Copenhagen Post Issue 1151

By Katie Rice

Council and parliamentarypoliticians have asked theMetro firm to consideradjusting the plannedworks for two new Metrostations

ANUMBER OF city politi-cians have approached theMetro company aboutinvestigating the possibility

of moving two of the plannednew underground stations.

The Metro Circle line willcover 15.5 kilometres, linkingthe current two Metro lines andFrederiksberg. It will feature 17new stations, two of which havecaused extreme controversyamong local residents.

The proposed station at Gam-mel Strand, opposite the parlia-ment buildings, has irked localswho fear damage to the sur-rounding historical buildingsand disruption to the profitabletourist area until building iscomplete in 2018.

The extensive planned worksat Nørrebroparken will close offmany of the recreational areasand reduce the amount of greenspace for locals, many of whomare upset by the move as the parkwas only recently reopened afterextensive renovation.

Jesper Christensen, chairman

of the Social Democrats CityCouncil group, has asked theMetro company to find out if itcan limit the disruption at thebuilding sites. He has askedthem to investigate reducing thesize of the Nørrebro building siteby a third for the majority of theproject and to see if a construc-tion platform can be erected overthe canal to reduce the spaceoccupied by equipment andworkers at Gammel Strand.

The total cost of the twoadjustments would be 30 millionkroner, which Christensen

expects the council to pay for.‘This is worth looking into,’

he told Politiken newspaper. ‘Itis important to me that we dothings as carefully as possible.’

Meanwhile, the head of thecity’s Culture and Leisuredepartment, Pia Allerslev, hasproposed moving the GammelStrand station from beneath thecobbled square to underneath thenearby canal. With support fromher Liberal Party parliamentarycolleague, Eyvind Vesselbo, shehas written to the company ask-ing it to examine the technical

and environmental effects of anunderwater station.

Sources within the Metrocompany told BerlingskeTidende newspaper that anunderwater project is feasible.The bottom of the canal wouldeffectively act as the ceiling forthe station.

‘Before we can be sure we’veinvestigated every possibility, Isimply don’t think we have theright to turn the area into a build-ing site for years to come for thepeople who live around GammelStrand,’ said the source.

Subway stop could be under water

VOL. 11 ISSUE 5124 DEC - 8 JAN 09

THE DANISH NEWS IN ENGLISH

IN & OUTDon't spoil your festive funfretting about what to do on the big night. Here's the 'his'and 'hers' guide to what's onthis New Year's Eve

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NEWS

Year in review. We round upall the events that have beenin the Danish news over thepast 12 months

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2009 CALENDAR

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BUSINESS

Latest blow to airline SASsees its staff - includingpilots and managers - havetheir salaries cut

12

Three soldiers dead andone wounded in Denmark’s bloodiestmonth in Afghanistan

THREE DANISH soldiersserving with NATO forcesin Afghanistan were killed

and a fourth seriously wound-ed when their vehicle droveover an explosive last week.

‘We have experienced ahard loss today with threedead and one injured as theresult of a roadside bomb ormine,’ said Poul Kiærskou,head of the Army OperationalCommand.

The armed forces laterreleased the names of thethree men, all between theages of 21 and 23. SergeantJacob Moe Jensen, PrivateSebastian La Cour Holm andPrivate Benjamin DS Ras-mussen died as they were trav-elling between CampArmadillo and Camp Price inthe Gereshk area of the south-ern Helmand province.

Their deaths bring the totalnumber of Danish soldierslost in the Afghan conflict to22 since 2002, with 12 deathsoccuring this year. (kr)

The well-known underwater statues at Gammel Strand could well prove prescient if plans go ahead

COMMUNITYHe seems to be everywhereat the moment but justwhere is the real Santafrom? The Copenhagen Postinvestigates

10

Citilet Apartments are an attractive and practical alternative to

traditional hotel accommodation.

CITILET A/SFortunstræde 4

DK-1065 Copenhagen KTel. +45 7022 2129Fax +45 3391 3077

E-mail: [email protected] Web: www.citilet.dk

By Robert Cellini

DSB has decided to spendthe millions of kroner ittypically uses for repairson creating security teamsto patrol trains

NATIONAL rail serviceDSB has announcedplans to create securityteams to patrol its trains

and station platforms as a wayto prevent vandalism andthreats to passengers, reportsMetroXpress newspaper.

Up to 25 DSB employeeswill be trained for the forcethat will help to limit the dam-age due to vandalism, whichin 2008 has cost DSB 2.5 mil-lion kroner to repair.

Erik Christensen, head ofDSB personnel, said that theteams’ first priority would beto try to defuse potentiallytroublesome situations before

they start.‘These employees will be

especially good at talking anunpleasant situation intoanother direction,’ he said.‘I’m not ruling out that they’lllearn self-defence. But in situ-ations where talking provesineffective they should walkaway.’

One are aDSB has had con-siderable problems with rowdypassengers is after footballmatches, when drunk fansoften cause trouble. In March,

a group of FC Copenhagenfans destroyed the interior ofseveral train cars on the wayback from a match inNæstved. The fans alsoknocked down a pregnantwoman and threatened to kickher.

Starting in the spring, theanti-thug teams will patrolplatforms at places DSB deter-mines are ‘high-risk’ stationson match days. DSB said thesecurity groups will be out infull force by the summer.

City to offer free wireless hotspotsUp to 1000 points in thecity will allow for freewireless internet connec-tions to people’s laptopsand mobile phones

COPENHAGEN is one of 52municipalities that willsoon offer free internet

connections to people on thego who have wireless capabili-ties on their laptops or mobilephones, reports public broad-caster DR.

The nationwide project wasgiven the go-ahead on Fridayfrom the country’s StateAdministration Office, whichdetermined the venture waslegal.

Copenhagen is set to have1000 of the planned 6000internet ‘hotspots’ to be estab-lished nationwide.

A hotspot sends out aninternet access signal to a sur-rounding area of about 150metres, where those who havewireless capabilities can surfthe net for free.

An estimated 5.6 millionsquare metres will be coveredby the hotspots - around 1 per-cent of the country’s total area.The service is being offered

for free because a percentageof screen space will be devotedto advertisers and the munici-palities themselves.

‘We’re also negotiatingwith the transport sector toprovide the free service at allbus stops and train stations,’

said Camilla Banja of GratisDanmark, the company that isorganising the project.

A pilot project is already upand running on the islands ofLolland and Falster for passen-gers of the Lolland railway.

Every hotspot costs a

municipality around 8,000kroner. The City of Copen-hagen’s bill for implementingthe project will amount to 8million kroner and LadyMayor Ritt Bjerregaard saidthe service will be available bysummer. (rc)

2

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Editor in Chief(Responsible under Danish Press Law)Philip G Shepherd

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NEWS THE COPENHAGEN POST24 DEC - 8 JAN 2009

Trains to get anti-thug squads Prize idiots

TWO YOUNG MEN wereawarded Ekstra Bladet news-paper’s ‘Drunken Stupor’ prizefor the year’s strangest drinkinduced mistake. The two hadbeen to a party in Copenhagen,where they got suitably drunk.They continued drinking after-wards at several bars, endingup at Kastrup Airport. Nearlyall of this escaped their memo-ries when they woke up thenext morning - on the Spanishisland of Mallorca. The twohad purchased the tickets at theAir Berlin counter but remem-bered nothing of it. The tripcost them each 4000 kroner,but they were given free beersby the newspaper for their‘efforts’.

Movie mania

MORE PEOPLE went to themovies this year than in any ofthe previous 31 years, accord-ing to figures from the DanishFilm Institute. Although num-bers for the Christmas seasonhave not yet been included,DFI estimates that around 4.3million tickets will have beensold by the end of the year - themost since 1976. Danish movie‘Flame & Lemon’ topped tick-et sales for the year with668,000 - 33 percent of totalticket sales. The latest IndianaJones film took second placeon the ticket sales list, followedby ‘Quantum of Solace’ and‘Mamma Mia’.

