Ask most people about political corruption and they will probably conjure up an image of late-night meetings in smoke-filled rooms, suitcases full of money changing hands, ministers feathering their own nests, slush funds etc. They probably also associate these things with countries far from these shores, where dictators hold sway or the rule of law…
This past weekend you’d have been hard pushed to find anyone in Denmark who was unaware of the fact that November 24 was ‘Black Friday’. This consumption bonanza – another American import of course – even has its own website at black-friday.sale/dk. Here you can find a calendar telling you when it falls every year…
Denmark increasingly seems like a country where nobody wielding political power at the highest level is actually held responsible for anything. For instance, the ongoing saga of industrial-scale incompetence at SKAT resulted in the loss of billions of kroner in potential tax revenue. An enquiry is in progress to see if it was anyone’s fault.…
There are times when it seems the world as we know it is racing towards the abyss at a furious rate of knots. Now seems one of them – we have the chaos of Brexit, the mind-numbing horror-show that is Trumpism, and Danish politicians celebrating with cake when they put the boot into defenceless people.…
All over the Western World, people are increasingly discontented with the political system or simply turning their backs on it. Extremism and isolationism is on the rise. And who can ignore the elephant in the room: ‘The Donald’? If anyone had told me two years ago that Donald Trump would almost certainly be the Republican…
In the spring, a young man’s fancy lightly turns to thoughts of … industrial-scale tax fiddling? Brexit? Another potentially disastrous open-ended war in the Middle East? An economic downturn? Donald Trump being elected US president? As the Bard put it: “Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,” and how right he was. Bothersome…
Recent events have certainly proved the durability of the old adage ‘a week is a long time in politics’. The Venstre-led minority government looked more vulnerable than usual, and with the ‘Gordian knot’ confrontation with their Konservative allies and subsequent resignation of the minister for environment and food, the wheels seemed to be well and…
The blue touchpaper on the first New Year’s fireworks had barely been lit before a far brighter squib lit up the Danish media firmament. Buried in Queen Margrethe’s New Year message, just before the bit paying tribute to the armed forces and the police and sending greetings to Greenland and the Faroe Islands, she let…
On December 3, Danes voted convincingly (53.1 to 46.9 percent, with a 72 percent turnout) to maintain the status quo in the referendum on the opt-out from European Union justice and home affairs policies that Denmark secured as part of the Edinburgh Agreement in 1992. A ‘Yes’ vote would have converted Denmark’s current full opt-out on home and justice matters into a case-by-case opt-out similar to that currently held by Ireland…
As anyone going to their local supermarket or up the high street of any big town in Denmark can hardly have failed to notice, it is that time of year again. No, I’m not referring to the C-word but to the H-word: Halloween. Outside my local Netto are large boxes full of pumpkins. Toy…
The heady days of summer are well and truly over and most people are now firmly ensconced back at work. Perhaps not all – our politicians only really return to proper work on the first Tuesday in October, when Parliament officially opens. However, there has been a fair amount of political sparring during the summer…
