CONNECT I TVANGSOPLØSNING

My agency, Connect is in Tvangsopløsning.

If there are any other IT Contractors out there affected by Ken Lynge Primby and his Connect Resorce Agency, CVR Nummer 28976496, Søren Frichs Vej 38 C, 8230 Åbyhøj going into tvangsopløsning, then please contact me or leave comments here. Connect can be viewed at this website http://www.connect.dk/

I note the business went into tvangsopløsning on 17/9/07, but he still kept quiet and agreed a new contract with me starting 1/10/07.

This just about sums up my entire time here. If anyone still thinks Denmark is some kind of socialist idyll, full of nice fluffy, fair-minded people-this is more or less how my partner sold it to me-then I suggest they try living here.

I see Ken Lynge Primby is already back in operation through his new business, also called Connect; or perhaps more correctly; Connekt, at the same website http://www.connect.dk/. But new address Banegårdsgade 20 1 mf8000 Århus C. Nice.

The guy has traded through a number of different Connect Companies during his time, including :-

Connect Resorce Agency
Connect Resource Agency
CONNECT CONSULTING APS
CONNECT CONTRACTING APS
CONNECT IT REKRUTTERING APS
CONNECT VIKARSERVICE APS
Connect

Please, please let me know if you are having problems with him, or even remember the last time this happened to Ken Primby with Connect Rekruttering Aps in 2005. Ev entually resolved by Konkurs.

Denmark, the worlds richest country in 2025?

Okay, a bit of a ludicrous sounding headline, but one of my reasons here was really trying to think ahead for the sake of the kids, and I reckon Denmark is potentially one of the worlds future commodity resource hotspots.

Right now, per capita, they supply huge amounts of oil and fish products, which generates (my guess), a lot of the excess money that the government uses to fund the welfare state I am so not fond of. anyone who thinks the welfare state is great should live here for a while and see the mindset it creates.

social comment aside, on top of this, they also happen to own a huge chunk of the world's future resource hotspot, the North Pole. Honestly, I hope the government is prepared to do whatever it takes to hold onto Greenland, because that will become a serious wealth generator. Regardless of whether you believe in permanent global warming or just a temporary natural climate change, fact is that the ice in Greenland is receding and the miners are moving in to explore and mine.

Now, and I believe the great Jim Rogers, commodities are going to be hot in the years ahead. Oil is already up to $100 and once those bankers devalue the Euro a little bit, petrol is going to get a lot more expensive here too. And then as for Gold and Silver, overdo it on the currency devaluation and they will be hot and a half.

When you think about the populations of Denmark (5.1m and 100,000 respectively), you can really see how few people will be sharing it out, so if anyone knows any sure fire ways to invest in this potential, aside from mining companies with no earnings (property prices are already VERY expensive up there), then let me know.

How to Euro Shop Online and Get the Best Prices Delivered to Your Door!

Living in Britain, I'd become used to logging on to the net and ordering whatever I fancied from sites like Amazon, VAT-free and no delivery costs, but two years ago, life took me to Denmark (or rather the missus did!), and boy, was I in for a shock! Get this...a 25% sales tax, or MOMs, as it's called here on everything you buy, including food! Even so, after I'd been here a few months, I naively logged onto Amazon to buy a few English books I fancied. Everything looked fine as I added to my basket, but once at the checkout, the price of all the items more than DOUBLED, simply as a result of where they were being sent to.

So, get this, Amazon is selling the same goods to you, from the same warehouse, but you have to pay twice the price? Why? Well, turns out it isn't Amazons fault at all. You can blame the EU for this one, and this after all those years of cheek we were sold the EU with the excuse that it was going to be a free trade bloc of one big European Nation. Just because your books are going to be delivered to Denmark instead of the UK you have to pay delivery (okay, that one you can cope with) and an extra 25% sales tax. Ha ha, how I laughed as I gave up on my attempted purchase and prepared myself for a life of no reading ever again.

But then I discovered, completely by chance, a rather nifty outfit called Play.com, who based themselves in a small island off the coast of France, called Jersey that has zero sales tax. Better still, these guys even do free delivery to Denmark, and best of all to buy from them (or anywhere else in the world for that matter), is 100% legal, subject to certain limits.
Wow, I was like a pig in.....err excuse me. Anyhow, to say the least I was a very happy man and logging on every other night from thereon buying all of the books I could possibly get my hands on to make up for lost time.

