NØDLØGN

Danish today has a new word, "nødløgn". It translates into English as "necessary lie"; nobody is happy about it.

Remember the slightly farcical story about the visit to Christiania, which cost the then Justice Minister his job last December? One of the consequences was that the top civil servant in the Ministry and one of her deputies (both of whom had helped the Minister put together the cock-and-bull story that essentially involved lying to Parliament) were sent on gardening leave, while a panel of three judges decided whether they had breached civil service rules.

The judges unanimously decided that the two civil servants had done nothing wrong, and absolved them completely. Although the story involved lying to Parliament, this "can best be described as an understandable and regrettable nødløgn".

Politicians of all stripes are, understandably, very upset with this decision; in most democracies, lying to Parliament is the one thing that ain't on. The list of unhappy politicos includes the new Justice Minister, who now has to rebuild the credibility of her department while relying on advice from two senior people, whom she believes to have behaved badly. That looks like a management situation, that is bound to end in tears.

The overall impression given is that lawyers are looking after other lawyers. That does not go down well with the average Dane.

Walter Blotscher