SCOTTISH FOOTBALL (2)
Back in January, I said that Scottish football was rather dull, since the two Glasgow clubs, Rangers and Celtic, have had, and still have, an effective duopoly. Since then, it has become even duller.
Basically, Rangers went bust. It was a protracted affair, but that was the end result. A new club was formed out of the ashes, but under the rules of the system, it was not allowed to participate in the Scottish Premier League. It then applied to join the first division of the Scottish Football League, the next best tournament, whose winner gets access to the Premier League. The SFL said that Rangers could join, but only in the third division. Which means that Scotland's most successful football club won't get back to the SPL before August 2015 at the earliest.
Not surprisingly, in Rangers' absence Celtic are already top of the SPL, with a game in hand. Yawn.
Walter Blotscher
Sunday 30 September 2012
Saturday 29 September 2012
NORTHERN IRELAND
Today is the 100th anniversary of the signing of the Ulster Convenant, the document which ultimately led to the partition of the island of Ireland into north and south. During the nineteenth century, there was a growing recognition in mainland Britain that the governance of Ireland as - in effect - a colony was not tenable, and that some sort of devolved administration ("Home Rule" in the jargon) would need to be put in place. The leading proponent of Home Rule was the great Liberal Prime Minister William Gladstone. But his two attempts to find a solution foundered on the strength of the opposition from the Protestant north and their mainland supporters, notably in the House of Lords. In 1910, the general election resulted in a hung Parliament, so the Liberals did a deal; Parliamentary support from the (southern) Irish Parliamentary Party in return for a new Home Rule bill. Crucially, the deal also curtailed the powers of the House of Lords, which meant that they could only delay the bill, not kill it. Home Rule was scheduled to come into effect in 1914, a date that was then delayed by the outbreak of the First World War.
The Covenant was designed to show that whatever the politicians in Westminster chose to decide, Home Rule would not happen on the ground without a (literal) fight. Taking its inspiration from the Solemn League and Covenant taken by the Scots in 1638 prior to the Civil War, northern Protestants pledged to defend Ulster from Home Rule with "all means that may be found necessary". Hundreds of thousands signed up, in a very public demonstration. Six months later, in January 1913, the Ulster Volunteer Force was set up, a Protestant militia that armed itself with guns and ammunition smuggled in from Germany.
The events and aftermath of the First World War demonstrated that London had lost control of the situation. Shaken by northern resistance, the Government quietly offered Ulster an opt-out from Home Rule, thereby effectively killing it. Then the south of Ireland rebelled, and eventually gained independence. By 1921 the partition of Ireland was a reality.
Although Northern Ireland is part of the country of which I am a citizen, I have never really understood it. It doesn't help that I have never been there; but to be honest, I have never really wanted to. It is essentially made up of two tribes, the original Catholic Irish, and the Protestant majority, descendants in the main of Scottish settlers in the sixteenth century; since I am neither tribal nor particularly religious, I find the structure and totems both odd and disturbing. The IRA assassinations and famous trials of the 1970's (the Guildford Four, the Birmingham Six) made a big impression on me as a teenager. However, although horrified by the random violence of the IRA, I was even more horrified by the sight on TV of the people who seemingly wanted to stay yoked to me, not least by the intense hatred they seemed to show all of the time, and which seemed to be etched into their faces.
Today's anniversary will be marked by a huge march in Belfast. Marches are Northern Ireland's peculiar trait, as reflected in the phrase the summer "marching season". As is normal, this special march will pass at least one Catholic church, a potential flashpoint. The police will be out in huge force to try to ensure that there is no violence. As I say, this is Northern Ireland, and I don't understand it.
Walter Blotscher
Today is the 100th anniversary of the signing of the Ulster Convenant, the document which ultimately led to the partition of the island of Ireland into north and south. During the nineteenth century, there was a growing recognition in mainland Britain that the governance of Ireland as - in effect - a colony was not tenable, and that some sort of devolved administration ("Home Rule" in the jargon) would need to be put in place. The leading proponent of Home Rule was the great Liberal Prime Minister William Gladstone. But his two attempts to find a solution foundered on the strength of the opposition from the Protestant north and their mainland supporters, notably in the House of Lords. In 1910, the general election resulted in a hung Parliament, so the Liberals did a deal; Parliamentary support from the (southern) Irish Parliamentary Party in return for a new Home Rule bill. Crucially, the deal also curtailed the powers of the House of Lords, which meant that they could only delay the bill, not kill it. Home Rule was scheduled to come into effect in 1914, a date that was then delayed by the outbreak of the First World War.
The Covenant was designed to show that whatever the politicians in Westminster chose to decide, Home Rule would not happen on the ground without a (literal) fight. Taking its inspiration from the Solemn League and Covenant taken by the Scots in 1638 prior to the Civil War, northern Protestants pledged to defend Ulster from Home Rule with "all means that may be found necessary". Hundreds of thousands signed up, in a very public demonstration. Six months later, in January 1913, the Ulster Volunteer Force was set up, a Protestant militia that armed itself with guns and ammunition smuggled in from Germany.
The events and aftermath of the First World War demonstrated that London had lost control of the situation. Shaken by northern resistance, the Government quietly offered Ulster an opt-out from Home Rule, thereby effectively killing it. Then the south of Ireland rebelled, and eventually gained independence. By 1921 the partition of Ireland was a reality.
Although Northern Ireland is part of the country of which I am a citizen, I have never really understood it. It doesn't help that I have never been there; but to be honest, I have never really wanted to. It is essentially made up of two tribes, the original Catholic Irish, and the Protestant majority, descendants in the main of Scottish settlers in the sixteenth century; since I am neither tribal nor particularly religious, I find the structure and totems both odd and disturbing. The IRA assassinations and famous trials of the 1970's (the Guildford Four, the Birmingham Six) made a big impression on me as a teenager. However, although horrified by the random violence of the IRA, I was even more horrified by the sight on TV of the people who seemingly wanted to stay yoked to me, not least by the intense hatred they seemed to show all of the time, and which seemed to be etched into their faces.
Today's anniversary will be marked by a huge march in Belfast. Marches are Northern Ireland's peculiar trait, as reflected in the phrase the summer "marching season". As is normal, this special march will pass at least one Catholic church, a potential flashpoint. The police will be out in huge force to try to ensure that there is no violence. As I say, this is Northern Ireland, and I don't understand it.
Walter Blotscher
Friday 28 September 2012
THE COMMON COLD
The common cold is a generic name given to around 200 viruses which can affect the human upper respiratory tract, and which all have similar symptoms; sore throat, cough, runny nose, sneezing and so on. They are typically transmitted via airborne droplets, which is why particular close proximity groups such as school classes tend to get them at the same time. Adults typically get a cold up to half a dozen times a year, children more often.
Being viruses, antibiotics do not have any effect on colds (though they may ameliorate some of the symptoms). Beating them requires the body's immune system to get going, which is why colds have at times in history wreaked havoc on populations with no immunity (eg eskimos exposed to European explorers). Weather conditions play a role; but that is because some of the viruses are more prevalent in cold, wet weather, not because cold, wet weather weakens your immune system.
Colds are often confused with influenza, which produces similar symptoms, though in a more severe form. Yet flu is caused by a different set of viruses, which tend to be more virulent and much more likely to result in death. Asian bird flu is the big worry at the moment; though the biggest pandemic was probably the Spanish flu outbreak in 1918-20, which is widely held to have killed more people than the First World War (i.e. a lot). People at risk such as the elderly can get flu jabs; but they only vaccinate against known strains, and these mutate all the time.
The reason I am musing about all of this is that I am currently in the middle of my first cold of 2012, which happens to be quite a severe one. Not severe enough to stop me blogging, but close.
Walter Blotscher
The common cold is a generic name given to around 200 viruses which can affect the human upper respiratory tract, and which all have similar symptoms; sore throat, cough, runny nose, sneezing and so on. They are typically transmitted via airborne droplets, which is why particular close proximity groups such as school classes tend to get them at the same time. Adults typically get a cold up to half a dozen times a year, children more often.
Being viruses, antibiotics do not have any effect on colds (though they may ameliorate some of the symptoms). Beating them requires the body's immune system to get going, which is why colds have at times in history wreaked havoc on populations with no immunity (eg eskimos exposed to European explorers). Weather conditions play a role; but that is because some of the viruses are more prevalent in cold, wet weather, not because cold, wet weather weakens your immune system.
Colds are often confused with influenza, which produces similar symptoms, though in a more severe form. Yet flu is caused by a different set of viruses, which tend to be more virulent and much more likely to result in death. Asian bird flu is the big worry at the moment; though the biggest pandemic was probably the Spanish flu outbreak in 1918-20, which is widely held to have killed more people than the First World War (i.e. a lot). People at risk such as the elderly can get flu jabs; but they only vaccinate against known strains, and these mutate all the time.
