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.