By Katie Rice

The youngest son of QueenMargrethe, Prince Joachim,has announced the birth ofa new prince with his wife,Princess Marie

PRINCE JOACHIM andhis wife Princess Mariewelcomed a son early onMonday morning as the

33 year-old princess gave birthto a new prince at Rigshospi-talet in Copenhagen.

The healthy boy was born at4.57am after a ten hour labour,weighing in at 3032 grams and49 centimetres in length. Theproud father was present forthe entire birth and cut theumbilical cord.

Prince Joachim admitted toshedding a tear, calling it a‘very moving moment’.

The new prince is the fifthgrandchild of Queen Mar-grethe II and the first child forthe couple since their marriagelast year. Prince Joachim alsohas two sons from a previousmarriage. The boy will be sev-enth in line to the throne.

The couple have not yetannounced the name of theirnew son and Prince Joachimwas not giving anything awaythis morning.

‘As I have said before, itcould be anything from Ib to

Nebukaneser.’All public buildings and

buses flew the flag in honourof the new royal and the Bat-tery Sixtus and Kronborg Cas-

tle fired a 21 gun salute fromtheir cannons at noon.

The Royal Lifeguards alsowore their blue gala duty uni-forms in honour of the occa-

sion, which feature specialchin-straps for royal births.

See Comment on page 6

Queen pays a visit to the new prince

VOL. 12 ISSUE 188 - 14 MAY 09

THE DANISH NEWS IN ENGLISH

IN & OUTJoin the Irish at the racetrack for a Saturday of toptips, poor picksand jockey sticks

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NEWS

An egalitarian lot. Newstudy reveals that a third of Danes consider themselves to be socialists

4

COMMENT

Media interest around thenew prince ranges from thecurious to the bizarre but theroyals need their privacy too

6

NEWS

Many foreigners do notrealise they signed up topay taxes to the church saysanti-church tax group

5

BUSINESS

Walking to success. Eccoshoes slips off the recessionblues and announces largescale expansion plans

12

EU Parliament passesmotion to prohibit theimport of seal products tomember states, with spe-cial exceptions for Greenland

BY NO LATER than the endof this year legislation willbe in place to put into action

the motion passed by a largemajority in the European UnionParliament yesterday, prohibit-ing the import and trade of sealproducts in EU countries.

However, as expected, therewas a special clause for the Inuit,intended to ensure the continuedeconomic viability of Inuit com-munities in Greenland andCanada. But the government ofGreenland and Danish MEPs areworried that the impact of theban, albeit with a special Inuitclause, will have an adverseaffect on life in the settlementsof Greenland.

A long and well-publicisedcampaign by animal rightsorganisations had been aimed atthe elected representatives of theEU, with seal pup cuddly toysand support from celebritiessuch as Paul McCartney, togeth-er with video footage of annualseal pup clubbing from Canada.(sermitsiaq.gl)

Queen Magrethe leaves the hospital after visiting her newest grandson

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By Katie Rice

The national ResistanceMuseum is getting readyto launch its new onlineresistance worker data-base, partly enabled by aone million kroner grantfrom the Culture Ministry

ANEW INTERNET data-base will be launched bythe Resistance Museum,

listing at least 21,000 names ofresistance fighters from thewar.

This first set of names, ofsome 70,000 active volunteersin the resistance movement,will be registered as part of amuseum project.A one million kroner grantfrom the Culture Ministry andlottery funds has made it pos-sible to locate the names,mainly from the so-called‘troop lists’ created after theliberation of Denmark in 1945.

‘We want to avoid judgingwho was in the resistance.That’s why we’re registeringthose who were either on atroop list or were mentioned insome other form of literature,’said museum curator, HenrikLønbak to Berlingske Tidendenewspaper.

The Danish Data ProtectionAgency allowed the publica-tion of names if the personconcerned has given permis-

sion for the name to be madepublic or if the resistancefighter has been dead for atleast 10 years. If the death can-not be confirmed to have takenplace more than 10 years ago,the name will not be addeduntil 2020.

The archive will allow for

simple information such as thename, unit, rank and functionof the resistance fighter, but itis also possible to supplementit with photo or account fromthe person in question.

The database was madeavailable by the museum lastMonday evening.

Freedom fighters put on web

2

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NEWS THE COPENHAGEN POST8 - 14 MAY 2009

Sunniest April ever breaks records Naked vandals

POLICE ARE hunting forthree naked vandals after anunusual episode in Slagelse.A Statoil petrol station at atruck stop near the Zealandtown was visited at 2am lastMonday morning by threemen, clad only in shoes,reports public broadcasterDR. The naked men then pro-ceeded to urinate all over thechocolate display before tak-ing off in a Mercedes car. Theentire episode was caught onsecurity cameras and SouthZealand Police are currentlytracking down the owners ofthe car.

Long shot

THE WORLD’S longest pho-tograph has been put on dis-play in Kongens NytorvSquare in central Copen-hagen. Simon Høgsberg cre-ated the 100 metre long por-trait of more than 178 peoplein Germany two years ago.He spent four hours a day for20 days photographingstrangers on the WarschauerBrücke railway bridge inBerlin. The photo, entitled‘We’re all going to die – 100metres of existence’, wasdesigned to show the strengthand fragility of the humanrace in a giant picture to givea strong impression of ‘whowe are and what life is about’.Most of the picture’s subjectswere unaware they werebeing photographed and fea-ture a broad spectrum of peo-ple; from a kissing couple toa man with an eye-patch, toanother carrying a small dogin his backpack. The imagewill be on display in KongensNytorv until 28 May.

Fatal accidents

TWENTY PEOPLE have losttheir lives in work-relatedaccidents so far this year,according to the 3F unionnewsletter. Every year around60 people die at work and thisyear is no exception. In thefirst four months of this year,12 out of 20 have died as aresult of vehicular accidents.Of those who died in vehicu-lar accidents, four were truckor van drivers deliveringgoods. Agriculture, construc-tion and maritime jobs haveconsistently been the mostdangerous and 2009 is shap-ing up to be no different toany other year. Three con-struction workers have diedthis year, in addition to threeagriculture employees andtwo sailors.

Police stop

A NATIONWIDE police anti-speeding operation caught5099 accelerator-happymotorists last week, reportedpublic broadcaster DR.National Police indicated that122 were driving so fast thattheir licences have been con-ditionally revoked. Next onthe police agenda is an opera-tion against scooter and bicy-cle riders failing to adhere totraffic rules. That campaignis set for 11-14 May.

IN BRIEF

The Copenhagen Post welcomes outside letters to the editor but all unsolicited submissions are at the writer’s own risk. Letters and comments can be sent to comments@cphpost.dk or left on our website.The Copenhagen Post accepts no responsibility for the content of material submitted by advertisers. The Copenhagen Post is published weekly by CPHPOST.DK ApS Print-ed by Dagbladet, Ringsted. Annual subscription fee: DKK 1100 E-mail: subs@cphpost.dkAll rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part without permission is prohibited by law.

People at The Post Name: Katie RiceFrom: Dublin, IrelandJob title: Journalist

‘Skagen in northern Jutland has to beone of my favourite places to visit inDenmark. The beaches are dotted withabandoned WWII bunkers, the seascrash together at Grenen and the oldchurch buried in the sands is a must. ‘

It was an April to remember for both residents and meteorologists, with new records for sunshine and temperature being set. According to theDanish Meteorological Institute, we enjoyed a record 272 hours of sunshine last month, breaking the record of 1974 by 10 hours. In addition, thisApril’s 9.4 degree average temperature beat 2007 by 0.1 degree. Rainfall was also at a minimum last month. Precipitation totalled 10 millimetresfor April 2009, but the dry month was far from setting a record. In both 1974 and 1893 a mere three millimetres fell nationwide. The normal pre-cipitation average for April is 41 millimetres. (rc)

Photo: Kyle Wheeler

The museum offers a glimpse into the world of the WWII resistance

AMAJORITY of MPs areprepared to pass legislationbanning dogs belonging to

fighting breeds after severalincidents where people andpets have been mauled by theanimals, reports B.T. newspa-per.

The Liberals, SocialDemocrats and Danish Peo-ple’s Party are in agreementthat the canines pose a threat toresidents and need to be out-lawed.

‘Our position is that theyshould be eliminated,’ the Lib-eral Party’s Flemming Møllertold TV2 News.

The Danish People’s Partyhas an alternative proposal thatmuscle dogs over 6 monthsshould be required to wearmuzzles.

‘But we’re willing to con-sider a total ban,’ said theparty’s Marianne Harpsøe. (rc)

Dangerousdogs cullproposal

Ban, muzzle or kill them?

3THE COPENHAGEN POST8 - 14 MAY 2009

A teenage boy was runover and killed by a driverwho thought he was trying to steal his car

AMAN WHO believed his carwas being stolen by a groupof teens drove after them

before hitting and killing one.The incident occurred in a

town outside Århus at around 6a.m. on Sunday morning. The16-year-old boy slipped on thegrass while trying to flee the carand got pinned under the vehicleafter being hit. He later died ofhis injuries at Århus Hospital.According to witnesses, thegroup of boys were causingchaos throughout the neighbour-hood, breaking into several carsand houses.

The 35-year-old driver hasbeen charged with involuntary

manslaughter but may get offwithout charge, according toLars Bo Langsted, law professorat Aalborg University.

‘Anyone who has been thevictim of a crime against theirperson or property has, accord-ing to the law, the right todefend themselves,’ said Lang-sted. ‘Even a person that goesfar beyond what might actuallybe allowed in that regard canstill come away free of punish-ment.’

In February, Hell’s Angelsmember Jørn Jønke Nielsen wasacquitted by a city court afterstabbing another man in a fight.Nielsen had pleaded self-defence in the case.

Langsted added, however,that the car chase in Sunday’sincident was neither ‘necessarynor defensible’ by law, in hisopinion. (rc)

By Katie Rice

A young female patientwho tested positive forthe flu virus after arrivingfrom New York no longerhas any symptoms butremains in isolation whileother passengers havetested negative

THE FIRST DANISHpatient has tested positivefor the influenza A(H1N1) virus, previously

known as swine flu.

Jesper Fisker, director of theNational Board of Health, saidthat the infected young womanfrom Zealand had arrived on aContinental flight from NewYork on the morning of 29April.

