Denmark haven’t beaten sweden in an official in-ternational since 2001. Up until that point, they had never lost to them. In 2007

sweden were promoted and Denmark relegated from the same division, and they have not played in the same one since. Denmark then reached their lowest ever ranking of 73 in 2008.

• Denmark’s most successful player was Michael Jeppesen, who played second row or flanker. He turned pro and played for the New Zealand side wellington Hurricanes until a neck injury ended his career prematurely in the late 1990s, by which time he had only played 26 times for Denmark.

factfile | Danish rugby

rael excluded. we are better than we were last year, but Israel seem to have improved even more.”

Israel, who have only lost one division game in the last four years (to Denmark in odense!), lead the group with two wins and are clearly the team to beat.

andersen is hopeful that some new personnel might make a difference: “we have brought in two new players: one from the Us (Matthew Thomas kersey, prop) and one from the Uk (Martin Peter scott, centre). and we will also

have Christian b Nielsen, who recently went to the Uk to play for Henley.”

and there is an emerging pool of young players in the team aged 21-22 − Nicklas V tell, Mikkel s Jensen, Joshua C Jensen, Christian Melgaard and oliver Le roux − who fill andersen with optimism for the future.

“we have a good mix of young and experienced players, and I think we are good at bring-ing new young players into the team,” enthused andersen.

so would promotion come too quickly for him? “No,” he said. “I’m not intimidated by the thought − I think the way to get better is to meet better opponents.”

and one decade from now, Denmark might be the team the others fear to meet.

Denmark’s international against Serbia is taking place at 14:00 on Saturday April 13 at the Odense Athletics Stadium. Tickets cost 25kr and can be purchased at the venue.

156 - 11 April 2013 The CopenhAgen posT CphposT.dk Business

BRITISH CHAMBER OF COMMERCE IN DENMARK

Denmark’s only English-language newspaper

• official media partner

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

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

It’s about daring...Stine Bosse, has a Master of Law from the University of Copenhagen and before being appointed to Group CEO of TrygVesta A/S in 2001, she held various positions in Tryg which provided her with a unique, thorough and hands-on understanding of the day-to-day operations. She is widely known in the public for her direct and no-nonsense communication and is enthusiastically engaged in the societal debate for a better and safer world. She is a role model for many aspiring young people as the highest ranking female CEO in Denmark and was appointed the 22nd most influential business woman in the world in 2009 and 2010 by the Financial Times. Stine Bosse serves as chairman of Flügger Denmark, The Royal Danish Theatre, CONCITO, Børnefonden, and Copenhagen Art Festival. She is Danish member of ChildFund Alliance, and sits on the board of among others Nordea Bank A/S, TDC, Allianz and Aker ASA. Additionally, Stine Bosse is the former chairman of the supervisory board of the Danish Insurance Association (Forsikring & Pension), and former board member of Grundfos and Amlin plc. In the Spring 2010, Stine Bosse was appointed Advocate for the Millenium Development Goals by the UN Secretary General, Ban Ki-moon, to fight world hunger and poverty.Stine will talk about the essence of her book “Det handler om at turde”.

Programme: • 11.45: Registration and welcome drinks • 12.00: Welcome and introduction by Mariano A. Davies,

President, BCCD • 12.10: Guest speaker - Stine Bosse• 12.40: Questions and discussion • 12.55: Announcements by Penny Schmith, Executive Director,

BCCD • 13.00: Buffet lunch and networking

Date: Friday, 22 March 2013Venue: Conference Suite on 1st floorRadisson Blu Royal HotelHammerichsgade 1Copenhagen K

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Price in kroner for one unit of foreign currency Date: 4 April 2013

Denmark is lagging be-hind its european neigh-bours when it comes to

taking advantage of strong eco-nomic growth in africa, accord-ing to Politiken newspaper.

Only about one percent of Danish exports go to africa, which is less than half the share of exports that countries such as Germany, the netherlands and Sweden send to the continent.

and while africa’s middle class has swollen to over 300 mil-lion people, the continent is also home to seven of the ten fastest growing economies in the world.

according to the trade and investment minister, Pia Olsen Dyhr (Socialistisk Folkeparti), Denmark needs to improve its efforts to break into the african market.

“We need to be less scared of getting involved and better at taking advantage of Denmark’s good reputation in africa and the large amount of develop-mental aid Denmark gives,” Dyhr told Politiken.

Dyhr hopes to double Dan-ish exports to africa over the next five years by creating part-nerships with african businesses to create jobs and growth for both africa and Denmark, par-

ticularly in the fields of renew-able energy, infrastructure and healthcare. To help Danish busi-nesses increase their exports, the government is launching a new service to help exporters secure both financing and advice about local markets.

The combined service – which is being offered by ek-sport kredit Fonden (ekF) and the Foreign ministry’s trade council, eksportrådet – will be available both in Denmark and seven key export countries around the world.

“Better access to financing will strengthen the opportuni-ties of primarily small and medi-um-sized businesses to increase their exports and create jobs in Denmark,” Dyhr said in a press release announcing the service. “Danish exporters need both competent export advice and

Denmark sets its sights on AfricaThe trade minister thinks better advice and financing can boost exports to the rapidly-growing African economy

access to money to help them realise their growth plans. We are now offering a one-stop shop that can help them with both.”

In africa, the services will be offered out of the Danish embassy in kenya, where advice and financing information will be provided about both kenya and South africa.

Pm Helle Thorning-Schmidt (Socialdemokraterne) announced earlier in march that South africa was a perfect target for Danish businesses wanting to increase their exports.

“We need to use our strong friendship to create a strong trade relationship that will benefit South africans while also creat-ing jobs in Denmark,” Thorning-Schmidt told ritzau, adding that Denmark hopes to increase trade with South africa by 50 percent over the next five years. (PS)

Africa’s middle class is growing and so is the demand for Western goods

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THe DanISH production company kiloo Games is behind ‘Subway Surfers’,

one of the biggest indie app successes, a game in which us-ers dodge capture and oncom-ing trains as they run down the tracks in some of the world’s largest cities. The secret to the company’s success? Updates, says kiloo’s co-owner, Simon møller.

“We’ve updated our way to the top,” møller told Poket-gamer, saying that the games’s monthly updates serve as a way to keep users engaged.

Currently inching its way

‘Subway Surfers’ emerges from undergroundtowards the top 20 in iTunes’s free app charts, the game has advanced quickly despite being just nine months old.

