GOING OFF THE RAILS (2)

Putting official purchases out to competitive tender is in principle a good thing, since it gives the state the opportunity to secure goods and services at the lowest price. However, it doesn't always go well, as the saga of the IC4 trains in Denmark shows.

In 2000 Denmark's state-owned train operator DSB ordered 82 IC4 train sets from the Italian firm Ansaldo Breda to replace the ageing IC3 trains which are the mainstay of the national network. The contract had a value of more than Dkr.5 billion, the first train would be delivered in 2002 and all the trains were due to be in service by 2006.

The project went wrong from the start. Already in 2002 DSB agreed with the Italians that the trains could be delivered late. The first units arrived in 2003, but could not be put into service. The start date was put back to the beginning of 2006, but the first train didn't enter service until August 2008. In May 2009 DSB received Dkr.2.25 billion in compensation, plus a guarantee that the last train sets would be delivered in the third quarter of 2012. However, the last of the 82 sets was finally delivered today; and only 23 of them are in service.

As the head of DSB put it, it has been 13 years of suffering for both DSB and the travelling public. As an example of how things can go wrong, it is a case study. One fact in particular stands out. DSB did in fact order 83 train sets, not 82. The 83rd unit was found in a railway siding in Libya when coalition forces moved in after Ghadaffi had been toppled; apparently he had been given it as a present by Italian's then Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi!

Walter Blotscher

48 HOURS

Consultancies are always thinking up ways of improving companies. But what about improving a whole town?

My town has just been through such an exercise. 50 or so young people from a business education college descended on us on Thursday and spent the next 48 hours thinking up ways in which we could make the town a better place in which to live. They came from a wide variety of backgrounds - tourism, energy, entrepreneurship, web design and so on - and came up with some interesting ideas. Whether those ideas get taken up and come to fruition is of course another question entirely. But at least there is something to work on.

This was a first for Denmark. The traditional way of getting things done in a high tax, social democratic society is to ask the local authority to do it. However, times are hard and local authorities are short of cash. So if things are going to get done, then they have to be done by the citizens themselves. A group of people have come together and are trying to do just that; the 48 hours project was their idea, so it bodes well.

I was involved on the periphery, since they used the local cinema to present their ideas. A good example of creative thinking, since it shows that the cinema can be used for things other than just showing films. A point not lost on the mayor, who was on hand to kickstart the 48 hours project; his political party have booked the cinema for a political meeting on a Saturday morning next month.

Walter Blotscher

PARISH COUNCILS

The last time I was involved in the local parish council was a year ago, when I was invited to dinner (as the partner of my wife, who had just been elected) in order to meet the new priest. I later discovered that the council has funds to go out to dinner, with partners, once a year. This year it was this evening.

Being a parish council, there has to be some sort of religious element, so we visited two churches on the way. One of them, Bogense, has a wonderful location, with the churchyard overlooking the Baltic to the north of Funen. It also has a fantastic organ, which one of the councillors played for us. I have always loved the sound of a proper church organ, not least because church buildings often have good natural accoustics. At some point in my life, I would like to learn to play one. Perhaps that will be my project for the first year of my retirement.

After the visit we walked down to a fish restaurant in Bogense harbour. The buffet included 15 types of fish, both hot and cold, and was delicious. Sometimes it is easy to see the advantages in having a state church. 

Walter Blotscher

RESUSCITATION

As people live ever longer and eventually move into care institutions, the issue arises of what to do about resuscitation. As the law currently stands in Denmark, care personnel are obliged to try and resuscitate elderly patients who have a heart attack, even in cases where the person concerned has previously expressed a clear desire not be treated in such a situation. Normally that would involve first aid and heart massage until such time as an ambulance arrives. However, more and more care homes have now installed heart starters, which will increase the chances of a patient's surviving a heart attack.

What is problematic is that the legal position is different from that in a hospital, where patients have clearly defined rights, including the right not to be treated in certain circumstances. The somewhat paradoxical result is that the less the personnel are medically trained, the more they have a legal responsibility to try and prolong life.

This is not in anybody's interest, least of all the individual's. As with many other things in a modern and complicated welfare state, there needs to be a review of the law in order to bring it into line with reality.

Walter Blotscher

BRIDGE (9)

After our debacle of last month, I am pleased to say that my partner and I have started the new bridge season well, and have won the warm-up tournament that finished this evening. We couldn't do much against opponents who bid and made 6 and 7 no trumps when nobody else in the room did. On the other hand, we won a succession of small part scores by getting that vital extra trick that makes all the difference when you are playing duplicate.

Nothing fancy, just sticking to the system and solid play.

Walter Blotscher

NAIROBI (2)

Three weeks ago, I was in Nariobi on business. It was a peaceful, bustling, slightly chaotic city. Today, part of it is a bloodbath, as terrorists linked to Al-Qaeda have shot and killed a lot of people in a busy shopping centre. The stand-off with security forces is not yet over.

What is different about violence in the world today from (say) when I was gowing up is that it is so random. Innocents are killed, and are meant to be killed. Whether you as an innocent are caught up in that violence is purely a matter of luck. That is scary.

Walter Blotscher

DANISH POLITICS (4)

Six months on from their worst ever polling result, the Social Democrats, the party of Prime Minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt, are still languishing in the polls at 17.5%. However, whereas in March the main beneficiaries of that unpopularity were the very left-wing Enhedslisten, today it is the very right-wing Danish People's Party. For the first time ever, they are polling higher than the Social Democrats, at 20.2%, up from 12.3% at the last election.

Voters seem to have worked out that while Enhedslisten has absolutely no chance of being in Government either before or after the next election, it is quite possible that the DPP will be part of the expected right-of-centre coalition. That would not be a particularly fun prospect, in my view; but would nevertheless be a remarkable advance in a Scandinavian country for a political movement founded on being against taxes and immigrants.

Walter Blotscher