Due to the patient’s wish foranonymity, Fisker would notreveal any more informationabout her identity, but said thatshe was being kept in isolationto protect her from the media.

The woman had contactedHvidovre hospital complainingof a sore throat, was tested andsent home with face masks as aprecaution. By the time testresults came back positive thepatient no longer had any symp-

toms, but was kept in isolationuntil 6 May as the virus maystill have been in her body.

Nineteen passengers seatedin the airplane rows near theDanish woman were trackeddown by the health authorities,who said all their results for thevirus came back negative.

So far the health authoritieshave tested more than 200 peo-ple displaying possible symp-toms of influenza A (H1N1),but only the young woman fromZealand has tested positive.

‘There is not much to indi-cate that Denmark is especiallyhit with infection, but it alldepends what happens with thevirus,’ said Else Smith of the

health board. As of 5 May, the World

Health Organisation (WHO)said that 21 countries had con-firmed cases of the flu. Therehave been 1490 confirmedcases, of which 30 have resultedin death.

Other flu patients have beenconfirmed in European coun-tries such as Austria, Germany,the Netherlands, Spain,Switzerland and Great Britain.

WHO has raised the alert tothe second highest level of 5,which means the virus has beenspread from human to human inat least two countries. Accord-ing to WHO, the Phase 5 alert is‘a strong signal that a pandemic

is imminent’. Meanwhile, the Foreign

Ministry has issued an alertadvising against all unnecessarytravel to Mexico in an attemptto halt the spread of the virusfrom the heavily-hit country.

Back at home the NationalBoard of Health said that whilethe virus is a new type, it is notparticularly infectious and thesymptoms so far seem no moresevere than those of regularinfluenza.

While health authoritieshave found anti-viral medica-tion to be effective, they saidthat the situation requires closemonitoring in case the virusmutates.

Young Zealand woman is first swine flu case in Denmark

The fairy tale ending for city festival

Photo: Lyndsay Jensen

Teenager run down

Kongens Nytorv was transformed into an 19th century antique market square last weekend as the Hans Christian Andersen Festival come rollinginto town. Over 100 stalls crammed into the square offering an array of crafts, antiques, food, sweets and more. Blacksmiths and butchers sharedtheir old world interests with passers-by as historically dressed police officers kept law and order. The Hans Christian Andersen Parade fromOdense was also on hand to play a few traditional tunes. (ws)

The grass verge where the teenager was run down and killed

First case hits the nation

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Information relating towhy two men are beingheld on tolerated stay hasbeen made public, result-ing in legal action beingtaken against authoritiesby the men’s lawyers

TWO IRAQIS ON toleratedstay are suing the Integra-tion Ministry after finally

learning what crime they weresuspected of, reports Politikennewspaper.

The information wasreleased through the publica-tion of a US intelligence report,which indicated that the twoIraqis had both co-operatedwith Al-Qaeda and were ‘sus-pected of facilitating foreignfighters into Iraq’, including

suicide bombers. The docu-mentation was supplementedwith information provided byDanish intelligence agencyPET.Documentation from Germanand Moroccan authorities con-firm that PET suspected at leastone of the men as being thehead of Iraqi terrorist recruit-ment for Northern Europe.

PET had kept its suspicionssecret, but the two men werejailed for a considerable periodbefore being placed on tolerat-ed stay status. The two menremain on that status becausealthough PET wants to havethem deported, the RefugeeAppeals Board will not allowtheir return to Iraq because themen are considered to be at riskof torture and persecution.

Both men have admitted to

meeting members of terroristorganisations but deny theywere involved in terroristrecruiting. One of the suspects,Mohamed Hamid, said he wasseeking their help to locate hisbrother, who disappeared inIraq. The other, Amer Saeed,said the men were just friends.

The men’s attorneys believetheir clients have a good case -particularly in light of therecent Supreme Court decisionin the well-publicised ‘Tunisiancase’, where the court ruledthat PET’s unwillingness topresent evidence against twoTunisians charged with plottingto kill Mohammed cartoonartist Kurt Westergaard failedto justify their being on tolerat-ed stay.

Tolerated stay requires that aperson must report to policeauthorities each day.

‘My client wasn’t given anyinformation on his allegedcrime,’ attorney Henrik Stage-torn told Jyllands-Posten news-paper.

‘I’ve asked PET to provideus with the information, butthey’ve refused. Then a yearafter he’s been released fromprison we read the informationon a website.’

Neither PET nor the JusticeMinister has yet commentedon the matter. (rc)

Worries about invitingDutch politician GeertWilders to Denmark leadsto further delays for thetroubled freedom ofspeech conference

THE GOVERNMENT willnot be inviting controversialDutch politician Geert

Wilders to Denmark anytimesoon.

Conservative MP NaserKhader, previously of Liberal

Alliance, secured funding lastyear for an international free-dom of speech conference,which was due to be held inFebruary.

Late last year it was decidedto push the conference backuntil June and according toinformation received byBerlingske Tidende newspaper,the conference has been delayedagain because of government’sconcern over Geert Wilders.

The integration minister,Birthe Rønn Hornbech, has sentout a memo saying that the freespeech and anti-radicalisationconference will not be heldbefore the autumn, ‘in spite ofintense work and exploration’that has gone into preparations.

The Danish People’s Party(DF) had wanted Wilders toattend. The politician has previ-ously been subjected to deaththreats and banned from entryinto Britain due to his outspo-ken views on Islam.

DF party leader, Pia Kjærs-gaard, said she wants a clearanswer to the repeatedlydelayed meeting and that it isobvious that the conference isan irritation for the govern-ment.

According to the newspa-per, the Foreign Ministry hasexpressed concern that ifWilders turns up to the delayedconference in the autumn itcould have a negative affect onthe climate summit in Decem-ber. The ministry is apparentlyworried that Wilders presencecould lead to Muslim countriesboycotting the climate confer-ence. (kr)

By Robert Cellini

Experts disagree about thenation’s understanding ofthe political term socialistas a poll reveals that onethird of us refer to our-selves as socialists

THOSE ATTENDING 1May celebrations for thenation’s labour organisa-tions have all the more

reason to cheer, with a newnational poll showing one outof every three people callingthemselves socialist.

The Megafon/TV 2/Poli-tiken poll found that 32 per-cent of those questioned abouttheir political leanings referredto themselves as ‘red’.Women are far more socialistthat men, however, accordingto the poll. Nearly 40 percentof women call themselvessocialists compared to 25 per-cent of the men.

But while historian andworkers’ movement expertClaus Bryld was surprised bythe numbers, he challengedwhether any concrete conclu-sion could be drawn from the

poll.‘Danes have a lot of differ-

ent ideas about what socialismis,’ he told Politiken newspa-per. ‘Some take the term from

the literal, Marxist angle,while others just link it withsolidarity, community and acertain degree of state regula-tion for business.’

Martin Ågerup, head of lib-eral economic think tankCepos, was also sceptical ofthe poll.‘A socialist is what you are if

you believe that private prop-erty should be confiscated bythe state and the state shouldalso own all production mech-anisms.’

NEWS4 THE COPENHAGEN POST8 - 14 MAY 2009

Third of Danes consider themselves socialists

Crowds gather in Fælledparken to clebrate May Day, a traditional rallying point for left wing activists and voters

Wilders: not welcome

Controversy dogsfree speech forum

Poll support

A MAJORITY support nego-tiating with the Taliban toachieve peace in Afghanistan,according to a recentGallup/Berlingske Tidendenewspaper poll. Despite thehigh percentage of Danishsoldiers who have lost theirlives in the war, the surveyindicated that 53 percent ofrespondents support the coun-try’s participation. In addi-tion, more than half favournegotiating with the Talibanin an effort to create peace inthe region. Denmark has suf-fered the highest death ratefor its soldiers in Afghanistanout of the coalition forces,relative to its population. Thecountry has lost 23 of its menin the war so far and current-ly has 750 soldiers stationedin the Asian country.

Greenland chef hunt

SIX CHEFS WILL be com-peting for the role of televi-sion chef on a new six parttelevision series about traveland food in Greenland. Theselection of a television chefwill take place at the Danishembassy in London with thelucky winner able to look for-ward to a comprehensivejourney taking them all overthe country on a hunt for rawingredients to use in theirrecipes that will be created forthe viewing public. The firstprogramme will be filmed insouthern Greenland, later tobe presented at the MIP-TVFilm Festival at Cannes inNovember.

Donated teddies

SAFETY promotion founda-tion TrygFonden has contin-ued its support of Århus Hos-pital and donated 3,000 cud-dly bears to the children’sunit. In the past two years, thefoundation has donated morethan 100,000 cuddly toys tochildren. ‘A teddy bear canmake a big difference. Whenwe see the many positivereports and thanks we getfrom parents and employeesat the anaesthesia unit, we’veno doubt that we’re doing theright thing,’ said Gurli Marti-nussen of TrygFonden. ÅrhusHospital will hand out the3,000 toys to children facinganaesthetic.

Body found

A BOY SCOUT troupe inAlbertslund, a suburb outsidethe capital, came upon a grue-some discovery on Thursdayevening when they stumbledupon a dead body in Vest-skoven woods. CopenhagenPolice reported that theyoungsters were picking uprubbish in the area when theycame upon a human leg stick-ing out of the ground. Policeindicated the body had proba-bly been there for months andare treating the case as suspi-cious. Although the body wasclothed, police say it will bedifficult to identify the mandue to the corpse’s poor con-dition.

IN BRIEF

‘Terror recruiters’ sue gov’t

Photo: Kyle Wheeler

By Katie Rice

The state church receivesfunding in the form of taxdeducted from its member-s’ salaries, but many for-eigners are unaware thatthey have been signed upas members or that itinvolves paying tax

BOTH THE ATHEIST Soci-ety and an anti-church taxwebsite have reportedrepeated requests from

foreigners wanting to opt-out ofpaying an automatic tax to achurch they are not members of.

Around 83 percent of Danespay the church tax, which is onaverage 0.88 percent of theirearnings, to pay for the upkeepof the Church of Denmark. It isexpected that this will amount toalmost 5.5 billion kroner thisyear, reports 24 Timer newspa-per.

Danes that are baptised in theChurch of Denmark, the nation-al Lutheran church, must pay thetax as long as they are members,but foreigners who move toDenmark are not obliged to,unless they register as churchmembers.