Girl boxer champ

A TEENAGE boxer fromÅrhus has been crowned YouthChampion at the inauguralYouth and Junior Girl’s Euro-pean Championships in Bul-garia. More than 130 boxersbetween the ages of 15 and 18took part, representing 17 dif-ferent countries. 18-year-oldDiana Nadim also took thegold medal in the ban-tamweight category (54kg)when she stopped BulgarianTania Ilieva in the first round.Ilieva went to the count twicewithin the first half minute andNadim was ahead 4-0 when thefinal was stopped. The Århusteenager previously picked upthe bantamweight title at theNordic Junior Championshipsin Lund earlier this year with a5-0 victory over Swede, SophieSundqvist.

Alphabeat coup

DANISH ARTISTS Alphabeatand Ida Corr have beenannounced as two of the 10winners for the 2009 EU Bor-der Breakers Awards. Theawards are funded by the EUCulture Programme and recog-nize the most successful debutsfrom European musicians andare compiled from record salesoutside the artist’s home coun-try. The Danish acts will bejoined by Swedish indie starLykke Li and British stars TheTing Tings to accept theiraward at the Dutch EurosonicFestival on 15 January. This isthe sixth year of the awards,which applaud an originalEuropean debut album.

IN BRIEF

Soon it will not just be in internet cafes where you can surf the web while on the go

In an effort to stop anti-social behaviour and protect passengers DSB proposes to place security guards on trains

3THE COPENHAGEN POST24 DEC - 8 JAN 2009

4 THE COPENHAGEN POST24 DEC - 8 JAN 2009

By Wesley Spyke

Former IT Factory CEOStein Bagger pleads guiltyto defrauding company forover 500 million kroner

FUGITIVE chief executiveof the bankrupt IT Factory,Stein Bagger, arrived backin Denmark last week

accompanied by two officersfrom the American immigrationauthority. He was then handedover to dozens of waiting Dan-ish police officers at KastrupAirport. Under Danish law,Bagger was ordered to appear

before a judge for preliminaryquestioning within 24 hours ofhis arrest.

The former executive wasdriven by police to Lyngby dis-trict council, where he wascharged with defrauding IT Fac-tory for more than 500 millionkroner as well as falsifyingcompany documents. Aftermeeting with his lawyer, Baggerpleaded guilty to the twocharges. Immediately after thepreliminary hearing Bagger’swife, Anette Uttenthal, fired herhusband’s lawyer, Jesper Mad-sen, and hired Lars Kjeldsen ofNyborg & Rørdam law firm todefend her husband, accordingto TV2 News.

Uttenthal was herself initial-

ly implicated in her husband’salleged fraud by B.T. newspa-per. She has since given thenewspaper an ultimatum toprint a retraction by 24 Decem-ber or face legal action.

Bagger disappeard while onholiday in Dubai before taking aflight to New York. He thendrove thousands of kilometersacross the country, resurfacingin Los Angeles on 6 December.There, he walked into a LApolice department and informedauthorities he was wanted byInterpol on fraud and forgerycharges.

Considered a flight risk,Bagger will remain in policecustody without bail. If convict-ed of the crimes, he faces a

maximum sentence of eightyears imprisonment. The suaveswindler admitted at the prelim-inary hearing that he had triedto cover up his fraud by deletingnumerous e-mails from hiscomputers. Also at the hearing,Bagger requested to be placedin solitary confinement - report-edly over fears for his safety.

Judges Søren Seerup Holmand Karin Hald have beenappointed to oversee the trial.And experts say it will be a longone, as the case addresses oneof the biggest instances ofalleged fraud in the country’shistory. The trial will reportedlybe closed-door, with membersof the press not allowed to viewthe proceedings.

Samariten has given up itsbid to drive emergencyvehicles in Mid-Jutland

SWEDISH ambulance serv-ice company Samariten con-firmed many people’s worst

suspicions last week when itgave up on its planned contractsto drive emergency vehicles inRegion Mid-Jutland and on theisland of Samsø.

Reports of under-financingand a lack of qualified employ-ees have dogged the company inrecent months. Samariten stillhopes to be able to cover itsobligations to drive in RegionZealand and the Capital Region.

Bent Hansen, president ofthe Danish Association ofRegions, issued an ultimatum tothe Swedish company earlierlast week that the contracts forregions in which Samariten has

won the bids for next year hadto be signed by Friday.

Hansen said the Mid-Jutlandand Samsø bids will now beoffered to the next highest bid-ders, Falck and Samsø Rescue.

Samariten’s problems havegot labour unions lining up tomake the company’s task onZealand even more difficult.

Union 3F has instituted ablockade against Samariten thatprevents its members fromworking for the Swedish ambu-lance company. 3F representsemployees of Falck, which pre-viously had most of the con-tracts offered to Samariten.

LO, the nation’s largestunion confederation, is also nowtaking action and has instructedits trade workers not to work onany projects related toSamariten. Finding enoughemployees to be able to effec-tively carry out its services willtherefore be a difficult venturefor the Swedish company.

Kristian Ebbensgaard, presi-dent of Region Zealand, is will-ing to give Samariten the bene-fit of the doubt until at least thenew year.

‘We’re still working withSamariten and expect thatthey’re prepared to do the jobhere,’ he said. ‘We hope to getthe contracts in place by the newyear or at least by January. Wehave no reason to believe thatthey can’t meet their obliga-tions.’ (rc)

Fugitive CEO is remanded in custody without bail

White Christmas just a dream

The Danish Meteorological Institute (DMI) has cancelled any of for a white Christmas, so it looks like skaters at the Kongens Nytorv ice rink willhave to be content with artificial ice underfoot. DMI said the only precipitation likely to fall on Christmas Eve will be rain as temperatures willstill remain mild although there is the chance of a little sleet in eastern regions. While Denmark lacks the white stuff, Greenland will more thanmake up for it with snow storms forecast over the holiday period. The last time Denmark had a white Christmas was in 1995.

Ambulance blues

Is Samariten ready for the job?

Bagger is currently being held in Vestre Fængsel

Party put on for childrenliving in institutions withstars lending a hand

CELEBRITIES took the role ofSanta’s helpers last week whenthey brought presents to morethan 120 displaced children whoare spending the holidays ininstitutions and foster care.

The children were invited to aspecial Christmas party at theNational Museum of Art for theannual Help the Children Dayevent.

The voluntary organisation isholding six large Christmas par-ties during the holiday period for

550 vulnerable children, withsports and television personali-ties handing out gifts.

Sylvia Emilia Blazejowskihelped run the Copenhagen eventand said the council had provideda gift worth 185 kroner for eachchild. ‘It’s hard to compare itwith the gifts that other childrenwill have under the Christmastree, but we want to give them anexperience they can rememberfor ever,’ she told BerlingskeTidende newspaper.

More than 14,000 Danishchildren are living in institutionsor foster care because of a trou-bled life at home with their par-ents. (kr)

Stars bring joy to displaced childrenONLY ONE IN four applicantsmanaged to pass the new Danishcitizenship test and manyschools are now calling for thetest to be cancelled after themass failure rate.

The first test since the changeof rules was introduced in Sep-tember took place last week and,according to calculations fromJyllands-Posten newspaper, thefailure rate was 90 percent insome parts of the country. In thethree tests prior to the rulechange, the average pass rate was97 percent.

Each applicant paid 600 kro-ner to sit the exam, which testedthem on their knowledge of Den-mark, its culture, customs and

history. More than 5,500 appli-cants had registered to take thetest by the 5 November deadline,when the Integration Ministryannounced the next day that allapplicants would be subjected tothe tougher version of the exam.

The director of the VUF lan-guage school in Frederiksberg,Lotte Darre, called the move‘quite unacceptable and out oforder’.

Poul Neergaard from thecountry’s largest languageschool, Lærdansk in Århus, saidthe questions were bordering onthe ridiculous.

‘They require a knowledge ofabsurd historical trivia. Theapplicants should be tested to see

if they have the relevant knowl-edge to function in modern Dan-ish society.’

Out of 22 schools contactedby the paper, the lowest pass ratefrom the previous exam in Junewas 90 percent. With last week’sexam the lowest pass rate waseight percent and the highest 33percent.

