Friday, April 21, 2006

News and comment from Denmark

A big political 'hot potato' at the moment seems to be immigration (surprise surprise). Recently there are have been numerous stories in the media regarding immigrant children who have spent years living in immigration camps, in some cases upwards of a decade or more. The political sides are drawn up in their usual constellation with the socialists inclined to be lenient to these immigrants whilst the government is pointing out that most of these people have been denied in their requests to live in Denmark and are only in the immigration camps because they refuse to leave. The Danish police have stated that they intend to physically remove 111 Kosovo Albanians who have all refused to leave Denmark despite being turned down by the udlændingstyrelsen (the body which decides to stays and who leaves) The Kosovo Albanians, by way of their lawyer have stated, they cannot be sent home, because they are all too sick to leave.
There is nothing about this case that separates Denmark from the other small EU nations. We’re now all experiencing the strain on our country's of mass immigration that appears to a desire of the larger nations. In Belgium for example, they currently have eleven churches and a mosque under occupation by immigrants refusing to leave.


The other big 'hot potato' is the Radikal Venstre’s overture of a possible political union with the governing party’s. Bendt Bendtsen, who is foreman of the conservative party, has turned down the idea put forward by Marianne Jelved. ”We fundamentally disagree with the Radikale on a number of key issues” he is quoted as saying on the DR news site “and with the statements they are making, there is no way we can join together in a union. Not as long as I am party chairman”.
Marianne Jelved, interviewed on TV, blamed the nationalist Danske Folkeparti. (She always blames her misfortunes on DF)


Apparently Madonna is coming to Denmark. Normally I wouldn’t pay much attention to this, but today I read on the BBC that tickets for her concerts in the UK are selling from £80 to £160.
In the past I’ve listened to some of Madonna’s music with pleasure, but I have noted that she is not aging gracefully. Her latest work, whilst conforming to her usual recipe for success, is the most artificial offering yet. Frankly, I am not certain any concert is worth a ticket of £160 and I certainly wouldn’t pay that much to see Madonna’s retro disco performance.
According to the BBC, 1% of the worlds recording artists are now taking 56% of all concert revenue’s.
I think that, right now, the only concerts I could even be bothered to attend at all, would be if either Rammstein, or Jeff Wayne came to Århus.

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