36-Year-Old Dane on Welfare Since She Was 16: the "Danish model of government is close to a religion"

It began as a stunt intended to prove that hardship and poverty still existed in this small, wealthy country, but it backfired badly

writes Suzanne Daley in a New York Times article which states outright that the "Danish model of government is close to a religion here".

Visit a single mother of two on welfare, a liberal member of Parliament goaded a skeptical political opponent, see for yourself how hard it is.  

It turned out, however, that life on welfare was not so hard. The 36-year-old single mother, given the pseudonym “Carina” in the news media, had more money to spend than many of the country’s full-time workers. All told, she was getting about $2,700 a month, and she had been on welfare since she was 16.

 … Denmark has among the highest marginal income-tax rates in the world, with the top bracket of 56.5 percent kicking in on incomes of more than about $80,000. But in exchange, the Danes get a cradle-to-grave safety net that includes free health care, a free university education and hefty payouts to even the richest citizens. 

Parents in all income brackets, for instance, get quarterly checks from the government to help defray child-care costs. The elderly get free maid service if they need it, even if they are wealthy.

 … “In the past, people never asked for help unless they needed it,” said Karen Haekkerup, the minister of social affairs and integration, who has been outspoken on the subject. “My grandmother was offered a pension and she was offended. She did not need it.

“But now people do not have that mentality. They think of these benefits as their rights. The rights have just expanded and expanded. And it has brought us a good quality of life. But now we need to go back to the rights and the duties. We all have to contribute.” 

 … Joachim B. Olsen, the skeptical politician from the Liberal Alliance party who visited Carina 16 months ago in her pleasant Copenhagen apartment, is particularly alarmed. He says Sweden, which is already considered generous, has far fewer citizens living on government benefits. If Denmark followed Sweden’s example, it would have about 250,000 fewer people living on benefits of various sorts. 

“The welfare state here has spiraled out of control,” Mr. Olsen said. “It has done a lot of good, but we have been unwilling to talk about the negative side. For a very long time it has been taboo to talk about the Carinas.” 

 … It remains possible that the cost-cutting push will hurt the left-wing coalition that leads the government. By and large, though, the changes have passed easily in Parliament and been happily endorsed by conservatives like Mr. Olsen, who does his best to keep his meeting with Carina in the headlines. 

Carina was not the only welfare recipient to fuel the sense that Denmark’s system has somehow gotten out of kilter. Robert Nielsen, 45, made headlines last September when he was interviewed on television, admitting that he had basically been on welfare since 2001. 

Mr. Nielsen said he was able-bodied but had no intention of taking a demeaning job, like working at a fast-food restaurant. He made do quite well on welfare, he said. He even owns his own co-op apartment. 

Unlike Carina, who will no longer give interviews, Mr. Nielsen, called “Lazy Robert” by the news media, seems to be enjoying the attention. He says that he is greeted warmly on the street all the time. “Luckily, I am born and live in Denmark, where the government is willing to support my life,” he said.

The Life & Times of Queen Margrethe II in Graphic Novel Format

Kristian Lindberg has an article in the Danish daily Berlingske Tidende about a new biography of Queen Margrethe II of Denmark in graphic novel format:

Dronning Margrethes liv bliver til en tegneserie

Af Kristian Lindberg
6. juni 2013, 17:00

7.000 fotografier er en del af researchen på Thierry Capezzones og Erik Svanes tegneserie om Dronningens vej til tronen – og tiden derefter.

I 2015 fejrer Danmark dronning Margrethes 75 års-fødselsdag, men allerede til næste år vil regenten blive hyldet med en tegneserie i to bind, der skildrer hendes liv fra fødsel til i dag.

Bag serien står to meget erfarne tegneserieskabere, nemlig den 49-årige herboende franske tegner Thierry Capezzone, der blandt andet står bag tegneserien om »H.C. Andersen Junior«, og den 45-årige danske manuskriptforfatter Erik Svane.

Tegneserien om dronning Margrethe bliver i to dele, hvor første del, med arbejdstitlen »Daisy«, blandt andet handler om hendes fødsel, kort efter at Tyskland besatte Danmark, uddannelsesårene i Cambridge, hendes deltagelse i arkæologiske ekspeditioner og hendes ægteskab med prins Henrik. Anden del handler om tiden efter hendes indsættelse som regent i 1972.

