Last Week in Denmark
Curious about what’s really happening in Denmark — and how it affects the life of internationals living here? Each week, two hosts from the LWID community talk through the top news stories and developments — in English — sharing personal insights and international perspectives. It’s a clear and accessible conversation about life in Denmark, made for people who live here but didn’t grow up here. Last Week In Denmark is a volunteer-driven media project with a simple mission: to empower people through information.
With a mix of short summaries, thoughtful discussion, and context you can actually use, we cover everything from housing and healthcare to politics. Whether you're new to Denmark or have been here for years, this is your go-to bite-sized update on what’s happening — and why it matters to you. Thank you for helping us grow.
Last Week in Denmark
Culling Wolves, Unlimited Parental Sick Days, Police Scandal: LWID S3E3
Controversial debates are rising on both the EU stage regarding wolf population control, and locally in Denmark as political parties are lobbying for an external investigation into the recent police scandal. Grassroots movement in an Aalborg organisation offering unlimited parental sick leave brings hope that we can have it all. Listen in as our fresh face of the week Golda, a Sierra Leonean-Dane, discusses the top news with Narcis.
Topics:
- Intro to Golda (00:27)
- The resurgence of wolves in DK – Source (02:29)
- The dream (or soon reality) of unlimited parental sick leave – Source (08:34)
- Recent allegations of police taking shortcuts – Source (16:44)
- The modern cancel culture (21:32)
- Push for more locally-produced TV series (25:27)
- Info about next week’s hosts (31:05)
In this episode:
Cohosts:
Audio Editor:
Transcript Editor:
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Golda
Hello, everyone and welcome to Last Week in Denmark podcast. This is season three, episode three. My name is Golda and I am here with Narcis.
Narcis
Hello. Hello, everyone. And by the way, be kind to Golda. It's actually her first, first episode. She's debuting with us here today. So, Golda, tell us a few words about yourself before we jump into the serious trouble.
Golda
Yeah, so for me, I came to Denmark at the age of three, so I've lived in Denmark for many decades now. I'm not going to reveal my age. I am currently a Danish expat in the UK, but have close ties to Denmark as I am traveling front and back all the time anyway.
Narcis
This is very interesting, to be honest. Like you, you, you literally grew up as a Dane, so you have the Danish perspective, but now you live abroad. So, and you still have your, your roots, right? Your international roots with yourself. So that, that would be very interesting to see how, how you see things, how you understand things, right? Because we know what we see on TV. But for example, whenever we're going to probably touch a subject, you're probably going to be able to see what happened in the last 20 years. What have you lived through or seen on TV or in media, right? So that makes it very exciting. So I'm very happy that you have joined us on this podcast, Golda, and looking forward to hear your future. Today's episode, of course, and future episodes as well.
Golda
Yeah, thank you so much for having me. So the last week in Denmark, the top three news topics are; Denmark wants to limit the wolves population.
Narics
Inaudible.
Golda
Right? Very interesting one. Unlimited free days for parents to care for sick children.
Narcis
Socialism.
Golda
And the police in Denmark are facing an investigation after revelations that they're actually skipping investigative steps to close case faster.
Narcis
All in the name of efficiency.
Golda
Right? We are an inefficient bunch. So Denmark seeks to manage growing wolf population. This is so interesting because Denmark has witnessed a notable resurgence of wolves after 200 years. Isn't that weird? What do you think about that?
Narcis
200 years without wolves and now they're back and they want to reclaim their, their territory. Where have I seen that before? People go away, they want to come back, they want to take over what was theirs in first place. Ah, let's not go into geopolitics now or Israel, Palestine, but let's keep it to wolves, right? Let's keep it to wolves. I mean, it's a bit strange to me that we are so. That this has become such a big topic. It's like literally everyone seems to be talking about it. It's. There's three topics in Denmark right now. There's Greenland, obviously, because, yeah, there's hard to ignore that there is wolves and there is what have you eaten today? And how's the weather outside? Literally, if you have, if you listen to any conversation between co-workers or people at the, the tables, it's Greenland and wolves. But where, how many wolves have arrived to Denmark?
