MILK QUOTAS
When I was growing up, one of the big political talking points was the overproduction of food in the E.U. What had started as a sensible policy in the post-war world, namely that Europe's citizens should have enough to eat - had become a victim of its own success. Scarcity of product had been replaced with mountains of butter, and lakes of wine.
One of the biggest problem areas was milk. In 1984 a quota system was set up, with each Member State having a national quota, which was then divided up into quotas for individual dairy farmers. Production over and above the quota led to a fine. However, in order not to penalise efficient farmers, quotas were tradeable, allowing the good to buy up quotas from the poor.
This somewhat cumbersome system is now to go; from tomorrow, dairy farmers will be able to produce as much milk as they like. Milk production, particularly in the four northern countries of Ireland, England, Holland, and Denmark, is expected to soar. In Denmark, they expect to produce an extra billion litres of milk a year.
Good news for farmers? Well, the problem with extra production in a free market is that it inexorably leads to lower prices. In the case of milk, that will be exacerbated by the fact that only about 4-5% of production is traded internationally, so an extra 5% at the farm gate could easily lead to a doubling of the amount traded. It will take a couple of months for the new rules to filter through the whole system, but it would not surprise me if less efficient farmers were calling for the reimposition of quotas later this year.
Walter Blotscher
Tuesday, 31 March 2015
Monday, 30 March 2015
MOBILE PAY
One of my New Year resolutions was to get some sort of mobile payment application, so that I can pay for things using my mobile phone. This has been available for years in places like Kenya (with its mPesa system), but has only recently come to Denmark.
Anyway, I can now - with some pride - reveal that I have succeeded. Today I managed both to download the app, and make my first payment, for kr.140.
This is one of those things, like riding a bicycle, that when you have done it, you wonder why you haven't always done it. Better late than never, I suppose.
Walter Blotscher
One of my New Year resolutions was to get some sort of mobile payment application, so that I can pay for things using my mobile phone. This has been available for years in places like Kenya (with its mPesa system), but has only recently come to Denmark.
Anyway, I can now - with some pride - reveal that I have succeeded. Today I managed both to download the app, and make my first payment, for kr.140.
This is one of those things, like riding a bicycle, that when you have done it, you wonder why you haven't always done it. Better late than never, I suppose.
Walter Blotscher
Sunday, 29 March 2015
CHINA
China was .....what? A fascinating insight into a culture that goes back continuously for more than 2,000 years or a nightmare vision of an urban future dominated by megacities? Well, a bit of both really.
To take the first. The school we were exchanging with, Shi Shi High School, is the oldest recorded school in the world, with documents dating back to its founding in 143BC. While there, we visited the Dujiangyan irrigation system, which is also 2,000 years old (though the stones wrapped in bamboo that made up the original dam have been replaced by concrete). As is the Wuhou memorial temple in the middle of the city. The Sichuan plain has always been a fertile region (Sichuan means four rivers), so Chengdu has always been an important city. Bits and pieces testifying to that history pop up all over the place.
However, it is also a modern city of some 14 million people, up from 500,000 as recently as the 1950's. 20-30 story tower blocks litter the ground in the same way that 1-storey housing estates would in Europe or America. The traffic is terrible, even though all commercial vehicles are banned during the day (so all deliveries take place at night). Everything is go, go, go, and it was a lot richer than I had expected. BMW and Mercedes seem to be doing a roaring trade.
Walter Blotscher
China was .....what? A fascinating insight into a culture that goes back continuously for more than 2,000 years or a nightmare vision of an urban future dominated by megacities? Well, a bit of both really.
To take the first. The school we were exchanging with, Shi Shi High School, is the oldest recorded school in the world, with documents dating back to its founding in 143BC. While there, we visited the Dujiangyan irrigation system, which is also 2,000 years old (though the stones wrapped in bamboo that made up the original dam have been replaced by concrete). As is the Wuhou memorial temple in the middle of the city. The Sichuan plain has always been a fertile region (Sichuan means four rivers), so Chengdu has always been an important city. Bits and pieces testifying to that history pop up all over the place.
However, it is also a modern city of some 14 million people, up from 500,000 as recently as the 1950's. 20-30 story tower blocks litter the ground in the same way that 1-storey housing estates would in Europe or America. The traffic is terrible, even though all commercial vehicles are banned during the day (so all deliveries take place at night). Everything is go, go, go, and it was a lot richer than I had expected. BMW and Mercedes seem to be doing a roaring trade.
Walter Blotscher
Sunday, 15 March 2015
Saturday, 14 March 2015
9 APRIL
Denmark's fight against Germany in the Second World War was, in reality, a minor skirmish. The Germans crossed the border early in the morning of 9 April; six hours later, it was all over and the Danes had capitulated. Danish losses amounted to 16 killed and 20 wounded; German losses were higher, but still minimal.
Germany was not really interested in Denmark, it was a stepping stone towards the strategic prize of Norway, which they took later in the year. Still, it provided a useful base, particularly with regard to food, and the occupation of the country lasted until 1945.
