Jacob Christensen

The controls on my mobile camera occasionally make for some weird colour effects.

And lots of it:

I must admit that this round of campaigns has put me in a bit of a predicament. As a certified political scientist, I really ought to have enjoyed any second of a vigorious electoral campaign, but my impression is that the campaign has been less than inspiring. This is even more strange, given that more than a handful of the local councils are up for grabs.¹ The Liberal Party looks set for an embarrassing result at the polls and at the later selection of mayors – and the party has responded by lowering expectations and withdrawing the party leader, Lars Løkke Rasmussen, from tomorrow’s post-mortem rounding-up. Kristian Jensen was given the unenviable task of defending the liberal colours.

The campaign in Copenhagen more or less died when the Social Democrats pulled Frank Jensen out of the hat. The big issue here is if the Danish People’s Party will win enough votes to get one of the seven mayor portfolios (in all likelihood the integration portforlio – something which will surely guarantee four years of conflict in the City Council). I suspect that even the Social Liberals will not be missing Klaus Bondam.

The campaign in Ã…rhus … faggetaboutit. Nikolaj Wammen. End of message.

Among the larger cities, the elections in Odense and Kolding have more than a shadow of excitement over them. In Kolding, the long-serving Social Democratic mayor Per Bødker Andersen is in trouble because of the council’s economic problems, while Odense looks set to return Social Democrat Anker Boye to the position he lost to the Conservative Jan Boye four years ago.²

Hey, wait: Odense should be exciting, so what have I been missing here? Let’s see:

1. Less than inspiring candidates. I mean: After considering the question thoroughly the local Social Democrats came up with … Anker Boye. Right? And Jan Boye was supposed to be a breath of fresh air, but but but… Well. Yes. Exactly.

2. Economic constraints. Earlier this year, we were warned that while the local council wasn’t on the brink of an economic collapse, there would be serious constraints to the initiatives the council will be able to fund in the coming four-year period.

3. In the doldrums. I haven’t made any systematic analysis of this, but my impression is that Funen in general and Odense in particular have been missing out on the economic development in the last decade or so.³ The closing of Lindø Shipyard will continue to put the local economy under pressure. The problem here is that the local council can only do so much for local and regional growth. That the Conservatives came up with some seriously dodgy statistics may be an illustration of the problem. The Social Democrats didn’t have much to speak for them in 2005, but neither do the Conservatives now.

4. And in any event, the government and the Folketing decides. Just say “hospitals” and “food for pensioners” and everybody will know what it meant by this.

Well, either way I will get a Boye. The question is which one is the least bad alternative.

Psst – regional councils …

Oh God, no…

1. Kristian Madsen has a post summarising the situation. [↩]
2. Here’s Jarl Cordua’s wrap-up of the campaign in Odense. [↩]
3. I will leave aside the question if the economic boom of the 00s was sustainable. [↩]

It is that time of the year electoral cycle again:

I have tried to come up with something interesting about the local elections here in Odense. As it is, the campaign hasn’t really started yet (we are less than a month away from the elections), but signs are that the Conservatives are in trouble while the Socialists look set to win.

The left-wing parties managed to put put their foot in the mouth (or should that be: Put their feet in their mouths?) by having LO, the Danish TUC, write their electoral platforms.

What? They only got 100.000 DKK? That’s pretty cheap, I’d say.

Otherwise we have the (indirect) choice between Boye and Boye as mayor. One Boye is Conservative and incumbent mayor, the other Boye is a Social Democrat and a former mayor. I tried DR’s election guide: It recommended that I voted for the Social Democrats. Or the Conservatives. Flip a coin.

Helpful.

Local politics is different.

The things you see in the corridors of SDU.

Last year in Umeå (June 6 at 1am)

This year in Odense (June 24 shortly after midnight)

As it is, my new phone does quite a nice job, but the camera is a bit slow. No real point-and-shoot.

Going out of business in Odense C. Maybe I should grab the camera and do a series of “Closing Sale” pictures? (But things are not that bad in Rosengårdscentret. In Copenhagen it seems to be the other way around, it is likely that rent levels are as much part of the explanation as the general economic slump).

An obiturary for the bank still known as Fionia Bank. The shareholders are not happy.

I couldn’t find “The Last Mall” or “Everything Must Go” on YouTube, so here’s Kid Charlemagne with Steely Dan. The only pop song including the word “obsolete“, as far as I know.

Nothing to do with Odense, but here is a still photo of Donald Fagen.

From the Neighbourhood, originally uploaded by jacobchristensen.

It’s not all concrete around SDU.