Swedish Visitors Mean Business 28. July 2000

The number of Swedes using the Øresund fixed link to visit Denmark is increasing steadily. Latest figures show that around 30,000 Swedes are making the crossing each day, and that most of them are day-trippers. Traders based around the link, especially supermarkets, are reporting increased sales. Turnover in the Netto Supermarket at Magleby Torv, just 1,500 metres from the Peberholm tunnel, is up 40 percent, while Tivoli reports that in the last few weeks more Swedes than Danes have been visiting the famous tourist attraction.

Pearl Jam Testimony Sought 26. July 2000

In the hope of shedding light on the cause of the Roskilde Festival tragedy, eyewitness accounts from members of the rock group Pearl Jam are now being sought. However, the band has responded by levelling a number of accusations at festival organisers.

Investigators probing the cause of last month's Roskilde Festival tragedy are now hoping to interview members of the rock group Pearl Jam. The American band, who were midway through their set when the tragedy occurred, were not interviewed afterward, and flew home immediately following the gig.

As a lawyer representing the group flew to Denmark for consultations with investigators, Police Minister Uffe Kornerup expressed his hope that the group could be persuaded to give evidence to local police.

'In the USA you can make a case against someone for the slightest thing,'Kornerup told daily newspaper Jyllands-Posten. 'This could be the reason why the group left the scene so quickly. However, we don't want to force them to come back - any further cooperation from the band should be on a purely voluntary basis.'

Although it is still not clear whether members of the group are willing to meet with investigators, Pearl Jam issued a statement this week criticising leadership and safety standards at the festival, and denying their actions had any bearing on the tragedy.

'It is our feeling that what happened at the Roskilde Festival cannot be written off entirely as a 'freak accident' or 'bad luck' as some have called it,' the statement reads. 'When something this disastrous occurs, when this many lives are lost, it is essential that every aspect be examined thoroughly and from all angles. To date, we don't feel this has been done.'

Pearl Jam had played for just half-an-hour before lead singer Eddie Vedder interrupted his performance to plead with spectators to move back. Vedder later broke into tears as he pleaded with fans to allow more room to those at the front. Afterwards, the group was criticised for inciting the crowd to frenzy, which some claimed could have contributed to the tragedy. However, this allegation has been angrily refuted by members of the group, who insist that their behaviour had nothing to do with the accident.

'It has been reported that we have been accused by the Danish police of being 'morally responsible' for the tragedy that occurred at Roskilde,' the statement reads. 'We feel that we are 'morally responsible' to bring out the truth with regard to what happened that night. The recent reopening of the investigation will hopefully further these truths.'

'It is our understanding that at least fifteen minutes passed between the time a member of the festival security team identified a potential problem and the time we were informed. We stopped the show immediately upon being informed that there might be a problem. It is our belief that if we could have stopped the show earlier, lives could have been saved.'

A report delivered from Roskilde Police to the Danish Justice Ministry concludes that on current evidence is impossible to gauge exactly what happened, and more investigation is needed. Police are also appealing for any foreign rock fans with fresh information to come forward.

Construction: Dangerous to be a Dane 24. July 2000

While the work of building the Øresund fixed link was shared equally by Danish and Swedish construction workers, over 75% of all accidents occurring during the bridge's five years of construction involved Danes.

Out of a total 559 work-related accidents - four of which were fatal - occurring during the construction of the fixed link between Copenhagen and Sweden, three-quarters involved Danes. This, despite the fact that an equal number of Danish and Swedish construction workers were employed on the project.

According to work-environment researchers, the Øresund figures are typical of statistics in the construction industry as a whole.

'Sweden's safety record in the building industry has dramatically improved during the last decade,'Søren Spangenberg from the National Institute of Occupatoinal Health explained. 'Legislation making developers and site owners as well as construction firms responsible for accidents has probably had the biggest effect.'

Work safety inspector Kurt Andersen, who supervised conditions on the fixed link, confirmed that Danes tend to be less careful at work.

'During the construction of concrete elements for the tunnel, Swedes and Danes worked side by side, doing the same jobs under the same management. Despite this, Danish workers were involved in three out of every four accidents.'

Andersen says that the work culture of the two nations is not the same. 'When a safety control officer tells a Swedish employee to steer clear of an area because dangerous work is taking place, the Swede will take that as an order. The Dane, on the other hand, will want to go and check the danger out for himself.'

Legislation is now on its way from the Ministry of Employment that will make the chain of responsibility for work-related accidents similar to that in Sweden, with site owners ultimately sharing liability with employers for safety during construction work.

UK Researchers out for Viking Blood 25. July 2000

With the help of DNA samples from 2,500British men, researchers are hoping to gain more insight into how many Britons have Viking blood running through their veins.

Hundreds of years ago the Vikings took a great deal when they plundered their way through the British Isles, but they also left something behind: their blood. Now researchers at London's University College hope to establish just how many Britons are descended from Vikings by collecting DNA samples from 2,500 men from around Britain. The results are to be used in conjunction with a documentary series called 'Blood of the Vikings' scheduled to be aired next year on British TV station BBC2.

Researchers have chosen men rather than women for the study, as men's chromosomes retain more genetic information from both the male and female lines. Using the DNA samples, scientists will be able to look back to the period between about 800 and 1050 AD to find out whether the Vikings left home alone or whether they took their families with them.

In addition, it is hoped the research will cast more light on the numbers and distribution of the Vikings, who despite holding power in Britain for nearly 300 years, left behind surprisingly little physical evidence of their stay, according to archaeologist Julian Richards, who will be presenting the forthcoming series.

However, with the Danes settling mainly in northern and eastern England, and the Norwegian Vikings travelling to what are now Scotland and Ireland, the Scandinavian influence is found in hundreds of place names, such as Grimsby in north-eastern England. The English language also contains Viking traces, with words such as 'fjord' and 'sky' originating from Old Norse.

The Vikings began to lose their grip on Britain with the death of Harald Hardeknud in 1042, although many chose to remain in the country, and the victory at the Battle of Hastings in 1066 of William the Conqueror of Normandy, France, himself of Viking extraction, prevented any subsequent invasions from the north.

OB1 Knordic

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