Golda
So they're actually saying that it's an estimate of around like 78 different types. But I, I don't know the like total number, but it seems like the farmers are really concerned over their livestock.
Narcis
Well, the question is here now, who should pay the price or who, who should feed these wolves right now, Right? Because I mean, 60, 80 wolves doesn't sound like a hell of a lot of wolves, right? It's just some wolves. It's a few wolves. But of course if you go out for a run in the forest, you would not be very happy to meet the wolves. To meet the wolf. How would you feel if you actually meet a wolf?
Golda
Let's just say that's not on my bucket list of things I want to do in this lifetime. But I can definitely understand why some people were a bit worried. Do you even know what happened 200 years ago, why they disappeared? Have you thought about that?
Narcis
What I think is that these people simply kill them all, right? The usual extinction story or genocide story, if you want to say it.
Golda
Yeah, that's actually, that's actually exactly what happened.
Narcis
Yeah, there was a lunar eclipse and I don't know, some, some big planetary device came and, you know, made them all disappear in one night. No, it's farmers. It's always the farmers, right?
Golda
Did you know that in 2024 there was a man that was actually convicted for illegally shooting a wolf?
Narcis
Well, wolf is a protected species, right? On a EU law.
Golda
So yes, they are. So I'm really interested to see how the Danish government is going to carefully manage this because with shooting them being illegal, which was the one way they got rid of them in the past, I wonder what they're going to do now. Line them up in one straight line and tell them goodbye?
Narics
I don't know, that would be highly illegal. But right now they're lobbying like crazy the European Union. And as far as I know, they might be able to push the union to loosen up basically the protection level of the wolf so that in certain cases they'll be allowed to limit the population in certain areas. But I mean, it's a bit strange because right now we all talking about rewilding Denmark, rewilding Europe. We're talking about transforming a quarter of Denmark into a forest, for God's sake. Most of it will be untouched forest. Who should live in the forests? If we are afraid now that wolves are taking too much space and too much livestock, are they going to be just, you know, for the sake of trees, or are we going to allow any sort of other life to be in those forests? So now the question simply is, how do we divide the space or how do we divide Denmark and the nature between us? How much should be for humans and how much should be for wolves?
Golda
Well, they're gonna have to figure that out. They're currently suggesting some subsidies for some electrified mesh fencing and guard dogs. So I think along the side having to consult a lot of farmers, they will make an allocated area for the wolves to be. And let's just see what the Danish people say in terms of how much land they want to give to our friendly wolves.
Narcis
So basically we're talking about reservations status.
Golda
Yeah.
Narcis
I wonder if there will be like a political party starting in the future called the Movement for Freedom of Wolves. Do not keep them in reservations. They have rights.
Golda
I wouldn't see it past me.
Narcis
Okay, well then would you vote for a wolf free? No, that. Actually, I have a feeling that parties will just go two ways. Wolf free Denmark and please allow wolves everywhere types of parties. So there will be these people who will be like, wolf is my friend. And if you do not see wolf as your friend, you are not a true Dane. You know, we are Vikings. We lived all our life with the wolves next to us. It is important for our national identity to allow wolves to survive and eat our livestock.
Golda
You're gonna have to take that one up with the farmers.
Narcis
Ah, I mean farmers. They should know that they are there, like, let's just say threatened species in Denmark. The number of farmers will drop severely in the next years anyway.
Golda
I can believe it. Well, that takes us into our second topic, which is increased parental leave for sick children. We're both parents.
Narics
Yeah.
Golda
So what, what, what is your perspective on this?
Narcis
Well, I see that there are attempts, to be honest, I saw attempts from some companies, now there's attempts from some institutions. It seems to be a narrative. And to be honest, funny enough, I sit in a political party and one evening there was one of our representatives who comes and she says that, well, I have this dream, I want to bring unlimited sick days for parents to everyone, to all, to everyone that works in the public system. I hear I'm a parent, but I'm at the same time also a business owner. So it's, it's. Am I happy with unlimited sick days for sick children? Well, I understand the reasoning behind it, but there's always two parents, right? So how do you, how do you share that? Like, a parent takes two days, then another parent takes two days. So is there a certainty that one of the parents actually goes to work?