After this I really got into buying a lot of things I wanted elsewhere in the EU, and once you start getting into this buying abroad off the internet lark you'll realise that Amazon is the exception in charging Sales Taxes at the buyers' rate. Most EU based companies will only charge their local rate, 100% legal again. Well, this little bit of info opened up another new horizon! Blimey, I even found a little-used, SECRET way of buying from Amazon and avoiding the Sales tax. 100% LEGAL again, and you can read about it here as I'm happy to give you this secret for free.

Then I started thinking...how many other websites or shopping opportunities are there out there like this? Completely legal opportunities to beat the taxman and keep more of your own money in your own pocket, while buying exactly what you want. Hell, half this stuff isn't even available here! The same probably applies to whatever European country you happen to be living in right now. Am I right?

Now, just think about all those people out there who know nothing about these sites. Maybe this even includes you? You come back from the UK with a holdall full of English books or decent underwear (my partner does!) simply because you think you'll never get the chance to stock up again. Well, forget it! Now you can buy from the comfort of your own home with delivery to your door!

There is now a site of my favourite online shops! These are personally tested and recommended shops with great prices, a fantastic range, and best of all, free or low delivery costs to Denmark and most of the rest of Europe. You can visit it right now at www.expatshop.eu.

Danish Election Results

Forgot to comment on the Danish election results. No surprises there, in fact, I'm pleased to be proved right, since Helle Thorning Schmidt's Socialist party got their lowest ever share of the vote. Great, so Danes are finally getting sick of socialism.

Furthermore, Venstre with their promises of no more tax rises (though taxes can hardly rise much above 70%, can they?), have teamed up with New Alliance (40% flat tax), so you can only be hopeful that something might give, even a bit.

Amusingly enough, the other part of the Venstre coalition is the Danske Folkeparti. Who are opposed to immigration, Denmark for the Danes (well white ones, some might say), and all that. While Alliance are all for more immigrants and more benefits for them, so those two should cancel each other out on this issue.

Pound in freefall, but the dollar hides it

I must admit that I have been worried about the Pound for some time, what with the trade deficit, budget deficit and now the Northern Rock crisis.

Actually, the trade deficit bothers me least of the problems, as Britain has a large reputation for investing abroad. The others are not so good. especially the Northern Rock crisis, since the implication is the government have magically created the necessary backup reserves out of thin air (is there any other method?)

Now, I notice that in the past couple of months, the Pound has dropped about 6% against the Euro and Danish Krone. This has hardly got a mention, as all the media are going on about the weakening Dollar and the bargains available for those taking a shopping trip to the USA.

So please, Germany and Holland, don't give in to whingeing France and Italy about needing a weaker Euro, and the usual rubbish about generating exports. A devalued currency helps no-one long term.

If it carries on like this, the Euro could become the world's new reserve currency, especially for pricing oil, at least until China is ready to claim its spot.

Just a thought.

As for me, I'm off to browse the internet for some bargains from Britain...

The truth behind the Miners Strike

Just in case anyone considers me to be some elitist Brit who went to public school, I can honestly say that I come from a North Eastern coal mining background and in fact, my Dad worked in the mines right up to the end in the 1980s and my family was badly affected by the miners strike. In fact, this was probably a pivotal moment in my life for realising the con of socialism and how the world is "every man for himself" whichever way you look at it.

While Arthur Scargill ran the campaign in the style of a World War 1 general, sitting 20 miles behind the front lines sipping claret and sending men and their families to their economic deaths, some of his cohorts really would have come around and put a brick through your window (or worse) had you dared to be a black-leg and go back to work. Ironically, these were the same guys who, a year later, were leaping around at the prospect of 30 grand redundancy money. A little known fact of the miners strike is that many of the collieries closed weren't even on the closure list that had triggered the strike, but a year of being left empty had led to flooding and other high maintenance costs that made it cheaper to pay the men off. And boy, how they all voted for closure when they realised how much money they would get! Sod you "comrade", became the prevailing attitude, and the younger blokes, like my Dad, missed out on the full redundancy and pensions offered to those of more senior years.

God, how Consett was boom town in those next few years. You could tell who the ex-miners were by the new extensions on their houses, new cars and flash new electricals like VCRs, while they all desperately tried to run down their redundancy money enough to qualify for the dole. Years later, you could definitely tell who the ex-miners were by their enormous beer bellies from a retirement life of spending all day in the club.