The reason I am musing about all of this is that I am currently in the middle of my first cold of 2012, which happens to be quite a severe one. Not severe enough to stop me blogging, but close.
Walter Blotscher
Thursday 27 September 2012
BAH HUMBUG
A regular reader of mine used the phrase "bah humbug" in connection with some of my posts. So I looked up what it meant.
The consensus seems to be that is a phrase from Charles Dickens' book "A Christmas Carol". Ebenezer Scrooge says it about things he thought were nonsense or worthless. So my reader is saying that I write posts about things that I think are nonsense or worthless. Like popcorn yesterday.
He also suggested that I was getting as grumpy as Mr. Scrooge about these humbug things. Mm, perhaps I am.
All I need now is for this blog to become as literarily famous as Dickens' novels, and the analogy will be perfect!
Walter Blotscher
A regular reader of mine used the phrase "bah humbug" in connection with some of my posts. So I looked up what it meant.
The consensus seems to be that is a phrase from Charles Dickens' book "A Christmas Carol". Ebenezer Scrooge says it about things he thought were nonsense or worthless. So my reader is saying that I write posts about things that I think are nonsense or worthless. Like popcorn yesterday.
He also suggested that I was getting as grumpy as Mr. Scrooge about these humbug things. Mm, perhaps I am.
All I need now is for this blog to become as literarily famous as Dickens' novels, and the analogy will be perfect!
Walter Blotscher
Wednesday 26 September 2012
POPCORN
I dislike popcorn. True, I eat it when it's there, but I always look down on myself when I do. It's incredibly more-ish, but it tastes pretty much like salted cardboard. I never ever have it with that gunky stuff they serve it up with in America, which is just gross.
The other problem with it is that it just doesn't go with children; which is odd, since children are the main consumers of it. What I mean is that the relationship of popcorn to children is governed by the iron law children + popcorn = one big mess on the floor. Apparently it is impossible for a box of popcorn to move in its entirety from its container to the inside of a child's mouth.
I was reminded of this again today when I was up in the cinema. We had 31 children to watch the new Disney film Brave last night; today, the auditorium looked a mess. As I say, it's an iron law.
Walter Blotscher
I dislike popcorn. True, I eat it when it's there, but I always look down on myself when I do. It's incredibly more-ish, but it tastes pretty much like salted cardboard. I never ever have it with that gunky stuff they serve it up with in America, which is just gross.
The other problem with it is that it just doesn't go with children; which is odd, since children are the main consumers of it. What I mean is that the relationship of popcorn to children is governed by the iron law children + popcorn = one big mess on the floor. Apparently it is impossible for a box of popcorn to move in its entirety from its container to the inside of a child's mouth.
I was reminded of this again today when I was up in the cinema. We had 31 children to watch the new Disney film Brave last night; today, the auditorium looked a mess. As I say, it's an iron law.
Walter Blotscher
Tuesday 25 September 2012
CARDINALS
The word cardinal comes from the Latin cardo, the name given for a wedge put in between timbers. Cardinals thus were originally exceptionally able or useful priests, whom the Pope used as fixers to bypass the normal structures of the early Church. They got their big break in 1059, when Pope Nicholas II decreed that Popes should henceforth be elected only by the College of Cardinals. The traditional appointment of Popes by "the people and clergy of Rome" had exposed the office to the whims of local politics; or, even worse, the views of the Holy Roman Emperor. Nicholas' decision was an attempt to free the Papacy from external control, and he was greatly helped by the fact that the new Emperor, Henry IV, was a child at the time. The history of the following millennium shows that Papal independence was not always successful; yet it remains the case today that the Pope is chosen by the Cardinals, and that if you want to have any real chance of becoming Pope, then you have to get appointed as a Cardinal first.
Reflecting the origin of the word, Cardinals are still nominally priests or bishops of the various churches or dioceses in or around Rome, even though they are really living and working somewhere else. Most Cardinals are now either archbishops or senior administrators in the Curia, the Vatican civil service. However, being an archbishop doesn't guarantee you a Cardinal's hat. The current Archbishop of Westminster, head of the Catholic church in England, is not yet a Cardinal, but he will almost certainly become one in due course.
When a Pope dies, the Cardinals meet in conclave in order to choose his successor; though nowadays, only those under 80 years old are allowed to vote. Basically, they are locked away, voting inside the Sistine Chapel, and are not allowed out until a choice has been made, which requires a two thirds majority. The choice is signalled by sending white smoke up the chimney of the building to the faithful waiting outside in St. Peter's Square.
In this democratic age, the method for choosing the leader of a billion or so Christians seems rather bizarre (no women involved in any part of the process, for instance). Despite that, I have a bit of a soft spot for the Cardinals. The place where I did my university studies was founded by Henry VIII's able administrator Cardinal Wolsey, and was originally called Cardinal College. A fact reflected in the Cardinal's hat motif on the college tie.
Walter Blotscher
The word cardinal comes from the Latin cardo, the name given for a wedge put in between timbers. Cardinals thus were originally exceptionally able or useful priests, whom the Pope used as fixers to bypass the normal structures of the early Church. They got their big break in 1059, when Pope Nicholas II decreed that Popes should henceforth be elected only by the College of Cardinals. The traditional appointment of Popes by "the people and clergy of Rome" had exposed the office to the whims of local politics; or, even worse, the views of the Holy Roman Emperor. Nicholas' decision was an attempt to free the Papacy from external control, and he was greatly helped by the fact that the new Emperor, Henry IV, was a child at the time. The history of the following millennium shows that Papal independence was not always successful; yet it remains the case today that the Pope is chosen by the Cardinals, and that if you want to have any real chance of becoming Pope, then you have to get appointed as a Cardinal first.
Reflecting the origin of the word, Cardinals are still nominally priests or bishops of the various churches or dioceses in or around Rome, even though they are really living and working somewhere else. Most Cardinals are now either archbishops or senior administrators in the Curia, the Vatican civil service. However, being an archbishop doesn't guarantee you a Cardinal's hat. The current Archbishop of Westminster, head of the Catholic church in England, is not yet a Cardinal, but he will almost certainly become one in due course.
When a Pope dies, the Cardinals meet in conclave in order to choose his successor; though nowadays, only those under 80 years old are allowed to vote. Basically, they are locked away, voting inside the Sistine Chapel, and are not allowed out until a choice has been made, which requires a two thirds majority. The choice is signalled by sending white smoke up the chimney of the building to the faithful waiting outside in St. Peter's Square.
In this democratic age, the method for choosing the leader of a billion or so Christians seems rather bizarre (no women involved in any part of the process, for instance). Despite that, I have a bit of a soft spot for the Cardinals. The place where I did my university studies was founded by Henry VIII's able administrator Cardinal Wolsey, and was originally called Cardinal College. A fact reflected in the Cardinal's hat motif on the college tie.
Walter Blotscher
Monday 24 September 2012
WINTER HOBBIES (2)
It's September and it's Denmark, so it's starting to get cold and miserable (I know, since I have just emptied the rubbish into a howling gale). It's also time for winter hobbies to start up again; for me, badminton on Mondays, bridge on Tuesdays.
This year we started bang on time, on 3 September and 4 September respectively. We could have started in August; but as I said before, it's just not done. I still haven't worked out why, and nobody is telling me.
Two of my three badminton partners have had solar panels installed on their roofs, so they get free electricity and even make a bit on the side selling the surplus back to the grid. The post-match beer is an opportunity to compare notes, so I expect I will be hearing more on the intricacies of monochrystal panels in about two hours' time.
Walter Blotscher
It's September and it's Denmark, so it's starting to get cold and miserable (I know, since I have just emptied the rubbish into a howling gale). It's also time for winter hobbies to start up again; for me, badminton on Mondays, bridge on Tuesdays.
This year we started bang on time, on 3 September and 4 September respectively. We could have started in August; but as I said before, it's just not done. I still haven't worked out why, and nobody is telling me.
Two of my three badminton partners have had solar panels installed on their roofs, so they get free electricity and even make a bit on the side selling the surplus back to the grid. The post-match beer is an opportunity to compare notes, so I expect I will be hearing more on the intricacies of monochrystal panels in about two hours' time.
Walter Blotscher
Sunday 23 September 2012
GANGNAM STYLE
One of the advantages of having a teenage daughter is that I get exposed to aspects of youth culture that would otherwise completely pass me by. Under her gentle prompting, I am now aware of the charms of (eg) Gossip Girl, Cake Boss and Say Yes to the Dress. The last is a particularly inane programme in which forthcoming brides try on dresses costing thousands of dollars, while their fathers, grizzled steelworkers from New Jersey or wherever, start blubbing and say "anything for my little princess" (are these people insane or what?).