Based in aarhus with only around 50 employees, kiloo Games is a small company chal-lenging the industry giants. Large companies such as Zynga and Pocket Gems dominate the market, and whilst anyone can upload an app, according to the analytic company Distimo, only two percent of the top 250 publishers in the app Store are newcomers.

While the number of down-loads is impressive, it is the re-tention rate of Subway Surfers that has the competition feeling nervous, with 91 percent of users returning after one day and 60

percent returning after 30 days.kiloo’s business model also

sets it apart from its competitors. When it comes to creating online games, the boundaries of creative ownership are not always clear, but møller splits the profits 50/50 with any partners – a business de-cision that møller said is based on sharing everything equally with his brother during his childhood.

In this case, the other co-developer is another Danish stu-dio, Sybo, and judging by recent reports of between 750,000 and one million downloads a day, a 50 percent stake will equal a healthy profit.

kiloo declined to comment on this story, stating that it was not currently speaking to the Danish press.

Over the next decade, 340 billion kroner will be invested in develop-ing public infrastruc-

ture and hopefully creating around 40,000 jobs, according to calculations made by finan-cial daily Børsen. There are con-cerns, however, about the lack of skilled labour to complete the planned construction work.

Ole Christiansen, the chair-man of the aarhus rymarken division of the union 3F, said the region has already started to witness a shortage of construc-tion workers.

“I have to call around to other 3F departments in Jut-land in order to find people for projects in aarhus,” Chris-tiansen told weekly newsletter Ugebrevet a4, adding that the demand for labourers in aarhus has been stimulated by the con-struction of new housing blocks around aarhus’s harbour.

Christiansen’s assessment was supported by Peter Hou-gaard nielsen, the chairman of 3F’s construction division.

“as the situation stands now, with all the projects that have started, we could easily end up lacking construction workers in the autumn,” nielsen told Ugebrevet a4, adding that the government’s growth plan will

reduce unemployment in con-struction after the end of the summer holiday.

“The home improvements tax deduction and the extra funds for renovating public housing will only create jobs,” he said. “In the long-term, I can only be optimistic.”

Unemployment dropped by 500 people between January and February to 154,400 according to Statistics Denmark. This cor-responds to six percent of the labour force being out of work, although some fields are doing far better.

according to Ugebrevet a4, the number of unemployed elec-tricians dropped from 4.7 to 3.3 percent nationwide and some areas of the country are even re-porting almost 100 percent em-

ployment within the field. The weekly newsletter also re-

ported that the Copenhagen and Zealand regions may not have enough engineers, bricklayers, electricians and plumbers to satis-fy the demand in 2014 and 2015.

according to 3F, 1,034 in-frastructure projects costing over 30 million kroner have so far been registered to start between 2012 and 2017. Together they will cost 222 billion kroner and require 222,000 man-years of work to complete.

The largest projects to start in the next decade are the Feh-marn Link tunnel to Germany (50 billion kroner), further con-struction on new metro lines in Copenhagen (16 billion kroner)and an upgrade of the rail net-work (27 billion). (PS)

Huge infrastructure investments may cause labour shortagesThe state and councils will spend 340 billion kroner on infrastructure over the next decade and create around 40,000 jobs

There are concerns that there are not enough labourers to satisfy the demand for building future public investments

Childhood business model ensures company’s success

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16 6 - 11 April 2013THE COPENHAGEN POST CPHPOST.DK

SPOUSE: Munawar Saleem FROM: PakistanSEEKING WORK IN: CopenhagenQUALIFICATION: MBA logistics and supply chain management (Jonkoping University, Sweden) M.Sc. Computer Sciences (Punjab University, Lahore Pakistan).EXPERIENCE: 4 years, Lecturer in computer sciences.LOOKING FOR: Full time or part time job in Logistics and Supply.LANGUAGE SKILLS: English (� uent), Urdu (mother tongue), Swedish (Basic).IT EXPERIENCE: Pro� cient in MS O� ce (word, excel, power point etc.).CONTACT: libravision3@gmail.com, Tel: +45 7141 2010

SPOUSE: Mohammad Ahli- Gharamaleki FROM: IranSEEKING WORK IN: CopenhagenQUALIFICATION: Master degree in chemical engineering.EXPERIENCE: 5+ years as a chemical engineer in R&D oil/gas projects as a team leader or member in Iran.LOOKING FOR: A position in an International company to expand my experience and expertise.LANGUAGE SKILLS: Azeri (native), English (� uent), Farsi (� uent), Arabic (good), Turkish (good), Danish(beginner).IT EXPERIENCE: Professional (MATLAB, Hysys, Aspen plus, Auto Cad, others (O� ce, Minitab).CONTACT: mohammad_ahli@yahoo.com, Tel: +45 7163 1285

SPOUSE: Lorenzo Albano F. FROM: VenezuelaSEEKING WORK IN: Greater Copenhagen and Capital RegionQUALIFICATIONS: PhD, MSc in Physics, BSc in Geophysics.EXPERIENCE: Researcher/programmer of numerical/computational methods in geophysics, signal processing, tomographic inversion, wave propagation. Lecturer in physics, mathematics and informatics. Researcher in theoretical quantum optics and quantum information.LOOKING FOR: Employment, freelance work, internship or plain unpaid collaboration in applied research/engineering/scienti� c computing and numerical methods/science education/computational geophysics.LANGUAGE SKILLS: Fluent in Spanish (native), English and Italian. Danish (Modul 4, DanskUddannelse 3).IT EXPERIENCE: MSDOS, Windows 7/Vista/XP, Linux (Ubuntu, Solaris), included Shell scripting. C, C++, FORTRAN, Visual BASIC. Web: HTML, CSS, Joomla!. LaTeX2E. Mathematica, MATLAB, MS O� ce/OpenO� ce, PhotoShop/Gimp.CONTACT: lorenzoalbanof@gmail.com, Tel: +45 5015 9819

SPOUSE: Keshab Nidhi Pantha FROM: NepalSEEKING WORK IN: CopenhagenQUALIFICATION: Masters in MathematicsEXPERIENCE: 4 years Mathematics teaching in secondary level and 2 years Mathematics teaching in Bachelor level. LOOKING FOR: Full time/part time Mathematics teaching in international school or College/University.LANGUAGE SKILLS: English,Nepali,Hindi and little Danish.IT EXPERIENCE: 6 months diploma in computer with MS words and excel.CONTACT: pantha_kn@yahoo.com, Tel: +45 7157 9893