Socialism? Don't make me laugh.

Some Men are More Equal than Others

Imagine living in a country that takes huge taxes from you, including a huge cut of your worldwide income.

Imagine that this country prides itself on the alleged principles of fairness and equality.

Imagine then that a chance for the people to decide who runs the country you live in comes around. At last, a chance to make a small difference by voting on the person/party you feel is most likely to improve the lot of the country you live in.

Imagine then that you get told to f**k off since no-one cares what you have to say and you don't even get the chance to vote.

Sounds unlikely? Well, when my Danish partner and I lived in the UK, we could both vote no problem, but move to Denmark and it turns out that foreigners are NOT allowed to vote in the general election.

I can see why, since foreigners aren't brainwashed into Danish socialism from an early age and can see right through it, so imagine the dangers of them enforcing some change for the better, eh?

Funny too that my partner, once she'd lived outside Denmark more than 2 years lost the right to vote in Danish elections. Denmark obviously realises that any Dane living abroad for more than 2 years will be de-indoctrinated in socialist thinking and thus vote sensibly with clear-headed thinking.

Some men are indeed more equal than others, and Stalin would be proud.

Why are Socialist countries like Denmark so apparently rich?

A lot of people, usually academic economists and fans of socialism who've never actually lived in Denmark make the Nordic model out to be some great utopian society, but they forget two things:-

1) The Scandinavian countries are all very rich in natural resources, even if it is often claimed otherwise. Denmark and Norway are, per capita, two of the world's biggest oil producers. Iceland and Denmark (esp. through Greenland) are two of the biggest seafood producers, then finally Sweden and Finland are so full of trees they supply much of the timber and pulp paper throughout Europe. Without these assets, these countries would run massive trade deficits and be unable to afford their generous welfare state.

2) These countries have successfully monetised many aspects of private family life that was previously outside the scope of inclusion in official economic figures like GDP. Take childcare and elderly care, for example, in Denmark, you'll often find 2 women work as childcarers, and as part of the system they drop their own children off with other childcarers! It's the same as paying someone to paint your house while you pay them to paint yours. A no-brainer for government, since it's more tax-collection opportunities, but bad news for individuals.

Can anyone even put a cost of the long-term social damage it does to families? Funnily enough, Danes are reknowned as "serial mongamists", IE drifting from one relationship to another, collecting kids from various relationships and partners along the way. You almost feel weird here if you keep the same partner for more than 5-7 years (the old 7 year itch, eh?)

Full Employment for all, the socialist way

I've been thinking about this for a few days and I have the perfect "socialist" solution to much of Denmarks problems, sick of hearing about the rough life the huge number of care-workers have here, (and believe me there are millions of them), how about we all become care workers...for each other?

Thinking about it, it fulfills many socialist criteria; for starters, we'll all get paid the same, secondly, there'll be full employment, and thirdly, what could be more caring and socialist than being a cuddly care-worker?

Okay, okay, I know what you're saying, and yes, long-term there will be minor issues with the fact that the country isn't producing anything to sell to foreigners in return for all the goods we need. but hey, a small price to pay, wouldn't you agree?

More Notes from the Danish election

Witnessing a Danish election first hand, three things spring to mind

1) The amazing number of candidates in our town, which only has a population of 17,000. Some parties even seem to have two or three potential candidates to vote for. By my reckoning, it looks like half the population of Hobro are standing for election! For a country that claims to care about the environment, they certainly do waste a lot of cardboard and printing facilities on election posters of the candidates. I kid not, no lamp-post has been left untouched. All grinning, smiley, smug faces, the lot of them. Now, where's my air-rifle or dartboard?

2) The age of the candidates. So many of them seem to be young people in their 20s or early 30s. I wouldn't vote for anybody who hasn't had at least some experience of real life in the unforgiving commercial world, but giving people who've done nothing more than come straight out of cushy "political studies" at University with their idealised theories unbased on the realities of the world, (Helle Thorning Schmidt, anyone?) the ability to decide - what's really sad is the power they could potentially wield over us all.

3) On the basis of 1) and 2), comes the conclusion that with suffocating socialism and the forced income redistribution of high taxes, that the only way to get around it is to become a member of the government, get a nift free ministerial car and a load of other freebies, then spend the rest of your life spending other peoples money.