Mads Dørup, who runs theingenkirkeskat.dk website (‘nochurch tax’), said that hereceives at least five enquiresevery month from people want-ing to opt-out of paying the tax.

‘It is mainly people who havemoved here, for example, fromNorway and Sweden. They are

very surprised that they havebeen signed up as church mem-bers and it takes them by sur-prise that they suddenly have topay a tax,’ said Dørup.

The Atheist Society alsoreported receiving a number ofqueries each month; mainlyfrom people who did not realise

they had been paying the tax formany years.

When a foreigner moves toDenmark and signs up for thecivil registration ID number,they should be asked if they wantto be a member of the church. Ifthey answer yes, then they aresigned up as a paying member of

the church.Jesper Vind of the Atheist

Society believes that not enoughis being done to make foreignersaware that they are being regis-tered as paying church members.

If a currently registeredchurch member wants to opt-outof membership, they must write

to their local church office andrequest a resignation of mem-bership form in addition to pro-viding their birth certificate.

Once a person opts-out of theChurch of Denmark, they can nolonger have a minister of thatchurch preside over religiousevents like a wedding or funeral.

NEWS

Foreigners unaware they are paying church tax5THE COPENHAGEN POST

8 - 14 MAY 2009

Many foreigners don’t realise they have become members of the Danish Lutheran church

Five men missing afterPolish trawler sinks inBaltic Sea, Danish rescuevessels are still searchingthe area

FIVE POLISH fishermen arefeared to have drowned aftertheir fishing trawler sank offthe Danish island of Bornholmin the Baltic.

The Admiral Danish FleetHeadquarters (SOK) reportedthat a Danish environmentalmonitoring aircraft spotted alifebuoy some eight kilometressouth of the Baltic island yes-terday afternoon.Helicopters, four Marine Guardvessels and six rescue boatsfrom Denmark, Sweden andFinland took part in the searchfor the missing sailors, but sofar only a defective life raft anda buoy from the trawler havebeen found.

SOK Commander HansChristian Iversen said they hadnot received any distress call andit appears the trawler sank quitequickly. Public broadcaster DRreports that the trawler last hadcontact with its Polish owner lastWednesday night. (kr)

Polishtrawlermissing

Photo: Pamela Juhl

Scientist has new theory on how Napoleon diedA retired physician claimsthat Napoleon Bonapartewas not poisoned by hisenemies, but died due tokidney complications

ARNE W. S. SØRENSEN,one of the country’s leadingnephrologists, believes the

French emperor died due to hislifelong kidney problems. Theargument and evidence is out-lined in Sørensen’s new book,‘Napoleons nyrer’ (‘Napoleon’sKidneys’), which was releasedon Monday.

A Napoleon buff fordecades, Sørensen argues thatthe emperor battled kidneyproblems his entire life, evenduring his childhood. Sørensenrefers to numerous documents -including Bonaparte’s owndiary and statements from hismother - as proof of this.

Sørensen also attributesNapoleon’s notorious temper tohis kidney problems. It is saidthat the emperor was oftenforced to lean up against armycannons for up to thirty minutestrying to urinate. The painNapoleon must have experi-enced from the kidney failuremust have been excruciating,argues Sørensen.

Sørensen also asserts thatNapoleon’s gradual weight gaincan be attributed to his illness.

But there’s no questionNapoleon was saturated witharsenic as others have proven,according to Sørensen. US sci-entists recently claimed to haveproven that Napoleon died ofarsenic poisoning, as hightraces of the substance werefound in his hair.

But Sørensen writes that thesubstance was found in manyitems in those days - especiallyin the tapestries that Napoleonhad hanging at his many resi-dences. A hair sample taken in1802, nineteen years prior toNapoleon’s death, alreadyshowed the emperor had largequantities of arsenic in his body.

‘If there’s any dampness inthe room, the fumes releasedfrom the tapestry can be highlytoxic,’ said Stig Thornsohn, thebook’s editor and Sørensen’sson-in-law, to The CopenhagenPost. ‘Arsenic was also presentin the medicine he was takingfor his illness.’

Thornsohn pointed out thatthe kidney is supposed to cleansubstances from urine going tothe bladder. However, if there iskidney failure, then the poisonbuilds up in the bladder, andthat’s how Napoleon was reallypoisoned, according toSørensen’s theories.

In his book, Sørensen citesfour different autopsy reports.He claims that the original

attending physician refused tosign the first report because hefelt he was being pressured tofalsify it.

‘Health problems directlyand indirectly influenced the

outcome of many of Napoleon’sdecisions - including many ofhis military dispositions,’ saidThornsohn.

Thornsohn said his companyis working on getting the book

released in an English transla-tion. He said he also plans tosend a copy to John Curran,who is set to direct a children’sfilm on Napoleon with Al Paci-no in the starring role. (rc)

Napoleon: often had problems trying to urinate

THE MEN’S ice hockey teamdefeated Austria 5-2 in the IceHockey World Championshiprelegation round, ensuring theteam remained in the top inter-national division.

After defeating Germanyand Hungary the matchagainst Austria determinedwhich of the two clubs wouldbe relegated to the next divi-sion.

However, things couldn’thave started out worse for thenational side as they gave uptwo goals in the first two and ahalf minutes of the game. Butthe team regrouped and domi-nated the rest of the match,closing the gap to 2-1 withJulian Jakobsen.

Phoenix Coyote forwardMikkel Bødker scored the nextgoal and the final empty-netgoal, with Mads Christensenand Kasper Degn scoringgoals 3 and 4.

With the win, Denmarkhopes to maintain its worldranking at number 13.

Despite losing to both Aus-tria and Denmark, Germanycould not be relegated due toits status as host of the 2010tournament. Austria and Hun-gary were therefore the unfor-tunate teams to be relegated.

Two as yet undetermined1st division teams will in turnbe moved up into the top divi-sion for next year. (rc)

Ice hockeyteam notrelegated

By Klaus Bogstad, a Dane living in Britain

HOW DELICIOUSLY appositethat this discussion shouldhave started on April 9!That nobody else has rec-

ognized this as the day Danescelebrate (or used to) liberationfrom the yoke of foreign invadersonly proves how unintegratedyou all are!

Just kidding, but whilst ‘knowthine enemy’ would be the wrongexpression, learning about oneshost country and its history goesa long way towards understand-ing where the Danes are comingfrom.

This article may be consid-ered ‘off topic’ as I am not a for-eigner living in Denmark but aDane who has lived for 60 yearsin Britain. As such, with infre-quent visits to Denmark in recentyears, I have seen the gradualevolution of Denmark and theDanes into what it and they havebecome, and I fully understandthe vast majority of the com-ments foreigners in Denmarkmake, and recognize them aslargely accurate, or at leastentirely believable, which isdepressing albeit understandable.

My parents moved to Britainin 1949 when I was five. I waseducated in the UK, but we spokeDanish at home, and half mycareer was spent working forDanish companies or organisa-tions in the UK. As a result I amtruly bi-lingual. I have no Danishaccent when speaking English,and no English accent whenspeaking Danish, although mywritten Danish can sometimesrequire a spell-checker! More tothe point, I have retained ‘dualculture’. My (English) wife andchildren have adopted manyDanish traditions and tastes, asthey mesh easily with those ofBritain. But I have maintainedmy Danish nationality and haveonly ever had a Danish passport,although now we are all in theEU this has lost its significance.

In the fifties, sixties and sev-

enties I visited Denmark nearlyevery year, for either business orpleasure, from the eightiesonwards perhaps only every fiveyears or so. That is why thechanges to Denmark and my fel-low Danes are more noticeable tome. So yes, I feel I may be able tocontribute an insider’s view fromthe outside.

Denmark is a tiny country oflittle or no global importance, afact that Danes have a problemrecognizing. It has not had anyimperial ambitions for centuries.It has simply stayed at home andgot on with it, so to speak, andbeen exceptionally successful atdoing so. Even the citizens ofcountries Denmark has closerelations with know little about it.It comes as a shock for the aver-age Brit to learn that only about6% of Denmark’s GNP derivesfrom agriculture, as it is stillfamous for its bacon and butter.Some of them know that Lego isDanish, a very few have heard ofBang & Olufsen and still fewerknow about Danish furniture.Most regard Danes (and all Scan-dinavians) as liberated sex mani-acs.

The trouble is, that level ofgeneral ignorance is reciprocal:Danes know too little about othercultures, and Denmark has notbeen exposed to mass immigra-tion until relatively recently,hence it is unsure about how tohandle it. It was that same igno-rance that led it to seriously tram-ple on the spinach patch (as wesay) by publishing those stupid

and offensive cartoons. Ravingon about free speech, freedom ofworship and democracy cuts noice in societies that have neveradopted either. Freedom ofspeech does not include the free-dom to offend.

But to understand the generalattitudes of Danes to foreigners,and to each other, it is necessaryto acquaint yourselves with thestill ingrained ‘Jante Law’ (lookit up on Wikipedia), which hasten basic rules:

Don’t think that you are special.Don’t think that you are of thesame standing as us.Don’t think that you are smarterthan us.Don’t fancy yourself as beingbetter than us.Don’t think that you know morethan us.Don’t think that you are moreimportant than us.Don’t think that you are good atanything.Don’t laugh at us.Don’t think that anyone caresabout you.Don’t think that you can teach usanything.

In the book where this origi-nated, those who transgress thisunwritten ‘law’ are regarded withsuspicion and hostility as it goesagainst communal desire, whichis to preserve social stability anduniformity.

That’s it in a nutshell! Giventhat Danes are blunt speakers

who do not wrap their opinionsin waffle, hypocrisy or politicalcorrectness, and who neitheraccept nor understand discrimi-nation (or so they think), themodern spin-off amounts to this:

‘This is our country. We areproud of it and consider it betterthan most other countries. Wehave made ourselves one of thetop three richest countries in theWorld. If you come here:

‘Learn Danish. Live like wedo. Do not expect us to changeour beliefs or society to accom-modate your alien life styles orreligions. We don’t really needyou here, so go find yourselves aniche we haven’t already filled. Ifyou don’t like it here, go home.’

Why are manners so bad inDenmark? See above. It is everyDane’s right to get on the busfirst!