SPOUSE: Clémence Arnal FROM: FranceSEEKING WORK IN: Copenhagen; Region SjællandQUALIFICATION: Wastewater/drinking water (processes and treatments, building design, water sampling and pollution rate measurement); environment protection (river basin management, waste management).EXPERIENCE: Waste sorting representative (O� ce “Communauté du Pays d’Aix”, France); Leaks investigation on drinking water networks, Help to communes to deal with their drinking water system, Control operation of individual sanitation systems (O� ce “G2C Environment”, France); Drinking water stations security: putting the Antiterrorist security plan in practice, employees security , Distribution network security: determining the cost of a network re-chlorination unit (“Drinking Water” administration of Aix en Provence, France).LOOKING FOR: Water treatment assistant / engineer.LANGUAGE SKILLS: French (mother tongue); English (Fluent); Danish (Prøve Dansk 3).IT EXPERIENCE: MS-O� ce; AutoCAD (basic); Mapinfo (basic).CONTACT: clem.arnal@gmail.com, Tel: +45 2334 6322SPOUSE: Deepak Kumar Koneri FROM: India

SEEKING WORK IN: CopenhagenQUALIFICATION: M.Sc in Electrical Engineering specialization in Embedded Systems (Jönköping, Sweden), B.Tech in Electrical and Electronics Engineering (Hyderabad, India).EXPERIENCE: Worked as Electrical Distribution Design Engineer in Electrical Consultant company for more than 2 years. I was responsible from the start of design de� nition phase till the implementation phase of individual project. LOOKING FOR: Full and part time job opportunity in Energy, Robust Electronics design, PCB Design, Thermal Analyst, Design & Modelling of power systems, power optimization, simulation and also in constructional, architectural consulting organization.LANGUAGE SKILLS: English (Fluent), Hindi (Mother Tongue), Swedish (Basic) and Danish(Basic, Currently learning).IT EXPERIENCE: MS-O� ce (word, Excel, Power point, Visio), CFD (Mentor Graphics FloTHERM, FloVENT, Noesis OPTIMUS, Electrical CAD, Assembly Programming (PIC 16f77, 8086,8051), Wire-MOM, Telelogic SDL-99, C and VHDL.CONTACT: konerideepak@gmail.com, Tel: +45 7156 1151

SPOUSE: Sadra Tabassi FROM: IranSEEKING WORK IN: CopenhagenQUALIFICATION: Master of Business Administration (MBA).LOOKING FOR: Any full time job related to my quali� cation � eld.LANGUAGE SKILLS: Languages Fluent in English; Native in Farsi (Persian) and elementary level of Arabic.IT EXPERIENCE: Basic knowledge about computer (Windows), O� ce 2010 (Word, Excel, Power Point),Statistical software (SPSS)CONTACT: sadra.tabassi@gmail.com, Tel: +45 5033 7753

SPOUSE: Dr Tessa Kate Anderson FROM: UKSEEKING WORK IN: University, education, research, social science, geography, GIS, spatial analysis, urban geography.EXPERIENCE: PhD from UCL (UK) in GIS and road safety, Assistant Professor at University of Canterbury, New Zealand for 3 years, Assistant Professor in GIS at University of Queensland for 1 year, Research Fellow at University of Hong Kong for 3 years. I have experience in project management and working in both the private and public sector. I have taught up to Masters level and have design courses and taught extensively.LOOKING FOR: Research, teaching, consultancy positions.LANGUAGE SKILLS: English, French (small amount), Chinese (beginner), I am enrolled at Danish language school.IT EXPERIENCE: ArcGIS, MapInfo, GeoDa, Global Mapper, GWR, Python, Image J, SPSS, Excel, Work, PowerPoint, Access, Dreamweaver, Adobe, SAS, open source GIS programmes.CONTACT: tessaanderson@gmail.com

SPOUSE: Christina Ioannou FROM: GreeceSEEKING WORK IN: Central CopenhagenQUALIFICATION: MA in HRM London, UK. Bsc. American College USA.EXPERIENCE: Worked as a manager for 11 years in the retailing sector – fashion industry for a big international corporation. I had budget and personnel responsibility. I was in charge of the purchasing department.LOOKING FOR: Any kind of industry. Not simply in fashion. Where I will apply my leadership, sales, communicative and purchasing skills.LANGUAGE SKILLS: English, Swedish,Italian, French, GreekIT-EXPERIENCE: MS O� ce.CONTACT: christina_ioannou@yahoo.com, Tel: +46 7684 35211

SPOUSE: Mohamed Ismail FROM: EgyptSEEKING WORK IN: Marketing & SalesQUALIFICATION: Master of Science in Business and Economics with Specialization in Marketing. From Linnaeus University. Vaxjo, Sweden.EXPERIENCE: 3+ years in Marketing and sales, worked for one of the biggest Steel Companies in the middle east, worked in FMCG as a key account Sales Supervisor, worked as customer service international account for one of the biggest telecommunications companies in the world. Experience in business development and innovation. Worked in sales in retail shops. Very motivated and high potential, believe in team work and good in sales and presentation skills.LOOKING FOR: Part time or full time in CopenhagenLANGUAGE SKILLS: Fluent in English and Arabic. Danish and Swedish (intermediate and currently learning).IT EXPERIENCE: Excellent in MS o� ce, Excel, Word and Powerpoint, excellent in Browsing and internet searching. Excellent in SPSS, basic knowledge of Photoshop.CONTACT: mohamediismail86@yahoo.com, Tel: -45 5361 0031 SPOUSE: Caroline Warnes FROM: England, UK

SEEKING WORK IN: Midtjylland, preferably AarhusQUALIFICATION: MSc Environmental Dynamics; Monitoring, Evaluation and Management, BSc (Hons) Geography. Both from Loughborough University, UK.EXPERIENCE: Has worked as a mapping data analyst for a telecommunications company and an evaluation technician and analyst for a utilities company in the UK. Undergraduate thesis was written on public acceptance of wind energy and wind turbines. Experience with GIS, mapping, data analysis, producing reports, working with contractors and clients to time constraints and budgets.LOOKING FOR: Full time (preferably) or part time work within environmental/land acquisition/planning/wind farm project development.LANGUAGE SKILLS: English (mother tongue), Danish (beginner).IT EXPERIENCE: Microsoft O� ce, Internet, MapInfo, ArcGIS, Wallingford InfoNet, previous experience of SPSS and bespoke analysis software.CONTACT: caroline@warnes.dk, Tel: +45 3133 3659