The latest example is Gangnam Style. Gangnam is apparently a rich suburb of Seoul, the wealthiest district in the country, and Gangnam Style is a pop single and video by a Korean guy called Psy. It's got a catchy rhythm, specific dance moves, and minimalistic lyrics, which consist mainly of the words "sexy lady" and some grunts from Psy. The whole thing is unbelievably naff, even in (or perhaps especially in) the eyes of cool 18-year olds, which is presumably why it has become so wildly popular.
The You Tube video had, as of this morning, been seen by 249,774,127 people, which is a fair proportion of the world's population. Well, to be exact, now 249,774,128.
Walter Blotscher
One of the advantages of having a teenage daughter is that I get exposed to aspects of youth culture that would otherwise completely pass me by. Under her gentle prompting, I am now aware of the charms of (eg) Gossip Girl, Cake Boss and Say Yes to the Dress. The last is a particularly inane programme in which forthcoming brides try on dresses costing thousands of dollars, while their fathers, grizzled steelworkers from New Jersey or wherever, start blubbing and say "anything for my little princess" (are these people insane or what?).
The latest example is Gangnam Style. Gangnam is apparently a rich suburb of Seoul, the wealthiest district in the country, and Gangnam Style is a pop single and video by a Korean guy called Psy. It's got a catchy rhythm, specific dance moves, and minimalistic lyrics, which consist mainly of the words "sexy lady" and some grunts from Psy. The whole thing is unbelievably naff, even in (or perhaps especially in) the eyes of cool 18-year olds, which is presumably why it has become so wildly popular.
The You Tube video had, as of this morning, been seen by 249,774,127 people, which is a fair proportion of the world's population. Well, to be exact, now 249,774,128.
Walter Blotscher
Saturday 22 September 2012
MARIANNE VOS
Marianne Vos confirmed her status as the best female cyclist of her generation when she won the world road race championship for the second time on home turf in Valkenburg this afternoon. After winning in Salzburg in 2006, the first time she had competed as a senior, she came second five years in a row, so the title was overdue. On the third last ascent of the Cauberg, she was the only one of the favourites able to bridge up to a breakaway that included her Dutch teammate Anna van der Breggen. The break powered away, before Vos broke clear on the final ascent of the Cauberg and solo'ed home.
The world championships cap a great 2012 for the 35-year old. She won the overall World Cup, the women's Giro d'Italia (for the second time) and the Olympic road race in London. Not surprisingly, she is both ranked number one in the world and often compared with Eddy Merckx, the great Belgian cyclist who also won everything.
However, what really sets her apart from her contemporaries is her success at all forms of cycling. Most people specialise in one of track cycling, cyclo-cross or road racing, but Vos is world class at all of them. She has won the world cyclo-cross championship for the past four years, and five times in all; while on the track, she was world champion in the points race in 2008 and the scratch in 2011, plus Olympic gold medallist in the points race in 2008. No other female cyclist has won world championships in all three disciplines.
Vos is a superstar in her native Holland, but is not so well known outside. That should be corrected, and I am happy to oblige.
Walter Blotscher
Marianne Vos confirmed her status as the best female cyclist of her generation when she won the world road race championship for the second time on home turf in Valkenburg this afternoon. After winning in Salzburg in 2006, the first time she had competed as a senior, she came second five years in a row, so the title was overdue. On the third last ascent of the Cauberg, she was the only one of the favourites able to bridge up to a breakaway that included her Dutch teammate Anna van der Breggen. The break powered away, before Vos broke clear on the final ascent of the Cauberg and solo'ed home.
The world championships cap a great 2012 for the 35-year old. She won the overall World Cup, the women's Giro d'Italia (for the second time) and the Olympic road race in London. Not surprisingly, she is both ranked number one in the world and often compared with Eddy Merckx, the great Belgian cyclist who also won everything.
However, what really sets her apart from her contemporaries is her success at all forms of cycling. Most people specialise in one of track cycling, cyclo-cross or road racing, but Vos is world class at all of them. She has won the world cyclo-cross championship for the past four years, and five times in all; while on the track, she was world champion in the points race in 2008 and the scratch in 2011, plus Olympic gold medallist in the points race in 2008. No other female cyclist has won world championships in all three disciplines.
Vos is a superstar in her native Holland, but is not so well known outside. That should be corrected, and I am happy to oblige.
Walter Blotscher
Friday 21 September 2012
POLITICAL EXPERIENCE
Getting the economy moving again is the most important political priority at the moment in Denmark, as it is in much of the rich world. Against that background, you would think that voters would choose politicians with business experience; or, at the very least, some work experience outside of politics.
If so, you would be wrong. Six of the Danish Cabinet's 23 members have never had any proper job outside of politics ("proper" means that a paper round doesn't count); and they include the Ministers of Finance, Taxation and Employment (technically, the Minister of Taxation is still a student!). A further four have had less than five years in the non-political workplace, and that includes the Prime Minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt, with just two.
Politics is fast becoming a profession in itself. The proportion of Danish MP's who are academics (i.e. educated at university to Master's level) is 64%, or two in three, compared with a national average of just 7%. People are increasingly going from university straight into full-time politics, with perhaps just a couple of years working for a party organisation beforehand. If they get the timing right, then they can become a Minister at a very young age; in the main, it is these youngsters who lack work experience.
All Cabinets need balance, and I am not suggesting that youth is automatically bad or that age is automatically good. Nevertheless, the lack of work experience in the current Danish Cabinet is striking; and it is difficult for Danes to (eg) accept lectures about looking for work in difficult times from an Employment Minister who has hardly ever worked herself. No wonder the Government seems to be floundering.
Walter Blotscher
Getting the economy moving again is the most important political priority at the moment in Denmark, as it is in much of the rich world. Against that background, you would think that voters would choose politicians with business experience; or, at the very least, some work experience outside of politics.
If so, you would be wrong. Six of the Danish Cabinet's 23 members have never had any proper job outside of politics ("proper" means that a paper round doesn't count); and they include the Ministers of Finance, Taxation and Employment (technically, the Minister of Taxation is still a student!). A further four have had less than five years in the non-political workplace, and that includes the Prime Minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt, with just two.
Politics is fast becoming a profession in itself. The proportion of Danish MP's who are academics (i.e. educated at university to Master's level) is 64%, or two in three, compared with a national average of just 7%. People are increasingly going from university straight into full-time politics, with perhaps just a couple of years working for a party organisation beforehand. If they get the timing right, then they can become a Minister at a very young age; in the main, it is these youngsters who lack work experience.
All Cabinets need balance, and I am not suggesting that youth is automatically bad or that age is automatically good. Nevertheless, the lack of work experience in the current Danish Cabinet is striking; and it is difficult for Danes to (eg) accept lectures about looking for work in difficult times from an Employment Minister who has hardly ever worked herself. No wonder the Government seems to be floundering.
Walter Blotscher
Thursday 20 September 2012
ROYAL PRIVACY
It's hard not to feel sorry for the Duchess of Cambridge, wife of the heir-but-one to the British throne. One minute you are on holiday in the sunshine at a private residence in the South of France; the next, pictures of you without your clothes on, and taken from roughly a kilometre away, are splashed all over a French magazine. That's illegal in France, which is why a French court has told the magazine Closer to hand over all of the photos and pay damages. But in this internet age, even an efficient court can't move as quickly as an IBM server. Within minutes, the pictures were all over the internet.
Against that background, the decision by Denmark's leading gossip magazine Se og Hør ("See and Hear") to earmark 16 pages of this week's edition to publishing the very same pictures strikes me as bizarre. Because although the legal position of pictures taken on private property is unclear in some countries, in Denmark - as in France - it is illegal if the person in question has not given their permission. Se og Hør's editor is saying that because the pictures were taken in France and because they had purchased them before the French court's decision, then that is somehow OK. I am not the only one who thinks that a Danish court would view that as hogwash.
But in order to get that far, the Duchess would have to take the magazine to court. Presumably Se og Hør is betting that she won't. Because it's one thing to go after the source of the photos, it's quite another to try and block every outlet on the internet, when the pictures have already been seen by millions (including, I have to say, me).
Some would say that if you're going to be a royal, then you have to put up with this sort of thing. I disagree. We can agree to differ about the precise dividing line between public and private life, but everybody has the right to some sort of private life, however small. Personally, I hope that the Duchess does sue Se og Hør and takes them to the cleaners. It's a tacky magazine that has been losing readers, and I wouldn't miss it.