The Second World War has undergone a bit of a renaissance in Denmark the past few years, with films about the resistance movement proving a big hit. This evening I watched at the local cinema a new film, 9 April, which traces the events of those 6 hours. Almost documentary like, it follows a bicycle unit charged with defending the border area. The main thing I got from it was that the fight was a hopeless mismatch; in order to last even six hours, the Danes had to fight pretty well.
As I said earlier, what is now needed is a film about collaboration during those five years. Not everyone in Denmark thought that the Germans were a bad thing, But perhaps that remains a touchy subject.
Walter Blotscher
Denmark's fight against Germany in the Second World War was, in reality, a minor skirmish. The Germans crossed the border early in the morning of 9 April; six hours later, it was all over and the Danes had capitulated. Danish losses amounted to 16 killed and 20 wounded; German losses were higher, but still minimal.
Germany was not really interested in Denmark, it was a stepping stone towards the strategic prize of Norway, which they took later in the year. Still, it provided a useful base, particularly with regard to food, and the occupation of the country lasted until 1945.
The Second World War has undergone a bit of a renaissance in Denmark the past few years, with films about the resistance movement proving a big hit. This evening I watched at the local cinema a new film, 9 April, which traces the events of those 6 hours. Almost documentary like, it follows a bicycle unit charged with defending the border area. The main thing I got from it was that the fight was a hopeless mismatch; in order to last even six hours, the Danes had to fight pretty well.
As I said earlier, what is now needed is a film about collaboration during those five years. Not everyone in Denmark thought that the Germans were a bad thing, But perhaps that remains a touchy subject.
Walter Blotscher
Friday, 13 March 2015
MAD MEN
My wife and I are enjoying watching all of the episodes of Breaking Bad on Netflix. But it's an iron rule that we only watch it together.
She is away on an exchange trip in Poland with her school this week, so I have to find alternative entertainment. So I getting into Mad Men, which is also on Netflix.
Mad Men is all about advertising people on Madison Avenue in New York at the end of the 1950's/early 1960's, and I am getting quite into it. Three things in particular have struck me. How chauvinist the men are, how much alcohol is drunk at work, and how much everybody smokes.
Walter Blotscher
My wife and I are enjoying watching all of the episodes of Breaking Bad on Netflix. But it's an iron rule that we only watch it together.
She is away on an exchange trip in Poland with her school this week, so I have to find alternative entertainment. So I getting into Mad Men, which is also on Netflix.
Mad Men is all about advertising people on Madison Avenue in New York at the end of the 1950's/early 1960's, and I am getting quite into it. Three things in particular have struck me. How chauvinist the men are, how much alcohol is drunk at work, and how much everybody smokes.
Walter Blotscher
Thursday, 12 March 2015
SCANDINAVIAN AVIATION
Scandinavian aviation has problems. A week or so ago cabin personnel went on strike at SAS. The strike was illegal, something which the courts duly confirmed. But it still took a couple of days for talks to break down, writs to be issued, opinions to be drafted and so on. And every day that an international airline doesn't fly means a big loss of revenue and an even bigger load of disgruntled passengers.
Then it was the turn of Norwegian, the low-cost carrier that is doing to Scandinavia what Ryanair has done to the rest of Europe. This time it was the pilots, and the strike went on for longer. The only people happy about the new development were SAS; with many routes within Scandinavia a duopoly, SAS were able to recoup the revenue that they had lost the week before.
In both cases, the fundamental issue was the same. In what is increasingly becoming a global industry, can Scandinavian airlines continue to pay Scandinavian wages and benefits when the competition is paying much less? Transport businesses are essentially fixed cost, so if your costs are higher, then you are less competitive. True, the Gulf carriers (and Chinese airlines) don't - yet - want to fly around Scandinavia. But SAS and Norwegian can't survive as regional players, and on the long-haul routes which are more profitable, they compete head-on.
The result of the two strikes was that the Scandinavian labour model in the aviation industry has survived for now. However, I am not convinced that it will survive much beyond 2020.
Walter Blotscher
Scandinavian aviation has problems. A week or so ago cabin personnel went on strike at SAS. The strike was illegal, something which the courts duly confirmed. But it still took a couple of days for talks to break down, writs to be issued, opinions to be drafted and so on. And every day that an international airline doesn't fly means a big loss of revenue and an even bigger load of disgruntled passengers.
Then it was the turn of Norwegian, the low-cost carrier that is doing to Scandinavia what Ryanair has done to the rest of Europe. This time it was the pilots, and the strike went on for longer. The only people happy about the new development were SAS; with many routes within Scandinavia a duopoly, SAS were able to recoup the revenue that they had lost the week before.
In both cases, the fundamental issue was the same. In what is increasingly becoming a global industry, can Scandinavian airlines continue to pay Scandinavian wages and benefits when the competition is paying much less? Transport businesses are essentially fixed cost, so if your costs are higher, then you are less competitive. True, the Gulf carriers (and Chinese airlines) don't - yet - want to fly around Scandinavia. But SAS and Norwegian can't survive as regional players, and on the long-haul routes which are more profitable, they compete head-on.
The result of the two strikes was that the Scandinavian labour model in the aviation industry has survived for now. However, I am not convinced that it will survive much beyond 2020.
Walter Blotscher
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