AN EXPENSIVE INVESTIGATION

The commission set up two years ago to investigate the shenanigans, real or imagined, concerning the decision about the tax status of Prime Minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt's husband Stephen Kinnock has finished hearing witnesses. Now comes a long report, which will not be finalised until next September.

If that seems an unconscionably long time, then you should consider the cost, which is already up to kr.19.2 million (more than £2 million). That is not due to the commission itself, which only has three members. Fully 70% of the costs have gone to the lawyers who appear next to the witnesses. Each witness has the right to legal representation, paid for by the state, and that representation tends to be extremely expensive.

I would have thought that if you were merely answering questions of the "what did you do and when?" sort, then you wouldn't need legal representation. Or if you felt that you did, then it would be up to you to pay for it. Obviously Danish society thinks otherwise.

Meanwhile, the person at the centre of all this has decided that he has had enough. Mr. Kinnock announced this week that he will be seeking election as an M.P. in Wales at the next British general election. Being a British parliamentarian isn't much fun these days; but it seems that remaining in Denmark is even worse.

Walter Blotscher