Golda
Yeah, that's a good question. So one of the discussions that we have had. I am also a parent, as I mentioned, we have had amongst my colleagues. Now I work outside of Denmark, but I actually work the Danish market. So I, my job is in Danish still, and I speak to Scandinavian colleagues. And it's very interesting because from a parental perspective, you can say that. Yes, when your child is sick, it's almost like chaos in the house. Even if you work remotely, you're kind of just constantly keeping an eye on them and they're barging in and disturbing you. But at the same time, wouldn't that shift the burden of work upon your colleagues who don't have children?
Narcis
I did not think of that.
Golda
Yeah. And is that fair to them, that they have to take up extra workload just because they didn't decide to reproduce?
Narcis
Oof, that. I feel like it's a Pandora box. We live in a time when Mette Frederiksen says, make more children, Denmark is dying. You know, we need people to pay taxes in the future as well, otherwise it's not going well. So definitely we are talking about a time where we need to have more children. So any sort of policies out there are about how do we get Danes to get more children.
Golda
Yes. So I see it now. They're like, this is your incentive. You can have more days off if your kid is sick.
Narcis
Exactly.
Golda
And if you don't have a kid, go have a kid.
Narcis
Exactly. So your colleagues who are pissed off at you that you get too many free days, then what stops you? Well, medically speaking, there could be a lot of things stopping you. So, so the. I mean, if you cannot, luckily enough, there is plenty of programs right now. You can have fertility free support for, for the first two children, actually. So the government tries their best to support if you want to have children, of course, if you do not want to, that's also fine. But also I'm thinking about another perspective. We're talking about businesses where there are colleagues who can take over. But what about businesses where there are no colleagues to take over the workload. Remember, imagine you have a start-up and you only have three employees, all of them key. Two of them have to stay home because their child is sick. How, how that will just basically delay your companies quite significantly. Like, I cannot even imagine if multiple, if the majority of the people in my company will go home for two weeks. Because I remember when my daughter was sick, she was sick for God for weeks at the time, especially in the first year. I could not imagine like a time when, when she was not sick. Especially when they get to go into this daycares and kindergartens. They have to go through, take every germ possible and every sickness possible and bring it home.
Golda
They do.
Narcis
So you might as well. To be honest, I would prefer a different solution. Make three years of parental leave, you know, be done with it. Three years, vaya con dios, see you in three years. And then I know that after the child has been to daycare, has been to kindergarten, the number of days that they are sick drops significantly. Like, I haven't seen my daughter sick for eight months now because they have already been affected by every disease you can imagine.
Golda
How old is she?
Narcis
Three years and six months.
Golda
Okay. Yeah, yeah, she's been through a lot. I was this seven and a half. So, yeah, we're, we're getting better with the sick. And she, she goes to school and she tells me two or three of her classmates are sick and coughing. And I tell her, you better stay away from those ones and make sure you wash your hands because we don't play that in this house anymore.
Narcis
Yeah. So. But in the end, the, the idea of this is. I understand it. Yes. If you are a parent and you know your child is sick at home, you, you, you cannot really work very well or focus on the work. So I understand the reasoning behind it, the moral thinking behind it. It's a bit more hard to implement. Because one thing is the ideal world, another thing is people taking advantage of it or people using it in the wrong way as well.
Golda
Yeah. Because. Yeah. One thought I also had is how do they know people actually have children?
Narcis
You're joking, right?
Golda
No, I'm so serious. Like, it's not like my employer has ever asked to see my child.
Narcis
Okay.
Golda
I just, I don't know. Did your employer ask you to see your child?
Narcis
Luckily, I don't. Never had an employer, but.
Golda
Oh, okay. Because it just came to my mind when you said that some people might abuse it because it's true. What if somebody just says, yeah, I have a sick child and they don't Necessarily have that. We're just hoping that doesn't happen.
Narcis
No. Yeah. It's because you have to understand this is built on Scandinavian work culture philosophy.
Golda
Yes.