SPOUSE: Erik Metzger FROM: San Francisco, CA USASEEKING WORK IN: Drug & Alcohol CounsellingQUALIFICATION: Masters degree in addiction counselling from Hazelden Graduate School of Addiction Studies; Currently preparing for the IC&RC counselling exam.EXPERIENCE: Drug & Alcohol Counsellor; Masters in Addiction Counselling from Hazelden Graduate School in Minnesota, USA, August 2012. Ten years of active work in various 12-step programs. I can meet with you and/or your family to develop a custom recovery plan; all ages welcome. Registered Yoga Teacher through: www.yogaalliance.org since July, 2010. I can supply yoga mats and supports; my apartment or yours! Teacher of business English with training from Berlitz, Virksomhedsskolen and Denmark’s Library School (Cand.scient.bibl., 2007). *All diploma’s and certi� cations available upon request.LOOKING FOR: Part/Full/Freelance/Volunteer work at treatment center and/or outpatient clinic.LANGUAGE SKILLS: English: Native; Danish: Fluent verbal skills and intermediate reading and writing.IT EXPERIENCE: PC and Mac – trained in many software packages and databases.CONTACT: erikmetz@gmail.com

EMPLOYMENT

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

SPOUSE: Jik Boom FROM: The NetherlandsSEEKING WORK IN: CopenhagenQUALIFICATION: Teacher.EXPERIENCE: CELTA (Cambridge Certi� cate in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages)see also Linkedin pro� le http://dk.linkedin.com/in/jikboom).LOOKING FOR: Work in the area of teaching (English), proofreading (English) and translation (English/Dutch-Dutch/English).LANGUAGE SKILLS: Dutch, English, French, German, Danish.IT EXPERIENCE: MS O� ce (Powerpoint, Word, Excel).CONTACT: jikboom@yahoo.com, Tel: +45 4212 9175

SPOUSE: Sucharita Reddy FROM: IndiaSEEKING WORK IN: Anywhere in DenmarkQUALIFICATION: Bachelor in Technology (Electrical Engineering).EXPERIENCE: 4+ years of professional experience in SAP ABAP & OO-ABAP programming for Material Management(MM), Plant Maintenance(PM), Document Management and Record Management System(DM/RM), Extended Warehouse Management (EWM), Sales and Distribution(SD) and Finance (FI) modules.LOOKING FOR: Job opportunities in IT (technical or Functional),Consulting,Management or Business Field.LANGUAGE SKILLS: Pro� cient in English & Hindi. Danish(learning Intensive course).IT EXPERIENCE: SAP ABAP/4 technical skills include ABAP Programs (Dialog Programming, Standard and Interactive Reports), ALV Reporting, Smartforms, User Exit and Field Exit Development, Interfacing Data with external systems, Data conversions, Programming using BDC, ABAP/4 Workbench, Data Dictionary, Batch Job management, Work� ows, Adobe Forms, Webdynpro, ABAP Objects.CONTACT: sucharita17.reddy@gmail.com, Tel: +45 527 1184.

SPOUSE: Debjani Nandy Biswas FROM: IndiaSEEKING WORK IN: Would like to join in kindergarten, School teacher in English, o� cial work in English.QUALIFICATION: B.A., M.A in English literature and language (American, European and Indian). EXPERIENCE: Temporary school teacher in Bongaon, India and involved in social work (handicapped society).LOOKING FOR: A possibility in getting practical experiences in kindergarten or any international school, o� cial work (administration) in English, voluntary work also.LANGUAGE SKILLS: English, Hindi, Sanskrit, Bengali, little Danish (currently learning).IT EXPERIENCE: Diploma in basic computer applications.CONTACT: debjaninb@gmail.com, Tel: +45 5021 9942.

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: 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, Psycho linguistics, 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) Danske Uddannelse PD3, Hindi and Urdu (Spoken) and Swedish (basic).IT EXPERIENCE: MS O� ce.CONTACT: ariful@id.aau.dk, arif401@yahoo.com, Tel: +45 4277 8296

SPOUSE: Lynn Kim FROM: South KoreaSEEKING WORK IN: CopenhagenQUALIFICATION: Bachelor of Science in Oceanography, Inha University, Incheon, Korea 2008. Studied Chinese in Yentai, Yentai University, Shandong, China Fall 2006. Complete a course in Korean Language Teacher’s training, 2012EXPERIENCE: Korea Coast Guard, Donghae; Pyongtaek, Police constable. Yeonsu Private Institute, Incheon, Teacher in Elementary, Middle School, and High School students in English. The Hankyoreh Newspaper Company, Seoul, Editorial bureau assistant. Weather and funeral column writing, Provide administrative support to the city desk. Inha University Newspaper, Incheon, Photo JournalistLOOKING FOR: Korean tutor as a part time job.LANGUAGE SKILLS: Fluent in English, intermediate Mandarin, Mongolian language, I’m learning Danish on Youtube.IT EXPERIENCE: MS O� ce (Excel, Powerpoint, Word).CONTACT: amorphophallus@jinbo.net

SPOUSE: Clotilde Imbert FROM: FranceSEEKING WORK IN: Greater CopenhagenQUALIFICATION: 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 estate development 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

PARTNERS:THE COPENHAGEN POST SPOUSE EMPLOYMENT PAGE

WHY: The Copenhagen Post wishes to help spouses looking for jobs in Denmark. We have on our own initiative started a weekly spouse job page in The Copenhagen Post, with the aim to show that there are already within Denmark many highly educated international candidates looking for jobs.If you are a spouse to an international employee in Denmark looking for new career opportunities, you are welcome to send a pro� le to The Copenhagen Post at aviaja@cphpost.dk and we will post your pro� le on the spouse job page when possible. Remember to get it removed in case of new job.

