Rereleased for its 90th anniversary, Carl Theodor Dreyer’s film established some of the staples of the genre with a female, rather than male, vampireCarl Theodor Dreyer’s macabre gothic romance from 1932 is now rereleased for its 90th anniversary. It’s an eerie, semi-silent classic which really does have the uncanny quality of a bad dream, in which event follows event with an unhurried somnambulist confidence. All early cinema, or maybe all cinema of any period, has that unspoken I-see-dead-people fascination: the spectacle of dead or forgotten actors revivified and brought back to undead life – and this is very appropriate for Vampyr.It’s a film which took as its starting point the stories of Sheridan Le Fanu, so predating Bram Stoker’s Dracula. It has a female vampire, and is thus very different from the male-centred satanic predator who was to become such a colossal horror-franchise player throughout the 20th century. This vampire, or vampyr, doesn’t yet have the elongated bicuspid-fangs, but the movie established some of the staples of vampire genre: the stake through the heart and the all-important dusty and mysterious central European tome, in German, which can reveal how to combat the vampires. Continue reading…

A reader reveals the fascinating links between north-east England and Scandinavia that survive to this dayI was delighted to receive the following letter from Jonathan Hauxwell, from North Yorkshire, about my last column, which included a reference to the Great British Dialect Hunt. “I discovered new (to me) words on the streets of Hartlepool in the 1950s… only they weren’t new. They were terms spoken since Viking tongues brought them to the north-east more than a thousand years before. Words such as rive, meaning to tug at; femmer – thin or fragile; ket – rubbish (the plural form meant sweets!). The one that sealed the link came when I was watching a Danish friend’s dog furiously scratching. I used a childhood dialect word and said it must be ‘loppy’. Loppe is the Danish word for flea.” Excellent gen, Mr Hauxwell, for which I thank you.In recent columns, I’ve written about the British becoming a nation of somnambulists, given the plentiful number of newspaper headlines warning that we are “sleepwalking into…” (insert your own ending). I’ve also in the not too distant past written about doom loops, so you can imagine my unalloyed delight when I read the following headline: “Work-shy Britain is sleepwalking into a doom-spiral of class war and decline.” It was as if all my Christmases had come at once. I’m pleased to say that the article beneath was suitably apocalyptic, rich in “vortexes of decline”, “farragos of broken promises” and the private sector succumbing to “the dead hand of woke capital”. I do so love to see a pen fully loaded with purple ink. Continue reading…

Just a handful of mink breeders in Denmark express an interest in re-entering fur industry, even if the current ban is lifted next yearDanish mink breeders have turned their backs on the industry en masse after being forced to cull their animals over fears a Covid-19 mutation could pose a risk to human health.In November 2020, Denmark, at that point the world’s largest mink producer, controversially announced it would cull approximately 15 million animals due to fears a Covid-19 mutation moving from mink to humans could jeopardise future vaccines. Continue reading…

Top prosecuting office says Claus Hjort Frederiksen shared ‘highly classified information’Denmark’s top prosecuting authority is to seek to have a former defence minister’s parliamentary immunity lifted so he can be charged with illegally disclosing “highly classified information”.The office of the director of public prosecutions said it would contact the Folketing, Denmark’s parliament, about the immunity of Claus Hjort Frederiksen, the country’s defence minister from November 2016 to June 2019. Continue reading…

Dressed in animal furs and brandishing an axe, an office worker goes full Fred Flintstone in this madcap comedy featuring Sofie GråbølYou wouldn’t think it possible to commit armed robbery accidentally. But that’s exactly what happens to poor clueless Martin when he gets into an altercation with an attendant at a petrol station while dressed as a Viking in animal furs, with axe in hand. Martin has run away to the snow-capped mountains to hunt, forage and find the meaning of life. The snag is that his survival skills are more Alan Partridge than Bear Grylls – hence the foray to the petrol station for beer and crisps.The Danish film-maker Thomas Daneskov’s deadpan midlife-crisis comedy has some brilliantly absurd moments such as this. Rasmus Bjerg plays Martin, who has tried half-marathons and road cycling, but still feels dead inside. Telling his long-suffering wife, Anne (The Killing’s Sofie Gråbøl), that he’s off to a team-building seminar, Martin instead heads to Norway to play out his Viking fantasies. Bjerg’s performance is pitch perfect, playing it deliciously straight as this gormless bumbler, who goes full Fred Flintstone with his ridiculous animal-pelt costume but can’t bear to part with his iPhone. Daneskov frames Bjerg’s great big, expressive face in front of the icily majestic landscape for maximum comedy. Continue reading…