Hey, did I just describe "Animal farm" by George Orwell, or what? (and the stark realisation that I'm "Boxer"?)

At last, A Danish Bargain

Having lived in this country for almost 3 years now, the only thing I'd discovered that is cheaper than the UK is wood. Yep, plain old wood, whether it's for your fire, garden fence or the finished product for building some shelves in your house, invariably it's a lot cheaper. But probably not a total surprise, for a country that is, apparently,25% wooded, has a population of 5 million and is right next to Sweden.

Anyhow, the big news is that I have discovered a commodity that is FREE in Denmark, but costs over £100 in the UK for the identical commodity. What could this commodity be, you ask? Well, I'm not saying...if I do, they will doubtless introduce some kind of tax on it!

The Hunt for Red Old Volvo

Following on from the forced new car purchase, my estimate of 30,000kr on IT Contractor DK was almost spot on, because that's exactly what the garage put it up for sale for.

Word of warning, it's got some weird juddering problem that means it loses power at certain speeds. Nasty when you're trying to overtake a truck on the motorway and you suddenly find you can't go faster than 110 kmph. This happened twice and 2 different garages looked at it. Fix was only temporary and hence our decision this time round to just get rid. Well done to the garage if they managed to fix properly this time though.

Anyhow, it disappeared from the garage after 2 weeks and we thought maybe they'd sold it, but probably not. Driving past another garage outside Hobro and what do I see in the window? A metallic red Volvo 460 1.7. Worth stopping to have a look thought I, and hey presto, it turned out to be the same year and mileage (sorry, in the EU way of metricism, I guess that should be kilometerage). I won 't name the garage, but it specialises in old Volvos, so if you live here you'll know it. Price has mysteriously risen to 36,500 krone. Which just shows how much a crap old car costs here.

If anyone knows who buys it, I'd like to play "Hunt for Red Old Volvo", a bit like the russian submarine film with Sean Connery, and find out where it ends up.

New Alliance & Danish politics

I just wanted to clarify from this article here that I do not agree with all of Khader's policies. Firstly 1% of GDP on foreign aid. I say either lower taxes or that money spent on better services for the people living here who paid it in, I am sick to death of "foreign aid", all it seems to do is keep the recipients down in poverty, except for a landed few in the recipient country who divvy it out amongst themselves. Bottom line Free Trade, not Foreign Aid. Secondly, longer school education, well, this one horrifies me, since part of the reason for moving here was to keep my kids away from starting British schools at age 4. The less time my kids spend in any government-sponsored brainwashing institution the better. Yet another reason to be thankful for the almost-free private school system in Denmark. And as for free school meals - arghh! Has no-one seen how the British school meals system has turned out???? Rye Bread is the healthiest thing going for kids. I already commented on the School Meals system previously.

Were the last two comments me praising something about Denmark? Good god i think it was! and I didn't choke on my words either...

but hey, first step to progress here is to smash the awful Danish tax system, and I'll tolerate a load of stuff just to see that one happen...

Holidays in Denmark

One thing I really find it hard to get used to is the amount of holidays Danes take. and they all usually go away at the exact same time. In fact, the office then is usually empty with me and a couple of other sad souls who forgot to take the week off around.

A lot of this comes from the fact that the tax rate rises to nearly 70% once you dare to earn over 360,000 kr (about £34,000!). I can't say I blame them, after all it really isn't worth bothering to work in those circumstances, is it? The other thing that becomes apparent is the lost productivity for Denmark that those high taxes are causing.

Upshot is, to fit in here you must learn to work less. Or something like that. Maybe one day I'll have had the drive to try and do anything knocked out of me too.

Getting a Mention on Wikipedia

Nice to see the site IT Contractor Denmark was considered worthy of inclusion in this Wikipedia page about the Nordic model. Should even up the score against all those people brainwashed into thinking Scandinavia is some kind of socialist utopia. It is, as long as your kind of socialism means doing as little as possible and sponging a regular income coerced from the hard-working, honest and self-reliant.

Denmark calls a General Election

...wooo!

Just when you thought Danish television couldn't get any worse, we'll be subjected for the next few weeks to constant drivel from politicians. Thankfully I've only been in Denmark for a few years, so I won't understand most of it, but most of them are socialists talking the same old rubbish but with slightly different undertones.