Denmark’s only English-language newspaper

SPOUSE: Tanzeel ur Rehman FROM: PakistanSEEKING WORK IN: Greater CopenhagenQUALIFICATION: Ms in Business administration from SwedenEXPERIENCE: 4+ years of experience as Customer Management and Pro� le Keeping in Telecom sector in Denmark. Implemented and follow Business Ethics in all the Marketing, promotional and branding activities throughout all the Denmark. Organized events for di� erent communities for 50-500 people. Worked in Banking sector as Business development Executive. LOOKING FOR: Full time or part time job.LANGUAGE SKILLS: English (� uent), Urdu(native), Punjabi (mother language), Danish (intermediate- currently learning).IT-EXPERIENCE: Bachelors in Computer Science.CONTACT: EMAIL: tanzeel.lyca@gmail.com, Tel: +45 4223 8800

SPOUSE: Silvia Figueira FROM: PortugalSEEKING WORK IN: CopenhagenQUALIFICATION: Landscape Architect Degree at Lisbon Technical University.EXPERIENCE: 14+ years of professional experience in planning and developing Land Use, Urban Planning, and Landscaping projects, that include development of master plans, urban design/renewal, retail areas, leisure areas, schools, residential complexes and private housing. Experience in garden construction consultancy and maintenance schedules.LOOKING FOR: Part/Full/Freelance work as a Landscape Architect at Architecture/or Landscape o� ces.LANGUAGE SKILLS: Portuguese mother tongue. Fluent in English and Spanish. Basic knowledge of French. Starting Danish course.IT EXPERIENCE: Pro� cient in the use of AutoCAD and MS O� ce. Trained in Adobe Illustrator/Photoshop and ArcGIS.CONTACT: silviam� gueira@gmail.com, Tel: +45 2237 4427

SPOUSE: Nitisha Sinha FROM: IndiaSEEKING WORK IN: CopenhagenQUALIFICATION: Masters in Geography and B.Ed.EXPERIENCE: 4 years 3 months in teaching geography in schools for the middle to senior level. I was also a foreign expat teacher and General Education O� cer at Ministry Of Education,of Singapore in Singapore.LOOKING FOR: Full time / Part time jobs in International School/Colleges/Universities to teach Geography.LANGUAGE SKILLS: English, Hindi and Bengali ( reading, writing and speaking).IT EXPERIENCE: Familiar with MS O� ce (Word, Powerpoint,) and Photoshop.CONTACT: nitz84@gmail.com, Tel: +45 7149 6579

176 - 11 April 2013 The CopenhAgen posT CphposT.dk EmploymEnt

SpouSe: Zsofia Gazdag From: HungarySeeking work in: Greater CopenhagenQualiFication: MSc in Veterinary Medicine(DVM), dansk dyrlæge autorisationexperience: 2 years of practicing veterinarian, 2 years of customer service at DHL, experience as assistant to VP at HBO.looking For: Full-time or part-time job. Any kind of job in a friendly environment, from flowershop to medical companies, simpler to more complex jobs, anything might be interesting. Veterinary jobs.language SkillS: Fluent in: English, Swedish and Hungarian. Beginner in Danish, learning currently, good in understanding of written Danish.it experience: Good skills with windows and office programs.contact: zsofia.gazdag@gmail.com, Tel: 31731723

SpouSe: Maihemutijiang Maimaiti From: ChinaSeeking work in: Aarhus area, DenmarkQualiFication: M.Sc. In Computer Science, Uppsala University, Sweden; Bachelor of Engineering in Computer Science, Southwest University.looking For: IT jobs.language SkillS: English, Chinese, Uyghur.it experience: 1 year experience in Java programming and modelling in VDM++.contact: mehmudjan@live.se

Biotech Job Vacancies

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

Novo Nordisk

Novo Nordisk

Denmark’s only English-language newspaper

Clinical Pharmacology ScientistBiopharm QC Support ProfessionalSenior Outsourcing ManagerStability Study ScientistAssociate managerInternational Trial Managers and Sr. International Trial managercLean ConsultantEHS and Quality CoordinatorProject ManagerPharmaceutical Medicine ProgrammeInvestment ManagerRegulatory ProfessionalClinical Project ManagerQA ChemistCompliance & Quality ManagerBusiness AnalystQA professionalChemistClinical Trial Administrator / Administrative AssistantCompetency Development ManagerQA ProfessionalClinical Compliance Coordinator - maternity covercLEAN® SpecialistAssociate ManagerSenior International Trial ManagerSenior GCP AdvisorResearch ScientistInternational Medical Manager / DirectorChemistLaboratory technicianManagerSr. QA for Qualification/Validation in Pilot fac., CMC Drug Product

Regulatory AssociateDepartment AssistantQA chemistSales & Operations Global PlannerTechnical Trial Manager

International Clinical Trial Manager, Experimental MedicineSenior Manager, Medical Devices, Global Regulatory Affairs

Ferring

Lundbeck

Novozymes

Leo-Pharma

Executive Assistant to the Vice President (VP) for Corporate Business Development & Strategy (CBDS)Global Brand ManagerRegulatory Affairs ManagerStudent AssistantClinical Data ManagerExperienced In Vitro Research Scientist

Quality professional

LIMS Solution Specialist – Global ITPrincipal Scientist for Disease PharmacologyTest Manager – LEO Pharma Global IT

SpouSe: Chiara Rodighiero From: Siena, ItalySeeking work in: Copenhagen or nearby areas, Greater CopenhagenQualiFication: Ph.D. in Microbiology (Univeristy of Bristol, UK), Laurea (Degree) in Pharmaceutical Chemistry (University of Padova, Italy), Project Manager Professional Certification (George Washington University, School of Business).experience: 5 years as Senior Project Manager for Novartis Vaccines and Diagnostics. Responsibility for managing multiple global projects at various stages of Research and Development. Experience coordinating activities within cross-functional teams and ensuring that internal research activities are fully aligned with project goals. Experience also includes managing a team of scientists, controlling research budgets and resource allocation. Also have experience working for Biotech (in United Kingdom) and academia (Harvard Medical School).looking For: Full time position in the Pharma/Biotech Industry in Research, Project Management or related fields suiting my qualifications and experience.language SkillS: Italian mother tongue, very good command of English and a working knowledge of French. it experience: Microsoft Office package. Excellent command of internet and ability to find information on the web. Excellent command of word-processor and spreadsheet applications. contact: chiararodighiero@hotmail.com, Tel +39 348 790 7554

SpouSe: Momina Bashir Awan From: PakistanSeeking work in: All of DenmarkQualiFication: MBA (Degrees Assessed by Danish Agency for International Education).experience: 4 years of wide experience as Human Resources Analyst in a USA based Pakistani.Organization. Involved in Recruitment of IT personnel for outsourcing, Compensation and benefits planning, Wage analysis, Conduct Training and Development Seminars and Team building. One year of Experience in Telesales of Citibank NA., 6 months of experience in Customer Services in Telecom sector.looking For: Jobs in HR and Customer Serviceslanguage SkillS: English [Fluent], Urdu [Mother tongue], Hindi [Fluent], Danish [Beginner’s Level].contact: mominabashir@msn.com, Tel: +45 7135 2387

Kindergarten and grade 1 assistants

The Kindergarten and Grade 1 teams are looking for additional Assistants to join the existing teams. The successful candidates should be qualified to work with children between the ages of 5 and 7 with a strong background and experience in early years’ education and with a minimum of two years of experience working in an early years programme. The position will start on August 1st 2012.