Narcis
We trust our employees to be responsible adults and fair enough, we should. That's the right way. And to be honest, for internationals, such an initiative will be a godsend.
Golda
Yes.
Narcis
Why? Because we don't have a support system in Denmark. We don't have grandma grandpa with us to take care. We don't have a cousin could just jump in and take care of it. So for internationals, such ideas are amazing. It's just a question of finding a way of how do you balance the unlimited sick days between the two parents? Because it shouldn't be fair that one parent gets none and the other parent stays at home for two weeks. Because one business will be affected a lot. And the other business, where let's say the other parent lives, works, will never have known that the child has been sick.
Golda
That's true.
Narcis
So that should be one way. Another way should be, how are the businesses compensated for this? I lose my worker for two weeks. Will they go on sick days? Will they go on sick leave? Like it will be that, like a sick leave so that the government pays for their salary for two weeks?
Golda
Yeah, that's it. So who, who's going.
Narcis
Next question is, who pays for it?
Golda
Yeah, who pays for it? That brings us into the recent revelations about the practices of the Danish police in handling investigations. So these are actually allegations that in some cases investigator steps may have been skipped to expedite case closures. And this has raised questions about the thoroughness and the integrity of some investigations. How does that make you feel? What are your thoughts on that?
Narcis
Well, you know, to be honest, the political class, or at least we as a society, have put a lot of pressure on the public system for the past decade, asking them to work more, spend less, be more efficient, efficient, efficient, efficient. So maybe, you know, the future should be that we solve crimes by rock, paper, scissors.
Golda
What?
Narcis
Why bother investigating?
Golda
That's different.
Narcis
Why bother investigate at all? Right? Like just rock, paper, scissors. You look guilty enough for us. Why? Why waste resources, taxpayers money on, on pointless investigations? You know, it just get a feeling, you know, like put your, your finger in the air and be like, you look guilty enough. Let's just say you are the one, you know, or I don't know what to say with that.
Golda
So as a tax paying Danish person, I do not want that at all. If my taxes are going towards the police, I believe that they should be doing their job. I don't know how much a police officer makes and I don't know the, let's say, the hours that they have to work. But I do think that they should do their job properly. Denmark is not a country with a really high crime rate as compared to other countries. So I would assume that in instances where they do have evidence or what they have to go through, that they can actually do the job and go through all the evidences or they can maybe recruit some of those young people who don't want to go to university and, yeah, try to recruit them into the police force.
Narcis
So to bring basically more people into the, into the work to do some, some case, Case work. I mean, to be honest, this is, I think the police in itself. There is a huge shift in the way the new generations are perceiving work. I'm noticing that as well with the new generations that are coming into my company. And they do not have the same, let's just say, desire to burn too much energy in a state. They want to preserve some of that for their own whatever interests and needs and whatnot. And that means that the output of the newer generations is lower. Which also means that probably that unless they hire way more people, they will not be able to keep up on the same level of processing cases. So I guess I understand in a way why the higher ups are kind of saying, hey, close those cases, they don't seem important enough or, yeah, just reduce a little bit the workload so that it doesn't look so bad the whole situation. But in the end, I think if they find that the police indeed does this, well, people will not be happy, so.
Golda
No, they will not. And one thing about Danes that I know is that we are very into details. So when we say we expect something from you, we expect it. And, and I think, as you were saying, there's. There's a new shift in generation. Right. So maintaining public trust for me is probably paramount at this time, especially because this new generation is also a lot more critical about institutions and systems and procedures. So, yeah, if you're gonna uphold the integrity of the Danish justice system, you have to do a good job or you might get cancelled.
Narcis
You might get canceled.
Golda
You know how quick we are to cancel you?
Narcis
I don't know. I mean, it's also a shift in, in the world about this whole cancel culture and woke things. Right. Right now there is a umpty walk, huge current rising over the world. And you see all this. I'm not saying I'm happy about that. I'm just saying it, it exists. And I would say that cancel culture will have a harder time in the future compared to before.
Golda
Okay, you may not get canceled. You just be publicly humiliated on TikTok.
