Morning Briefing – Wednesday, October 30

The Copenhagen Post’s daily round-up of the front pages and other major Danish news stories

Oct 30, 2013

Sexual senior citizens
With a new class of drugs at their side and dating websites at their disposal, senior citizens are doing more to keep their sex lives active. New research shows increased sexual activity as well as rising marriage rates among people of pensionable age. “The new generation of senior citizen has a totally different attitude towards sex, love and relationships than any previous generation,” said Dr Christian Graugaard of Aalborg University. Ældre Sagen, an elderly advocacy group, said the increased sexual activity among today’s senior citizens was due to their better health and experiences as part of the generation that saw attitudes toward sex liberalised. Over the past six years, sales of drugs to treat erectile dysfunction have risen 35 percent for men aged 65 to 79 and 31 percent for men 80 and over. – Jyllands-Posten

Muslims reject proposed Danish imam training
A proposal to make imam training a university programme along the same lines as for Church of Denmark ministers has been rejected by Muslim groups. Making Imam training a university programme would give Islamic theology students free rein to study elements of the religion and to read the Koran critically, but Muslim groups said this went against being a good Muslim. “No Muslim faithful would ever support anything that cast doubt on the word of God,” said Imran Shah, a spokesperson for the Islamisk Trossamfund. – Kristeligt Dagblad

University quality to be “ramped up”
The nation’s universities are in store for a thorough reform that, according to the higher-education minister, Morten Østergaard, will address criticism by professors, businesses and students themselves that the quality of university education is on the decline. Following a model established with reforms of primary schools and vocational schools, Østergaard will now set up a panel of education experts who will review the university system. The first recommendations are expected in March. “We need to strive to be better than the others but that requires that we ramp up quality, not ramp down,” he said. – Berlingske

Accountants accused of ignoring reporting obligation
Financial crimes investigators are concerned that the nation’s accountants turned a blind eye to possible tax evasion as they assisted clients during a tax amnesty period that ended this summer. The police’s fraud squad, as well as regulators with Erhvervsstyrelsen, said accountants have an obligation to report people who have large sums of money they cannot document earning legally, but not a single such individual was reported. Per Fiig, the head of the fraud squad’s whitewashing group, said that while clients who sought amnesty did not need to be turned in, individuals who either stopped the process of registering unreported fortunes, or who simply inquired about amnesty, should have been reported. – Politiken

Editorial Excerpt | Party differences do matter
The belief that it doesn’t make a difference who you vote for may well find its root in the ugly negotiations that followed the 2009 local election. At that time, we saw local councillors sell their party affiliation for an influential position. Politics is about gathering as much power as possible. That often makes for strange bedfellows, but in the eyes of voters it also creates doubt about whether lawmakers are seeking to gain power for their own good or for the good of society. – Berlingske

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