Change to controversial legislation will allow Ukraine refugees to move into housing emptied of ‘non-westerners’Russia-Ukraine war: latest updatesDenmark is facing fresh claims of racism after MPs changed the country’s controversial anti-ghetto law to allow Ukrainian refugees to move into social housing emptied of “non-westerners”.For three years, the government has sought to restrict immigrants from moving into what are described as disadvantaged neighbourhoods in an attempt to avoid so-called “parallel societies”. Continue reading…

Demonstrators threw stones and burned vehicles during a protest against an anti-Islam event organised by Danish far-right Stram Kurs party Unrest broke out in southern Sweden late on Saturday despite police moving a rally by an anti-Islam far-right group, which was planning to burn a Qur’an among other things, to a new location as a preventive measure.Scuffles and unrest were reported in the southern town of Landskrona after a demonstration scheduled there by the Danish right-wing party Stram Kurs party was moved to the nearby city of Malmö, 27 miles south. Continue reading…

As a venerated artefact returns to northern Norway, a people take ownership of their own historyThis week the Indigenous Sámi people of Norway celebrated a historic event: the return to the village of Karasjok (Kárášjohka in the northern Sámi language) of a rune drum that had been confiscated in 1691 from a Sámi man who was tried for witchcraft. At the time, the Nordic colonisers of the Arctic were energetically Christianising the Sámi population, whose animist spirituality depended on a sense of connectedness with the lands they inhabited and the animals with which they interacted. Rune drums, made from birchwood and reindeer skin, helped a noaidi, or shaman, to enter a trance and walk among spirits. They could also be used to divine future events: insight was gained by noting where, when the drum was struck, a ring moved in relation to the symbols painted on its surface.This particular noaidi drum – there are many examples in museums in Sweden, Germany, the UK and elsewhere – happens to be particularly well documented. The court transcripts survive, including a detailed account given by its owner, Poala-Ánde, of its uses. He claimed, poignantly, that “he wanted to help people in distress, and with his art he wanted to do good”. A verdict was never reached in the trial since, before it could be handed down, Poala-Ánde was brutally murdered. The confiscated drum was sent to the authorities in Copenhagen and passed into the royal collection, becoming part of the National Museum of Denmark. Over the past 40 years, during which time the drum has been on loan to the Sámi Museum in Karasjok, the Sámi people have been arguing for ownership to be formally handed over to the institution. After an appeal to Queen Margrethe of Denmark, that has at last happened. “I feel,” said Silje Karine Muotka, president of the Sámi parliament in Norway, “that [Poala-Ánde’s] power is with us as we continue to take ownership of our own history for future generations.” Continue reading…

Claim about long-term benefits disputed by MP Andrew Mitchell who describes reported cost of £30,000 a person as ‘eye-watering’Britain will save money in the “longer term” by sending some asylum seekers to Rwanda, a minister has said after the reported cost of about £30,000 a person was described as “eye-watering”.Defending the decision to fly out many of those who arrive on the Kent coast to a country more than 4,000 miles away, the Home Office minister Tom Pursglove said it would “crush” the business model of people smugglers. Continue reading…

Casper Steinfath says he’d be stoked with some company on trip around coast – and he should be home well in time for his weddingA 28-year-old Dane is battling storms, snow, and waves several metres high in an attempt to become the first person to make his way around his home country on a stand-up paddleboard (Sup).Casper “The Viking” Steinfath, a six-time Sup world champion, set off from his home beach in Klitmøller – known as Cold Hawaii – on 2 April with nothing more than a tent, a sleeping bag, a cooking set and some meal packages. Continue reading…

National event to mark organic dairy cattle’s release from winter barns has been online only since 2020Rural Denmark will come to a standstill on Sunday when for the first time in three years its inhabitants will be able to stand in a field in large numbers to watch the moment when Denmark’s 200,000 organic cows are let out of their barns for “summer” to graze on grass – an event so exciting that the creatures run, leap, buck and “dance” with joy.Økodag, or dancing cow day, as it is affectionately known, marks the start of the outdoor season for all organic cows in Denmark. Children scramble up hay bales to get a better view and parents hold camera phones poised to capture the magic at midday precisely when the cows are released nationwide. Continue reading…

Investigation reveals former rebel-held areas are being levelled under the guise of mine clearance to make way for high-end developments – leaving refugees nothing to return toThe Syrian regime is bulldozing former rebel-held neighbourhoods in Damascus under the guise of mine clearance to make space for a “new Syria” of upmarket new building developments and pristine gardens.An investigation by the Guardian, Lighthouse Reports, Syrian Investigative Reporting for Accountability Journalism (Siraj) and Rozana Radio has analysed the almost wholesale demolition of Qaboun, a Damascus suburb, one of many neighbourhoods in the capital that is being cleared and redeveloped beyond recognition after former residents have either been displaced by fighting or become refugees abroad. Continue reading…