Narcis
No. Okay, that could be. But, you know, we. Also, because you said yourself, people are more. A lot more nuanced today, which means that no matter what, people always take a side. So imagine the guy that killed his CEO in US, right? There was people who were claiming that, like, yeah, death to CEOs, down to the ruling class, down to the damn capitalists. And then in the other side, they were like, oh, my God, this is horrible. It's inhuman. How could you take someone else's life? And then there was a third side who was like, oh, this damn socialist. They don't understand to appreciate the value of having a job in first place. So you see one single situation, three different tribes.
Golda
Tribes. I love that.
Narcis
So, no, no matter what you do, there will be people supporting what you have done. No matter how gruesome and horrifying it has been what you have done.
Golda
Yeah.
Fion
Did you know that the Last Week in Denmark newsletter is available in eight languages? Hey there. This is Fion from the Last Week in Denmark podcast. And every week you guys are tuning in to hear me, me and my fellow co hosts talk about the top news of the week in English. But let's be real, we're all internationals, so not only are you speaking English every day, you're probably also speaking a bit of Danish, but you've probably also got your own native language as well, like the multilingual master you are. So why not treat yourself to the luxury of being able to read Danish news each week in your own native language? So head on over to last week.dk.substack.com that's last weekdk.substock.com and sign up for our newsletter delivered to you every single Sunday.
Golda
That's actually true. And then there's some. There would be both. Is like, oh, he shouldn't have died, but down with capitalism. And I still need to keep my job, though.
Narcis
Yeah, Those are like the silent majority.
Golda
Yeah.
Narcis
It's like, should I really write my opinion on the social media?
Golda
Yeah, no, exactly.
Narcis
That was exactly.
Golda
Let me just scroll past this.
Narcis
Yeah, but Police right now, to be honest, if we go back to that, they. They have a problem of trust in Denmark. It's. It's a bit hard because Police has been at the top of trust for Danish people, for people in Denmark. For as long as I can remember and I always saw how every time, even when we had this, I remember there was the Syrian refugee crisis and there was this policeman giving a flower to a small Syrian child on the street. And you know, and that, that picture itself made such a big wave in, in the media. I remember back then.
Golda
Yeah.
Narcis
I remember that it was, it was something else. And it. Not just in Denmark. It just showed how police in Denmark can be different when, when police abroad was always being, you know, outed for the fact that they're way too violent. Police in Denmark shows up with this kind of stories, right?
Golda
Yeah.
Narcis
So, yes, we do have a very kind and very, let's just say, not so prone to violence police. That's clear. Nobody questions that. But at the same time, we have a police that recently was involved in, in corruption cases that were on, they still have rotten apples in between them.
Golda
Yes
Narcis
Unfortunately they have. You know, even in, if you watch all these police shows, right, you have always this policeman who are good and policemen who are sold to the dark side, you can say.
Golda
Good, good cop, bad cop.
Narcis
Exactly. And the same is in Denmark. There are good cops and there's bad cops. So could there be some bad cops out there who are skipping steps for the sake of efficiency, for the sake of giving good reports and looking good and maybe getting a promotion? Yes. Could that be happening in every other country in the world? Yes. So
Golda
That's interesting. It's a very interesting perspective. And it could just be that they deemed a case not to be so important, as you said. So, but, but still they're going to have to justify that for the court of public opinion.
Narcis
I mean, what's next is that you know that Denmark is pushing hard for more home produced tv, we're going to have CSI Copenhagen next, right? So we're going to be able to see about the dark deeds of this bad policeman from Denmark. And I can only imagine that whatever you have seen on CSI. I don't even know because I never seen CSI. I just heard about it in a pop culture. Have you seen CSI?
Golda
We're gonna have to talk about that after this episode.
Narcis
Jesus. Okay, CSI anyway, but because every time I can think of a police show, CSI comes to my mind. But I have never seen one, to be honest.
Golda
It's really good.
Narcis
Not even one episode. It's really good. Okay, so imagine whatever you probably see on CSI is inspired from American crime life, right? Imagine that this Copenhagen version, it's a Danish version of it. What will they be fighting with? Yesterday someone has stolen a bike from an old lady. We must investigate that. This bike has sentimental value. We must retrieve it. Jørgensen, go interview everyone that's leaving on the street now.