The citizenship test isorganised by the Danish lan-guage schools and is heldtwice a year. If a candidatepasses the test, they also haveto prove they have adequateDanish skills and are finan-cially self-supporting beforethey can become a Danish cit-izen. (kr)

Citizenship test ‘too hard’

Santa sent his celebrity helpers

20086 THE COPENHAGEN POST24 DEC - 8 JAN 2009

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That was the year that was in Denmark...January

SeptemberAugustJuly

February March

THE YEAR BEGAN as we all expect it, with an uplifting NewYear’s Eve speech by the queen and a serious talk by the PM aswe prepared to head back to work. Bad news came early, how-

ever, when on 7 January, 19-year-old Anton Njie Hansen wasstabbed to death on Strøget pedestrian street in a dispute over hishat. The attack was caught on shop cameras and opened a nationaldebate that has led to a change in laws allowing CCTV. Hansen’sattackers were later convicted of murder.

IMMIGRATION, Iraqi repatriation and transportation were amongthe three major topics we covered in July. ‘Official silence kept cou-ples waiting’ was the first of many a story in the on-going issue of

EU migration rules conflicting with tough immigration policies. Formany Iraqi immigrants here as refugees, improving conditions in theirhome country meant July proved the month they began taking a seri-ous look at repatriation programmes. Transport issues moved up whendiscussions about congestion charges gained speed and citizen con-cerns over the construction of the new Metro Circle Line were voiced.Finally, the first tremors of what now goes under the term ‘financecrisis’ cracked the surface when Roskilde Bank, then the country’stenth largest bank, was declared insolvent.

AS PARIS HILTON came to Copenhagen to push her new line ofhandbags during fashion week, a troupe of 84 athletes departedthe country for Beijing and the Olympic games, where the most

dramatic moment came when the two-man crew the 49’er class sailboat struck gold with the help of a borrowed Croatian boat. Despiteprotests, the duo were allowed to keep the medal. Also in the water-craft category the Viking ship ‘Sea Stallion’ made its return voyagehome after spending a year in Dublin. And with economic figurestaking a beating worthy of a Viking, the PM did his best to remainupbeat - ‘I don’t believe in recession,’ he said.

THE END OF summer began with a move to help city residentsbreathe easier when a law mandating lorries driving in the citycentre be fitted with exhaust filters came into effect. Breathing

easy, however, was one thing residents of the Nørrebro district werehaving trouble doing after a series of shootings between rival gangs.After dodging a bullet of their own last year, six T-shirt sellers fromFighters+Lovers saw their acquittal on charges of supporting terroristgroups overturned. Perhaps the rough talk was too much for somelovers of the Little Mermaid, who proposed sending her to China forthe 2010 World Expo. Fortunately, the rest of us looking for a way outwill be able to take an express route south after a final decision tobuild a bridge between Denmark and Germany was signed.

IN FEBRUARY, handball hysteria reached new heights, we pro-claimed, after the men’s handball team returned victorious from theEuropean Championships. Their return flight to Denmark received

an escort from Air Force F-16s, prompting allegations of genderinequality from the women’s team – which has never received thehonour, despite winning gold medals in the Olympics, World Cham-pionships and European Championships. Viggo Mortensen was intown to take home a Bodil movie award. The Mohammed cartoonswere reprinted and the immigration minister expressed her misgiv-ings about deporting two men suspected of plotting to kill one of thecartoonists. For lovers of the great outdoors, there was good news, asscientists determined that people who spend a lot of time outside livelonger – although they have yet to determine why.

UK TRADE MINISTER Digby Jones was in town to plug themerger between British Chamber of Commerce in Denmarkand the British Import Union. Elsewhere a Danish reporter

found himself out of bounds in Texas, nearly getting himself shotas a trespasser when he lost his way trying to find the Bush ranch,where the PM was visiting a good friend. The PM was rumoured tobe candidate for higher office – possibly as the first EU presidentor Nato secretary general. Ireland’s rejection of the Treaty of Lis-bon ended the presidential bid, but the PM is reportedly remainshigh on Nato’s short list. Two of the sadder notes from the month:Copenhagen’s last fishwife gave up her trade, ending a centuriesold tradition of open air fish markets, and Denmark surpassed Swe-den as the world’s most heavily taxed country at an average of 47.7percent.

2008 7THE COPENHAGEN POST24 DEC - 8 JAN 2009

April

DecemberNovemberOctober

May June

2008 as reported in The Copenhagen Post

FIFTEEN-YEARS OLD and already a star, Martin won TV’s X-Factor competition. One of his concerts on Town Hall Squaredrew thousands, as did an anti-violence vigil held after the ran-

dom beating death of a teen delivering papers in the Amager dis-trict. The drama of the Olympics started early when the culture andsport minister aired his reservations about attending the Game’sopening ceremony. After a one-on-one pep talk with the PM, reser-vations to attend the games were made. The PM - mum on thehomefront about a possible euro vote - was quoted in the Germanpress as saying he was ready to ask voters to reconsider their EUreservations. On the royal side, princess-to-be Marie made her firstappearance at the queen’s annual birthday salute.

ATOUGH MONTH in many respects, October saw parliamentrespond to the finance crisis by setting up a safety net, fundedinitially with a 35 billion kroner contribution from banks, to

catch ailing financial institutions and insure customers for theentire value of their deposits. The finance crisis also claimed itsbiggest victim to date in Denmark when Sterling airline was forcedto declare bankruptcy. Two men arrested in 2007 on suspicion ofplanning a terrorist attack were convicted and sentenced to sevenand 12 years in prison, while 17 Danish companies were informedthey face prosecution in connection with abuses of the UN Oil forFood programme. Even the national police had trouble escaping thegloomy news – it came under criticism for problems related to a2007 effort to streamline the force.

WHAT’S GREEN and hairy? This year, it was the month ofNovember. All month long, we followed the hair-raising effortsof Aussie Peter O’Sullivan, who was growing a moustache for

charity as part of the Movember men’s health drive. Together with thefinancial crisis that had support for the euro surging, climate contin-ued to remain one of the biggest issues of the year. One of the coun-try’s largest insurance agencies announced its homeowners’ premi-ums would now take climate change into consideration. Towards theend of the month, the PM threw his backing behind tax reformsgeared at funding climate-friendly initiatives. Elsewhere in the king-dom, 75 percent of the voters in Greenland cast a ballot in favour ofa plan to increase the territory’s autonomy. The simmering issue ofasylum seekers boiled over when police clashed with activistsattempting to tear down the fence at Sandholm Asylum Centre.

FAR FROM WINDING down quietly, the last month of the yeardid its best to make December 2008 memorable. With a finalvisit to a ‘terrific’ ally by Condoleezza Rice and the European

Film Awards setting the stage, confessed fraudster Stein Baggerstole the show when he disappeared after bilking his company for500 million kroner. And if the year began as we expected it, Moth-er Nature made sure that it ended unexpectedly by unleashing amagnitude 4.7 earthquake last week - the strongest tremor evermeasured in Denmark.

THOUSANDS of nurses, daycare teachers and other public sec-tor workers went on month-long strike for better pay and betterworking conditions. The strikes ended with marginal pay

increases and substantial backlogs at hospitals. Also increasing wasthe reputation of restaurant NOMA. In addition to retaining its twoMichelin stars, the restaurant and its Nordic-only menu was namedas one of the world’s ten best places to eat. Restaurant bills, taxireceipts and other questions about money also featured prominent-ly – but while the finance minister got off by repaying undocu-mented expenses, a tax official lost his job after he was found tohave made payments under the table when buying a holiday homein Spain.

TERROR STRIKES. Al-Qaeda bombs the Danish Embassy inPakistan in retaliation for the Mohammed cartoons. Six Pak-istanis are killed and 30 injured. Meanwhile, domestically,

Copenhagen was named the world’s best city in which to live.Tourism, however, sunk to its lowest level since 1996. June’s newswas heavy on the legal issues - a proposal to ban judges from wear-ing headscarfs in court rooms remained a hot topic of discussion,Danish newspapers were charged with blasphemy by a Jordaniancourt for the February reprint of the Mohammed cartoons and agroup of journalism students were met with cruelty to animal accu-sations after they ate cat flesh in protest against the meat industry.