There has been a generationchange, as well as a culturalchange, in Denmark. What hap-pened to the old Social Democratslogan “Few should have toomuch, fewer still too little”?Since the Thatcher/Reagan eraDenmark has also adopted the‘we want it all, and we want itnow, and to hell with anyoneelse’ attitude. Now the majorityhave too much and ignore thosewho still have too little.

It has been sad for me to seethe erosion of the possibly naivebut well-meaning tolerance thatDenmark used to exhibit, but let’sface it, that change is not exclu-sive to Denmark. It is all toocommon in most Western coun-tries, who also sometimes share aconfusion between another coun-try’s government and its ordinarycitizens. Those of us who do notapprove of, say, the imperialist oilwars waged by the US andBritain, may not react positivelyat all times to their citizens.

Total integration is not possi-ble, true multi-culturalism isunattainable and possibly evenundesirable.

6 THE COPENHAGEN POST8 - 14 MAY 2009

POST COMMENT

The little prince

FLAGS WERE FLYING,cannons blasting and gen-eral cheer seemed to be theorder of the day as the

news was released that a newroyal had been born this week.The queen’s youngest son,Prince Joachim, and his French-born wife Princess Marie wel-comed their new son to theworld amid a media storm atRigshospitalet.

While most parents havehigh expectations for their chil-dren, the hunger for gossip in acountry devoid of Paris Hilton-level celebrities has resulted inthe new royal’s life being intri-cately mapped out within hoursof his birth.

According to various royalexperts the child is ideallyplaced for a career in the mili-tary. Either that, or he can fol-low his father into farming,because he is unlikely to inheritthe throne any time soon withsix other family members aheadof him in the pecking order.

It appeared some mediacouldn’t wait a couple of daysfor the obligatory photo op ofthe new child. In the absence ofany photographs of the newprince national news channelTV2 threw caution to the windand created some pretty scarycomputer-generated images ofwhat it said the new child couldlook like.

Psychology ‘experts’ alsocontributed their two centsabout the importance of com-munication for Prince Joachim,who now has three children bytwo different mothers.

But amid the media circusand photo ops lies a week-old

baby and a first-time mother.Princess Marie began hercourtship with her husband-to-be in the relative confines ofher Geneva home, but has beengradually drawn into the spot-light by the gossip-hungry mag-azines. There were stories ofsupposed sex-tapes from for-mer boyfriends and intrusivephotos of a heavily pregnantMarie trying on maternity wearin a store.

For a ‘commoner’, adaptingto life as a royal must be tryingenough without the fears ofintrusion on your children.Crown Prince Frederik recentlygave a glimpse into what royalsexpect from an upbringing, stat-ing he was brought up by nan-nies and didn’t have much to dowith his parents until he was 21.

It is refreshing to see that heis now a hands-on dad and per-haps with a little influence fromhis own ‘commoner’ wife,Princess Mary, he does notintend to subject his kids to thesame kind of upbringing.

But even though the non-blue blooded Mary and Mariehave adapted to the royal life,there must be a maternalinstinct that shies away fromhaving their children subjectedto intense media speculation.

One can only hope that themedia will continue to play fair-ly and restrict themselves topre-arranged family photo-opsand that the royal family won’thave to go down the same routeas their British cousins andsecure a blanket ban on tabloidcoverage of the young royals.

Katie Rice

OPINION

Media hunger for pictures of the new prince musn’tintrude on the family’s need for privacy

An outside insider point of view

READER LETTERS AND COMMENTSDust to dust

[‘Foreigners unaware they arepaying church tax’, page 5]

THERE IS EVEN more to thisstory. Even if you have paidtaxes to the church your wholelife, they will not let you have anon-religious funeral service inone of their buildings. I wentthrough this when my partnerdied 5 years ago. All I wanted tohave was a non-religious memo-rial service, but three levels ofthe church hierarchy denied methat right. They insisted thatthere had to be a priest givingthe "dust to dust" speech!

‘Rdrum’

[‘Dangerous dogs cull proposed’,page 2]

IT'S THE OWNERS that shouldbe eliminated. The dogs in and ofthemselves are not vicious but ifthey're taught to be that way, orabused or neglected by irrespon-sible owners who use the dogs to'prove their manhood' then anydog would become a problem -even a chihuahua would bevicious if taught to be. The worstdogs in our neighborhood that Iwouldn't want to be within 100feet of are these little barkingmaniacs that want to take yourleg off - not the 'muscle dogs'.

‘Stranger’

Cage the owners

BRITISH CHAMBER OF COMMERCE IN DENMARK

Global Europe - A British Perspective

The lunch will follow the first Annual General Meeting of our new merged organisation.

HMA Nicholas Archer - British AmbassadorBritish Embassy Denmark

Nick Archer started work as Ambassador on 14 October 2008. Since joining the Foreign Office in 1983 he has travelled extensively. In addition his overseas appointments have included serving in Jordan, Norway and Malta. He has also worked as Private Secretary to HRH Prince of Wales and was awarded an MVO for Services to The Royal Family.

Event: Annual General Meeting & LunchDate: Friday 15th MayTime: Lunch Meeting commences 12:15Venue: Radisson SAS Royal Hotel, Hammerichsgade 1, 1611 Copenhagen V

More information about this and other upcoming events can be found at www.bccd.dk

Non-members are welcome to the lunch. Register today!event@bccd.dk • +45 70208410

• official media partner

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OPINION

Hope for couples strug-gling with pregnancyarrives via a new dietalternative to hormonetreatment

ANEW BOOK claims to havecome up with a better way toincrease a woman’s chances

of getting pregnant without theneed for medical assistance.

In their new book, ‘Spis diggravid’ (‘Eat your way to preg-nancy’) gynaecologist BjarneStigsby and dietician CharlotteHartvig claim that high levels ofinsulin in the body can weakenthe ovaries and inhibit fertilisa-tion, and have therefore deviseda special new diet which canlower insulin levels.The two say that sticking to theprogramme - called the KISSdiet - can significantly increasea woman’s chances for pregnan-cy while eliminating the needfor artificial insemination orhormone treatment. Andaccording to Stigsby’s statistics,69 percent of the women whohave used the KISS diet meth-ods have been able to have achild without medical treatment.

‘We used to distinguishbetween the natural way to havea child and the artificial ways -either artificial insemination orhormone treatment,’ said Stigs-by. ‘But now there’s a third way,

and that’s through food. Withthe right diet many women caneat their way toward pregnancy.’

Food groups such as meats,fish, eggs, poultry, nuts andgreen vegetables all decreaseinsulin levels, according toStigsby and Hartvig. On theflip side, they recommendavoiding sweets and foods typi-cally high in starches and car-bohydrates, such as potatoes,white bread, pasta, root-basedvegetables and grain-orientedfood items.

Research has also shown thatlower insulin levels reduce the

risk of miscarriage and tox-aemia. Hartvig added that manywomen worry about the nega-tive affects of traditional hor-mone treatments.

‘It affects their mood nega-tively and can sometimes lead tomultiple births,’ she said. ‘Theadvantage of the KISS diet isthat it fundamentally re-estab-lishes the body’s balance andensures a woman’s normalcycle.’

Stigsby added that the KISSdiet can also increase potency inmen, as a high insulin count canlimit testosterone levels. (rc)

By Katie Rice

City buses taking part in abiofuel pilot project havebeen targeted by activistsclaiming it is more pollut-ing than regular fuel

ACTIVISTS FROM environ-mental protection groupGreenpeace are protestingon a number of buses all

across the city against the use ofbiodiesel by transport companyMovia.

Movia is currently experi-menting with bio-diesel fuel onnine different bus routes as partof a climate-friendly initiative,coordinated by advisory firmNiras.

The Road Safety and Trans-port Agency funded the 17 mil-

lion kroner pilot project in aneffort to meet the EU target ofthe transport sector using tenpercent of their energy from sus-tainable sources by 2020.

Greenpeace argues that theuse of rape seed oil as part of thebiofuel creates up to 70 percentmore CO2 emissions than regu-lar diesel fuel.

Up to 20 activists have occu-pied various buses using the bio-diesel and are handing out infor-mational leaflets to passengersand drivers highlighting theircase. Christina Koll of Green-peace said they also took issuewith the bus company’s practiceof putting stickers on the vehi-cles advertising them as ‘cli-mate-friendly biodiesel’ testvehicles.

‘We’ve had lots of discus-sions with them asking them tostop testing the fuel, but wehaven’t seen any sign that they

want to do so, so we’ve movedon to pressuring them andinforming the customers,’ saidKoll.

Johan Vedel, communica-tions manager with Niras, dis-putes the claims by Greenpeacethat biofuel releases 70 percentmore CO2 than regular diesel.

‘The EU already thinks bio-fuel is climate friendly and theDanish government has said itwill introduce a law requiringtransport to use biofuel in thefuture. This is a project to focuson what the technical aspectsand effects of using bio-dieselare,’ said Vedel. The project willtest particle emissions from theselected vehicles in addition totesting the effectiveness ofengines run on bio-diesel.

The selected city buses havebeen using a biodiesel mixturesince October and the projectwill run until the end of this year.

NEWS 7THE COPENHAGEN POST8 - 14 MAY 2009

Study says eat healthy to help conception

An activist puts a warning notice on one of the biodiesel-run buses

Fertility study focuses on food

Greenpeace targets biofuel

Photo: Pamela Juhl

Photo: Greenpeace

By Katie Rice

British actor John Nettlestalks bizarre murders,stalkers and favouritemotors with The Copen-hagen Post journalist KatieRice

TO MOST TELEVISIONviewers, John Nettles is theeponymous small town copwho despite recently quali-

fying as a pensioner, is stillviewed by many as one of theirall time on-screen police heroes.In a recent British television sur-vey his characters of Bergeracand Barnaby beat a host of otherfamous faces as TV’s top cop.

Nettles has appeared for morethan two decades as a small towndetective on British television.Throughout the 1980s, Nettlesset hearts aflutter as the title char-acter in ‘Bergerac’, winding hisway through the streets of Jerseyin his Triumph Roadster, solvingcrimes and getting the girl.

In the late 1990s, Nettlesreturned to his police roots as thefictitious Tom Barnaby in Mid-somer Murders, faced withweekly mysteries in a quaintEnglish village with the highestmurder rate in the world. It hasbecome a running joke that atleast three people are murderedin bizarre ways in each episodeand by Nettles’ reckoning, theyhave killed off at least 200 char-acters by now.