We are looking for early years’ educators who:• have a caring and nurturing approach with children• areorganizedanddemonstrateeffectiveclassroompractice• haveastrongworkethic• haveatrackrecordofbeinganeffectivecollaboratorandteamplayer• preferablyhaveknowledgeandexperienceoftheInternationalBaccalaureatePrimaryYearsProgramme.(IBPYP)

Primary & middle school danish teachers

We are lookingtofillonefull-timeandonepart-timeposition(60%)tojoinourteamofDanishteachers.ThesepositionsaretoteachbothDanishLanguageAandDanishasanAdditionalLanguage.The positions will start on August 1st 2012. The successful applicants should be qualified teachers with at least two years full time teaching experience. ThesuccessfulapplicantsmustbeDanishnativespeakers.

We are looking for teachers who:• candesigneffectiveanddevelopmentallyappropriatelearningopportunities• candemonstrateatrackrecordofexcellentclassroompracticeincludingin-depthunderstandingofdifferentiatedinstruction,secondlanguage acquisition and play based learning• haveastrongworkethicandexcellentorganizationalskills• haveatrackrecordofbeinganeffectivecollaboratorandteamplayer• have willingness and commitment to contribute to the development of the curriculum• have willingness and commitment to contribute to the greater school community• will demonstrate professionalism in its broadest sense• have a professional level of written and spoken English

contact details:Hellerupvej22-26,2900Hellerup

T+4539463311www.cis.dkmtj@cis.dk

coPenhagen international school is looKing to fill the folloWing Positions:

Pre-Kindergarten, Kindergarten and grade 1 teachers

The successful applicants should be qualified teachers with a minimum of 2 years’ experience working within an early years programme. The position will start on August 1st 2012.

We are looking for teachers who have knowledge and experience of the international Baccalaureate Primary years programme (iB PyP), and who:• candesigneffectiveanddevelopmentallyappropriatelearningopportunities• candemonstrateatrackrecordofexcellentclassroompracticeincludingin-depthunderstandingofdifferentiatedinstruction,secondlanguage acquisition and play based learning• haveastrongworkethicandexcellentorganizationalskills• haveatrackrecordofbeinganeffectivecollaboratorandteamplayer• havewillingnessandcommitmenttocontributetothedevelopmentofthecurriculum• havewillingnessandcommitmenttocontributetothegreaterschoolcommunity• willdemonstrateprofessionalisminitsbroadestsense

interested candidates should email a letter of application, cV and contact details of three current referees as well as any further inquiries to mette trock-Jansen at mtj@cis.dk. the closing date for applications is may 31st 2012, however applications will be handled on an on-going basis and appointments may be made prior to this date.

Stockholmsgade 592100 Copenhagen ØT +45 3946 3309 www.cis.dk

Hellerupvej 22-26 2900 HellerupT +45 3946 3311 www.cis.dk

Copenhagen International School is looking to fill two positions:Grade 1 (Permanent Position) & Grade 1 (Maternity Cover)

The maternity cover is from the 1st of August 2013 until the 31 st of July 2014

Copenhagen International School is looking for compassionate, committed and creative educators to join the Primary School. The successful applicants should be qualified primary school teachers with a minimum of 5 years of relevant classroom experience and minimum of 2 years of experience in international education.

QualificationsWe are looking for teachers who:• base their teaching philosophy and practice on recent research in education• can design inspiring, effective and developmentally appropriate learning opportunities• can demonstrate a track record of excellent classroom practice including differentiating instruction and

ensuring access to the curriculum for EAL learners• can demonstrate practice of systematic and effective on-going and summative assessment strategies

and feedback in support of student learning• have a strong work ethic and excellent organizational skills• can demonstrate the ability to work collaboratively in a culturally diverse community• have willingness and commitment to contribute to the greater school community• will demonstrate professionalism in its broadest sense

Knowledge and experience of the International Baccalaureate Primary Years Programme (IBPYP) will be an asset.

Applications including C.V. covering letter and the names and contact information of three current referees should be sent electronically to the Human Resources Manager Audrey Amos-Frederiksen at aaf@cis.dk by the 30th of April 2013.

Please note: Copenhagen International School reserves the right to make an appointment before the closing date mentioned above.

18 6 - 11 April 2013THE COPENHAGEN POST CPHPOST.DKCULTURE

� e Conspiracy of Spring

March 25

� e City

BådteatretApril 2

Born in 1945, he is a Danish TV host, journalist, philoso-pher and author. Furthermore, he is a self-taught gardening ex-pert and is best known for his gardening shows on DR and for often smoking a pipe.

Impressive! He sounds like an interesting old man ...He really isn’t! In Denmark, he is known for being extremely boring. He is even referred to in the comedy � lm ‘Fidibus’ in connection with an incredibly stupid girl, who is so annoying that not only would a paci� st like Gandhi hit her, but even a dullard like Søren Ryge would!

Oh ... is he violent?No, de� nitely not. � ough he did manage do a� ront most of the country when he in 1995 killed a pigeon on TV. Since then he has also given tips on how to kill mice and encouraged people to shoot feral cats rather than calling the cat protection organisation, Kattens Værn.

He doesn’t sound boring at allWell, considering that he is known for walking around in his garden planting � owers and mowing his lawn, he is pretty bor-ing. But he must give some useful advice because a fair number do like his shows. Even though these are probably old people who can’t really hear or see anything.

Is he really not funny at all?Oh, he is funny. He is so hysteri-cally boring that he is a must-see. He is an easy target for comedi-ans who never fail to provide an amusing parody of him. � ere’s one well-known sketch in which a comedian goes to visit Søren Ryge and plants some weed in the famous garden with a lit-tle sign saying ‘Sørens Ryger’, which in Danish slang translates as Søren’s weed.

So his name is recognised by cannabis smugglers?Yes, and should he ful� l his retire-ment promise, he might end up sharing a cell with one. He’s an-nounced that when he turns 70 in two years, he will shoot a cat with his shotgun during his � nal show. He knows that he will get � red if he does so, so his timing is intentional and according to him, the best way to say goodbye after 27 years on the screen.

What was it like playing back in the early ‘90s after the Wall came down in Berlin? � e situation after the Wall came down was comparable to the Wild West. � e Wall com-ing down was like a revolution – all the di� erent in� uences, like communism from the East and capitalism, consumption and so on from the West, all came together. It was a very exciting time musically as well. A lot of di� erent styles from all the ra-dios and from di� erent sectors came together.

