Today in Denmark: A roundup of the news on Tuesday
Motorway speeds at all time low, potential new party in parliament, shocking statistic at care homes and more news from Denmark on Tuesday.
‘Four in five’ municipalities discover violence between residents at care homes
Four in five managers of elderly care at the local government level said they have received cases involving violence between residents at care homes in the last year, according to a survey conducted by broadcaster TV2.
Several municipalities told the broadcaster that such incidents happen weekly.
One local authority, Assens Municipality, last year reported a care home resident to police after a violent incident and has subsequently installed electronic locks on doors.
A manager from a care home in Hadsund said the problem was not a simple one that could solely be fixed by hiring more staff.
Vocabulary: plejehjem – care home / elderly care home
Former far-right leader teases new party
Lars Boje Mathiesen, who last year had a short-lived spell as leader of the far-right party Nye Borgerlige, appears set to announce he is forming a new party.
Mathiesen is currently an independent in parliament so his new party would have at least one MP. He was excluded by Nye Borgerlige weeks after taking over as leader due to an apparent pay dispute.
“We are now ready with the first concrete measure for a possible future party,” he said in a social media post on Monday night.
His new party would impose a time limit on how long its members can be MPs in an attempt to prevent “elected people becoming career politicians and selling out”, he also wrote.
A similar policy is practiced by the far-left party Red Green Alliance (Enhedslisten), which has a “rotation” rule limiting the number of terms its members can sit in parliament.
Vocabulary: karrierepolitiker – career politician
Motorway speeds at record low
Average speeds on motorways are at their lowest since records began in 2002, new data from the Danish Road Directorate (Vejdirektoratet) show.
On motorways with speed limits of 130 km/h and 110 km/h, the average speeds last year were 118.1 km/h and 110.7 km/h respectively.
A downwards trend on average motorway speeds began in 2022, when fuel prices shot up amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
The directorate says that a 20 percent saving on fuel can be made by reducing speed from 130 km/h to 110 km/h.
Vocabulary: hastighed – speed
'Election tests' moved 'thousands' of votes in 2022 polls
So-called ‘election tests’ taken online by voters in Denmark can move as many as 100,000 votes between parties, researchers at Aarhus University have concluded.
Ahead of the 2022 election, some 110,000 voters in Denmark changed their mind about who to vote after taking a political questionnaire on a media website.
Many Danish media offer the tests, valgtest in Danish, on their websites prior to elections. In the tests, users are presented with a set of multiple-choice questions about their political views.
The tests then calculate a percentage rating for how closely aligned the voter is with the various parties, based on statements given by the parties themselves.
Vocabulary: valgtest – election test
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‘Four in five’ municipalities discover violence between residents at care homes
Four in five managers of elderly care at the local government level said they have received cases involving violence between residents at care homes in the last year, according to a survey conducted by broadcaster TV2.
Several municipalities told the broadcaster that such incidents happen weekly.
One local authority, Assens Municipality, last year reported a care home resident to police after a violent incident and has subsequently installed electronic locks on doors.
A manager from a care home in Hadsund said the problem was not a simple one that could solely be fixed by hiring more staff.
Vocabulary: plejehjem – care home / elderly care home
Former far-right leader teases new party
Lars Boje Mathiesen, who last year had a short-lived spell as leader of the far-right party Nye Borgerlige, appears set to announce he is forming a new party.
Mathiesen is currently an independent in parliament so his new party would have at least one MP. He was excluded by Nye Borgerlige weeks after taking over as leader due to an apparent pay dispute.
“We are now ready with the first concrete measure for a possible future party,” he said in a social media post on Monday night.
His new party would impose a time limit on how long its members can be MPs in an attempt to prevent “elected people becoming career politicians and selling out”, he also wrote.
A similar policy is practiced by the far-left party Red Green Alliance (Enhedslisten), which has a “rotation” rule limiting the number of terms its members can sit in parliament.
Vocabulary: karrierepolitiker – career politician
Motorway speeds at record low
Average speeds on motorways are at their lowest since records began in 2002, new data from the Danish Road Directorate (Vejdirektoratet) show.
On motorways with speed limits of 130 km/h and 110 km/h, the average speeds last year were 118.1 km/h and 110.7 km/h respectively.
A downwards trend on average motorway speeds began in 2022, when fuel prices shot up amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
The directorate says that a 20 percent saving on fuel can be made by reducing speed from 130 km/h to 110 km/h.
Vocabulary: hastighed – speed
'Election tests' moved 'thousands' of votes in 2022 polls
So-called ‘election tests’ taken online by voters in Denmark can move as many as 100,000 votes between parties, researchers at Aarhus University have concluded.
Ahead of the 2022 election, some 110,000 voters in Denmark changed their mind about who to vote after taking a political questionnaire on a media website.
Many Danish media offer the tests, valgtest in Danish, on their websites prior to elections. In the tests, users are presented with a set of multiple-choice questions about their political views.
The tests then calculate a percentage rating for how closely aligned the voter is with the various parties, based on statements given by the parties themselves.
Vocabulary: valgtest – election test
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