By Katie Rice

Per Wimmer, investmentbanker by day andspace adventurer on theweekends, will be thefirst Dane in space within two years

MOST CHILDREN dreamof adventure, of becom-ing an astronaut andreaching the limits of

what is physically possible. Formost adults it remains a fantasy,but one Danish man is on thecusp of achieving the dream andall by the age of 40.

Per Wimmer runs his owninvestment bank in London andhas often been described as‘Indiana Jones meets JamesBond’. Not content with takingon the sharks in the financialworld, he has swum with them inFiji and traveled to more than 50countries in the pursuit of adven-ture.

Always nursing the idea ofventuring into space, he neverthought it possible until a friendmentioned the plans for commer-cial space travel in 2000.

‘It took me less than 48 hoursto find out what I had to do andput down the deposit on my firsttrip. From that moment on thingsreally changed dramatically.’

Dramatically may be anunderstatement. Wimmer set uphis own space company that

details his steps to become thefirst Dane in space, while educat-ing and inspiring children aboutspace travel.

He has also signed up to beone of the first civilians in spacewith three commercial spacetravel companies – somethingwhich does not come cheap. Itwill cost Wimmer $95,000 to bethe first man in space with theAmerican X-Cor Aerospace pro-gram and another $200,000 totravel with Richard Branson’sVirgin Galactic. Space Adven-tures’ fee has yet to beannounced.

While Wimmer’s successfulfinancial background hasallowed him to invest a seven-digit dollar amount in his prepa-rations for space travel, it hasalso provided him with the toolsto make a difference back homein Denmark as well.

Earlier this year, he returnedto the small Lolland town ofNakskov to live undercoveramong the community as part of‘The Secret Millionaire’ televi-sion show.

He donated 300,000 kroner tolocal causes in the community,included a home-help organiza-tion and a boxing club that pro-vides a social outlet for disad-vantaged people in the area.

He was more impressed bythe awareness raised than themoney he was able to hand out.After the programme aired, bothorganisations experienced aninflux of volunteers and mem-bers.

Also, many people around thecountry who saw the programmewere motivated to get involvedwith charities in their local areas,so much so that Wimmer spent afull three days during the Easterholidays replying to emails fromstrangers inspired by the aim ofthe show.

The genial Dane has alsofound ways of complementinghis space goals with his charitywork. A crystal clear Octobermorning saw Wimmer becomethe first man to do a tandem sky-dive over Mt. Everest. After hik-ing through the Himalayas for aweek and clearing an abandonedrunway for their plane to land

on, Wimmer and the other sky-divers jumped from an altitudeof 9,000 metres to raise moneyfor the Global Angels children’scharity.

While the jump was historicand the altitude high enoughthat oxygen tanks wererequired, Wimmer has not yetreached the edge of space (100kilometres above Earth). Hesaid that he will likely reachthat target by 2011, as the spacetravel companies fine tune theirshuttles.

With the advent of commer-cial space travel within hisreach, Wimmer is being carefulto look beyond his attainable

adventure of being the first Danein space. He confidently said heintends to plant the ‘Dannebrog’(Danish flag) on the moon in hislifetime.

But can years of training withthe best pilots and facilities everproperly prepare someone forthe experience of being in spaceand looking back on Earth? It issomething Wimmer has dis-cussed at length with BuzzAldrin, the second man on themoon.

‘You really got a sense ofhow significant and beautiful itwas,’ said Wimmer, ‘but obvi-ously there’s nothing better thanexperiencing the real thing.’

8 THE COPENHAGEN POST24 DEC - 8 JAN 2009

Ticket to ride: Danish adventurer Per Wimmer hopes soon to escape earth on a space ship (inset)

Investment banker reaches for the starsNEWS

Lions nab UEFA victorySantin goal secures FCCopenhagen advancementto UEFA Cup next round

CLUB BRUGGE needed onlya draw against FC Copen-hagen last Wednesday night

in Brussels to progress to theknockout round of the UEFACup. But a gutsy effort fromCesar Santin secured a win forthe Danish side.

The Brazilian striker put thepressure on the Brugge defensein the first half, and a superbsave from Stijn Stijnen to deny

the Danes the lead. Copenhagenkeeper Jesper Christiansenpulled off some able saves of hisown, put was never truly testedby the Brugge offence.

Santin finally opened thescoring and sealed victory forthe visitors with an impressiveright-footed effort into the topleft corner in the 58th minute.

‘It was a fantastic game andI’m really proud that we man-aged to progress,’ Santin saidafter the game.

The 1-0 win allowed FCCopenhagen to finish third inGroup G with five points and

move through to the knockoutround. The last 32 teams willface-off at the end of February,with Copenhagen facing EnglishPremier League club Manches-ter City twice in a home-returnplayoff.

The win is a historic one, as itis the first time that Danishteams have progressed fromboth the group round in theUEFA Cup and ChampionsLeague in the same year. Aal-borg’s third place finish in thegroup round of the latter compe-tition sees them join the knock-out stages of the UEFA Cup. (kr)

PUBLIC BROADCASTERDR’s decision to televise aman’s assisted suicide wasagainst the recommendation ofthe station’s programme pro-ducer, Mette Bock, whoresigned on Monday as head ofthe station’s ethics committeeover the decision.

The documentary ‘SuicideTourist’, was shown on DR1 onSunday evening. The pro-gramme follows the final fourdays of American Craig Ewert,who leaves his home in Englandwith his wife and travels toSwitzerland, where his euthana-sia is legally carried out.

British station Sky Real Livefirst televised the documentarylast week in which Ewert diesafter being shown grapplingwith prospect of facing his ownmortality.

Bock recommended the sta-tion not televise the programme.But Kenneth Plummer, the sta-tion’s managing director decid-ed to take the advice of DRmedia manager Lars Grarupand air it.

‘Kenneth chose to followLars Grarup’s position and, asthe managing director, he’s inhis full right to do so,’ Bockwrote in a message to the com-mittee. ‘But I can’t see how Ican continue as the ethics com-mittee chairwoman when I can’tdefend the choice we’ve made.’(rc)

Suicidebroadcastcasualty

ADVERTI 9THE COPENHAGEN POST24 DEC - 8 JAN 2009

By Wesley Spyke

The Christmas quandarythat has bewildered gener-ations for centuries contin-ues to raise questions andinstigate rivalry

AS CHRISTMAS steadilyapproaches, the elves willsoon begin loadingSanta’s sleigh with holi-

day gifts ready to be deliveredto good girls and boys through-out the world. Though it’s nosurprise that Father Frost willhave to hurry in order to coversuch a vast amount of ground,one puzzling question seems tocontinuously pervade theminds of many every year:where does Santa’s famousjourney begin?

Saint Nicholas of Myra, a4th century bishop andarguably the inspiration forSanta Claus, lived in Lycla, aprovince of Anatolla, now apart of Turkey. Could this bethe home of the world’s mostloveable, jelly-bellied gift-giver?

The name Santa Clausderives from the Dutch name‘Sinte Klaas’, or St. Nicholas,who was the patron saint ofchildren. So, has Santa beendelivering his sack full ofgoodies in clogs all theseyears?

The home of Father Christ-mas has always been a source

of seasonal tension, especiallyin the Nordic region. Today allthe Nordic countries, includingGreenland, claim to be thehome of Santa. At times, theconflict over the portly pixie’sorigin has been so dramatic,that the Finnish Santa Clauswas excommunicated by the32nd Annual World SantaClaus Conference in Copen-hagen in 1995.

As the debate presses peo-ple to choose domestic sides,the origin of the noble gnome’shome becomes more ambigu-ous over time. Although partsof north America make validarguments pertaining to Santa’sresidence, the Nordic regioncorners the market when itcomes to proclaiming PapaNoel’s roots.

Deep in Finland’s northern-most Lapland province, a mys-terious mountain known asKorvatunturi (Ear Fell) is saidto be the home of ‘Joulupukki’.Located in Urho KekkonenNational Park near the city ofRovaniemi, this area of theArctic Circle attracts around500,000 visitors a year, whocome from all over the world inorder to meet the jovial, white-bearded elf. ‘I live here in Lap-land and anybody who doesn’tbelieve it, I wish a warm wel-come to come and meet me andsee how it is here,’ he told aReuters reporter. ‘Of coursethis is the homeland of rein-deer, and everyone knows Itravel with reindeer,’ he added.