Walter Blotscher
It's hard not to feel sorry for the Duchess of Cambridge, wife of the heir-but-one to the British throne. One minute you are on holiday in the sunshine at a private residence in the South of France; the next, pictures of you without your clothes on, and taken from roughly a kilometre away, are splashed all over a French magazine. That's illegal in France, which is why a French court has told the magazine Closer to hand over all of the photos and pay damages. But in this internet age, even an efficient court can't move as quickly as an IBM server. Within minutes, the pictures were all over the internet.
Against that background, the decision by Denmark's leading gossip magazine Se og Hør ("See and Hear") to earmark 16 pages of this week's edition to publishing the very same pictures strikes me as bizarre. Because although the legal position of pictures taken on private property is unclear in some countries, in Denmark - as in France - it is illegal if the person in question has not given their permission. Se og Hør's editor is saying that because the pictures were taken in France and because they had purchased them before the French court's decision, then that is somehow OK. I am not the only one who thinks that a Danish court would view that as hogwash.
But in order to get that far, the Duchess would have to take the magazine to court. Presumably Se og Hør is betting that she won't. Because it's one thing to go after the source of the photos, it's quite another to try and block every outlet on the internet, when the pictures have already been seen by millions (including, I have to say, me).
Some would say that if you're going to be a royal, then you have to put up with this sort of thing. I disagree. We can agree to differ about the precise dividing line between public and private life, but everybody has the right to some sort of private life, however small. Personally, I hope that the Duchess does sue Se og Hør and takes them to the cleaners. It's a tacky magazine that has been losing readers, and I wouldn't miss it.
Walter Blotscher
Tuesday 18 September 2012
CULTURAL DIFFERENCES
The company that runs Copenhagen's buses has had 17 double-deckers on trial for the past decade. It has not been a happy experience, and when the contract runs out in a month or so, it will not be renewed. With the exception of small children, Danes are apparently reluctant to go upstairs, congregating instead in the downstairs areas, where there are markedly fewer seats. The buses are also too high to go under a key bridge in the middle of the city, which regularly sees Swedish coaches getting stuck or worse. So, no more double-deckers on this side of the North Sea.
In London, on the other hand, they have been experimenting with bendy buses as a possible replacement for the famous double-decker Routemasters. These long things have been wildly unpopular, and will now be shipped off to Malta, where they presumably don't have a head for heights. A new version of the Routemaster is the way to go on the far side of the North Sea.
Whoever said that Europeans were all the same?
Walter Blotscher
The company that runs Copenhagen's buses has had 17 double-deckers on trial for the past decade. It has not been a happy experience, and when the contract runs out in a month or so, it will not be renewed. With the exception of small children, Danes are apparently reluctant to go upstairs, congregating instead in the downstairs areas, where there are markedly fewer seats. The buses are also too high to go under a key bridge in the middle of the city, which regularly sees Swedish coaches getting stuck or worse. So, no more double-deckers on this side of the North Sea.
In London, on the other hand, they have been experimenting with bendy buses as a possible replacement for the famous double-decker Routemasters. These long things have been wildly unpopular, and will now be shipped off to Malta, where they presumably don't have a head for heights. A new version of the Routemaster is the way to go on the far side of the North Sea.
Whoever said that Europeans were all the same?
Walter Blotscher
Sunday 16 September 2012
AMERICAN PSYCHO
I can still remember the furore when Bret Easton Ellis' novel appeared in the early 1990's. The original publisher pulled out after reading the manuscript; there was a much discussed scene involving a rat; every newspaper and magazine had a view on it. But I didn't read it at the time; nor have I ever seen the film made in 2000.
When my daughter turned 18 in April, one of her Danish friends bought her the book as a present. I am not sure that the friend knew much about it, other than it was a well-known book in English. Anyway, it is now part of the family library, and I have just read it.
And think it is actually quite good. True, the sex and violence are quite gratuitous; but twenty years of time have done wonders in this area, and it doesn't shock in anything like the same way as it did then. And in some things, the author was in fact very prescient. The obsession with money and Wall Street, conspicuous consumption, the need to be seen and be famous, the way people can die without the neighbours knowing, the shallowness of a lot of urban life. The themes were packaged in a peculiar way, but they were important themes nonetheless.
If you haven't read it, I recommend it.
Walter Blotscher
I can still remember the furore when Bret Easton Ellis' novel appeared in the early 1990's. The original publisher pulled out after reading the manuscript; there was a much discussed scene involving a rat; every newspaper and magazine had a view on it. But I didn't read it at the time; nor have I ever seen the film made in 2000.
When my daughter turned 18 in April, one of her Danish friends bought her the book as a present. I am not sure that the friend knew much about it, other than it was a well-known book in English. Anyway, it is now part of the family library, and I have just read it.
And think it is actually quite good. True, the sex and violence are quite gratuitous; but twenty years of time have done wonders in this area, and it doesn't shock in anything like the same way as it did then. And in some things, the author was in fact very prescient. The obsession with money and Wall Street, conspicuous consumption, the need to be seen and be famous, the way people can die without the neighbours knowing, the shallowness of a lot of urban life. The themes were packaged in a peculiar way, but they were important themes nonetheless.
If you haven't read it, I recommend it.
Walter Blotscher
Saturday 15 September 2012
PIA KJÆRSGAARD
A milestone was reached today when Pia Kjærsgaard, founder and hitherto the only leader of the right-wing Danish People's Party, handed over the party Chairmanship to her long-standing lieutenant Kristian Thulesen Dahl.
The DPP rose from the ashes of the Fremskridtsparti ("Progress Party"), an essentially one issue (lower taxes) protest party founded in the 1970's by a clever tax lawyer. After a particularly chaotic party conference in 1995, Ms. Kjærgaard and three fellow MPs walked out, and decided to set up on their own. Scarred by the earlier experience, the new party's creed has been, and still is, iron internal discipline. I do not like at all the DPP's anti-immigrant, anti-Muslim, anti-foreign, "little Denmark" policies, but you have to admire the fact that they are relentlessly "on-message". The result has been 17 years of an almost continual rise in opinion polls and seats in the Folketing; and although they have never been formally in Government, they were hugely influential during the 2001-11 reign of the previous right-of-centre coalition. The latest survey gives them roughly 15% of the vote, enough in their eyes to be able to demand a share of Government at the next general election.
Much of this success is due to Ms. Kjærsgaard's political skills. Like Margaret Thatcher in another country, she manages to portray herself as a typical Danish housewife saying common sense things that supposedly more educated politicians daren't. As I say, I disagree with a lot of those things. But plenty of Danes think she is on the right track.
So what now? Mr. Thulesen Dahl was one of those three colleagues back in 1995, a whippersnapper in those days, and still only in his early 40's today. He knows the party inside out, and has long been the heir apparent. But he's a very different type of person, the technocratic brains supporting Ms. Kjærsgaard's political instincts and presentational skills. Will DPP voters, many of them pensioners, warm to rational arguments rather than gut feelings? Only time will tell, but one thing is certain; she will be a hard act to follow.
Walter Blotscher
A milestone was reached today when Pia Kjærsgaard, founder and hitherto the only leader of the right-wing Danish People's Party, handed over the party Chairmanship to her long-standing lieutenant Kristian Thulesen Dahl.
The DPP rose from the ashes of the Fremskridtsparti ("Progress Party"), an essentially one issue (lower taxes) protest party founded in the 1970's by a clever tax lawyer. After a particularly chaotic party conference in 1995, Ms. Kjærgaard and three fellow MPs walked out, and decided to set up on their own. Scarred by the earlier experience, the new party's creed has been, and still is, iron internal discipline. I do not like at all the DPP's anti-immigrant, anti-Muslim, anti-foreign, "little Denmark" policies, but you have to admire the fact that they are relentlessly "on-message". The result has been 17 years of an almost continual rise in opinion polls and seats in the Folketing; and although they have never been formally in Government, they were hugely influential during the 2001-11 reign of the previous right-of-centre coalition. The latest survey gives them roughly 15% of the vote, enough in their eyes to be able to demand a share of Government at the next general election.
Much of this success is due to Ms. Kjærsgaard's political skills. Like Margaret Thatcher in another country, she manages to portray herself as a typical Danish housewife saying common sense things that supposedly more educated politicians daren't. As I say, I disagree with a lot of those things. But plenty of Danes think she is on the right track.
So what now? Mr. Thulesen Dahl was one of those three colleagues back in 1995, a whippersnapper in those days, and still only in his early 40's today. He knows the party inside out, and has long been the heir apparent. But he's a very different type of person, the technocratic brains supporting Ms. Kjærsgaard's political instincts and presentational skills. Will DPP voters, many of them pensioners, warm to rational arguments rather than gut feelings? Only time will tell, but one thing is certain; she will be a hard act to follow.
