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Morning Briefing – Tuesday, July 23

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July 23rd, 2013


This article is more than 11 years old.

The Copenhagen Post’s daily digest of what the Danish press is reporting

Crash closes bridge

The bridge between Funen and Jutland (Lillebæltsbroen) has partially reopened after an overnight crash and fire shut down traffic in both directions. Two lanes are open towards Jutland and one lane in the direction of Funen and Zealand. No-one was injured in the crash, but police feel that some of the bridge's suspension cables may have been damaged by the fire and said that they will have to be inspected before the bridge is completely reopened to traffic. – DR News

OECD accused of misleading economic analysis

Reports on the state of the nation’s economy done by OECD are viewed by the media, political leaders, economists and investors as some of the best and most independent looks at Denmark’s true economic condition. But a new analysis from homegrown labour group Arbejderbevægelsens Erhvervsråd (AE) questions just how much the OECD knows about the Danish economy and the reforms that have taken place in recent years. A recent AE analysis expected 275,000 more people to be employed over the long term than the OECD's prognosis and predicted that the retirement age would be 72 rather than the 68.8 predicted by the international sages. AE head Lars Andersen said that the differences suggested that the OECD “has not really mastered the Danish market".  – Politiken

Shortest paternity leave in the north

Danish men take less paternity leave (barsel) than their neighbours. As the only Nordic country without a government-earmarked leave for men, the amount of time that fathers are taking off work to spend with their newborn children has fallen for the first time since 2002. The average new father took 36 leave days last year as compared to 38 in 2011. Anette Borchorst, an equality researcher at Aalborg University, said that with no government mandate, the economic crisis and the fear of losing their jobs makes men afraid of taking too much time off. – Jyllands-Posten

No takers on Fakta top job

Discount supermarket chain Fakta has now gone an entire year without anyone running the show. The company’s intensive search for a new director has run into one small snag: no-one wants the job. A report in Berlingske today said that several candidates have been offered the position but have turned it down. Jesper Lien, an administrator at parent company COOP, has been running Fakta since its previous director stepped down one year ago. Industry analysts speculated that what they called a “revolving door” in management at COOP over the past few years has prospects skittish about taking the Fakta job. – Berlingske

Priests less liberal than public on abortion

While only six percent of the population say they oppose the current law allowing women the right to an abortion until 12 weeks of a pregnancy, 25 percent of the nation’s priests oppose the law. A YouGov poll showed that one out of every eight priests – 13 percent – believe that abortion should not be allowed under any circumstances. Only two percent of the general public polled agreed with that view.  Over half of the priests surveyed said that while abortion was “an ethical problem”, an outright ban on the practice would create even greater problems. – Kristeligt Dagblad


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A survey carried out by Megafon for TV2 has found that 71 percent of parents have handed over children to daycare in spite of them being sick.

Moreover, 21 percent of those surveyed admitted to medicating their kids with paracetamol, such as Panodil, before sending them to school.

The FOLA parents’ organisation is shocked by the findings.

“I think it is absolutely crazy. It simply cannot be that a child goes to school sick and plays with lots of other children. Then we are faced with the fact that they will infect the whole institution,” said FOLA chair Signe Nielsen.

Pill pushers
At the Børnehuset daycare institution in Silkeborg a meeting was called where parents were implored not to bring their sick children to school.

At Børnehuset there are fears that parents prefer to pack their kids off with a pill without informing teachers.

“We occasionally have children who that they have had a pill for breakfast,” said headteacher Susanne Bødker. “You might think that it is a Panodil more than a vitamin pill, if it is a child who has just been sick, for example.”

Parents sick and tired
Parents, when confronted, often cite pressure at work as a reason for not being able to stay at home with their children.

Many declare that they simply cannot take another day off, as they are afraid of being fired.

Allan Randrup Thomsen, a professor of virology at KU, has heavily criticised the parents’ actions, describing the current situation as a “vicious circle”.

“It promotes the spread of viruses, and it adds momentum to a cycle where parents are pressured by high levels of sick-leave. If they then choose to send the children to daycare while they are still recovering, they keep the epidemic going in daycares, and this in turn puts a greater burden on the parents.”