Thankfully, Helle "we choose welfare, my husband chooses elsewhere" Schmidt doesn't seem to have much chance of winning. You can read more about Stephen Kinnock, husband of Helle Thorning Schmidt here. I'm glad, since it does mean there are plenty of Danes out there sick of this welfare state they're stuck with right now. Apparently Anders Fogh's lot called the election early so they can "..push through sweeping reforms under a new mandate..." hmm. can only imagine how sweeping - top rate tax down to 67% from 70% or something as sweeping as that is my guess. Can only hope he means seriously cutting benefits and making a few of the excess state employees redundant. unlikely though.

And for more insight into how Denmark and Danish Socialism really works, read on.

I'll make sure I'll vote New Alliance. Khader is originally from Syria so doesn't have the stigma of old guard Socialism stuck with him, and is promising top rate tax down to....43%!!!

New Car in Denmark

Horror of horrors, I finally had to bite the bullet and buy a new car in Denmark!

In case you didn't know, this place has the most unpleasant taxation on buying a car in the entire world. Whatever a car costs in your home country, I can almost guarantee it will cost 2-3 times as much here since vehicle duty is a whopping 170% and then 25% MOMs is added on top (a tax on a tax).

Tragic thing is that WITHOUT the taxes Danish cars are really cheap. In fact, a lot of internet car importers buy their cars from Denmark and then add the duty on applying to the country the car is being imported into.

Anyhow, with 3 kids and a fourth on the way, our 12 year-old Volvo saloon broke down again and we decided that was it.

So fastforward and we now have a brand new Fiat Doblo 7 seater. Tragically, it cost the equivalent of about £18,500 whereas the identical model in the Uk is £10,500. Every other people carrier we looked at

My key tip here is that new cars in Denmark are, despite the prices, comparatively a bargain as against used cars. For example, a 6 or 7-year old Fiat Doblo still sells for 80,000 or 90,000 krone (about £8,000), and everyone knows the risks a used car of this age entails, plus, considering how damp a country Denmark is, cars do not tend to wear too well as the years progress. Dealers make very little profit on selling new cars - they hope to make their money from the servicing afterwards. Their profit margins on used cars are much bigger.

You can read more on buying and driving a car in Denmark here.

Yet again, it just shows who's really running the show and raking the money in here. The Government. Next time I see the usual bunch of drunks hanging around outside Føtex, at least I can feel that warm feeling inside of knowing that my money was spent on a good cause....

Honest Financial Advice at No Price

Don't forget to visit my investing sites for financial information to help you save money. First, there's Successful Tax Free Investing. Then IT Contracting in Denmark. Then, if you live in the EU, loads of tips on how to Shop Online and Save and finally, visit Invest Gold and Silver to find out how to invest on the two things likeliest to save you from financial collapse in the uncertain future awaiting us all.

The Penny (or Krone) Finally Drops

Amazing article in "Ekstra Bladet" today, where the newspaper managed to track down and interview the only Dane in Denmark who hasn't got any consumer loans!

In case you're not aware, ANY loan for ANY purpose you take out in Denmark attracts tax relief of 33% on the interest. So, you can hit the shops for a new 42" LCD TV and know that it means less tax on your payslip. Bizarre, and probably explains why Denmark is one of the 5 most personally indebted countries in the world.

Whether or not you agree with tax relief on homeloans, I cannot believe anyone would consider such a system that promotes consumer spending over saving to be fair. I'm glad therefore that finally some media has mentioned it, and would expect this to be the first step in abolishing this concession, as more people cotton onto it. The UK abolished MIRAS (20% mortgage relief) on loans in the mid-1990s, and it had zero effect on house prices, or anything else for that matter. It's probably quite an expensive tax relief to administer as well.

Worth saying that I don't have any consumer loans either, but then again I'm not a Dane indoctrinated into their system from an early age.

Social Democrats & We choose Welfare....

Just saw the new political posters out for the Social Democrat party here in Denmark.

The slogan translates as "We choose Welfare". This made me laugh, since Denmark already "chose welfare" sometime in the 1970s, as far I can tell. With half the country on some kind of handout, and the other half paying the most horrendously high taxes ever seen, what this country needs is a lot less welfare and maybe a lot more people getting a kick up the backside.

Given the new money-making attitude among younger Danes, I suspect they are on a loser with this election strategy. Thank god.

In case you're not aware of who the leader of this party is, it's someone called Helle Thorning Schmidt, who is married to Stephen Kinnock, son of Neil Kinnock. The Labour PM who held a celebratory winning party after the 1993 general election in the UK, except it then turned out he hadn't won after all...whoops.