Walter Blotscher
Friday 14 September 2012
EUROPEAN INTEGRATION
Most of Europe spends most of the summer on holiday: and it seemed to me in this Olympic year that the financial crisis went on holiday during the summer as well. Now that the Olympics are over and holidays ended, the financial crisis has returned. Along with plans to try and do something about it.
There are two things on the table, both of which will inevitably lead in my view to greater European integration. The first is the European Central Bank's decision to buy in the secondary market potentially unlimited amounts of the Government bonds of Member States in the Euro. In the view of the German representatives on the bank's ruling council, this is tantamount to financing the budget deficits of Member States, which would be illegal under the bank's constitution. But the Germans were overruled. Spanish and Italian bond yields immediately fell sharply on the news.
The decision is hedged with conditions; but it brings the ECB a big step closer to being the bank of last resort that national central banks currently are, and thereby addresses one of the big structural problems with the Euro when it was set up. On the fiscal side, the fiscal pact remedies some, but not all, of the problems there. What is now required is some sort of agreement on joint Eurobonds. Member States, notably Germany, are not yet ready to take that step, but the likelihood that they eventually will has just gone up a notch or two.
The second thing is a concrete proposal from the European Commission on an EU-wide banking regulator in the form of the ECB. Its remit would in principle only cover banks in the Euro-area to start with; but since they are very few, if any banks, that are big, operate within the EU yet are outside the Euro area, it effectively covers the whole of the EU. Finance Ministers are currently debating it in Cyprus, who have taken over from Denmark as EU Chairman for the second half of this year. The proposals are unlikely to stay unamended; again, though, it is highly likely that something along the lines of the Commission's proposals will be agreed at one of the upcoming summits.
With both of the above, positive proposals have benefitted from the removal of potentially negative obstacles. First, the German constitutional court ruled that the European Stability Mechanism, the permanent bail-out fund for the Euro, did not breach German law. True, there were conditions, but the principle was conceded. Secondly, in this week's Dutch election, the big winners were pro-EU parties and the big losers extremists who had called for a referendum on leaving.
European integration tends to follow a pattern. Member States say that there is no way that they will accept certain things. Time goes on. Proposals then emerge that propose exactly what has already been rejected. There is debate. But eventually the Member States agree to move forward. So it has been with the single market, cooperation on police matters and immigration, increased powers for the European Parliament, the introduction of the Euro and much else. Fiscal policy and bank regulation will - in my humble opinion - follow in due course, and in the same way.
Walter Blotscher
Most of Europe spends most of the summer on holiday: and it seemed to me in this Olympic year that the financial crisis went on holiday during the summer as well. Now that the Olympics are over and holidays ended, the financial crisis has returned. Along with plans to try and do something about it.
There are two things on the table, both of which will inevitably lead in my view to greater European integration. The first is the European Central Bank's decision to buy in the secondary market potentially unlimited amounts of the Government bonds of Member States in the Euro. In the view of the German representatives on the bank's ruling council, this is tantamount to financing the budget deficits of Member States, which would be illegal under the bank's constitution. But the Germans were overruled. Spanish and Italian bond yields immediately fell sharply on the news.
The decision is hedged with conditions; but it brings the ECB a big step closer to being the bank of last resort that national central banks currently are, and thereby addresses one of the big structural problems with the Euro when it was set up. On the fiscal side, the fiscal pact remedies some, but not all, of the problems there. What is now required is some sort of agreement on joint Eurobonds. Member States, notably Germany, are not yet ready to take that step, but the likelihood that they eventually will has just gone up a notch or two.
The second thing is a concrete proposal from the European Commission on an EU-wide banking regulator in the form of the ECB. Its remit would in principle only cover banks in the Euro-area to start with; but since they are very few, if any banks, that are big, operate within the EU yet are outside the Euro area, it effectively covers the whole of the EU. Finance Ministers are currently debating it in Cyprus, who have taken over from Denmark as EU Chairman for the second half of this year. The proposals are unlikely to stay unamended; again, though, it is highly likely that something along the lines of the Commission's proposals will be agreed at one of the upcoming summits.
With both of the above, positive proposals have benefitted from the removal of potentially negative obstacles. First, the German constitutional court ruled that the European Stability Mechanism, the permanent bail-out fund for the Euro, did not breach German law. True, there were conditions, but the principle was conceded. Secondly, in this week's Dutch election, the big winners were pro-EU parties and the big losers extremists who had called for a referendum on leaving.
European integration tends to follow a pattern. Member States say that there is no way that they will accept certain things. Time goes on. Proposals then emerge that propose exactly what has already been rejected. There is debate. But eventually the Member States agree to move forward. So it has been with the single market, cooperation on police matters and immigration, increased powers for the European Parliament, the introduction of the Euro and much else. Fiscal policy and bank regulation will - in my humble opinion - follow in due course, and in the same way.
Walter Blotscher
Thursday 13 September 2012
FOOTBALL FINANCES
In Denmark, if you are a wage earner, then your employer calculates 12.5% of your wages and pays this additional amount into the "holiday fund". The holiday fund then pays the money back out to you when you go on holiday. This antiquated and bureaucratic system dates back to the time when workers didn't have bank accounts, and the unions wanted to ensure that their members had money when they were not working. It has never applied to people paid a salary, who get twelve equal payments a year, irrespective of whether they are working or on holiday.
Footballers are wage earners, so the holiday fund system applies to them as well. But a problem arose. Footballers not only get a weekly wage, but also the possibility of signing-on fees and bonusses. Under Danish law, these payments are counted as wages, so the clubs should have paid an extra 12.5% of them into the holiday fund. For reasons that are not entirely clear, most of the top clubs didn't do so. The players' union, in a test case, sued the clubs. Yesterday they won.
So, are the players happy? Not entirely. Some players near the end of their careers will doubtless be glad for the extra cash. But the amounts of money involved are so large, that some clubs may go under. The finances of many Danish sports clubs (not just football, but also handball and ice hockey) are pretty fragile at the moment, since they rely, to a much larger extent than in bigger European countries, on sponsorship from local businesses, many of which are tightening their belts. There are only twelve clubs in the Danish football Super League, and only one or two that really matter. Brøndby, one of the two big Copenhagen clubs, was the one that lost the test case, and was already rumoured to be close to collapse. This case may tip it over the edge.
Walter Blotscher
In Denmark, if you are a wage earner, then your employer calculates 12.5% of your wages and pays this additional amount into the "holiday fund". The holiday fund then pays the money back out to you when you go on holiday. This antiquated and bureaucratic system dates back to the time when workers didn't have bank accounts, and the unions wanted to ensure that their members had money when they were not working. It has never applied to people paid a salary, who get twelve equal payments a year, irrespective of whether they are working or on holiday.
Footballers are wage earners, so the holiday fund system applies to them as well. But a problem arose. Footballers not only get a weekly wage, but also the possibility of signing-on fees and bonusses. Under Danish law, these payments are counted as wages, so the clubs should have paid an extra 12.5% of them into the holiday fund. For reasons that are not entirely clear, most of the top clubs didn't do so. The players' union, in a test case, sued the clubs. Yesterday they won.
So, are the players happy? Not entirely. Some players near the end of their careers will doubtless be glad for the extra cash. But the amounts of money involved are so large, that some clubs may go under. The finances of many Danish sports clubs (not just football, but also handball and ice hockey) are pretty fragile at the moment, since they rely, to a much larger extent than in bigger European countries, on sponsorship from local businesses, many of which are tightening their belts. There are only twelve clubs in the Danish football Super League, and only one or two that really matter. Brøndby, one of the two big Copenhagen clubs, was the one that lost the test case, and was already rumoured to be close to collapse. This case may tip it over the edge.
Walter Blotscher
Tuesday 11 September 2012
ANDY MURRAY (2)
I have to eat humble pie. For some time I have been predicting that Andy Murray will never win one of the four Grand Slam tennis tournaments. And for some time, he has been proving me right, losing in four finals.
However, yesterday he proved me wrong. In beating defending champion Novak Djokovic in five sets on an extremely blustery court in New York, he became Britain's first male Grand Slam winner for 76 years. With the victory, he emulated the career of his new mentor Ivan Lendl, who also lost his first four finals before going on to win eight times. Personally, I don't think Murray will go on to win seven more; Federer, Nadal and Djokovic are all still around and going strong. But then I didn't think he would win the first one.
Still, credit where it's due, he should be congratulated. Not least in managing to shake off the albatross that has affected British tennis players since 1936. I am off to eat my pie.