Health ministry says it may limit the sale of nicotine products to prevent next generation from taking up smokingDenmark has unveiled plans to ensure that future generations are tobacco-free, and is considering banning the sale of cigarettes and other nicotine products to anyone born after 2010.“Our hope is that all people born in 2010 and later will never start smoking or using nicotine-based products”, health minister Magnus Heunicke told reporters. Continue reading…

Prime minister to host summit of Joint Expeditionary Force as he seeks to bolster European resilienceBoris Johnson is preparing to embark on a series of meetings with Nordic and Baltic leaders as he seeks to bolster European resilience after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.The prime minister will host a summit of the Joint Expeditionary Force (JEF) in London, where he will urge leaders to work together to ensure no further nations fall victim to Russian president Vladimir Putin’s aggression, No 10 said. Continue reading…

Mette Frederiksen apologises in person to six surviving Greenlandic Inuit who were snatched from families as children more than 70 years agoDenmark’s prime minister has apologised in person to a group of Greenlandic Inuit who were removed from their families and taken to Copenhagen more than 70 years ago as part of an experiment to create a Danish-speaking elite.“What you were subjected to was terrible. It was inhumane. It was unfair. And it was heartless,” Mette Frederiksen told the six surviving members of that group at an emotional ceremony in the capital. “We can take responsibility and do the only thing that is fair, in my eyes: to say sorry to you for what happened.” Continue reading…

Danish toymaker reports 27% rise in profit and increased global market share but warns growth will slowLego increased sales by more than a quarter last year while profits jumped by nearly a third as families turned to its plastic bricks for entertainment during pandemic lockdowns.The Danish toymaker said it had gained market share around the world in 2021 but warned that growth would slow to less than 10% this year as schools and workplaces reopen. Continue reading…

Trine Dyrholm elevates this painterly period drama with a masterfully understated performance as Denmark’s Queen Margrete Blending the grand visuals of a sweeping epic with the psychological unease of a chamber piece, Charlotte Sieling’s feature probes the legacy of Denmark’s Queen Margrete, a visionary ruler who brokered the historic Kalmar Union that – for the first time – united Norway, Sweden and Denmark against the threat of a German invasion.But her reign also saw a bizarre mystery in the Scandinavian region, which forms the emotional beating heart of this stately film. On the eve of the engagement between Margrete’s adopted son Erik (Morten Hee Andersen), and Princess Philippa (Diana Martinová), daughter of England’s Henry IV, news broke that the Queen’s biological son King Olaf (Jakob Oftebro) had returned from the dead. This sudden arrival not only unsettled political coalitions but also sent the usually stoic Margrete into a state of distress. Since she was not at his side when Olaf died, her maternal grief encouraged her to believe that Olaf had survived. On the other hand, her monarchical rationality questioned if he was merely an impostor sent to her doorsteps to disrupt a sought-after alliance with England. Continue reading…

PM urges voters to overturn existing policy in June and pledges boost to defence spending following Russian invasion of UkraineDenmark’s prime minister has called for the country’s citizens to overturn the country’s opt-out from EU defence policy in a referendum to be held on 1 June, following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.“Historic times call for historic decisions,” Mette Frederiksen told a news conference on Sunday, adding that the government “very clearly calls on Danes to lift the opt-out on defence”. Continue reading…

Progress has been slower than in adults, with authorities blaming hesitancy among parents and some doctors as well as mixed messaging from expertsCoronavirus – latest updatesSee all our coronavirus coverageAll nations of the UK will offer Covid-19 vaccines to all 5-11 year olds, with England, Northern Ireland and Scotland all joining Wales in offering the jabs to younger children on Wednesday.Britain has been slower than some other countries in offering the shots to this age group. Many EU member states began offering vaccination to all children aged five to 11 in December, but progress has been patchy, with authorities blaming hesitancy among parents and some doctors as well as mixed messaging from experts. Continue reading…

France, Netherlands and Germany all announce plans to reduce or remove Covid controlsCoronavirus – latest updatesSee all our coronavirus coverageFrance’s nightclubs reopen for the first time in three months on Wednesday and the Netherlands returns to “almost normal” from next Friday, as European countries continue to lift their coronavirus curbs despite relatively high infection numbers.Groups may also play to standing audiences in French concert venues, customers in bars and cafes will be allowed to eat and drink while standing at the counter and cinemagoers and train passengers can snack during their film or journey. Continue reading…