‘The great joke is that any-body takes it seriously at all.Barnaby is very serious, butthey’re extraordinarily silly mur-ders and it invests the rural luna-cy of Midsomer with a gravitythat is far beyond what it merits,’said Nettles.

The 65-year-old actor was inDenmark this week to promotethe release of the MidsomerMurders DVDs through a localcelebrity magazine but washappy to take time out to chat toThe Copenhagen Post.

Viewers of the show will beaware of the high rural murderrate, but apparently when theytried to cut down on the body-count viewers began complain-ing and requesting more. Nettlesbelieves that it may be an oddreflection of English society.

‘We’re so ill at ease with our-selves that we’d love to kill eachother and this provided a kind ofsafety valve. People go to workhappy on Monday morning aftergetting their blood lust out.’

Various characters have mettheir sticky end through poison-ing, stabbing, decapitating orbeing doused in acid, but Nettles’favourite is the trebuchet killing.He fondly remembers theepisode in which an objection-able wine buff was pinned to hiscroquet lawn and beaten to deathwith his own bottles by his crip-pled wife, operating a medievalcatapult.

While he hopes to see theseries continue without him, hedoesn’t expect a big bang murderfinale for his character, opting to

see him motor off to a South ofFrance retirement home in hisreliable Volvo.

And while reminiscing abouthis motors throughout his career,he certainly doesn’t miss the Tri-umph Roadster from his Berger-ac days.

‘I was never so glad to get ridof a car in all my life. It lookedbeautiful but it was hell to drive.It was slow, cumbersome,mechanically inept and unreli-able,’ said Nettles, laughingwhen he thinks of how the pro-

duction team dubbed the purringsound of a Jaguar over the racketof the actual Triumph.

The iconic car was later soldto a collector for £34,000, whenit was worth about £5,000. Anddespite it being put through theringer in the ten years of the Jer-sey show, the buyer eventuallywrote to Nettles complaining thatthe red beauty didn’t pass itsroadworthiness test!

Barnaby meanwhile has gonethrough a Rover 75, Jaguar andfinally settled on the belovedVolvo, which Nettles uses as hisown private car when nippingaround the surrounds of his Strat-ford-upon-Avon home.

Mentioning that I oncebumped into Johnny Depp beingharassed by fans on the streets ofStratford, I queried if Nettles hasany similar problems with thepublic.

‘Not really, the locals are

quite used to histrionically chal-lenged people like me meander-ing down the narrow streets.’

Johnny Depp has previouslyadmitted to being a fan of theshow, as has Roger Moore, andNettles would love to see the twoappear on the show, especiallythe former Bond star.

‘I’d love him to do something,he’s bloody wonderful. Wethought he could play a deadbody, a stiff, so he wouldn’t betoo stretched,’ said Nettles break-ing into a hearty guffaw.

While the locals have let Net-tles be, it seems the foreign fansare a bit more enthusiastic as theactor has been plagued withparcels and letters from an over-exuberant Norwegian lady. Net-tles’ wife erroneously returned apackage to the fan with the fami-ly’s home address attached andnow he can’t stop the flow ofmail to his English home. He has

gone to the police about it, but tono avail and tries to see the funnyside of the situation.

‘How on earth the sad dadthat is Barnaby can be regardedas sexy, I haven’t got the faintestnotion. Babe magnet? I don’tthink so, but she sent me a longmessage the other week aboutwhat she’d like to do with me.My eyes water at the thought ofit,’ he laughed.

Nettles will make his lastappearance as Barnaby in 2011and hopes to return to his truelove of theatre, having previouslytrodden the boards with theRoyal Shakespeare Company.

‘Every actor wants to go backto theatre. They only reason theydon’t is money. You can’t surviveon what the theatre pays, but nowI don’t have to worry about that,’he said with a smile.

See related article on page 10

8 THE COPENHAGEN POST8 - 14 MAY 2009NEWS

Read more: www.springfestival.dkTickets & info + 45 38 77 38 88

INTERNATIONAL PERFORMING ARTSFOR CHILDREN AND YOUTH

FROM MAY 13TH TO 20THIN COPENHAGEN | DENMARK

British TV cop drops in to talk classic cars and stalkers

Actor John Nettles in the role of Tom Barnaby in the hit TV series Midsomer Murders

Whale meat feast for GreenlandersA Greenlandic whale hasbeen caught after Green-land received its first quotalast year since total protec-tion of the species beganin 1932

FOR THE FIRST time in 36years a Greenlandic whalehas been hunted in Qeqer-

tarsuaq, Greenland, after spe-cial permission to hunt justone in 1973 as part of thetown’s 200 year anniversary.

The latest whale will beprocessed and its meat andblubber handed out as gifts tomembers of the community on21 June to celebrate the intro-duction of self-rule to Green-land, currently a home rulecountry within the greaterKingdom of Denmark.

Qeqertarsuaq was histori-cally a whale hunting town,specialising in the hunting ofthe Greenlandic whale, in the1800s and 1900s.

The recent whale haulweighed in at 40 tonnes and

was more than 14 metres inlength.

Greenland recentlyreceived a quota from theInternational Whaling Com-mission for two Greenlandicwhales per year for the period2008-2012, with allowancesbeing made to carry quotasforward from one year to thenext. As no whales were hunt-ed in 2008, the quota for thisyear is four.

The first two whales caughtare the property of the govern-ment, which has decided thatbiologists will receive sampletissues, whalebones and eyesfor research purposes.

The government have alsocovered the expenses involvedin hunting the whale, accord-ing to Amalie Jessen, head ofthe department for hunting andfishing.

A fully grown Greenlandwhale can reach 15-18 metresin length, with the female ofthe species being the largest.The weight of the whales tendsto vary between 44-58 tonnes,depending on the time of year

and the thickness of the blub-ber.

The Greenlandic whalereaches sexual maturity at fif-teen years old, averaging onebirth every four years.

This article originallyappeared on Sermitsiaq. Formore Greenlandic news inEnglish, please visit:www.sermitsiaq.gl

The whale blubber being prepared

Photo: Kyle Wheeler

ADVERTISEMENT 9THE COPENHAGEN POST8 - 14 MAY 2009

Part 2: Awakening (7): Cosmology (3)

As promised in the previous article, our discussion today will be about the ten powers of the universe. The manifestations of these powers are essential to the universe in order for it to be the way it is, and in order for it to behave the way it does. As Quran states, everything in this universe has a purpose and a known destination:

�(13:2) Allah is He Who

raised the heavens without any pillars that you see,

each one pursues its course

Lord.�

The key here is: "each

one pursues its course to an

appointed time.", This means

that each element in the universe

not only knows its function but

above all it is aware of the laws

that inter-connect it with the rest

of the other elements around it.

It is this consciousness that helps

create this synergy around us

and manifest the powers of the

universe in their best moments

of action. As mentioned in

the previous chapter, it is the

Creator, through His infinite

wisdom, who brought these

powers to existence. For a

Muslim as well as for a non

Muslim individual, we may

not have thought about it the

way I am describing here in my

articles. However, the more one

observes it and concentrates on

it, the more one would discover

the hand of the Creator anywhere

in the universe through the work

of these ten powers described

below. All these powers are

emerging out of seamlessness

and they are all tangled together

in such a way that one leads to

another.

Maybe we will come back

to them in the future but for the

sake of brevity, here are five of

the most needed ones.

1. The first of these ten

powers is "Centration;" this is the

universe centering upon itself to

give birth to a new being; a new

person, a new animal, or a new

molecule. The universe centers

upon itself to do this. Think

about your own existence; you

come from your mother and

from your father. Your mother

and father came forth from your

grandmother and grandfather

and so forth. So, all of that

genetic information is present as

you. It is compressed into you.

Then we derive this (Centration)

energy from the sun. The sun

receives its energy from atoms

and the atoms receive their

energy from the universe. In a

sense, the universe gathers itself

together and gives birth to a

new being. That is the power of

Centration.

What is of interest to us

here in these articles is not

really the scientific aspects

of these powers, many books

have been written about this

already. What is of value to us

here is the psychic aspects of

the universe and what mankind

needs to learn from it. What

is more interesting, from an

Islamic perspective, is the fact

that the human psyche or self is

in the center of the universe. In

other words, the cosmos is made

out of various psychic layers

all of which are directly and

sometimes indirectly impacted

by the well being or illness

of the human psyche. Just

remember the environmental

issues the world is facing these

days and you will understand

the role humanity is playing in

changing the entire ecosystem.

Above all, think of the genetic

mutations occurring in humans

and other creatures. Why is

this happening? The answer is

simple: because mankind has

taken it upon itself to challenge

the power of Centration.

No one will be able to stop

Centration from manifesting

itself because it is universal.

However, we can end the

negative manifestations of

Centration if we want to.

Repeatedly Allah (God) revealed

verses related to the universe to

the Prophet Mohammad (may

peace be upon him) to not

only emphasize its importance,

but also to equip man with the

capability to end the negative

aspect of Centration. The Qur'an

is telling us that if we want to

preserve the human species,

then we need to learn the rules

and the laws that govern all

these stars and galaxies around

us. In other words, the power of

Centration is the power by which

humanity can preserve itself.

It is the power for continuous

existence. Without it the world

around us will be disorganized

and we will perish.

What is worth

that since the 18th

has gone through

others are fading

The second power of

the universe is the power of

Allurement: this is the way

in which the whole universe

holds itself together. It's what

keeps the galaxies in their

place (gravitational bonds is

what keeps the galaxies in

their place). At the level of the

molecules this power is called

electro-magnetic interaction.

The molecules in our bodies are

held together by this power. In

the case of human communities,

they are held together through

time by vision, ideas, and

ideals that keep people together

and coherent. What is worth

mentioning here is that since the

18th century, humanity has gone

through many ideas and ideals

but none of them could stand

the test of time. Some of them

are gone and others are fading.

Thus, there is a need for ideas

and ideals that can last and as

result solves the human modern

drama. There are many options

out there and Islam is one of

them.

2. The power of Emergence:

We have discovered that the

universe is not a place. The

universe is a story. This is the

power of emergence. We thought

it was a place. We realize that it

is a world of an ongoing creative

event. It is an ongoing creative

emerging event. This power

could also be called creativity.