Walter Blotscher
I have to eat humble pie. For some time I have been predicting that Andy Murray will never win one of the four Grand Slam tennis tournaments. And for some time, he has been proving me right, losing in four finals.
However, yesterday he proved me wrong. In beating defending champion Novak Djokovic in five sets on an extremely blustery court in New York, he became Britain's first male Grand Slam winner for 76 years. With the victory, he emulated the career of his new mentor Ivan Lendl, who also lost his first four finals before going on to win eight times. Personally, I don't think Murray will go on to win seven more; Federer, Nadal and Djokovic are all still around and going strong. But then I didn't think he would win the first one.
Still, credit where it's due, he should be congratulated. Not least in managing to shake off the albatross that has affected British tennis players since 1936. I am off to eat my pie.
Walter Blotscher
Monday 10 September 2012
DANISH POLITICS (2)
I have said it before, but will say it again; it is a mistake to be both party leader in a coalition Government and Foreign Minister in that same Government. The first job requires you to be at home all the time, while the second requires you to be abroad all the time. The combination did for the Conservatives' Lene Espersen in the previous right of centre Government; and I said last October that the Socialists' Villy Søvndal was making exactly the same mistake in the new left of centre one, and was likely to suffer the same fate. That was prescient. After almost a year of freefall in the polls, Mr. Søvndal resigned as party leader last week; though (like Ms. Espersen did) he will stay on as Foreign Minister.
Conventional wisdom is that changing a leader can give a political party the opportunity to renew itself. Conventional wisdom was wrong about the Conservatives; after dumping Ms. Espersen, they had a terrible general election, and were almost wiped out. I suspect that conventional wisdom will be wrong about the Socialists as well. Their biggest problem is that most of the party's Cabinet Ministers, one of whom would otherwise expect to succeed, are incredibly young. Environment Minister Ida Auken is 34, Health Minister Astrid Krag is 29, Tax Minister Thor Möger Pedersen, at 27, often looks like he should be in short trousers. Youthful enthusiasm is all very well, but being a party leader does require a certain amount of pondus.
Ms. Auken has already ruled herself out of the running, and momentum is building up behind Ms. Krag as a result. Not that she will listen to me, but my advice would be not to accept what could well turn out to be a poisoned chalice. Ms. Krag spent the first four months of this year on maternity leave after giving birth to her second child. And if being Foreign Minister doesn't mix well with being party leader, neither does having two toddlers.
All in all, I don't think that this Government is going to last its full 4-year term, it's already got that death look about it.
Walter Blotscher
I have said it before, but will say it again; it is a mistake to be both party leader in a coalition Government and Foreign Minister in that same Government. The first job requires you to be at home all the time, while the second requires you to be abroad all the time. The combination did for the Conservatives' Lene Espersen in the previous right of centre Government; and I said last October that the Socialists' Villy Søvndal was making exactly the same mistake in the new left of centre one, and was likely to suffer the same fate. That was prescient. After almost a year of freefall in the polls, Mr. Søvndal resigned as party leader last week; though (like Ms. Espersen did) he will stay on as Foreign Minister.
Conventional wisdom is that changing a leader can give a political party the opportunity to renew itself. Conventional wisdom was wrong about the Conservatives; after dumping Ms. Espersen, they had a terrible general election, and were almost wiped out. I suspect that conventional wisdom will be wrong about the Socialists as well. Their biggest problem is that most of the party's Cabinet Ministers, one of whom would otherwise expect to succeed, are incredibly young. Environment Minister Ida Auken is 34, Health Minister Astrid Krag is 29, Tax Minister Thor Möger Pedersen, at 27, often looks like he should be in short trousers. Youthful enthusiasm is all very well, but being a party leader does require a certain amount of pondus.
Ms. Auken has already ruled herself out of the running, and momentum is building up behind Ms. Krag as a result. Not that she will listen to me, but my advice would be not to accept what could well turn out to be a poisoned chalice. Ms. Krag spent the first four months of this year on maternity leave after giving birth to her second child. And if being Foreign Minister doesn't mix well with being party leader, neither does having two toddlers.
All in all, I don't think that this Government is going to last its full 4-year term, it's already got that death look about it.
Walter Blotscher
Sunday 9 September 2012
LA VUELTA A ESPAÑA (2)
Alberto Contador duly won this year's Vuelta this afternoon, in his first major race back after suspension. As I predicted in July, he beat the pre-race favourite Chris Froome by more than ten minutes (i.e. miles), the latter losing time on nearly all of the mountain stages (of which there were many). The hype about Froome's being better than Bradley Wiggins in the Tour de France turned out to be just that, hype.
Beating Froome easily didn't mean that the race was dull, far from it. The big surprise was the strong showing of Joaquim Rodriguez. Rodriguez is generally known for a combination of explosive bursts on hilly finishes (eg la Mur de Huy at the end of La Fleche Wallone) and extremely poor time-trialling, which tends to scupper his chances in the three-week long Grand Tours. In this year's Giro, for instance, Rodriguez held the lead for much of the race, but lost it to Ryder Hesjedal by just 16 seconds following the final day's time-trial.
However, this year's Vuelta course was tailor-made for Rodriguez, with only one 37 km time-trial (which anyway included a 10 km category 3 climb), and some incredibly steep finishes, where he could snatch bonus seconds for finishing in the first three of a stage. After the time-trial, he was a surprising one second ahead of Contador. The latter then attacked last weekend on three in a row of the most brutal mountain stages I have seen, with gradients of up to 24%. But each time Rodriguez calmly stuck to his wheel, and then sprinted ahead of Contador at the end to claim the bonus seconds. Going into last Tuesday's second rest day, Rodriguez led by 28 seconds, with only yesterday's fearsome Bola del Mundo stage to come. Similar defensive tactics would see the diminutive Katusha rider home to his first Grand Tour victory.
Contador had other ideas. On Wednesday, he blew the race apart, in an attack which had commentators reaching for their superlatives. Catching his rivals napping on a fairly innocuous mid-stage category 2 climb, his teammates went for broke on the descent, before Contador time-trialled the last 20 kms uphill to the finish on his own. Rodriguez lost three minutes; and although he attacked on the Bola del Mundo and dropped Contador, it was never going to be enough to claw back the deficit.
So Contador is back, winning his seventh Grand Tour title (two Giros, two Vueltas and three Tours) out of the last eight starts. His only defeat was in the 2011 Tour, after he had won what was generally regarded as the toughest Giro ever (though he has since been stripped of two of those titles as part of his doping suspension). Without doubt, he is the best stage racer of his generation.
La Vuelta was also a triumph for team owner Bjarne Riis and his strategy of banking everything on Contador. After losing most of his Saxo Bank - Tinkoff Bank team to the new Leopard outfit a couple of years ago, it was thought that Contador would be short of help when the road started going uphill. But they showed themselves to be the best team when it mattered, not least on Wednesday. With Chris Anker Sørensen and new signing Nicholas Roche to help him next year, Contador will have a strong team for the 2013 Tour de France. Unless he falls off his bike before then, he is already my tip to win it.
Walter Blotscher
Alberto Contador duly won this year's Vuelta this afternoon, in his first major race back after suspension. As I predicted in July, he beat the pre-race favourite Chris Froome by more than ten minutes (i.e. miles), the latter losing time on nearly all of the mountain stages (of which there were many). The hype about Froome's being better than Bradley Wiggins in the Tour de France turned out to be just that, hype.
Beating Froome easily didn't mean that the race was dull, far from it. The big surprise was the strong showing of Joaquim Rodriguez. Rodriguez is generally known for a combination of explosive bursts on hilly finishes (eg la Mur de Huy at the end of La Fleche Wallone) and extremely poor time-trialling, which tends to scupper his chances in the three-week long Grand Tours. In this year's Giro, for instance, Rodriguez held the lead for much of the race, but lost it to Ryder Hesjedal by just 16 seconds following the final day's time-trial.
However, this year's Vuelta course was tailor-made for Rodriguez, with only one 37 km time-trial (which anyway included a 10 km category 3 climb), and some incredibly steep finishes, where he could snatch bonus seconds for finishing in the first three of a stage. After the time-trial, he was a surprising one second ahead of Contador. The latter then attacked last weekend on three in a row of the most brutal mountain stages I have seen, with gradients of up to 24%. But each time Rodriguez calmly stuck to his wheel, and then sprinted ahead of Contador at the end to claim the bonus seconds. Going into last Tuesday's second rest day, Rodriguez led by 28 seconds, with only yesterday's fearsome Bola del Mundo stage to come. Similar defensive tactics would see the diminutive Katusha rider home to his first Grand Tour victory.