According to Vignir Ísberg,

a 24 year-old Reykjavík resi-dent studying pharmacology inCopenhagen, the 13‘Jolasveinar’ of Iceland all hailfrom the remote northern Ice-landic highlands. They descendfrom their mountain homes oneby one beginning thirteen daysbefore Christmas to causeminor havoc on Christmaspreparations.

The municipality ofDrobak, located 32 kilometerssouth of the Norwegian capitalof Oslo, has declared that it isthe real home of ‘Julenissen’.As well, North Cape, locatedon the island of Magerøya innorthern Norway, has also laidclaim to being the truedwelling of Kris Kringle.

Many Swedes maintain that‘Jultomten’ lives in the villageof Jukkasjarvi, located innorthern Sweden. It is here thatSanta begins his exasperatingexpedition, pulling a big bag ofjulklappar (Christmas pres-ents) through the deep snow.The Swedish postal systemreceives some 35,000 wish listsand letters addressed to Santaeach year.

Most Danes will tell youthat ‘Julemanden’ lives in theDanish territory of Greenland.Denmark has won an extraargument that Saint Nick isDanish by stating that it plansto claim the North Pole as partof Danish territory.

Seven-year-old Emilie Dib-bern of Northern Zealand con-firms this belief. ‘Julemandenlives in Greenland at the North

Pole,’ she insisted, smiling. It is interesting to note that

each year the World SantaClaus Congress is held inCopenhagen. The 4-day con-ference gathers more than onehundred Santas from all overthe world, who meet at Scandi-navia’s oldest amusement park,Dyrehavsbakken. During thisfestive ‘get-together’, resolu-tions are established such asthe one proclaiming the offi-

cial address of Santa to be inGreenland.

This holiday season, Mr.and Mrs. Claus took time outof their busy schedule to visitwith children at Magasin inCopenhagen. ‘I just had lunchwith my brother Sinterklassfrom the Netherlands yester-day,’ he said heartily, handingout pebernødder (Christmasbiscuits) to the youngsters. ‘Hetold me he is busier than ever

this year. The number of chil-dren who have been good thisyear has almost doubled fromlast year,’ he chuckled. ‘Thatmeans we will have to worktwice as hard to make sure allthe good children receive theirgifts on time.’ When askedwhere his real home is, hesmiled warmly, ‘In the heartsand minds of children every-where,’ he expressed with atwinkle in his eye.

No 238

COMMUNITY10 THE COPENHAGEN POST24 DEC - 8 JAN 2009

So where exactly is the real Santa Claus from?

We’re all familiar with the fellow in the red suit, but does he live in Greenland, Sweden or Alaska?

Across

1. Uncertain (12)7. Abrupt (5)8. Seat (5)9. Can (3)10. Gourmet (9)11. Ditch (6)12. Racial (6)15. Smartened up (9)17. Course (3)18. Cellar (5)19. Consent (5)21. Alienation (12)

Down

1. By amount (12)2. Couple (3)3. Get (6)4. Reckoned (9)5. Quit (5)6. Surpassing (12)7. Purport (5)10. Digger (9)13. Tend in illness (5)14. Melody (6)16. Bundle up (5)20. Regret (3)

Post Quick Crossword No 237Across: 4 Balance; 8 Rooted; 9 Affront; 10 Temper; 11 Unique; 12 Conclude; 18Tattered; 20 Gemini; 21 Damsel; 22 Cordial; 23 Planet; 24 Recedes.Down: 1 Protect; 2 Torment; 3 Reveal; 5 Affluent; 6 Afraid; 7 Concur; 13 Ultimate;14 Present; 15 Adulate; 16 Remote; 17 Middle; 19 Trails.

11THE COPENHAGEN POST24 DEC - 8 JAN 2009

All pictures by Hasse Ferrold unless otherwise stated

COMMUNITY

D I P L O M A C Y I N A C T I O N

And finally, we get to see the new ambassador of Morocco MrsRaja Ghannam, who was taking part in a meeting of womenambassadors at the Park Hotel. Diplomacy in Action says ‘Merhaba’

One new face on the diplomatic circuit is Serbian ambassador Mrs.Vida Ognjenovic who is pictured above at her embassy welcomingevent. Diplomacy in Action says ‘Dobrodoshla’

The ambassador of Argentina Mr Juan Carlos Kreckler (left)appeared with his wife Mrs Mariana Reyes de Kreckler, a talentedartist. Above, Mrs Kreckler presents Hasse Ferrold with a Christmasgift - a beautiful piece of her art entitled ‘The Order of Dannebrog’

In the final Diplomacy in Action of the year we see some new facesand some already familiar ones. And, in a rare moment on theother side of the lens, we get to see Diplomacy in Action photogra-pher Hasse Ferrold.

DESPITE A GLOBAL eco-nomic crisis, 2008 hasbeen a challenging andsuccessful year for The

Copenhagen Post. There hasbeen a growing interest forboth our print and online edi-

tions this year from individualsubscribers, together withdomestic and internationalnews media and organisations.We sought to promote thisinterest by continually improv-ing and enhancing our newsproduction and other journal-istic products.

The editorial developmentwill begin in earnest from thestart of 2009, when we are re-launching our website with abrand new design. Our newsproduction will experience agreater diversification, withthe content of the weekly printedition, news feeds and websitefocusing on our target audi-ences. Our key goal will con-tinue to be to produce accessi-ble, serious and quality cover-age of the Danish news in Eng-lish.

As a result of the govern-ment’s efforts to attract inter-national employees to Den-mark, we have seen an

increased level of interest frompublic institutions and govern-ment ministries for our copy-writing and translation servic-es. Living in a world with a vir-tual information society wherethe first meeting is just a clickaway, the need for a well-writ-ten English website is unavoid-able, whether it is for a privatecompany or a public institu-tion. Lately, we have had thepleasure of working on theEnglish version of the ClimateMinistry’s website, which isgearing up for a busy year withthe COP15 climate conference.

The Copenhagen Post sup-ports a more international andmulticultural Denmark. As theonly comprehensive Danishnews media in English, we areaware of the many challenges,barriers and frustrations thatthe international community inDenmark faces. We are workingto alleviate this situation and,together with the DanishBankers Association and the

Chamber of Commerce, wehave establishedwww.expatindenmark.com. Thewebsite provides a forum toanswer both the practical andsocial questions of expats andfor the exchange of knowledgeabout life as an internationalin Denmark.

We look forward to yetanother year of achievementand will continue to deliver theDanish news wherever it isneeded. And with COP15 andother large events profilingDenmark internationally, 2009looks to be another excitingyear.

We wish all of you a joyousChristmas and a happy NewYear.

Jesper NymarkCEO

Christmas message from The Post

Two not-so-new faces were out and about this week were USambassador James P Cain (left) and Social Democrat MogensLykketoft, pictured at the ambassador’s leaving party

Expats enjoy Danish Christmas

Foreigners residing in Denmark got to learn howto celebrate Christmas like the natives

EXPATS LIVING in Den-mark were treated to a tra-ditional Danish Christmas

experience on 18 Decemberwhen Expat in Denmark spon-sored a yuletide event at thelibrary of the Børsen stock

exchange building. More than70 representatives from 29 dif-ferent countries were on handto partake in the night's festivecelebrations.

Those in attendance werealso introduced to various hol-iday foods and activitiesunique to Danish culture. Sta-ples such as æbleskiver (Dan-ish pancake balls), vanilla bis-cuits and gløgg (spiced, mulledwine) were served. Annette

Pilmark, a representative fromthe Danish social networkcompany Spousecare, instruct-ed guests on a variety ofChristmas customs, such ashow to create decorations andhow to spot a 'nisse' (Nordicelf). The evening came to afestive conclusion with guestsdancing around the Christmastree singing traditional DanishChristmas songs such as'Glædelig jul' (Merry Christ-

mas) and 'Nu er det jul igen'(Now It's Christmas Again).

Kathrine Engberg of theDanish Chamber of Commercesaid the overall impressionfrom attendees was positive.

'It's a nice way for people tocreate new social and profes-sional relationships,' she toldThe Copenhagen Post.