Golda
I can tell you that there are some serious drug lords that are in Denmark. Yes, there was a.
Narcis
Really? There's crime in Denmark. What?
Golda
There is a lot of crime in Denmark. There's a documentary on DR. About a young woman who was involved with drug. Different drug lords and she outed many, many prominent people in Denmark as being involved. She had like an undercover camera and basically she's under police protection for confessing to this huge scheme.
Narcis
It's a black swan. I know it. I've seen the documentary as well. It was. It was quite funny for me because, I mean, come on, drug lords. There was this maniac who had some sort of pathology of loving himself to take pictures with him shooting a gun in the air, showing off how much money he has in Pakistan. Not so much in Denmark and everything time he was in Denmark, he will be this goody two shoes that he will not do anything and he'll only do bad stuff when he went abroad, that was the drug lord that we were talking about. And then the other drug lord was. My God, the Swedish guy that was overly thinking of himself as being smart. But literally what he was doing was a Ponzi scheme of multiple companies moving money from one place to another, which obviously failed because he. It was a bad plan to begin with. I saw through it. I can make such a plan myself and I'm not calling myself as a drag lord or a future...
Golda
Disclaimer, he's not going to do that for anyone listening.
Narcis
But I mean anyone with a little bit of insight into how companies function in Denmark and how taxation functions in Denmark can create such schemes. So whatever he has done had a limitation or like an ending date. So I'm sorry, but this is so far from. I don't know. When I imagine American crime, I imagine, yeah, you know, large guns and I imagine a person going and shooting 50 other people in the same room and leaving them there. And then more maybe having a whole, I don't know, room where you have 50 bodies being hidden. Have you ever heard of that in Denmark?
Golda
Not that I can think of now. No.
Narcis
The scale is just too small.
Golda
That's true. And that's why the police doesn't have that much work to do.
Narcis
That's not true. The scale of crime is smaller, but it's more. More often because you know what? People in Denmark like to complain. Have you forgotten that?
Golda
No, I have not.
Narcis
So if you. If you see that car has foreign numbers. Romanians. Hello, police? Potential break in at my neighbor's house. Can you please come and check? Literally, you know, how many of these calls they get every, every day?
Golda
I don't actually
Narcis
Because I have... Luckily, I have a friend who works in police and I got a bit of their side of the story in this. And honestly, they do a lot of weird stuff. Like, did you know that a lot of the resources of police are being burdened at the border?
Golda
No, I don't.
Narcis
They literally have to sit at the border and check cars to see are they or are they not carrying drugs, guns and other illegal substances.
Golda
So.
Narcis
Or, I mean, you. You lived in Denmark. Can you imagine ever calling the police? Have you ever called the police?
Golda
Not in Denmark, no. Not when I was living there.
Narcis
Okay. Have you, have you. Have you known a friend or anyone that has called the police?
Golda
Yes.
Narcis
Okay. Why? Why?
Golda
For domestic abuse case.
Narcis
Domestic abuse? Okay. That's. That also happens in Denmark. Fair enough.
Golda
Yeah. So that. That definitely happens. And that we have called the police quite a few times.
Narcis
That happens wherever there's humans.
Golda
Yeah, exactly. But we are coming to an end of this episode.
Narcis
Oh, no. I was enjoying it so much.
Golda
I know. I could hear it in your voice. And that concludes our top three stories for this week. Please follow us and look forward to next week's episode.
Narcis
Yeah, we have. In the next episode, we have Arun, who's coming back with Katie, and they will be the. Your host for episode four. But otherwise, until next time.
Golda
Yes, thank you so much.
Kalpita
Hey, this is Kalpita and Golda, co-hosts of the Last Week in Denmark podcast. Did you know Last Week in Denmark offers sponsored content in the newsletter? Our reporters are producing original articles and content tailored for internationals in Denmark.
Golda
So if you have a business our readers should know about, let us write about it. Get in touch with us at reporter@lwid.dk. You can also reach out to us on LinkedIn and Instagram @last_week_in_denmark.