Mr Kinnock, her husband has already made his own decision on the Danish welfare system by choosing to live outside Denmark and visit his wife, I would guess just enough to be inside the 180 days non-resident rule. What a great example of the true socialist mantra "...do as I say, not as I do..." I wonder how their finances are arranged? My guess would be he probably has all their savings held abroad in his name. I know I would if I was them. Ah the joys of being a politician trying to spend other people's money.

Of course, this is only likely conjecture on my part. If they read this and want to correct me then I'm happy to publish it on my blog.

Site Relaunch

Okay, maybe not quite. But I've had a bit of a rejig of my three main Danish sites and the results can be seen at :-

http://www.ingenmoms.dk
http://www.sparmoms.dk
http://www.itcontractor.dk

Would appreciate some feedback on the results.

Buying Domain Names

I've been buying quite a few domain names recently. In the main this is to protect long term business interests.

Moving to Denmark has also meant nabbing some .dk versions too.

I'd highly recommend this lot as selling the cheapest domain names going - excellent prices and you can even pay in a number of different currencies, including Dkr by bank transfer...

Schooling in Denmark

We deliberately timed our move from Britain to Denmark just before our daughter was due to start school in the UK, simply because our experience is that the British schools are hammering on the kids.

In Britain there are even state school league tables and this creates intense competition for places at the "best" schools and for schools to concentrate on grading the children from the start. My Dad worked in a junior school and it was common knowledge that the teachers of kids this age hated doing it. Along with that, my nephew in the UK is 5 and after being off ill in his first year his mother even got a letter complaining that his attendance was below 95%!

The downside of being in Denmark is moving somewhere else where the education system requires your kids to start younger because your kids are, temporarily at least, well behind.

I'd suggest anyone coming to Denmark considers sending their children to a private school. Teachers are more motivated and our daughter is so much happier since she switched...even doing a letter a day instead of one a week (!). Sounds flash, but the state subsidises it and we only pay 550 krone a month, and with the SFO in, it actually works out cheaper than the state school! You can read about it here .

By the way, one of the most hilarious books I've ever read on the reality of the modern British education system is It's Your Time You're Wasting by a teacher...anonymously!

Lottery Obsessions

I have been thinking about this for quite a while, and have you noticed how the lottery is very popular in Denmark? Everyone goes on about winning the lottery all the time.

I reckon it's a socialist thing, with a life of high taxes, eternal debt and thus lifetime slavery, the lottery is advertised as your ticket out. Working hard will never get you anywhere, since most of the extra you earn disappears with the higher tax rates.

Britain's introduction of the lottery about 12 years ago coincided with the end of Thatcherism and a beginning of the decline into higher taxes and more socialism (child tax credits, IR35, etc.)

All very reminiscent of the film "The Island". In case you haven't seen it, all these people live in a complex, convinced that the world outside is polluted by a major nuclear war. There is a lottery - and the winner gets to go and live on an unspoilt desert island. In reality they die...hmmm....

Use the EU

I cannot stress this enough, but you have probably guessed by now that one of my major bugbears is the excessive taxation here.

So I recommend we all use the EU for the purpose it was originally sold to us all for IE Free Trade with No Borders.

Despite what we're all told you can buy your goods from any EU retailer willing to sell them to you. So if you find it cheaper in Britain, Germany or Sweden and they're willing to sell it to you, take it! It's the only way we'll ever see true harmonisation and integration in the EU.

My latest saving is nearly 2000 kr (yep, £200) on a new tumble dryer, just for spending an hour on the net. Check out the Ingen MOMs Blog.

Hey there wait a minute, Mr Postman...

It turns out the new postman has not been delivering our mail last 2 weeks because we don't have our names on a nameplate on the door, which is a legal requirement here apparently.

The fact that we had never been told about this and have successfully being receiving it for the last 2 years seems to have been missed.

Worse still, rather than ask or consult a telephone directory, this person (I shall restrain myself from calling him anything else) has been simply returning the mail as "address unknown". No list or record of what he might have returned anywhere either.

We have no idea what mail has been missed during this time, and as I run a business from home I expect some hassles in the near future.