What’s on your iPod right now? What are you inspired by? Right now I’m listening to the new My Bloody Valentine al-bum quite a bit. Modeselek-tor are quite diverse; we came from ‘80s hip-hop, then went straight to acid house, back to hip-hop à la Public Enemy and then into techno, Sonic Youth rock – you name it. � ere are lots of undiscovered sound samples and non-Western ori-entated styles of music from the ‘20s and ‘40s that inspire us when we compose, [which] is more like jamming. It helps if you have a knowledge of music, and I have to admit that Gernot and I don’t have proper musi-cal knowledge. I don’t play the piano, for instance, so the way we use our instruments is more intuitive than anything else.

Andreas Nguyen and Hannes Pastor. � e impressive choreog-raphy was punctuated by comi-cal sounds normally reserved for children’s cartoons. It’s easy to forget that in order to look real-istic, � ght scenes require just as much rehearsal as a dance rou-tine, if not more.

If there was one standout moment, it was the one when

a confetti canon went o� and brightly coloured paper was strewn across the stage. Not only was it a great moment visually as the paper � uttered to the ground, and two of the male dancers desperately tried to grab handfuls of the con-fetti, scraping it into a bucket and throwing it over themselves in order to try and recreate the original spectacle. But it also served to perfectly capture Ravnhøj’s desire to prolong the best moments in life.

niceties lurks vulnerability, jeal-ousy and betrayal − something threatening and unpleasant. It’s a reminder that only the English can muster sarcasm in the middle of a nervous breakdown.

� e neighbour Jenny (Va-nessa Poole in a thrilling perfor-mance), a nurse on nightshifts, appears in the garden. Her mo-

Sebastian Szary of electronic duo Modeselektor reveals why they can’t stop returning to Denmark

S EBASTIAN SZARY and Gernot Bronsert got to-gether in the early 1990s

when their home country Ger-many had just been shaken by the collapse of the Berlin Wall. � e duo found gigs playing a fu-sion of acid house, techno and hip-hop to hordes of anarchic Berliners in a now-united city.

Since then, they have gone on to produce music alongside the likes of Ellen Allien, the city’s ‘� rst lady of electronic music’, and Radiohead’s � om Yorke, who is a fan of their ec-lectic electronic sound.

� e Copenhagen Post caught up with Modeselektor’s Sebastien Szary for a short inter-view before their massive show at Store Vega a few weeks ago. � e topics on the table included Copenhagen, Modeselektor’s musical inspirations and work-ing with � om Yorke.

CPH Post: So, Szary – is this your � rst time in Copenhagen?Szary: Well, Gernot is the one who is really good at counting the years. I think we [� rst played here] in 2005, and we’ve been back every year since then. � is is the eighth or tenth time. We’ve played in Aarhus and Copenha-gen and even on Bornholm in the pre-Modeselektor era.

What was it like at Roskilde?Roskilde was amazing. It’s a re-ally nice festival. We’ve played there twice – last year and two years ago with Moderat, the side-project we have together with [German electronic musi-cian] Apparat. You can feel that it’s a festival with a lot of history.

IN THIS performance we will strive for the best mo-ments in Life, and go way

over the top to grasp them and hang onto them,” says choreog-rapher Kasper Ravnhøj about his new performance dance piece ‘� e Conspiracy of Spring’, and he’s not kidding. His dancers’ constant drive to jump higher, reach further and move faster is brilliantly brought to the stage using stunts, ladders and martial arts trickery. Even if you’re not an adrenaline junkie, it’s easy to relate to Ravnhøj’s fear of not living life to the full.

At times it was unclear what was meant to be part of the show and what was part of the course on the second night of a live, fast-paced performance, but this kept the audience on its toes. Still, there was plenty to contemplate, like the lights frozen into blocks of ice, strung up from the ceiling, dripping continually into buckets − an ef-fective visual metaphor of time passing, although far from ideal if you have a weak bladder.

� ere were lighter moments during the performance, such as the martial arts � ghting between

BÅDTEATRET, the boat theatre in Nyhavn: an intimate place to go and

watch a play. It’s ideal if you’re in love, but you may think twice about getting married after watching ‘� e City’ ...

White roses adorn the toilets on premiere night. I question why they aren’t pink. � e atmos-phere is poignant. � e woman in front is making a fuss about a seat staying open for a late re-viewer. � e lights go out. Some-where in suburbia an intriguing story is unfolding.

A middle-aged couple both dressed in pink tops, Clair and Christopher (Sue Hansen Styles and Andrew Je� ers), nag each other. At � rst seemingly ordinary, polite and chatty, underneath the

Insights into a mode of working

Springing forth the essence of life

City’s in the pink of health

Now a question about � om Yorke.Ah, � om Yorke. ‘� e T Ques-tion’ – it comes up often.

What is it like to work with him? You guys are quite close, right? Yeah, we’ve been friends for about ten years. � e partnership started with remixes, initially, and then we teamed up with Radiohead, and it’s going pretty well. It’s about more than just music; we are good friends with � om. He’s a nice guy.

What’s your favourite city to perform in?� ere are quite a few, actually. We like cities that aren’t in the focus that much. Glasgow can be pretty fun, even in the rain, and I like the people there. It’s a bit rough and similar to the rough feel of East Germany. San Francisco and New York are fun, too, as is Guadalajara, Mexico.

So – what’s next for Modeselek-tor? What are you working on at the moment? Right now, we’re working on the next Moderat album with Apparat. It should be out in August. It’s time to continue our partnership with Apparat, so that’s taking up almost all of our time. Apart from that, we have our own private lives to keep us occupied!

ALLAN MUTUKU-KORTBÆK

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Who is ... Søren Ryge?

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Sebastian Szary: he likes Roskilde, My Bloody Valentine and Glaswegians

� e martial arts training came in handy on the slippery stage

Andrew Je� ers, Emilia Poole Jonsson, Sue Hansen Styles and Vanessa Poole make up the cast of ‘� e City’

The impressive choreography was punctuated by comical sounds normally reserved for children’s cartoons

SIGRID NEERGAARDtivations are dubious, insinuat-ing and suggestive, complaining that she can’t sleep because of the noise made by Claire and Chris-topher’s kids. Her husband is at war, her patients cling onto life, and her frenzy contrasts with the suburban issues faced by her neighbours.

