Bright Spots in Dark Days

It’s the first day of December, and we woke in darkness to a snow that’s still very lightly falling. Intermittently. It’s also already dark again. So maybe it’s not snowing anymore. I worked from home today so was able to sip my coffee while watching Youngest make her maiden attack on her Advent calendars at…

Police Blotter

The Nordsjælland Police issued an important bulletin Saturday evening: In English: “We’re currently receiving a lot of similar reports about a group of 11 people and change having dealt a beating to a group of the same size. The crime scene was reportedly a big grass lawn, and the victims were reportedly Welsh.” Quickly followed…

Women and Children, Justice and Mercy

One of the burning issues in Denmark right now is the fate of seven particular women and their nineteen children. The issue is hot because it’s one of those rare questions that isn’t easily dispensed with a political slogan or hashtag: the debate crosses party lines. It crosses theological lines. It crosses philosophical lines. It…

One Year Down

A year ago today, Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen got on television and shut Denmark down. After a long and wearying preamble expressing all the dangers represented by the Wuhan virus, and the importance of all of working together to protect ourselves and each other, she said: It is therefore the authorities’ recommendation that we close…

“Camouflaged Objectivity”

The “borgerlig” Berlingske Tidende has at last come around to the observation that the New York Times is printing opinion as fact. That’s a positive development, as far as I’m concerned, even if it’s just in an opinion piece. At least, it would be a positive development if I didn’t know its only value would…

World Champions

I had some other stuff queued up to write about today, but all of that has to be set aside. As everyone in Denmark and very few people in America know, the Danish national handball team defeated Sweden 26-24 last night in Cairo to win the world championship. (The US team qualified for the tournament…

It’s All Good

A specter is haunting Europe. Europe in meltdown as Covid death tolls soar and progress unravels, Emma Reynolds, CNN.com, 11 Dec Europe’s Deadly Second Wave: How Did It Happen Again?, Josh Holder, Matina Stevis-Gridneff and Allison McCann, New York Times, 4 Dec …it’s not the specter of covid, but the specter of broken journalism. From…

Just the Data, Ma’am

Most Danes are familiar with Statens Serum Institut. It maintains the COVID-19 Dashboard that many of us use to keep track of the pandemic in Denmark. The dashboard looks like this (as of 13:45 on Saturday, 28 November): It’s a lot of data. I’ve gotten to checking it once a day after its 14:00 update…

Minky Business: A (Possibly) Teachable Moment

You may have mixed feelings about the Great Mink Debate raging across Denmark today. You may see the pluses and minuses of both sides. You may favor some kind of compromise solution. I ask for the next few moments that you stop being like that. I ask you to choose a side. I don’t care…