There are currently over1000 members of Expat inDenmark. (ws)

Learning how to make Christmas decorations and drink gløgg, expats came away from the evening just a little bit more Danish

Nordea Bank is amongthose set to lose millionsdue to the arrest of USbanking magnate BernardMadoff

INDIVIDUALS and business-es in Denmark stand to loseup to a half billion kroner

through the fallout of U.S.banker Bernard Madoff’s fraudindictment.

Madoff was arrested by FBIagents on 11 December andcharged with securities fraud,after the agency was tipped offby the banker’s two sons.

Victims of Madoff’s schemereads like a who’s who of Holly-wood and Wall Street big-wigsin the US. The overall fraudamount has been estimated atup to $50 billion worldwide.

In Denmark, customers ofNordea Bank, Danske Bank andretirement fund PFA have lostaround 430 million kroner onMadoff’s ‘Ponzi Plan’ scheme,where returns were based onpotential future investmentgains rather than on actual prof-its.

Like many retirement funds,PFA used the ‘Fund of funds’strategy for its clients, where

investments are kept in a portfo-lio of different funds as opposedto being put directly into invest-ments.

News bureau Six reports thatNordea stands to lose around 48million euro, while DanskeBank indicated it will not beaffected by the scandal.

‘But some of our customers– mainly private banking cus-tomers – have invested in Mad-off’s Danske Leveraged Fond.The investments amount toabout 10 million euro,’ JonasTorp, the bank’s press officer,told news agency Direkt.

According to the Interna-tional Herald Tribune, Frenchfinancial institution SociétéGénérale conducted a routineinvestigation of Madoff’s busi-ness for its clients in 2003 andblacklisted the American’sMadoff Investment Securitiesfirm after finding questionableaccount figures. But manyEuropean banks failed to takethe same precautionary meas-ures as the French bank.

Across Europe, it is estimat-ed that banks, pension fundsand their customers will losethe equivalent of 54 billion kro-ner due to the Madoff scam.(rc)

By Katie Rice

Management and pilotsagree to pay cuts as partof SAS cost-cutting measures

ABUSY WEEK in the avia-tion industry saw routecapacities doubled andslashed and agreements

reached between airline unionsto save SAS.

The financially squeezedNordic carrier, SAS, hasreached an agreement with thepilot unions to introduce a cost-savings package to stave off the‘serious conditions’ affectingthe airline.

Weeks of negotiation with

the unions resulted in an agree-ment yesterday that will seeSAS pilots take a pay cut andintroduce a pay freeze from 1April when a new collectiveagreement comes into affect. Itis unknown what percentagecut the pilots have agreed to.

Mogens Holdgaard, thepilot representative for SASDenmark, said they had accept-ed the terms after being pre-sented with the worryingfinancial situation facing theairline.

Early last week, the airlineannounced that it was cutting5,000 Copenhagen departuresfor the winter season due tolow loads and booking num-bers. At the time it wasannounced that the 25 destina-tions affected would mostly beshort-haul European routes

such as Brussels, Frankfurt,Munich and Manchester.

Trade website travelbro-ker.dk later revealed that up to40 intercontinental flights willalso be canceled in January andFebruary due to falling sales.Routes affected include Copen-hagen to New York, Chicagoand New Delhi. The Indianroute was only opened on 29October and it does not bodewell if the loads are so weakthat the capacity must be cut inspring. SAS hopes to transferpassengers on affect flights toLufthansa.

SAS deputy chief executiveofficer John Dueholm con-firmed that management willfollow suit and also accept paycuts to save the troubled air-line.

‘It’s part of the collective

agreement. We will match thepay cut taken by the personnelgroups - anything else wouldbe incorrect,’ said Dueholm toBørsen financial daily.

As part of the ongoing cost-cutting measures, SAS has letgo 1,000 of its 25,000-strongworkforce and it still facingstiff competition from otherairlines that moved into theScandinavian market after thecollapse of Sterling.

One of the airlines to bene-fit from Sterling’s loss isRyanair, which announced thatit is doubling capacity on itsBillund – London route. From5 March next year, there will be14 weekly flights to Stanstedfrom the Jutland airport, whichhas seen almost 440,000Ryanair passengers passthrough its doors this year.

A film’s owner signed acontract and took moneyfrom DFI but neglected tomention a co-owner ofclips included in a collection

A13-FILM DVD collectionissued by the Danish FilmInstitute has been pulled off

the shelves after a rights disputeover two of the short movies inthe set.

The collection of avant-gardeand experimental films con-tained two clips from directorsWilhelm Freddie and JørgenRoos.

DFI thought it had securedthe rights to distribute and sellthe films via the collectionthrough a contract with Roos’son Peter, who received 15,000kroner for the deal. But afterreleasing the DVDs, the institutewas contacted by Birger Raben-Skov, executor of Freddie’sestate, who said he owned half

the films’ rights.Raben-Skov told DFI he

would not give his consent toinclude the two films in the col-lection. He said Freddie wouldnot have agreed to his moviesbeing part of ‘an arbitrary hotch-potch of so-called experimentalfilm artists thrown together’.

Dan Nissen, head of DFI’sMuseum and Cinematek divi-sion, told movie magazine Ekkothat the institute had negotiatedthe contract with Peter Roos ingood faith.

Film historian Carl Nørrest-ed was more blunt about the‘ruse’.

‘He pulled one over on DFIlock, stock and barrel.’

Roos himself said he had noobligation to tell DFI about theother rights’ owner and said theinstitute never asked him aboutit.

The collection’s releasereportedly cost DFI 75,000 kro-ner, not including any additionaldistribution and recall costs.(rc)

BUSINESS THE COPENHAGEN POST24 DEC - 8 JAN 200912

Film instituteDVD set pulled

SAS to slash top employees’ salariesSAS has been financially squeezed in recent months leading to pay freezes for some pilots

DENMARK’S public sector isnow the biggest out of all devel-oped countries, according tonew figures from the Organisa-tion for Economic Co-Opera-tion and Development (OECD).

Sweden was bumped downthe list to second place, becausepublic spending is increasing ata slower rate in Sweden thanDenmark. However, Swedisheconomic growth and prosperi-ty is still increasing at a fasterrate than its Scandinavianneighbours, reports financialdaily Børsen.

Mike Legarth, financialspokesman for the ConservativeParty, said it was a bad develop-

ment for a liberal, centre-rightgovernment.

‘This is not something weshould be boasting about. It’s akey issue for us to minimizepublic expenditure and the pub-lic sector,’ said Legarth, addingthat the results were a step inthe wrong direction.

Danish public expendituremade up 26.1 percent of theGDP this year, while Swedishpublic sector accounted for 25.8percent, according to theOECD.

This is the first time in 20years that Denmark has toppedthe tables for public expendi-ture. (kr)

Public sector now makes up ver 26% of GDP

Largest public sector

Danes hit byMadoff fallout

Nordea Bank is one of the institutions hit by the fallout

By Robert Cellini

Exports the first Danishmarket to suffer underfalling foreign currencyvalues and a strong kroner

SEVERAL leading econo-mists say the plummetingUS dollar and the poundsterling will have serious

negative consequences on analready slowing Danish economyand job market in the near future,reports financial daily Børsen.

Exports, jobs and overallgrowth with suffer dramaticallyfrom the weakening of Den-mark’s most traded currencies.

Much of the blame for the fall incurrency values is related to thelowering of interest rates inmany countries.

Both Sweden and Norwayrecently lowered their interestrates and their kroner have sincefallen notably in comparison tothe Danish kroner, whose com-parative exchange rate has risen3 percent in just one month.

With the kroner of the twoScandinavian countries droppingalong with that of the dollar andpound, four of Denmark’s fivemost important trade currencieshave been weakened while theDanish kroner remains strong.The result is that Denmark’s abil-ity to match prices on export

goods has become considerablymore difficult.

Experts say Danish exportsare also hurt by the kroner beingtied to the euro by the Europeanexchange rate mechanism. Theeuro’s value has also continuallyincreased in relation to theworld’s top currencies.

Finally, large salary increasesin Denmark over the past fewyears have also weakened thenation’s competitive abilities,according to the Finance Min-istry. A ministry report from ear-lier this month indicated that thegeneral high salaries have result-ed in the country losing a fifth ofits competitiveness on the globalmarket since 2000.