»Dronningens liv er som et eventyr, men vi vil gøre alt for at få alle de historiske detaljer gjort så korrekte som muligt,« siger Thierry Capezzone.

For tegneren er serien om dronning Margrethe et skridt væk fra den eventyrprægede stil, som han hidtil har været kendt for. Han har foreløbig tegnet fem album om »H.C. Andersen Junior«, hvori den unge digter oplever sine egne mystiske eventyr i datidens Odense og København. Disse album har solgt i flere oplag i Danmark, Norge og Frankrig.

Alt skal være korrekt

Manuskriptforfatter Erik Svane har i mange år været bosiddende i Paris og leveret manuskripter til den store franske og belgiske tegneseriebranche. Blandt hans tidligere projekter har været en såkaldt kontrafaktisk biografi om Leonardo da Vinci, hvor man forestiller sig, hvad der kunne være sket, hvis de historiske rammer havde været anderledes. Hvad angår dronning Margrethe er forbilledet dog klassiske biografiske film som »Gandhi«, hvor der ikke gås på kompromis med det faktuelle.

»Alt skal være korrekt, men vi laver ikke bare en opremsning af facts. Vi vil koncentrere os om de dramatiske afsnit af Dronningens liv,« siger Erik Svane.

En rød tråd i fortællingen vil være at beskrive, hvordan Dronningen gradvist finder sig til rette med de pligter, der følger med positionen som statsoverhoved.

»Det har ikke altid været lige sjovt, og jeg tror faktisk, at det er en af årsagerne til, at Dronningen og prins Henrik faldt for hinanden - de har begge kæmpet for at finde deres plads i systemet,« siger Erik Svane.

Som et led i sin research har forfatteren rejst rundt i Danmark og taget omkring 7.000 billeder af blandt andet rigets slotte, fotos som Thierry Capezzone skal holde sig til under udarbejdelsen af sine baggrundstegninger.

Ideen

Ideen til en tegneserie om dronning Margrethe begyndte, da Thierry bemærkede, at hans tegnestil var begyndt at udvikle sig i en mere realistisk retning end den tegnefilmsagtige stil, som hans serie »H.C. Andersen Junior« er holdt i.

»Noget, jeg godt kan lide at tegne, er 1940ernes bilmodeller, og derfor fyldte jeg gadescenerne fra besættelsestiden med biler. Erik påpegede dog, at der på grund af benzinrationeringen kun var få privatbiler i gaderne. Folk cyklede mest,« siger Thierry Capezzone.

På trods af sin franske baggrund er tegneren i øvrigt overbevist royalist.

»Hvis man sammenligner kongedømmerne Danmark, Holland og Storbritannien med det republikanske Frankrig, så føler jeg selv, at kongedømmerne er at foretrække som statsform. Jeg elsker kongehuset og vil gøre mit bedste for at behandle det med den respekt, det fortjener,« siger Thierry Capezzone.

Tegneren og forfatteren har indgået aftale om udgivelsen med tegneserieforlaget Cobolt, der udgiver klassikere som Tintin, Linda og Valentin og Smølferne. Og snart også albummerne om dronning Margrethe. Redaktør på Cobolt Carsten Søndergaard ser de kommende album som et vigtigt skridt for danske tegneserier.

»I Danmark bør vi tilstræbe at fortælle danske historier i stedet for at lave efterligninger af amerikanske eller franske tegneserier, og de tegnere, der har gjort det, har også haft succes med det, som for eksempel Claus Deleuran og Orla Clausen,« siger Carsten Søndergaard.

På hjemmesiden hc-junior.dk/wordpress vil man kunne følge Thierry Capezzones og Erik Svanes arbejde med tegneserien.

Der er et yndigt land — The Parody

ThDubya has posted a parody of Denmark's Der Er et Yndigt Land (tak til Eiler).



Der er et yndigt land ("There is a lovely land") is the (civil) national anthem of Denmark. The lyrics were written in 1819 by Adam Oehlenschläger. When first published, the anthem had 12 verses, but this was shortened to the first, third, fifth, and last verse in later editions. The music was composed in 1835 by Hans Ernst Krøyer. Later, Thomas Laub and Carl Nielsen each composed alternative melodies, but neither of them has gained widespread adoption, and today they are mostly unknown to the general population.