The task is how do we become

power emergent in the form of

the human? I don't mean here

creativity in materialistic terms

only, rather I am referring to

that human power of psychic

creativity that Qur'an talked

about in chapter 49 which we

will talk about in more details

when we talk about the structure

of community from an Islamic

perspective

3. The power of Synergy:

This deals with complexity. One

can even look at the universe as

the emergence of complexity

and what we discovered is that

every more advanced form

of complexity depends upon

the power of synergy. These

synergies are working together

to arrive at a strategy to be

successful in the great drama of

life, like, synergy, cooperation,

and collaboration. Just look at

the economic crisis our world

is going through. You would

easily find out that the main

missing factor in all these

attempts to overcome this crisis

is synergy between the North

and the South. The big 8 or 20

countries act as if they were the

only one concerned with this

crisis. They believe that solving

their economic problems

will automatically solve all

economic issues in Africa, Asia,

and South America. It is as if

they have forgotten that we live

in a small village whereby if one

individual feels pain the rest of

people will feel the same pain.

4. The power of

Transformation: This is the realm

where change takes place at all

levels of society. It is the way

the universe is arriving at more

qualitatively achievements.

It is just astonishing

despite what people

pleasure in anything they possess

Humanity too has been

going through a series of

transformations. However, these

transformations, regardless how

great they are, mostly touches

our external lives; the car you

drive, the cell phone you use,

the house you live in, the social

class you belong to, the school

you go to and so on. These

transformations do not have the

power to penetrate the human

soul, heart and mind and fill

them with the most basic human

needs such as an unconditional

love, a hug, a touch or even a

sincere smile or a few minutes

to listen to someone who

simply needs to be heard. It

is just astonishing to find out

that despite what people may

seem to possess, still they find

no pleasure in anything they

possess. That was the reality of

people who lived prior to the

seventh century. It is our reality

too and thus we need to find out

a divine system that pulls us out

of our misery.

5. The power of Inter-

Relatedness or Care: It is the

way in which the relationship

in the universe is characterized

by a dimension or presence of

something that over time evolves

to what we call care. We can

extend this all the way back and

say that the ultimate objective of

nature’s relationship has to do

with nurturing and caring. The

same way, the ultimate objective

of any human existence should

be about nurturing each other

and caring for one another. That

has been the message of Islam

since our father Adam (may

peace be upon him). Ask any

concerned man or woman and

he or she would tell you that the

solution for many of our modern

problems lies in nurturing and

caring.

These are, summarized, five

of the powers of the universe.

They are fundamental to the

congruence of the universe.

They are also foundational for a

peaceful human continuous co-

existence. What is fascinating

is that the more one reads the

Qur'an and ponder upon its

cosmic verses, the more one

transcends his or her existence

and as a result gains a better

understanding of who he or she

is and what his or her role in this

world is.

This is it for this topic. Next,

we will learn how Qur'an uses

other means to awaken man.

Until then, I appreciate your

time and I look forward to

hearing from you.

Dr. Abdelmalek YamaniYamalek1@gmail.com

*All excerpts from the holy Koran taken from: www.quranexplorer.com/quran

Closing the GapsTowards Civilizing Man

Swine-Flu and the Holy Quran"He (Allah) has forbidden you only carrion, and

(The cow (Al-Baqara): 173)

"Forbidden unto you (for food) are carrion and

dedicated unto any other than Allah, and the

dead through falling from a height, and that which hath been killed by (the goring of) horns, and the

devoured of wild beasts" (The table (Al-Maeda) : 3)"

These verses where revealed to Prophet Muhammad fourteen centuries ago, specifically in

the year A.D 610. Since then Muslims are committed to not eating any of the above mentioned,

including and especially Swine flesh.

In early days of Islam there were not enough sciences or research tools to uncover the wisdom

behind every dictation by Allah (God) to mankind, alternatively Muslims believed that a dictation

from Allah must be for the best interest of his creatures and therefore it must be obeyed whether

details of its purpose is known or not.

According to scientist Pigs have been known to eat any kind of food, including dead insects,

worms, tree bark, rotting carcasses, garbage, and even other pigs. Occasionally while in captivity,

pigs may eat their own young if they become severely stressed.

Scientist affirms Pigs harbors a range of parasites and diseases that can be transmitted to humans.

These include trichinosis, Taenia solium, cysticercosis, and brucellosis. Pigs are also known to

host large concentrations of parasitic Ascarid worms in their digestive tract. The presence of these

diseases and parasites is one of the reasons why pork meat should always be well cooked or cured

before eating.

Pigs are susceptible to bronchitis and pneumonia. They have small lungs in relation to body

size; for this reason, bronchitis or pneumonia can kill a pig quickly. There is concern that pigs may

allow animal viruses such as influenza or Ebola Reston to infect humans more easily. Some strains

of influenza are endemic in pigs, and pigs also can acquire human influenza.

See more on Pigs on http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pig

By Claire Clausen

‘Medical goes consumer’ isthe new catchphrase for awhole new branch of med-tech development promot-ed in Denmark by an inter-national Englishman

HE’S HALF BRITISH,half Danish; he works fora Swedish companywhich is now part-owned

by the Finns – in Denmark. If itisn’t a global combination, it iscertainly a Northern Europeanone. There was a time when acombination like this was rarein Danish business life, but theworld, and Scandinavia, haschanged. Denmark has thrivedby finding new innovative ideasand developing them. That isone of the things that attractedKristian Bluff to this countrywhen he finished school inEngland.

Innovation has always beena key theme in his life and now,as the Danish Director of acompany called InnovationTeam, Kristian Bluff feels hehas found his niche.

It is Bluff ’s fresh, positiveattitude that secured him thejob of Director of the Danishoperation, and it is the forward-looking, innovative attitude ofthe company that suited him.

This is a company that com-bines design and development– medical technology from

concept to reality. The job isalmost tailor-made for Bluffwho has a degree from the Dan-ish Design School and an MBAfrom the University of West-minster in London, where hemajored in design manage-ment. ‘I have always been fasci-nated by the process of innova-tion and the value of design inproducts and services,’ he says,‘and Innovation Team is a per-fect mix of design and develop-ment, designing creativity. Itallows me to promote gooddesign in business.’ Bluff hasworked in design managementfor Lego and Knud Holscherand Fitch, and wanted the bal-ance of the product develop-ment side.

Innovation Team began as aspin-off from Halmstad Techni-cal University where new ideasemerged for medical technolo-gy, without the means of trans-forming into a viable, practicalreality. For twenty years thecompany grew steadily and lastyear the majority shareholdingwas acquired by a large Finnishgroup, Etteplan Oyj. The Dan-ish operation was started byBluff, when the companyrealised they needed a base inthe Øresund Region’s MediconValley, which is rankedamongst the three largest LifeScience clusters in Europe.

True to its name, InnovationTeam supports start-up compa-nies mainly working in medicaltechnology. The client gets theidea for a device, and Innova-tion Team makes it a reality.

‘Many of these ideas comefrom patients and hospitalstaff,’ explains Bluff, ‘from thepeople who actually need phys-ical aids, improvements to theirtreatment and healthcare.’

Having worked with con-cept development, Bluff findshe really enjoys facilitating theinnovation process which he’sdone with five of the ten majormed-tech companies in Den-

mark. ‘The fact that our workactually contributes toimproved life quality for peo-ple in need of medical technol-ogy, is an aspect I find veryrewarding. Today more andmore is being done to help peo-ple manage their illnesses ordisabilities in their own homes;at the ‘point of care’ as it’sknown,’ explains Bluff. ‘It’s awhole new direction that’s

developing, with the catch-phrase “medical goes con-sumer”. This is where the con-sumer’s input is coupled withtheir own willingness to payfor well-designed med-techaids,’ he continues. ‘An exam-ple would be a wheelchair. Apatient who has to spend mostof the time in a wheelchairwants it to look good, to havespecial features designed

specifically for him.’ A great deal of money is

spent and much valuableresearch is being carried out inmany companies, but there isnot sufficient product reality.‘That’s where we come in. Ifyou have an idea to make yourtreatment easier or your lifemore comfortable, we can helpmake it happen,’ concludesBluff.

COMMUNITY10 THE COPENHAGEN POST8 - 14 MAY 2009

No 256

Innovation and design fusion from a British Dane

Kristian Bluff displays one of his latest medical gadgets

Across

1. Brief (5)4. Wrap up (7)8. Unyielding (7)9. Happen again (5)10. Ogle (4)11. Hand treatment (8)13. In addition (4)14. Heavenly body (4)16. Final (8)17. Fashionable (4)20. Wants (5)21. Beginning (7)22. Remainder (7)23. Put off (5)

Down

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Post Quick Crossword No 255Across: 3 Abundance; 8 Oily; 9 Starboard; 10 Speech; 11 Heard; 14 Ruler; 15 Dear; 16Erica; 18 Case; 20 Dress; 21 Smart; 24 Serene; 25 Impromptu; 26 Acid; 27 Incessant.Down: 1 Construct; 2 Sleepless; 4 Both; 5 Nerve; 6 Aboard; 7 Cure; 9 Score; 11 Hoist;12 Deference; 13 Crescendo; 17 Adieu; 19 Emerge; 22 Remus; 23 Omen; 24 Stun.

British Chamber welcomes TV’s BarnabyBritish actor John Net-tles took time out of apromotional visit toDenmark to meet withguests of the BritishChamber of Commerce

THE BRITISH CHAMBERof Commerce (BCCD),together with the British

Embassy, hosted an afternoonevent in Copenhagen thisweek, with special guest JohnNettles, of Midsomer Murdersfame.

The popular British crimeseries has been running formore than a decade and hasproved very popular with fansall over the world, includingDenmark.

Nettles and the show’s pro-ducer, Brian True May, tookthe opportunity to meet withthe BCCD over an exclusivelunch at the Radisson SASRoyal Hotel on Tuesday, 28April.

British Ambassador andPatron of the BCCD, NickArcher, welcomed the assem-bled guests and noted how cul-tural events such as thisstrengthened ties betweenBritain and Denmark.

Nettles graciously thankedhis hosts and said it was goodto be back in Denmark after hislast visit in 1970.