Contador had other ideas. On Wednesday, he blew the race apart, in an attack which had commentators reaching for their superlatives. Catching his rivals napping on a fairly innocuous mid-stage category 2 climb, his teammates went for broke on the descent, before Contador time-trialled the last 20 kms uphill to the finish on his own. Rodriguez lost three minutes; and although he attacked on the Bola del Mundo and dropped Contador, it was never going to be enough to claw back the deficit.
So Contador is back, winning his seventh Grand Tour title (two Giros, two Vueltas and three Tours) out of the last eight starts. His only defeat was in the 2011 Tour, after he had won what was generally regarded as the toughest Giro ever (though he has since been stripped of two of those titles as part of his doping suspension). Without doubt, he is the best stage racer of his generation.
La Vuelta was also a triumph for team owner Bjarne Riis and his strategy of banking everything on Contador. After losing most of his Saxo Bank - Tinkoff Bank team to the new Leopard outfit a couple of years ago, it was thought that Contador would be short of help when the road started going uphill. But they showed themselves to be the best team when it mattered, not least on Wednesday. With Chris Anker Sørensen and new signing Nicholas Roche to help him next year, Contador will have a strong team for the 2013 Tour de France. Unless he falls off his bike before then, he is already my tip to win it.
Walter Blotscher
Saturday 8 September 2012
GOODS AND SERVICES (4)
One of the themes of this blog has been the disparity in the prices of goods and services in a rich country like Denmark; goods are ridiculously cheap, whereas services are ridiculously expensive. I was reminded of that again today.
On Thursday our long-suffering cooker packed up, causing the electrics in the house to shut down. My wife leaped into action, and within hours had found and purchased (for kr.500, roughly £50) a second-hand cooker that looks almost new. It came from someone's summer house, where the kitchen is being renovated. By yesterday evening, the old cooker had been dismantled and taken to the dump (joining the vast number of other white goods already sitting there in two containers), and the new one was sitting in our house.
However, now came the problem. Dismantling a cooker while the electricity is down is one thing, hooking one up properly is a different matter entirely, and not one I felt willing or able to do. But getting a qualified electrician to do it would have cost more than the cooker itself. They charge kr.500 an hour + 25% VAT, even out here in the sticks; and the general rule is that an hour started is an hour charged, even if he were only here for the five minutes it would take to connect it.
Fortunately, we remembered our old neighbour, who renovated his house from top to bottom and is now in the process of doing something similar in a new house. A quick phone call last night, and he turned up this morning with an electric meter, a bag of tools, and the requisite knowledge. Ten minutes later, we had a fully functioning cooker, and I was able to make my morning coffee.
The service will probably cost me some squash from the kitchen garden, or similar. Better that than calling an electrician.
Walter Blotscher
One of the themes of this blog has been the disparity in the prices of goods and services in a rich country like Denmark; goods are ridiculously cheap, whereas services are ridiculously expensive. I was reminded of that again today.
On Thursday our long-suffering cooker packed up, causing the electrics in the house to shut down. My wife leaped into action, and within hours had found and purchased (for kr.500, roughly £50) a second-hand cooker that looks almost new. It came from someone's summer house, where the kitchen is being renovated. By yesterday evening, the old cooker had been dismantled and taken to the dump (joining the vast number of other white goods already sitting there in two containers), and the new one was sitting in our house.
However, now came the problem. Dismantling a cooker while the electricity is down is one thing, hooking one up properly is a different matter entirely, and not one I felt willing or able to do. But getting a qualified electrician to do it would have cost more than the cooker itself. They charge kr.500 an hour + 25% VAT, even out here in the sticks; and the general rule is that an hour started is an hour charged, even if he were only here for the five minutes it would take to connect it.
Fortunately, we remembered our old neighbour, who renovated his house from top to bottom and is now in the process of doing something similar in a new house. A quick phone call last night, and he turned up this morning with an electric meter, a bag of tools, and the requisite knowledge. Ten minutes later, we had a fully functioning cooker, and I was able to make my morning coffee.
The service will probably cost me some squash from the kitchen garden, or similar. Better that than calling an electrician.
Walter Blotscher
Friday 7 September 2012
RURAL SERVICES
Our local post office closed on 31 August. In fact, it closed some years ago. But Post Danmark did a deal with the local Shell petrol station, whereby you could pick up parcels throughout the day and send letters etc from 2 to 5 in the afternoon. The woman who runs Shell told me that it involved a lot of administration for almost no money. So she stopped doing it at the end of last week, and nobody has yet volunteered to take it over.
Which means that I must now fetch my packages for the cinema from the supermarket in the next town, some 10 km away. As I discovered this morning, driving 20 km just to pick up a parcel is a real pain. The easiest thing would be for Post Danmark to deliver the cinema packages to my house, and leave them in the barn if I am not home. They do that for private things, but apparently have a rule that they can't do that for commercial deliveries. Why? I don't know.
Post Danmark is supposedly the most efficient postal operator in Europe. If they can't make rural deliveries work, then nobody can.
Walter Blotscher
Our local post office closed on 31 August. In fact, it closed some years ago. But Post Danmark did a deal with the local Shell petrol station, whereby you could pick up parcels throughout the day and send letters etc from 2 to 5 in the afternoon. The woman who runs Shell told me that it involved a lot of administration for almost no money. So she stopped doing it at the end of last week, and nobody has yet volunteered to take it over.
Which means that I must now fetch my packages for the cinema from the supermarket in the next town, some 10 km away. As I discovered this morning, driving 20 km just to pick up a parcel is a real pain. The easiest thing would be for Post Danmark to deliver the cinema packages to my house, and leave them in the barn if I am not home. They do that for private things, but apparently have a rule that they can't do that for commercial deliveries. Why? I don't know.
Post Danmark is supposedly the most efficient postal operator in Europe. If they can't make rural deliveries work, then nobody can.
Walter Blotscher
Thursday 6 September 2012
THE JEWEL IN THE CROWN
The Jewel in the Crown was a TV series made by Granada Television in the mid-1980's, one of those drama series that the Brits do rather well. It was based on a quartet of novels written by Paul Scott (the first of which was called the Jewel in the Crown), set against the last years of British rule in India.
I hadn't read the books when I saw the television series. However, when I was on my annual walking tour earlier this year, I bought an omnibus edition of them in a very good second-hand bookshop in Sedburgh. They have been my reading material for the past couple of months, all 1,500 or so pages. Highly receommended, if you haven't come across them.
Walter Blotscher
The Jewel in the Crown was a TV series made by Granada Television in the mid-1980's, one of those drama series that the Brits do rather well. It was based on a quartet of novels written by Paul Scott (the first of which was called the Jewel in the Crown), set against the last years of British rule in India.
I hadn't read the books when I saw the television series. However, when I was on my annual walking tour earlier this year, I bought an omnibus edition of them in a very good second-hand bookshop in Sedburgh. They have been my reading material for the past couple of months, all 1,500 or so pages. Highly receommended, if you haven't come across them.
Walter Blotscher
Wednesday 5 September 2012
SQUASH
Squash (also called zucchini or courgettes) are funny plants. I planted two of them in my kitchen garden, but only one has sprouted. I have been following its development closely.
It's a pretty big seed - though still small in comparison with the end product - and you plant it a bit deeper than normal. Not much happens for a while, until something pokes through the soil. That then divides into five or six different stems; though there is still not much happening. Eventually, however, those stems turn into big leaves, a bit like rhubarb. At which point, big yellow flowers start breaking out. They only last a day or so; but when they wither, they provide the starting point for the actual thing that you eat.
I have had a half dozen or so flowers to date, and the first one has turned into a real squash, which I picked today. I took the opportunity to harvest all my carrots, some of which were huge, took up the last of the lettuces and pruned the rhubarb. All that's left in the kitchen garden now is the rest of the squash, the rhubarb plant (which will sit there for years) and a single budding leek, the only survivor of two rows of seeds.
Someone gave my wife some squash from their garden over the weekend, so I packed mine up with two large carrots and the lettuce, and took it round to my mother-in-law, who was very pleased with the gift. She promised to bake a squash cake, which I will probably get invited to share sometime over the weekend.
Walter Blotscher
Squash (also called zucchini or courgettes) are funny plants. I planted two of them in my kitchen garden, but only one has sprouted. I have been following its development closely.
It's a pretty big seed - though still small in comparison with the end product - and you plant it a bit deeper than normal. Not much happens for a while, until something pokes through the soil. That then divides into five or six different stems; though there is still not much happening. Eventually, however, those stems turn into big leaves, a bit like rhubarb. At which point, big yellow flowers start breaking out. They only last a day or so; but when they wither, they provide the starting point for the actual thing that you eat.
