Jacob Christensen

• Arbejdsmarkedskommissionen fremlægger delrapporten ”Arbejde, vækst og velfærd”
  Kommissionen foreslår blandt andet, at dagpengeperioden bliver sat ned fra fire til to år, at den aktive beskæftigelsesindsats fremrykkes og målrettes, samt at de planlagte forhøjelser af efterlønsalderen indfases allerede fra 2009.
  (tags: denmark labourmarket publicpolicy)
• Bertelsmann Stiftung | Nachrichten
  Muslime in Deutschland sind sehr religiös und orientieren sich auch im Alltag an ihren Glaubensvorstellungen
  Hohes Maß an religiöser Toleranz – Wenig Einfluss auf die Politik – Große Vielfalt zwischen Glaubensrichtungen und Herkunftsländern
  (tags: germany religion islam surveys)
• CiteULike: Everyone's library
  (tags: writing web2.0 tools reference)

This is almost too cruel, but … I really have to get my unemployment insurance transferred, but now I also have to decide if a) it is likely that I would retire at … euh … 60 or 62 and b) it is likely that the present severance pay system will exist when I’m 60. Or 62.

There is real money involved – my unemployment insurance will be at 1100 DKK/quarter without the severance pay contribution and 2300 DKK/quarter with the severance pay included. (Tax deductible, but still an annoying issue).

1. I think it is safe to say that Danish party conferences are no longer forums for debate between the party leadership and party activists. They are now primarily a vehicle for promoting the image of the party leadership. (Some reservations with regard to the Social Liberal Party)¹
2. Subtlety may have been a Danish virtue in the past but these days it is quite ok to introduce the party leader with Richard Strauss (Danish People’s Party) and Tina Turner (Conservatives) at their most bombastic.
3. The Social Liberals are still the brains of the outfit (if you ask them). Which other party would have its candidate for the European Parliament use “because I know something about the European Union” as her main argument?
4. The Social Liberals are also still very much the State Party where people with degrees in public management move effortlessly between political and bureaucratic offices.
5. Generally, the selection of candidates for the European Parliament looks less than inspiring this time as well with a selection of former party leaders, loose cannons and less than well-known backbenchers. In a way, the Danish People’s Party deserves some cudos for coming up with Morten Messerschmidt. But somebody might want to instruct him in which songs are no-nos in Germany.

1. Also some reservations for conferences dedicated to election party leaders [↩]