The Great Nordic Thread

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Any particular reason for the recent upswing for the government in Denmark? Apparently Rasmussen (stupidly) flew first class to a conference and things have spiraled?

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Selfies at Funerals!!
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BbIpd_ZCIAELNpf.jpg:large

How has that gone down in Denmark?

I thought Helle Thorning Schmidt was already seen as quite aloof after things like this
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cnx4NUQsTGA

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First Gentleman of Denmark, Stephen Kinnock is thinking of running for the UK parliament in the Aberavon constituency, a historically ultra-safe Labour seat where the incumbent is retiring.

Interesting timing: elections due in both the UK and Denmark in 2015 (probably sooner for Denmark). Maybe the couple have got Helle down as a one-term wonder.

http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2013/12/17/helle-thorning-schmidt-stephen-kinnock_n_4461847.html

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Why though? Did Salmond watch a few episodes of Borgen and just think that it seems like such a lovely place?

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DF biggest party in a national poll for the first time ever. In a poll by YouGov for MetroExpress, DF is the biggest party. This is not very surprising days after they won the EP elections clearly and with the Liberals tormented by the expenses scandals of their leader, but nevertheless quite significant. No suprise that it's a YouGov poll either; they have consistenly been showing the highest DF results.

DF 23.9% 42 seats
Liberals 21.3% 38
Social Democrats 17.6% 31
Enhedslisten/Unity List 11.9% 21
Social Liberals 8.7% 15
Liberal Alliance 6.7% 12
SF 4.8% 9
Conservatives 4.2% 7
Christian Democrats 0.9% 0

Government + supporting parties = 76 seats
Opposition = 99 seats

With other polls showing the Social Democrats back ahead, would Helle risk a snap election at all?

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It seems like the Danish liberal party Venstre has been dug down into a pretty deep hole by the expenses of the party's leader Lars Løkke Rasmussen.

In a brand new Megafon poll is Venstre down on 14,5%, less than 3/5 of the party's result at the 2011 election.
Moreover, this poll is the first one since the 2011 election, where the center-left bloc has a majority.

Full poll:



Edit: The leader board of Venstre plan an extraordinary meeting tomorrow. With this poll in recent memory, I don't think the meeting will be boring...

How does this poll work? A+B+F+Red-Green only gets them to 47.9%...

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How does this poll work? A+B+F+Red-Green only gets them to 47.9%...

Well, as far as my calculation goes, ABFØ is at 50.8% and CIVO is at 47.8%. Then I guess that the 1.4%, which doesn't lead to any representation (0.8% for list K + 0.6% for others (øvrige)) has been shared equally to make the vote on the blocs total 100%.

I was looking at last week's poll in the middle column! My mistake

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After a more than 7 hour marathon meeting in the Liberals main board Party Chairman Lars Løkke Rasmussen survived the challenge from his critics, and stays on as leader. His opponents failed to get the necessary votes to call an extraordinary congress.

This is really good news for SD and Helle Thorning-Schmidt and might give her unpopular government a chance to survive.

Wow! I was really getting the impression he was doomed.

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A 36-year-old prime minister would be pretty damn impressive. Would probably be the youngest Head of Government of a democratic country?

The new Estonian prime minister is even younger. The three newest heads of government in the EU are Renzi (Italy, 39yo), Taavi Roivas (Estonia, 34yo) and Stubb (Finland, 46yo).

We'll probably have to wait the autumn to know whether Helle gets the job at the EU though.

She's apperently the prefered candidate of Merkel, Renzi, and Cameron. (selfie-buddies)
It wouldn't surprise me if it isn't made official until the autumn, but it's pretty clear that she will get a new ridiculously high salary to buy all the fashionables she has ever dream of, and Denmark will get a new likable Prime Minister.  

If HTS was after a high paycheck she would not be PM of Denmark. She's in it for the power, as such I have no doubt that she will take the job as President of the European Council, if it's offered to her. But to suggest it's over money is both ignorant and silly. 

Why would Cameron want HTS?