I have had a half dozen or so flowers to date, and the first one has turned into a real squash, which I picked today. I took the opportunity to harvest all my carrots, some of which were huge, took up the last of the lettuces and pruned the rhubarb. All that's left in the kitchen garden now is the rest of the squash, the rhubarb plant (which will sit there for years) and a single budding leek, the only survivor of two rows of seeds.
Someone gave my wife some squash from their garden over the weekend, so I packed mine up with two large carrots and the lettuce, and took it round to my mother-in-law, who was very pleased with the gift. She promised to bake a squash cake, which I will probably get invited to share sometime over the weekend.
Walter Blotscher
Monday 3 September 2012
WHEN THE NEWS IS THE NEWS
Danish television's most prestigious channel DR1 (you can tell its pedigree from the fact that DR stands for Danish Radio) introduced a change today. Its flagship evening news programme has been at 9.00pm for as long as I can remember (and I have lived in Denmark since 2000). However, from today, it has moved to 9.30pm; I am listening to it as I write.
The same thing happened with the BBC in the U.K. some years ago (though they moved the 9 o'clock news to 10.00pm rather than 9.30pm). At the time, I didn't like the change, and have never really got used to it. Since I am rather a fan of DR's slightly old-fashioned style (a single anchor, no over-chummy first names amongst reporters), I am curious to see whether I will get used to this one.
Walter Blotscher
Danish television's most prestigious channel DR1 (you can tell its pedigree from the fact that DR stands for Danish Radio) introduced a change today. Its flagship evening news programme has been at 9.00pm for as long as I can remember (and I have lived in Denmark since 2000). However, from today, it has moved to 9.30pm; I am listening to it as I write.
The same thing happened with the BBC in the U.K. some years ago (though they moved the 9 o'clock news to 10.00pm rather than 9.30pm). At the time, I didn't like the change, and have never really got used to it. Since I am rather a fan of DR's slightly old-fashioned style (a single anchor, no over-chummy first names amongst reporters), I am curious to see whether I will get used to this one.
Walter Blotscher
Sunday 2 September 2012
BRIDGE (6)
I played in the final of the Fünen team championships today. There were eight teams and we finished seventh out of eight, winning only one of our five matches.
I don't think we played badly. In fact, I think we played quite well, bidding and making all of our possible slams, for instance. The problem was that our opponents were very, very good. Most of them have played on the national Danish team, and some of them have won European championships. It was a bit like a second division football side playing against the Premier League.
Still, there was a good lunch, even better cake with my afternoon coffee, and 60 hands of good bridge. A very pleasant way to spend a Sunday.
Walter Blotscher
I played in the final of the Fünen team championships today. There were eight teams and we finished seventh out of eight, winning only one of our five matches.
I don't think we played badly. In fact, I think we played quite well, bidding and making all of our possible slams, for instance. The problem was that our opponents were very, very good. Most of them have played on the national Danish team, and some of them have won European championships. It was a bit like a second division football side playing against the Premier League.
Still, there was a good lunch, even better cake with my afternoon coffee, and 60 hands of good bridge. A very pleasant way to spend a Sunday.
Walter Blotscher
Saturday 1 September 2012
FISCAL CLIFFS
Everybody knows about the fiscal cliff facing the U.S. on 1 January. As part of the deal to raise the debt ceiling a year or so ago, Congress voted to take measures to reduce the budget deficit, with the twist that if no agreement could be reached, there would be huge (and automatic) spending cuts, representing several percentage points of GDP. No agreement was duly reached, so the axe became poised. The only agreement was to shift the deadline until the end of this year. With no agreement in sight, and a Presidential election due in November, the cliff is fast approaching.
Denmark has a fiscal cliff of its own. In the days before the financial crisis, unemployment fell fast, helped in large part by a property and building boom; the number without a job went down from just under 120,000 at the beginning of 2007 to just over 60,000 by the summer of 2008. The only people without a job were drug addicts, the mentally ill, others with social problems, and (crucially) immigrant women who preferred to stay at home and receive benefits.
The last may well have been a myth. The problem was that it was a myth peddled by the right-wing Danish People's Party, on whom the then Government relied in order to get a Parliamentary majority. Prodded by the DPP, the Government cut the period in which people could get the dole from four years to two. That would get those women out of the house and into work.
Then came Lehmann Brothers and the financial crisis, and the wheels came off the economy. By the end of 2009 (i.e. within 18 months), unemployment had rocketed to 160,000, still less than in other European countries but high by Scandinavian standards. It peaked in the summer of 2010, before starting to fall, albeit very slowly. But in July it started to go up again, to stand at 165,700.
So, a policy dreamed up at a time of boom came into play at a time of bust. To their credit, the DPP were one of the first political parties to recognise this, and were calling for a relaxation of the policy almost before it started. The first cohort of 2-year unemployed were due to fall out of the dole regime on 30 June this year, but the deadline was extended by six months until 31 December. However, if nothing is done by then, an estimated 20,000 people will no longer be eligible for the dole.
This being Denmark, not being eligible for unemployment benefit is not the end of the road. There is a further safety net called kontanthjælp ("cash help"), albeit at a lower rate. There are, however, snags. If your husband or wife has an income, for instance; or if you have assets worth more than kr.10.000 (kr.20.000 per couple), a little over £1,000. Basically, it is designed for those at the very bottom of the income scale. The problem is that the Danish economic model during the boom years of the noughties was one of both parts of a couple working, and needing to work in order to service the huge mortgage they had taken out on their home. That means in turn that many, if not the vast majority, of the 20,000 will be homeowners not eligible for kontanthjælp. Which means houses being put up for sale into a very soggy housing market, more divorces, more social problems. Etc etc.
There is however one difference between the Danish and American fiscal cliffs. Here in Denmark, every political party is thinking night and day about how to solve this looming problem. Whether they will be able to do so is, of course, another matter entirely.
Walter Blotscher
Everybody knows about the fiscal cliff facing the U.S. on 1 January. As part of the deal to raise the debt ceiling a year or so ago, Congress voted to take measures to reduce the budget deficit, with the twist that if no agreement could be reached, there would be huge (and automatic) spending cuts, representing several percentage points of GDP. No agreement was duly reached, so the axe became poised. The only agreement was to shift the deadline until the end of this year. With no agreement in sight, and a Presidential election due in November, the cliff is fast approaching.
Denmark has a fiscal cliff of its own. In the days before the financial crisis, unemployment fell fast, helped in large part by a property and building boom; the number without a job went down from just under 120,000 at the beginning of 2007 to just over 60,000 by the summer of 2008. The only people without a job were drug addicts, the mentally ill, others with social problems, and (crucially) immigrant women who preferred to stay at home and receive benefits.
The last may well have been a myth. The problem was that it was a myth peddled by the right-wing Danish People's Party, on whom the then Government relied in order to get a Parliamentary majority. Prodded by the DPP, the Government cut the period in which people could get the dole from four years to two. That would get those women out of the house and into work.
Then came Lehmann Brothers and the financial crisis, and the wheels came off the economy. By the end of 2009 (i.e. within 18 months), unemployment had rocketed to 160,000, still less than in other European countries but high by Scandinavian standards. It peaked in the summer of 2010, before starting to fall, albeit very slowly. But in July it started to go up again, to stand at 165,700.
So, a policy dreamed up at a time of boom came into play at a time of bust. To their credit, the DPP were one of the first political parties to recognise this, and were calling for a relaxation of the policy almost before it started. The first cohort of 2-year unemployed were due to fall out of the dole regime on 30 June this year, but the deadline was extended by six months until 31 December. However, if nothing is done by then, an estimated 20,000 people will no longer be eligible for the dole.
This being Denmark, not being eligible for unemployment benefit is not the end of the road. There is a further safety net called kontanthjælp ("cash help"), albeit at a lower rate. There are, however, snags. If your husband or wife has an income, for instance; or if you have assets worth more than kr.10.000 (kr.20.000 per couple), a little over £1,000. Basically, it is designed for those at the very bottom of the income scale. The problem is that the Danish economic model during the boom years of the noughties was one of both parts of a couple working, and needing to work in order to service the huge mortgage they had taken out on their home. That means in turn that many, if not the vast majority, of the 20,000 will be homeowners not eligible for kontanthjælp. Which means houses being put up for sale into a very soggy housing market, more divorces, more social problems. Etc etc.
There is however one difference between the Danish and American fiscal cliffs. Here in Denmark, every political party is thinking night and day about how to solve this looming problem. Whether they will be able to do so is, of course, another matter entirely.
Walter Blotscher
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
