DANISH HACKING
We all know the story of the News of the World, the Murdoch stable paper that had to close after revelations that it had systematically (and illegally) hacked the mobile telephones of well-known people. The criminal trial of a number of former NoW executives is currently taking place in London.
Now a similar story has broken in Denmark. It appears that an employee of Nets, the company that runs the ubiquitous Dankort card payment system, regularly sold to the weekly gossip magazine Se og Hør ("see and hear") details of the credit card transactions of rich and famous people. A team of journalists at the paper could then use the tip-offs to write about those transactions and/or investigate them.
As with the NoW story, it appears that the illegal practice was both widely known at the magazine and sanctioned by management. More details will doubtless emerge in the coming weeks as internal and police investigations continue apace. But the story has already had consequences, with the resignation of Henrik Qvortrup from his current job as political commentator on the national television channel TV2.
Qvortrup is one of the "big beasts" of the Danish political analysis scene, having been spin doctor for Anders Fogh Rasmussen before he became Prime Minister. He was then editor of Se og Hør from 2001-8, and is widely credited with giving it the high profile position it has today. He was also, allegedly, the first editor to approve the hacking policy.
As with the NoW, there is already speculation that Se og Hør will have to close. Watch this space.
Walter Blotscher
Wednesday, 30 April 2014
Tuesday, 29 April 2014
ROYAL WORTH (2)
If Denmark wants to sell things to Australia, then they send the Crown Princess, who hails from Tasmania. For China, the head honcho is required.
China is a key export destination for Denmark. The areas where Denmark is world class (welfare solutions, green energy, and processed agricultural products) are all ones where China is, or is likely to be, a big consumer. And the population over there is many times the size of that over here. If you can just get your foot in the door, then double digit export growth should be possible.
Hence last week's state visit to China. While the Queen joined the Chinese president's wife in reading Hans Christian Andersen stories to enthralled primary school children (the author is well-known in China, though where he comes from is not), 150 Danish companies were busy networking and trying to stitch up deals with their Chinese counterparts. Perhaps the most important for the long term was China's decision to allow Denmark to supply it with processed agricultural products, the first foreign country to be given that status. The Danes are brilliant at filling consumers' stomachs with sausages, liver pate and such like; and they have shown in Japan that they can cater to Asian taste buds. This could be a real winner.
It's not clear whether the Queen herself, a pensioner with a dodgy knee, likes being wheeled out as a turbo-charged export saleswoman. If she doesn't, she was her usual polite and diplomatic self. But whatever her personal views, she has demonstrated yet again that the institution of monarchy, anachronistic in many ways, can still pay its way.
Walter Blotscher
If Denmark wants to sell things to Australia, then they send the Crown Princess, who hails from Tasmania. For China, the head honcho is required.
China is a key export destination for Denmark. The areas where Denmark is world class (welfare solutions, green energy, and processed agricultural products) are all ones where China is, or is likely to be, a big consumer. And the population over there is many times the size of that over here. If you can just get your foot in the door, then double digit export growth should be possible.
Hence last week's state visit to China. While the Queen joined the Chinese president's wife in reading Hans Christian Andersen stories to enthralled primary school children (the author is well-known in China, though where he comes from is not), 150 Danish companies were busy networking and trying to stitch up deals with their Chinese counterparts. Perhaps the most important for the long term was China's decision to allow Denmark to supply it with processed agricultural products, the first foreign country to be given that status. The Danes are brilliant at filling consumers' stomachs with sausages, liver pate and such like; and they have shown in Japan that they can cater to Asian taste buds. This could be a real winner.
It's not clear whether the Queen herself, a pensioner with a dodgy knee, likes being wheeled out as a turbo-charged export saleswoman. If she doesn't, she was her usual polite and diplomatic self. But whatever her personal views, she has demonstrated yet again that the institution of monarchy, anachronistic in many ways, can still pay its way.
Walter Blotscher
Sunday, 27 April 2014
BRIDGE (12)
Back in October, my partner and I won the opening round of the national pairs championships at our club. Today we were in the Fünen regional final, 20 pairs playing 57 hands, with the top 7 going forward to the national finals in July.
In a strong field, we finished ninth. I was pretty pleased with that. In our round robin three hands, we beat the pair that eventually won, which is always nice. And we had a number of top scores. Unfortunately, we also had a number of bottom scores, so we ended up where we should have done, in the middle.
Walter Blotscher
Back in October, my partner and I won the opening round of the national pairs championships at our club. Today we were in the Fünen regional final, 20 pairs playing 57 hands, with the top 7 going forward to the national finals in July.
In a strong field, we finished ninth. I was pretty pleased with that. In our round robin three hands, we beat the pair that eventually won, which is always nice. And we had a number of top scores. Unfortunately, we also had a number of bottom scores, so we ended up where we should have done, in the middle.
Walter Blotscher
Saturday, 26 April 2014
SEX DISCRIMINATION (2)
The Bella Sky, a newish hotel in Copenhagen that opened in 2011 and which is Scandinavia's largest, decided to market itself with a new concept in order to distinguish itself from the competition; a whole floor dedicated exclusively to female guests. Out with trouser presses and no irons; in with hairdryers and magazines aimed at female readers. Many more women are travelling on business and on their own, and they want accomodation that puts them first. Hen parties also liked the idea of running around the top floor of a 4-star hotel in their bathrobes without being ogled at.
Discrimination, cried somebody. Who exactly, I don't know. I thought it was a good idea, and couldn't have cared less that I was not allowed there. But someone did; and the Equalities Commission agreed that it was discriminatory. That decision was challenged, but has now been upheld in the courts.
