Snow!

Yes, it's true, yesterday (Sunday) we had our first snowfall of the winter with a light sprinkling across Copenhagen. It is currently bitterly cold (about 4 degs today) and the forecast is for -7 on Wednesday night.. Makes my previous entry entitled "Brrr..." seem a bit woossy...

Tomorrow is election day here in Denmark. The current ruling coalition of Venstre (literally meaning "left" even though they are actually right of centre (!)) and the Conservatives is tipped to hold on to power but it will be close. The major left of centre party, the Social Democrats (led by Helle Thorning Schmidt, Neil Kinnock's daughter-in-law) is taking the fight down to the wire and the polls suggest that it will be a very close run thing. Last night's live TV debate with the leaders of the major parties would have swayed any last minute undecideds and it is generally thought that the current PM, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, did enough to win. But we'll see - stranger things have happened! The 2 seats allocated to each of the Faroe Islands and Greenland could yet decide who will be the next PM!! In reality both parties are very close to the centre, so there is unlikely to be a radical change to Danish domestic policy whoever wins. The Scandinavian model of high taxes and excellent welfare system is embedded in the Danish psyche and sacrosanct, so the only major changes if a Social Democrat government get in are likely relate to foreign policy.