We hear the children laugh-

ing, but we only meet the girl (Emilia Poole Jönsson, who is extremely good and, yes, the ac-tual daughter of Vanessas Poole) – what has happened to the boy? Has he, as it was mentioned, been locked inside the playroom for playing too loudly?

Something is simmering, something dark and quite sad,

something shining like the � ash of a sharp blade or an insincere smile. When was the last time anything felt natural in this house? Everything real has disap-peared with the wind, the bub-bly and the memories.

“Shall I come over and kiss you then?” Christopher asks his wife. But does he really want to? No, it’s no use asking a woman if she wants to be kissed. Surely, you would just do it, says Clair. “Impose your will upon me.” He doesn’t move and instead repeats the obvious: “So shall I come over and impose my will upon you then?” She cries, they shout and argue. Before they had polite-ness, and now even that has gone. ‘Pretty in Pink’ has turned into ‘Who’s afraid of Virginia Wolf ’.

‘� e City’ is dark-witted and has a subtle cutting edge, and director Barry McKenna has succeeded in getting powerful performances out of a cast who look disturbingly comfortable in their roles.

Hviids Vinstue in Nyhavn is the country’s oldest bar. Restrictive laws and the wear and tear of three centuries have done their best to close it, but it keeps on serving

C OPENHAGEN is fa-mous for its basement bars. � e iconic Nyhavn harbour, which for many

tourists is the singular image evoked by the mere mention of our beloved city, is lined with several such drinking holes, many of which are owned by the big breweries. However, if like me you � nd yourself han-kering after a ‘real’ drinking experience, you could do worse than Hviids Vinstue on the cor-ner of Lille Kongensgade and Kongens Nytorv.

� is is not a bar review!

BEFORE YOU label this article a bar review and berate its poor placement on this page, consider this: established in 1723, Hviids Vinstue is the oldest wine bar or beer tavern in Copenhagen. It has born witness to both the Great Fires of 1 7 2 8 and 1795,

two wars with England in 1801 and 1807, the First World War and the � ve-year Occupation during the second. Next decade, the bar will celebrate its 300th birthday.

Decorated in dark wood and lit by candles, Hviids Vin-stue makes the mere act of entering the bar a transforma-tive experience that e� ectively takes a punter back in time. It’s � lled with paintings of numer-ous intellectuals, writers, art-ists and actors from the nearby Royal � eatre (the parents of celebrated actress Johanne Lu-ise Heiberg supposedly met in the bar), many of whom have enjoyed each others’ company drinking in these atmospheric rooms. � e decorative artefacts help to create a sense of a Co-penhagen history that lives, breathes and reaches out from every shadow.

Lethal legislation

TOWARDS THE end of the century that saw the establish-ment of Hviids, a new law was introduced that threatened its existence. Overdådigheds ind-skrænkning (roughly translated as ‘restricted luxuries’) was an ill-advised 1783 policy, origi-

nally intended to encourage the

purchas ing of domes-tic goods as op-posed to imports a n d to cut d o w n

on the u s e of for-

eign la-bour, thereby

boosting the economy. It placed limits

on all sorts of goods, from clothes to food. � ose

in the catering professions were particularly hard hit. � e num-ber of ingredients for those pre-paring meals became severely limited, but for a bar in the Scandinavian climate that had built a reputation on wine im-ported from warmer European climes, this new policy was a potential death sentence. How were they supposed to cater to a clientele whose loyalty depended on the product they were for-bidden to acquire? � ey would surely go bankrupt, doing little for themselves or the economy.

Widely regarded as a thoughtless, unprecedented as-sault on the nobility of wine-sellers, the introduction of Overdådigheds indskrænkning was followed by consistent lob-bying for an immediate revoca-tion. Not yet known as Hviids Vinstue, the bar operated as a tavern for half a century, and it was clear that a couple of de� ant French merchants were enabling the business to run in plain sight, despite this being a violation of the new law. Ultimately, good sense prevailed when the tavern became one of the few for whom certain exceptions were made, and their business was legalised.

� anks to the thespians

IT PLAYED in the tavern’s fa-vour that it didn’t resemble any of the more unsavoury estab-lishments down in the harbour or the centre of town. An air of respectability was maintained largely by way of a shared cli-entele with two theatres: the Lille Grønnegade-teatret and of course Det Kongelige Teater, which is situated just opposite. Reportedly, women could fre-quent the bar unaccompanied, seldom raising so much as an eyebrow. Since its legalisation, the tavern has been doing busi-ness consistently without hin-drance from the government.

Drunks never change

AN ESTEEMED Norwegian

playwright, philosopher and his-torian of the time, Ludvig Hol-berg, observed that “older Danes have taken to amusing them-selves by spending evenings in wine houses, getting increasingly drunk and lambasting what they perceive as the errors of youth on display. � ey do this until near death or drowning and it is neces-sary for them to be towed home.”

While this is likely to be a fair observation of many of Copen-hagen’s watering holes, it is also indicative of the reckless manner in which proprietors would ply their punters with booze until they were broke or broken. Ap-parently this little tavern broke the mould by cultivating a repu-tation for serving guests in a more responsible manner.

Blessed by Bacchus

IN 1763, the owner at the time tore down the original timbered house and erected the current building, setting up residence in the � oors above the sparsely furnished basement. � e bar continued to function through-out. � rough an endless list of disasters and mishaps, the dev-astating � re of 1795 and the relentless bombing assault from the British in 1807, the base-ment continued to serve drinks, as though Bacchus himself were divinely intervening to protect the tavern − a place of worship to the wine god.

� e importance of being Ernst

THE PLACE became a mecca for artists and philosophers to exchange their ideas about the world outside while sipping on a rum punch or hot brandy toddy. � is was the tipple of choice among liquor lovers be-fore whisky arrived in Denmark during the 1880s. At that time, the bar was taken over by a wine merchant by the name of Ernst Hviid, and his name has re-mained with the establishment ever since.

MARK WALKER

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two wars with England in 1801 in the catering professions were playwright, philosopher and his-MARK WALKER

Surviving 300 years of Great Fires, World Wars and sloshed sailors

It has born witness to both the Great Fires of 1 7 2 8 and 1795,

as ‘restricted luxuries’) was an ill-advised 1783 policy, origi-

nally intended to encourage the

purchas ing of domes-tic goods as op-posed to imports a n d to cut d o w n

on the u s e of for-

eign la-bour, thereby

boosting the economy. It placed limits

on all sorts of goods, from clothes to food. � ose

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THE COPENHAGEN POST CPHPOST.DK 196 - 11 April 2013DENMARK THROUGH THE LOOKING GLASS

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