IN BRIEF

THE COPENHAGEN POST24 DEC - 8 JAN 2009 13

Pricey Denmark

WHILE NOT surprising to mostwho live here, it is now officialthat Denmark is the most expen-sive European country to live in.Figures from Statistics Denmarkshow that consumer prices were38 percent higher in 2007 thanthe EU average. Ireland had thenext highest consumer prices at25 percent above the average.One of the newest EU countries,Bulgaria, was the cheapest placeto live, with average prices 53percent below their Europeancounterparts. TV2 News reportsthat Denmark’s Nordic neigh-bour Iceland had consumerprices 58 percent above those ofthe EU average. But prices therehave fallen consdierably afterthis year’s financial crack.

Brøndby sponsor

JESPER NIELSEN, who ownsone of Brøndby football club’stop sponsors KasiGroup, hasdropped plans to invest in thedevelopment of a first-divisionDanish handball club and willinstead take his money to theGerman premier league clubRhein-Neckar Löwen. Kasi-Group’s jewellery operations arebased in Germany and they hasnow backed out of three largeprojects in the past few months,including a clothing deal andanother with a Danish jewellerycompany. Nielsen said he has noplans to drop Brøndby.

Biggest bid

THE ICELANDIC investorgroup that bought Hotel D’An-gleterre in 2007 paid twice whatother bidders offered, reportsBerlingske Tidende newspaper.Nordic Partners bid 1.4 billionkroner for the five-star D’An-gleterre, which was being soldby the Remmen family. It wasnot made public whether thatfigure was the final price for thehotel package - which includedthe Front and Kong Frederikhotels and two restaurants.

BUSINESS

Currency crisis worsens recessionInterest rates cut by theNational Bank in a bid toprevent the economy sliding into recession

IT WAS AN early Christmasgift from the National Bankon Friday, as interest rates

were lowered to 3.75 percentin response to the bleak out-look for the Danish economy.

According to analysts, thehalf a percent point drop willhelp stabilise the housingmarket and lead to a quickerequalisation between Danishinterest rates and those of theEuro countries.

It is especially people with

flex-loans or other variablerate loans will immediatelybenefit from the reduction.

Jes Asmussen, analyst atHandelsbanken, said the movewas something of a ‘surprise’,as most experts did not expecta reduction before Christmas.

‘Considering that there’sstill a lot of uncertainty andvolatility in the financial mar-kets, the decision has to beseen as a positive sign andindicates that there’s no longerthe same pressure on the Dan-ish kroner,’ he said.

The move is broadly in linewith other economies inEurope and around the world.(rc)

Interest rates cut

THE MARKET IN BRIEF

BEST PERFORMERS

Price Year end +/-

Spæncom A 1932,00 1186,67 62,81%Spæncom B 1900,00 1201,75 58,10%DanTruck-Heden 52,50 39,00 34,62%LD Invest Kontra 125,49 103,10 21,71%Bioporto 5,52 4,91 12,40%Ambu 77,82 69,72 11,62%Danske Inv. International 100,30 94,09 6,60%Sparinvest S.LongDanishBond132,00 125,90 4,85%KIF Håndbold 110,00 105,00 4,76%Auriga Ind. B 95,02 90,90 4,54%Danventures 0,59 0,30 96,67%

Price Week ago +/-

Trifork 5,50 4,27 28,84%Topsil Semi. 0,77 0,60 28,36%Fast Ejendom DEP 100,00 79,48 25,82%Land & LeisureB 1,00 0,81 23,46%GourmetBryggeriet 14,00 12,09 15,81%Brdr. A&O Johansen 399,00 350,00 14,00%Pharmexa 0,75 0,68 10,72%Søndagsavisen 19,50 17,81 9,49%Gyldendal B 576,19 529,00 8,92%ebh bank 0,05 587,75 -99,99%Roskilde Bank 1,00 326,07 -99,69%

Int. stock indices

KFX stocksPrice +/- Year 52 week 52 week P/E Mkt.

end high low Cap

EnergyD/S Torm 55,76 -7,74 178,24 188,25 54,50 364MaterialsNovozymes 417,61 6,57 579,98 610,00 326,00 16,12 543IndustryA.P. Møller - Mærsk A 28230,96 -1453,28 53859,62 60700,00 25000,00 4056,10 2198A.P. Møller - Mærsk B 28305,48 -1428,54 53879,56 60700,00 25400,00 4056,10 2198D/S Norden 170,25 -0,30 567,69 655,00 120,00 85,85 45DSV 53,96 -2,19 111,09 135,00 52,25 5,61 190FLSmidth & Co 159,18 -7,88 518,36 598,00 140,00 24,32 1064G4S 15,74 -0,47 24,60 25,00 13,30 1,14 352Kbh. Lufthavne 1350,00 0,00 2307,89 2500,00 1120,00 141,75 785NKT Holding 106,18 -21,20 454,93 462,50 103,50 33,92 474Rockwool Int.A 353,04 -31,96 1182,30 1235,00 260,00 89,47 131Rockwool Int.B 338,17 -7,84 1187,99 1248,00 230,50 89,47 89Vestas Wind Systems 285,20 3,00 546,85 700,00 180,00 11,71 185Consumer StaplesCarlsberg A 190,04 -14,97 471,64 555,98 181,00 15,06 674Carlsberg B 174,82 -13,30 497,68 565,86 147,75 15,06 2377Danisco 220,10 -16,14 361,10 384,50 216,50 25,56 979Health CareColoplast 352,79 -17,55 441,19 484,50 312,00 17,44 212Genmab 216,58 -23,05 311,24 348,50 176,00 -8,60 45Lundbeck 108,66 0,50 138,00 146,00 87,75 8,54 984Novo Nordisk 282,98 4,81 334,63 352,50 246,00 527William Demant Hld. 215,13 -17,53 471,01 479,50 158,00 15,17 59FinancialDanske Bank 53,53 -3,52 199,54 205,00 52,75 21,20 6988Jyske Bank 120,38 2,98 399,99 406,00 112,00 30,63 540Nordea Bank 39,52 0,60 84,08 85,75 36,90 8,95 2597Sydbank 60,87 0,57 217,67 220,00 57,25 25,33 675Topdanmark 696,25 3,21 729,47 875,00 498,00 76,25 167TrygVesta 315,48 -4,37 387,00 427,50 263,00 33,32 1700TelecomTDC 204,86 1,96 275,01 310,00 180,00 42,39 992

Exchange cross-ratesPrice for 100 units

DKK USD CAD GBP SEK CHF JPY EURDKKUSDCADGBPSEKCHFJPYEUR

- 536,57 503,91 947,65 76,69 474,19 5,09 745,9918,64 - 93,91 176,61 14,29 88,37 0,95 139,0319,84 106,48 - 188,06 15,22 94,10 1,01 148,0410,55 56,62 53,17 - 8,09 50,04 0,54 78,72

130,40 699,66 657,07 1235,69 - 618,32 6,64 972,7321,09 113,16 106,27 199,85 16,17 - 1,07 157,321963 10534 9893 18604 1506 9309 - 1464513,41 71,93 67,55 127,03 10,28 63,57 0,68 -

Interbank-rates (%)

1 mth. 3 mth.Denmark 4,547 4,845USA 0,474 1,498EU 2,804 3,082UK 2,331 2,978

THE GLOBAL RECESSIONis hitting Denmark hard andthe last week has seen down-ward adjustments from twocompanies on the C20 index ofleading shares.

Danisco presented its six-month f inancial reports onTuesday and offered a surpris-ing downward revision of 50million kroner. The food pro-duction and enzyme companynow expects a 2008/2009 prof-it of 950 million kroner com-pared to the previous estimateof one billion kroner.

‘I had expected that Danis-co would maintain its expecta-tions so of course the down-ward revision is a disappoint-ment,’ said Rune MajlundDahl, share analyst with Syd-bank.

Danisco shares dropped by18.5 percent between Mondayand Friday to 221.25 kroner.

Industrial company NKT,which produces cables, clean-ing machines and flexible oilpipes announced a downwardadjustment on Thursday for thesecond time in less than fourweeks. Investors reactedaccordingly and sent NKTshares dropping by 20 percentover the week.