The socialist state and it's excessive rules indeed. I've been thinking about why a nameplate is so important and I think I know. I'll bet it's used as evidence of Danish residency when it comes to those awkward tax cases involving Danes who retain a house here but claim to live in Sweden or Germany so they can drive a half-decent car and keep some of their money in their own pockets.

Shopping Cheaply While in Denmark

Denmark is seriously expensive so I highly recommend you visit the IngenMOMs website for shops abroad.

Amazon goods for Denmark are delivered from the UK site, and while I'm not knocking them for their base prices, you have to pay postage to DK as well as MOMs being added at 25%. When you're shopping for books it's pretty horrific seeing the price almost double once the postage gets added.

I therefore HIGHLY RECOMMEND Play.com . With an amazing choice of VAT-free (they're based in Jersey) Books, CDs and DVDs as being the place to shop.

Same goes for Magazines. The choice in Denmark is pitiful and the prices are appalling. You can visit isubscribe and subscribe to any of the vast range of English Magazines out there and avoid paying the MOMs.

As always, do your own research, but seriously, who out there wants to donate money to the Danish Nanny state by choice????

Denmark clamps down on foreign workers avoiding tax...honest

A lot of publicity at the moment is being given in the Danish media to this "huge tax loophole" that allows foreign workers to come to Denmark and pay less tax.

This is one of the most hilarious bits of scandal-mongering I've ever seen. Newspapers and top politicians all jumping up in arms about abolishing the foreign worker scheme that allows foreign workers to pay 25% tax on their earnings if they work here for less than 3 years.

What's laughable is that in reality, the rules are so onerous that I have never known anyone ever be able to take advantage of this scheme except probabyl professional footballers (handy for a 3 year contract before the move on to pastures new), or, I would guess, cushy University posts. You have to be getting paid something like over 50,000 krone per month AFTER tax, have the exact job agreed and sponsored before coming here, etc. etc. So you might guess that a Polish worker coming to do a bit of bricklaying for a few months doesn't even qualify from the off.

I will point out thought that I'm glad it's going. I'm not in favour of any tax system that gives favourable incentives to one person over another for doing the exact same job, which is plainly what could happen here.

But the way it's reported in the media makes it sound like every foreigner in Denmark is here on this cushy scheme (and it isn't even really 25% since you have to pay 9% Social security on top!). It simply isn't true but highlights the xenophobic underlying attitude of many Danes, including politicians that they wish to gain political capital on a problem that probably doesn't really exist.

Denmark and School Dinners

A bit off-topic, tobut something that is really nagging at the me at the moment is all the positive publicity earmarked to the "school dinners in Denmark" campaign.

Are these people thick? The only thing keeping Danish kids from being as obese as British kids is that they are forced to eat something healthy for lunch, ie Rye Bread. This really is the Nanny State gone mad.

Did any of these people study the British School dinners system or watch "Jamie's School Dinners"? 5 year old kids living on Turkey Twizzlers and 6 chips (believe it or not, when my Dad worked at the local junior and infants school, the canteen staff told him they were ordered to count out the oven chips for each plate!). As someone brought up on the British schools dinner system, I remember a lot of people I went to school with managed to spend the whole week eating nothing else but chips and sausage or the occasional burger for a bit of variety.

Okay, when introduced in Britain in the 1950s it was a fantastic idea with good motives of a healthy diet, but like all great ideas it ultimately becomes something to run as cheaply as possible and sod the consequences. I just about caught the end of the good stuff in the early 1980s, but then came a school canteen menu with reheated mush and it all fell apart.

Denmark is the one country in the world that does not need school dinners - the daily "madpakke" of ryebread and toppings is one of the healthiest things kids could ever eat and I predict that however noble the motives seem now, just look to Britain for the reality of where it'll go.

1and1 Internet - A firm to avoid

I am having the most appalling problem with 1and1 internet, who are now threatening me with court action over non-payment of some domain names I ordered about a month and a half ago.

Thing is, I actually paid for them three weeks ago.

They initally rejected my debit card payment, even though it worked the prior purchase time. They then asked for direct bank transfer, which I made immediately.

Fair enough that these problems occur initially, but my bank has confirmed the money was successfully sent so you think they'd be more thorough about checking up before subsequently sending me SIX threatening letters.

And it's still not resolved...my account is now LOCKED.

A quick look around the net reveals a lot of other people having hassles with this mob, so I'd certainly put them down as one to avoid.

Needless to say the domains will shortly be transfered. I've never had any problems with 123-reg, touch wood.