I am not sure what the decision means in practice. Men now have the right to demand that they are given a hotel room kitted out with hairdryers and female magazines. Whether any man will want to is of course a moot point. Personally, I doubt it.
More seriously, these sorts of cases both make life less interesting (do we really want men and women to be exactly the same?) and draw attention away from more pressing matters, such as equalising life expectancy. The (undermanned and overworked) courts have better things to do, in my view.
Walter Blotscher
The Bella Sky, a newish hotel in Copenhagen that opened in 2011 and which is Scandinavia's largest, decided to market itself with a new concept in order to distinguish itself from the competition; a whole floor dedicated exclusively to female guests. Out with trouser presses and no irons; in with hairdryers and magazines aimed at female readers. Many more women are travelling on business and on their own, and they want accomodation that puts them first. Hen parties also liked the idea of running around the top floor of a 4-star hotel in their bathrobes without being ogled at.
Discrimination, cried somebody. Who exactly, I don't know. I thought it was a good idea, and couldn't have cared less that I was not allowed there. But someone did; and the Equalities Commission agreed that it was discriminatory. That decision was challenged, but has now been upheld in the courts.
I am not sure what the decision means in practice. Men now have the right to demand that they are given a hotel room kitted out with hairdryers and female magazines. Whether any man will want to is of course a moot point. Personally, I doubt it.
More seriously, these sorts of cases both make life less interesting (do we really want men and women to be exactly the same?) and draw attention away from more pressing matters, such as equalising life expectancy. The (undermanned and overworked) courts have better things to do, in my view.
Walter Blotscher
Friday, 25 April 2014
SPAM FILTERS
I have been battling with spam filters recently. Many servers are now fitted with such filters, which are designed to recognise spam, and park it harmlessly in a spam box. In the worst cases, they block any E-Mail or other electronic message from the originator in question.
However, there is a problem. How do you distinguish between a genuine E-Mail to a long list of people and a spam E-Mail to a long list of people? In my job as Chairman of the local cinema, I often have to send out E-Mails to all of the volunteers associated with it, some 40 to 50 names. A number of these volunteers have ferocious spam filters attached to their E-Mail systems. If I send out too many such E-Mails, the spam filter gets activated and the message can't get through. Even worse, my IP-address is blacklisted as a spammer.
One option would be to send individual E-mails to each volunteer. However, that's an administrative pain. As I say, I am battling ...
Walter Blotscher
I have been battling with spam filters recently. Many servers are now fitted with such filters, which are designed to recognise spam, and park it harmlessly in a spam box. In the worst cases, they block any E-Mail or other electronic message from the originator in question.
However, there is a problem. How do you distinguish between a genuine E-Mail to a long list of people and a spam E-Mail to a long list of people? In my job as Chairman of the local cinema, I often have to send out E-Mails to all of the volunteers associated with it, some 40 to 50 names. A number of these volunteers have ferocious spam filters attached to their E-Mail systems. If I send out too many such E-Mails, the spam filter gets activated and the message can't get through. Even worse, my IP-address is blacklisted as a spammer.
One option would be to send individual E-mails to each volunteer. However, that's an administrative pain. As I say, I am battling ...
Walter Blotscher
Thursday, 24 April 2014
CORNWALL
Before the Romans and Anglo-Saxons came, the island of Britain was populated by Celts. Since the newcomers were militarily stronger, the indigenous people (well, those who weren't enslaved or impregnated) were forced more and more to the west and north, into what is now Wales and Scotland.
And Cornwall. Cornwall was so far away from anywhere else important that it was left alone, with a lot of tin, strong links to Brittany (also a Celtic area), and its own Celtic language, which is now undergoing something of a revival.
That revival is likely to be boosted even further by today's announcement that Cornish people are to be designated a "minority" in the United Kingdom, in the same way that the Welsh, Scots and Irish are. They won't get any more money; but under the E.U.'s Charter of Fundamental Rights, Government bodies will have to take their views into account when taking decisions, and not discriminate against them.
A modest step, but a good one, in my view.
Walter Blotscher
Before the Romans and Anglo-Saxons came, the island of Britain was populated by Celts. Since the newcomers were militarily stronger, the indigenous people (well, those who weren't enslaved or impregnated) were forced more and more to the west and north, into what is now Wales and Scotland.
And Cornwall. Cornwall was so far away from anywhere else important that it was left alone, with a lot of tin, strong links to Brittany (also a Celtic area), and its own Celtic language, which is now undergoing something of a revival.
That revival is likely to be boosted even further by today's announcement that Cornish people are to be designated a "minority" in the United Kingdom, in the same way that the Welsh, Scots and Irish are. They won't get any more money; but under the E.U.'s Charter of Fundamental Rights, Government bodies will have to take their views into account when taking decisions, and not discriminate against them.
A modest step, but a good one, in my view.
Walter Blotscher
Wednesday, 23 April 2014
POLLEN
Thankfully, I don't suffer from allergies. But many people do, and this time of the year is a difficult one, with all of that pollen blowing around. A number of my students are affected, and they didn't look very good today.
I am not surprised. Birch pollen is a big irritant, and a level of 100 is considered high. Yesterday it was measured at 4,696, which is the highest ever recorded in Denmark.
Walter Blotscher
Thankfully, I don't suffer from allergies. But many people do, and this time of the year is a difficult one, with all of that pollen blowing around. A number of my students are affected, and they didn't look very good today.
I am not surprised. Birch pollen is a big irritant, and a level of 100 is considered high. Yesterday it was measured at 4,696, which is the highest ever recorded in Denmark.
Walter Blotscher
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