‘The slowdown in the valuechain is incredible. I’ve neverexperienced anything like itand it is even worse that theend of November,’ said NKT’schief executive Thomas Hof-man-Bang.

Danske Bank and Carlsbergcontinued down the negativeslope and shares fell by 12.7and 10 percent respectivelyover the week. Danske Bankshares hit a low of 53.75 kro-ner – the lowest level since thestart of 1997.The C20 index closed out theweek with an overall fall of1.66 percent.

Danish stock market

Last week

Year to dateWORST PERFORMERS

Price Year end +/-

Bonusbanken 0,38 27,20 -98,61%Deadline Games 1,14 47,66 -97,62%Dicentia 1,05 16,11 -93,46%Tower Group 9,70 142,46 -93,19%Amagerbanken 17,30 250,93 -93,11%Walls 0,21 2,82 -92,73%Notabene.net 0,47 6,10 -92,23%NanoCover 0,60 7,61 -92,18%Enalyzer 1,46 3,25 -54,95%Lübker Golf 407,00 675,57 -39,75%Comendo 2,71 4,23 -35,93%

Price Week ago +/-

Zepto Computers 5,20 8,03 -35,27%Ikast-Bording Elite Håndbold 0,70 1,00 -29,93%Griffin IV Berlin B 0,50 0,66 -24,59%Deadline Games 1,14 1,50 -24,33%TK Development 20,11 25,99 -22,63%Erria 54,38 70,00 -22,31%FormueEvolution II 781,08 1000,00 -21,89%

Last week

Year to date

EXCHANGE CROSS-RATES

INTERBANK-RATES (%)INT. STOCK INDICES

DANISH STOCK MARKET WORST PERFORMERSBEST PERFORMERS

OMXC20 STOCKS

OMXC20 245,17FTSE Norex 951,58DAX 4639,10CAC 40 3185,27OMXS30 652,97Dow Jones 8579,11Nasdaq 0,00Nikkei 8723,78

A strong krone hurts exports

THE COPENHAGEN POST24 DEC - 8 JAN 200914 EMPLOYMENT

EMPLOYMENT 15THE COPENHAGEN POST24 DEC - 8 JAN 2009

By Rebecca K. Engmann

The traditional ‘julestue’ orChristmas room, is knowntoday as a bastion ofwholesome Danish Christ-mas cosiness

TODAY, DANES have cometo know the traditional‘julestue,’ or Christmasroom, as a cosy atmosphere

where holiday wares areswapped, hearty glögg is swilled,and peppernuts crunched byrosy-cheeked shoppers seekingcompanionship and refuge fromthe biting cold - and what couldbe less controversial than that?But in fact, the history of theDanish julestue is a history ofsubversive behaviour: so licen-tious, in fact, that King ChristianV banned them outright in 1683.

The julestue began as a seriesof parties held by a rotatingseries of hosts every second orthird night during yuletide.According to Iørn Piø’s ‘Book ofChristmas’, the parties - whichbegan in the evening and ran wellinto the night - began when thehigh Christmas holidays werefinished, and ran throughEpiphany, 6 January, and some-times even to Candlemas, 2 Feb-ruary.

The julestue was, first andforemost, an arena for play and

leisure where young peopleentertained themselves withsong, dance and comedy. Piønoted that many Christmastidegames were actually mini-dra-mas, played on the floor in theChristmas room so that everyonecould participate. Games andplay were more central to thestructure of the julestue thanfood, and alcohol was a regularlubricant in getting the guestswarmed up: the centrepiece ofthe room was almost always theChristmas Barrel, chock full ofale, and the all-you-can-drinkpolicy was self-evident. Whileadults held their own Christmasparlours which revolved chieflyaround food, the playful julestuewas a domain for the young. Andafter the comeback of thejulestue in the 19th century, theChristmas merrymaking activitybecame a forerunner of the YouthOrganisation.

According to the ‘Book ofChristmas’, terms like ‘playingChristmas’ and ‘drinking Christ-mas’ are as old as the hills in thiscountry. But ‘holding a Christ-mas room’ is rooted in the late-night leisure activities ofCatholic-era Denmark. It wasvery common for people of theage to make merry throughoutthe evening to stay up until Mid-night Mass. These bleary-eyed,late-night fests became known as‘night watches’ where peoplepassed the time with games,

drinking, song and dance.Bawdiness was no stranger tothese parties, even in medievaltimes. Historical journal SidenSaxo noted many stock stories ofthe late 1400’s involved maidensbeing expressly forbidden bytheir mothers from ‘Christmasdrinking’ with cavaliers, out offear that the young suitors wouldoffend their virtue. According toSiden Saxo, social histories fromLolland-Falster include manyreferences to Christmas gameswith erotic overtones. One suchgame, called ‘rolling the Christ-mas cake’, called for a young girland man to lie atop one anotheron a table, forming the ‘dough’that the other partygoers wouldthen ‘roll’. Old-fashioned Christ-mas folksongs of the age wereoften suggestively narrative, andmight include lyrics enumeratingarticles of clothing a young girltook from a man: a lucky (orunlucky) young man would stripaccording to each article ofclothing mentioned in the song.

In the 1500’s, however,church clerics turned a coldshoulder to the inherent sinful-ness of late-night pleasure seek-ing activities, with words such as‘unseemly,’ ‘ungodly,’ ‘loose,’and ‘scandalous,’ used todescribe a once widely-sanc-tioned folk activity. In 1629,King Christian IV issued anorder condemning the Julestuefor its immortality, though his

objection may have stemmedfrom bad personal experience.Siden Saxo reported an angryaccusation by His Majestyagainst his former lover (andmother to 11 of his illegitimatechildren) Kirsten Munk, that she‘danced, played Christmas, andmade merry with the Duke of theRhine and others as We laybefore the enemy and were shotin the arm’.

The cuckolded king’s succes-sor, Christian V, took matters astep further in his Danish Law of1683, which expressly forbid ‘allscandalous play in connection

with Christmas’, and promised‘serious punishment’ for offend-ers. The illicit julestue continuedto thrive in spite of the royal dic-tate: in 1726, Copenhagen policehung posters detailing the manyrisks of Christmas merriment,from drunkenness and disorderlyconduct, to masked partygoerscompromising the safety of thecapital city streets. Christian VIpassed a 1730 holiday law and a‘total’ ban on Christmas rooms in1735, His Majesty entertaining adeep interest in promoting an ageof piety.

Just as seemed that our Dan-

ish Christmas could get no drea-rier, the advent of the 19th centu-ry brought back the togethernessof the old-fashion julestue in newclothing. Around 1800, theChristmas tree was introduced asthe new focal point of thejulestue in fashionable Copen-hagen, with the bawdy gamesand horseplay of the old Christ-mas rooms now winding theirway back into today’s jule-frokosts (Christmas lunches). Inthe meantime, the julestue hasrepresented everything comfort-able and holy about the holidayseason.

POSTSDENMARK THROUGH THE LOOKING GLASS

The julestue - a merry, traditional yuletide joy

WEATHER 24 - 30 DEC 08

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MONDAYSUNDAYSATURDAYFRIDAYTHURSDAYWEDNESDAY TUESDAY

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This weather forecast is sourced from Denmark’s Meteorological Institute. For updated weather reports please visit http://www.dmi.dk

Wednesday

CLOUDY WITH RAINAND SNOW. Maximumday temperatures around4 degrees, minimumnight temperaturesaround minus 3 degrees.Light to moderate winds.

Thursday

SUNNY. Maximum daytemperatures around 2degrees, minimum nighttemperatures falling tominus 5 degrees. Lightwinds.

Friday

CLOUDY WEATHER.Maximum day tempera-tures near 2 degrees,minimum night tempera-tures around minus 5degrees. Light winds.

Saturday

SUNNY. Maximum daytemperatures around 1degree, minimum nighttemperatures down tominus 4 degrees. Light tomoderate winds.

Sunday

SUNNY. Maximum daytemperatures around 1degree, minimum nighttemperatures aroundminus 4 degrees. Light tomoderate winds.

The modern julestue may look innocent enough, but in times past it was regarded as sinful