The 65-year-old actor first

shot to fame as the troubledJersey island cop Jim Bergeracin the 1980s, before moving onto play DCI Tom Barnaby inMidsomer Murders in 1997.

Having played a televisiondetective for more than 20years, he has attracted quite afollowing. He still gets a lot of

fan mail, although he said hisRussian fans seem to think theshow is a documentary series.This could be worrying, consid-ering there are at least threebizarre murders per episode!

Nettles also said that theshow has some high-profilefans, such as the Police Chief of

Chicago who praised the show’spolicing techniques. Fellowactors Johnny Depp and SirRoger Moore have previouslyprofessed an admiration for theshow and Nettles said he wouldlike to see both appear on theshow before he leaves the seriesat the end of next year. (kr)

John Nettles (left) chats with the BCCD’s Mariano Davies

11THE COPENHAGEN POST8 - 14 MAY 2009

WWW.ROSKILDE-FESTIVAL.DK WARM-UP FROM 28 JUNE

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By Robert Cellini

Despite a downturn inprofits shoe retailer Eccoplans to continue itsworldwide expansion overthe next five years

JUTLAND BASED Eccois planning to open 700new stores by 2013 despitethe financial crisis.

Although company execu-tives expect 2009 figures to beless than those of the last threeyears - where profits exceed 700million each year - Ecco bosseswant to have 1,500 stores world-wide within the next five years.‘We’ve got the capacity to do it,’said Dieter Kasprzak, Ecco’smanaging director. ‘There won’tbe any new factories or otherexpansion until after 2013, sowe’re concentrating on the retailside of things.’

In early April, Ecco laid off1,150 of its employees in itsmanufacturing locations of Slo-vakia, Indonesia, Thailand andChina. But the lay-offs have nothampered the desire for growthwithin the company.

‘We’re not in a crisis at Ecco,’said Kasprzak. ‘We had a fantas-tic 2008 and we believe we’ll getthrough 2009 relatively well,although our turnover will prob-ably be 10-15 percent lower incomparison.’

Ecco also plans to expand itsinternet boutique, which hasgiven more than 30,000 saleseach year in the US alone.

But Ecco has a substantialamount of capital, and the lowcosts of real estate will help it toachieve its expansion goals.Kasprzak said customers shouldnot expect the price of Eccoshoes to fall, however.

‘Our shoes cost what theycost and we won’t compromiseon the quality.’

The effects of the finan-cial crisis on tourism inthe capital have resultedin hotels reducing theirprices and offering incen-tives to guests

AFTER YEARS OF holdingtheir prices far above theEuropean average, hotels in

Copenhagen are finally feelingthe crunch of the global finan-cial crisis.

Hotels have to drop theirprices or offer special deals tolure customers as capacity faroutweighs demand, accordingto business travel and consul-tancy company Travelbro-ker.dk.

The average price for a one-night stay at one of the city’sthree star hotels has typicallycost around 1000 kroner,approximately 130 euro. Butnow even four star hotels, suchas those operated by ChoiceHotels, are offering dealswhere an overnight stay includ-ing breakfast costs 600 kroner.

First Hotels is offering one

free night for customers whobook a one night stay or morebefore 21 June. In addition, thecompany has a deal for its flag-ship, five-star Skt. Petri Hotelstarting at 698 kroner.

The Arp Hansen Group,which owns the PhoenixCopenhagen, 71 Nyhavn Hotel,Imperial Hotel, Grand Hoteland The Square, has set aside alimited number of rooms for aspecial that runs until the endof the year. For 690 kroner, cus-tomers can get an overnightstay in a single room withbreakfast and free internetaccess. The double room priceis 860 kroner.

Hotel room capacity willincrease even more in theautumn, when the new CrownPlaza Hotel opens on 19November - just in time tohouse participants of theCopenhagen Climate Summitin December.

Despite the fact that manyhotels will be full during thesummit, Travelbroker.dk andother travel experts say that2009 is expected to be a slowyear for the hotel industry. (rc)

BUSINESS THE COPENHAGEN POST8 - 14 MAY 200912

Ecco to open 700 new shoe storesStriding ahead. Ecco plans to walk all over the competition and open hundreds of new stores

Hotel prices show afall in the capital

The 25 largest foreignsubsidiaries in the countryare now in annual dia-logues with Invest in Den-mark to avoid downsizing

THE TRADE COUNCIL’Sinvestment arm, Invest inDenmark, has had to

increase its efforts to retainforeign companies in Den-mark.

Invest in Denmark hasexperienced a growing num-ber of downsizing and clo-sures of foreign companies’Danish subsidiaries as thefinancial crisis takes hold,reports Børsen financial daily.

US giant Motorola closedits development department inNørresundby in January,affecting 265 employees, butefforts by Invest in Denmarkensured some of the jobsremained in Denmark.Motorola’s antennae team waspurchased by Molex Incorpo-rated and talks are continuingwith other investors to see ifother former Motorolaemployees can be rehired.

Invest in Denmark has nowextended its ‘after care’ pro-gramme for foreign compa-nies that have already investedin the country.

‘We’ve place an employeewith each of the 25 largest for-eign companies and have adialogue with them at leasttwice a year to make sure all iswell,’ said Ole Frijs-Madsen,head of Invest in Denmark.

The organisation has alsoestablished a new system tokeep a close eye on the next100 largest companies on thelist.

‘The risk of large interna-tional companies reducing orclosing departments in Den-mark has become greater as aclear effect of the financial cri-sis. The IT sector has been par-ticularly hard hit, as have thepharmaceutical and biotechindustries to a lesser degree,where Denmark has tradition-ally been very strong,’ saidFrijs-Madsen. (kr)

Efforts to help out foreign firms

ONE OF DENMARK’Slargest craft breweries,Gourmetbryggerietm, hasbeen purchased by Harboe,Scandinavia’s second largestpurveyor of beer and softdrinks.

Harboe has bought out 75percent of Gourmetbryggeriet(GB) shares through its ownstock, with GB’s primaryowners Michael Knoth andLars Dietrichsen each receiv-ing around 15 million in Har-boe shares.

The total price Harboe isexpected to pay for GB is esti-mated to be 25 million kroner- 19 million less than the craftbrewery’s market value priorto the deal.

‘The market for specialistbeers is under pressure, whichis why it will help GB enor-mously to get a strong partnerthat can help us bring downour costs and make us morecompetitive,’ said Dietrich-sen.

In 2007, GB bought outØlfabrikken, a microbrewerythat was allowed to continueits own brewing operationsafter the purchase. (rc)

Gourmet alebrewer soldto Harboe

Top hotels have had to cut prices to remain competitive

Motorola: ex-employees receiving help

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Photo: Pamela Juhl

Photo: Wesley Spyke

By Philip Shepherd

Denmark is experiencingnegative growth andsharply rising jobless fig-ures, EU economists say

THE EU COMMISSIONhas dramatically revisedits 2009 prognosis for theDanish economy, predict-

ing a fall in GNP of at least3.3 percent. This contrastswith earlier predictions,including one made just twoweeks ago by Niels Bernstein,boss of the Danish CentralBank, Nationalbanken, settingthe fall in productivity at a

much more conservative 1.8 to2 percent.

New figures released bythe Commission at the week-end indicate that the currentrecession – which, economistsin Brussels claim, began earli-er in Denmark than elsewhere- will see a doubling of unem-ployment levels to over 6 per-cent, by the start of 2010. Ifthese EU numbers are correct,more than 160,000 people willbe out of work in less thantwelve months time.

Nationalbanken’s Bernsteinhad predicted unemploymentrising to as much as 190,000by 2011.

However, according to theEU Commission, the early

start of the Danish recessioncould also have some positiveeffects.

Commenting on its newfigures, the Commissionnoted that f iscal measuresintroduced by the governmenthave been well-timed and of asufficient substance to mini-mize the nation’s exposure towhat it characterises as a pan-regional European economiccrisis.

The Commission furtherpredicts that Denmark is like-ly to emerge from its currentfinancial woes more quicklythat most other EU nations,probably experiencingrenewed GNP growth of 0.3percent already in 2010.

Wireless trains

COMMUTERS on the city’s S-trains will be able to avail offree wireless internet on therail network from the autumn.The train company will alsointroduce televisions to a num-ber of carriages from nextspring where commuters willbe able to see news updatesand traffic information. Theservices will be free for cus-tomers as it is being providedby Gratis Danmark, which iscovering costs by broadcastingadvertisements on the televi-sion screens and customers’laptops. Gratis Danmark cur-rently offers free wirelessinternet on regional trains onLolland, while national traincompany DSB offers internetaccess for a price on its Copen-hagen to Århus route.

More unemployment

UNEMPLOYMENT levelshave risen by 35 percent sincethe start of the year, accordingto new figures released by Sta-tistics Denmark. Between Feb-ruary and March, an extra10,600 people lost their jobs,bringing national unemploy-ment levels up to 2.9 percent. Atthe end of March there were82,100 people unemployed,with the highest jobless levelshitting the island of Bornholm,where unemployment rose from4.9 to 5.3 percent in one month.

Stock boost

THE STOCK market is on theway to a yearly high after theC20 index of leading sharesrose to 287.4 on Monday. Theindex of the top 20 Danishcompanies had risen by 3.9percent by 9.35am, reaching arecord high for the year. Theprevious record for 2009 wasset on 6 January when theindex reached 280.45. The C20index has now risen more than15 percentage points since thestart of the year.

IN BRIEF

THE COPENHAGEN POST8 - 14 MAY 2009 13BUSINESS

Capinordic CEO Lasse Lindblad has denied any involvement in wrongdoing

Bernstein was more optimistic

Digital football only

Bank denies stockvalue manipulation

Gloomy economic view from the EUONE OF DANISH football’sbiggest matches may not reachthe television sets of over a mil-lion homes due to an agreementbetween digital providers.

Although national teamgames are normally shown onpublic broadcasting stations DRor TV2, rights to show the WorldCup clash against Sweden on 6June are held by TV companiesViasat, TDC, YouSee and Stofa.This means that only customerswith digital receivers have accessto the game. Even Viasat’s owncustomers, who can normallysee games televised on the com-pany’s Channel 3 or 3+ station,must have a digital receiver tosee the match.

The four digital companies

had to join forces to afford theasking price for the game, whosebroadcasting rights are held bySwedish company HagenburgMedia. Although the final pricewas not disclosed, it was report-edly too high for TV2, whichdeclined to bid for the rights.

