Personal questions peeve potential pastors
One out of three Church of Denmark priests who has looked for work in the past five years say they have been met with inappropriate questions about their sexual orientation or family plans when being interviewed by parish councils. Hiring laws do not permit such questions to be asked, but church officials pointed out that personal traits are relevant when considering an individual who could lead the parish for decades. Tilde Binger, a spokesperson for the national vicars’ association, said being asked personal questions was just one part of a hiring system she described as “broken” because parishes often had unreasonable expectations when it came to the family lives of their potential hires. – Avisen.dk
Minimal effort to find missing interpreters
The military’s efforts to find information about 37 Afghan interpreters whose lives may be in danger after helping the Danish forces amounted to a grand total of three emails and one telephone call, according to documents obtained through a freedom of information request. The military's correspondence with Mission Essential Personnel, the Ohio-based firm that recruited the interpreters for the military, appears to be at odds with statements by the former defence minister, Nick Hækkerup (Socialdemokraterne), that the Defence Ministry “had not sat on its hands” after opening up the possibility of granting the interpreters asylum earlier this year. – Information
Redoubled efforts to reduce antibiotic use
Concerns that efforts to limit the spread of hard-to-treat bacteria may be failing has led the Health Ministry to overtake the job of reducing antibiotic use from Sundhedsstyrelsen, a state body responsible for regulating medication. In 2010, Sundhedsstyrelsen was given the task of reducing antibiotic use in the health service and by the nation's veterinarians. Use is on the rise again, and by directly managing efforts to reverse the trend the Health Ministry hopes it can involve specialists from each of the five healthcare regions. In the past ten years, the number of Danes infected each year with MRSA, a common type of antibiotic resistant bacteria, has risen from 200 to 1,300. – Politiken
Declining political support for employment centres
Socialistisk Folkeparti, the junior member of the governing coalition, has delivered a vote of no-confidence to the network of council-run employment centres by proposing that the unemployed should be allowed to register with a private hiring firm after losing their jobs. Currently, all unemployed individuals must be registered with their local job centre in order to receive dagpenge benefits. SF's proposal is similar to one put forward by opposition party Venstre earlier this month and comes after sustained criticism of the job centres’ ability to help people find work. – Berlingske
Investors leery of Maersk oil plans
Major investors, including Carnegie Worldwide, have announced plans to reduce their holdings of shares in A.P. Moller-Maersk, Denmark’s largest company, due to concerns that it is pumping too much money into oil exploration. Carnegie and other institutional investors described the investments as “high-risk”. Nils Andersen, Maersk’s chief executive, said it should come as no surprise to investors that it takes large investments to explore for oil. He added that the conglomerate’s oil activities were starting to show improvement. – Børsen
Seems like old times
Copenhagen football rivals FC Copenhagen and Brøndby again find themselves in a dogfight in the Superliga standings. Unfortunately for both teams, it is a race to avoid the bottom. After five matches, neither club has won a match, an amazing reversal of fortunes for two clubs that have 21 first and second place finishes between them since 1991. Both now have two points and are tied for the league’s last place. FC Copenhagen picked up a point in its 1-1 draw with AGF of Aarhus on Sunday. In its match on Friday, Brøndby suffered an embarrassing 5-2 defeat on the road against FC Midtjylland, who lead the league with 15 points.