According to a Gallup poll,around 900,000 homes currentlyhave digital TV, but it isunknown how many of those arecustomers of the four companieswith rights to the match.

Lars Berendt, head of com-munications for the DanishFootball Association (DBU),said the organisation does itsbest to ensure that nationalteam games are broadcast onpublic television. (rc)

One of the nation’s lead-ing private banks is underinvestigation by stockexchange authorities forallegedly manipulatingshare values

FOLLOWING newspaperallegations last week thatleading private bank

Capinordic used a fake investorto buy shares in mobile softwarestart-up WirTek, stock exchangeauthorities have launched acomprehensive investigationinto several stock market flota-tions underwritten by the bank.

These include the WirTekflotation in June 2006 and thelaunch of online marketingagency Guava one month earli-er. Both companies are listed onCopenhagen’s OMX StockExchange.

Executives at WirTek andGuava confirmed that they havebeen ordered by OMX regula-tors to provide details of cir-cumstances surrounding theircompanies’ listings.

Based in the upmarketCopenhagen suburb ofHellerup, Capinordic specialis-es in asset management forwealthy individuals. Despite the

bank’s claim to provide expertinvestment assistance andadvice, a number of its formershareholders have recently beendeclared bankrupt.

According to the allegations,Capinordic bankers tried toguarantee the success of theWirTek IPO by creating adummy sale of 68,000 WirTekshares – worth at the time 2.8million kroner – which theysubsequently ‘bought’ back fivemonths later. The dummy salewould have given an impressionto other investors that the IPOwas fully subscribed, when infact it was not.

Capinordic CEO Lasse Lind-blad has denied that his bankwas involved in any wrongdo-ing. ‘Capinordic never evenacted as an official underwriterto the Wirtek share issue, butsimply as an advisor. There iscertainly no question of stockmanipulation.’

The value of shares inWirTek have plummeted morethan 90 per cent since they werelisted in 2006 at 48 kroner, andare now worth just 0.75 kronereach. Guava shares have alsocollapsed in value by over 90percent in the last two years.(ps)

Price for 100 unitsDKK USD CAD GBP SEK CHF JPY EUR

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- 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

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THE COPENHAGEN POST8 - 14 MAY 200914

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Communication SpecialistEditor for internal publications at our head office in Brande

Give your career wings

Siemens Wind Power A/S is a company in growth and a key factor for our increasing success is our staff of competent andprofessional employees. We continuously strive to strengthenour position, and we are therefore looking for bright minds eager to join a dynamic, international organization offeringunique opportunities for its employees.

The Communication department is a central, global functionwhich handles Siemens Wind Power’s communication activitiesworldwide. For the department, we are looking for an experi-enced, creative and self-directed Communication Specialist,who will contribute to the further strengthening of the com -pany’s communicative expression.

Work AssignmentsAs a Communication Specialist your main responsibilities willcover:• Editorial responsibility for our internal employee magazine,

published in English and Danish and appearing four times a year

• Editorial responsibility for an internal broadcast system based on slide presentations to be shown on TV screens

• Writing and editing of internal and external publications like newsletters, press releases or marketing material

Your ProfileYou have an education as journalist and possess at least threeyears of experience in professional, English language journa-

lism from which you have gained excellent knowledge of elec-tronic media channels like Internet and Intranet as well as pro-found experience in print and electronic media publishing. Additionally, you have experience in managing a publicationfrom editorial planning to print and you have a record in writing about technical topics. You are an outgoing personwho takes initiative and responsibility and are able to make de-cisions. Furthermore, you possess the ability to make strategicjudgements and you have the necessary skills and sensitivityfor working in an international environment. Preferably, youare a native English speaker but you could also have a school or university education in an English language country.

Interested?We offer exciting challenges and international career opportu-nities in an innovative, global company at the leading edge ofgreen technology. Our working environment is open, inspiringand international, and we provide great potentials for personaland professional development.

For further information about the job content, please contactDirector Communication Oliver Loenker on tel.: +45 99 42 2892. Further questions can be directed at Recruiting ConsultantAnette Neumann on tel.: +45 99 42 80 74. Apply online in English for the job on www.siemens.com/jobswindpower. Please note that we will reply by e-mail.

Deadline for Applications: 22 May 2009

By Wesley Spyke

It was supposed to beDenmark’s contribution tothe horror B movie genrebut when Reptilicus wasreleased the audiencerolled around the aisleswith laughter

THE NUCLEAR and coldwar era of the early 1960swas also the golden age ofthe movie monster. Cine-

ma audiences worldwidethrilled to the sight of Godzilladestroying Tokyo, The Blobwreaking havoc across the USAand the giant dinosaur Gorgodemolishing London. Fewdomestic movie-goers, however,could have envisaged such aferocious cinematic beast letloose on the streets of the Dan-ish capital.

All this changed with the1962 film Reptilicus - a home-grown monster which launcheda full scale assault on such his-toric sights as Copenhagen’sLangebro Bridge and the CityHall.

In a book entitled ‘Land of aThousand Balconies’ (CriticalVision / Headpress 2003),author and film enthusiast JackStevenson sheds light on theevents which led to the monster

venting its wrath on Copen-hagen. Reptilicus, he writes,was the brainchild of maverickUS film producer and distribu-tor Sydney Pink, who fell in lovewith Copenhagen during a 1959visit, returning to the USA fullof enthusiasm for Danish iconssuch as Tivoli and mermaids.

Pink’s Danophilia, combinedwith the latest craze for sciencefiction, led to his brainchild – amonster movie unifying the lowcosts of filming in Europe withthe ‘beauties of the Danishcountryside’. Surprisingly, Pinkwas able to recruit investorsfrom both sides of the Atlantic,and his powers of persuasionalso convinced some of Den-mark’s finest classical actors totake part in the project.

With one eye firmly on theUS box office, it was agreed thatReptilicus would be filmed inboth English and Danish, withthe Danish actors doing theirbest to speak in US accents on asecond take.

However, the film’s biggestUS investor, Samuel Z. Arkoff,was less than impressed. Arkoff,who had reportedly sunk$100,000 into the film, ‘shut theprojector off in horror afterviewing the first rough cut. ‘Themonster didn’t horrify him near-ly as much as the Danishaccents,’ writes Stevenson. OverPink’s protestations, Arkoffinsisted the film be dubbed with

American voices, prompting anexchange of lawsuits across theAtlantic that was to herald thestart of Reptilicus’s woes.

Any behind-the-scenes mis-givings of the film’s investorsdid not affect the hype in Den-mark. Reptilicus was touted asthe movie event of the year and,in an interview with BerlingskeTidende, Pink even claimed thatthe film was in line to win anOscar.

The Danish premiere washeld on 20 February 1961 at theSaga Cinema on Vesterbrogade,where the expectant audiencewas presented with the story ofan oil drilling expedition discov-ering part of a prehistoricdinosaur in Lapland. After theremains are entrusted to a Dan-ish scientist the beast is revivedduring an electrical storm andescapes to terrorise Copen-hagen.

Unfortunately, the cinematicdestruction of Copenhagen didnot so much terrify the audienceas cause large scale amusement.According to one observer, themonster ‘appeared to resemble astring puppet’, while anotherdescribed it as a ‘tacky Chinesedragon’. The supposedly apoca-lyptic scene in which Copen-hagen’s Town Hall Square (Råd-huspladsen) is demolished bythe irate dinosaur was reported-ly greeted with roars of laughter,while a scene in which panick-

ing cyclists plummet intoCopenhagen harbour fromLangebro Bridge caused evengreater hilarity. Stevensonwrites that extras supposedlyfleeing across the bridge in ter-ror ‘seemed to be doing theirbest to repress grins’.

Not surprisingly, the criticsslammed the film mercilessly,describing it as ‘badly acted,appallingly directed, amateur-ish and implausible in everyaspect.’ Few could fathom whyan American general had beenput in charge of the Danisharmed forces, and the specialeffects were less than convinc-ing. It came as no surprisewhen the US release was

shelved.It was not until 1963 that the

film was finally released acrossthe Atlantic, where it made lit-tle impression at the box office.Finally, it was relegated to thedrive-in circuit where, Steven-son comments, amorousteenagers ‘couldn’t care lesswhat was on the screen.’

Reptilicus, however, was notso easily subdued. After yearsin which the prints gathereddust, Copenhagen’s reptiliantormentor made a successfulcomeback as a kitsch additionto The Monkee’s televisionshow, and was screened in fullon US television in the early1980s, with its small screen

debut in Denmark followingsoon afterwards. With each ofits frequent late night televisionscreenings the film’s cult statusgrew, with many young fanswon over by what one enthusi-ast described as the ‘exception-al awfulness’ of the movie.

Despite the film’s obviousflaws, it is today viewed with acertain amount of affection inDenmark. At least, fans claim,it succeeded in placing theircapital city on par with suchmonster-blighted metropolisesas Tokyo, New York and Lon-don. Even today, they add, Rep-tilicus is guaranteed to put agrin on the face of anyonefamiliar with Copenhagen.

POSTSCRIPTDENMARK THROUGH THE LOOKING GLASS

Copenhageners terrorized by man-eating dinosaur

WEATHER 8 - 14 MAY 09

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WEDNESDAYTUESDAYMONDAYSUNDAYSATURDAYFRIDAY THURSDAY

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

Friday

CLOUDY WITH A LIT-TLE RAIN. Maximumday temperatures around18 degrees, minimumnight temperaturesaround 7 degrees. Lightto moderate winds.

Saturday

CLOUDY WITH A LIT-TLE RAIN. Maximumday temperatures around17 degrees, minimumnight temperaturesaround 7 degrees. Lightto moderate winds.

Sunday

A LITTLE RAIN WITHSUNNY SPELLS. Max-imum day temperaturesaround 16 degrees, mini-mum night temperaturesaround 5 degrees. Lightto moderate winds.

Monday

SUNNY. Maximum daytemperatures around 14degrees, minimum nighttemperatures around 2degrees. Light to moder-ate winds.

Tuesday

SUNNY. Maximum daytemperatures around 14degrees, minimum nighttemperatures around 2degrees. Light to moder-ate winds.

It destroyed City Hall and ate cyclists for breakfast, but cinemagoers were more amused than scared