“Pretty shitty”: Denmark’s Eurovision boss disappointed by semi-final ejection 

Erik Struve Hansen, the DR executive in charge of Denmark’s Eurovision entry, has expressed annoyance and bitterness that Denmark again failed to get through to the Eurovision final despite a rousing performance of Saba’s song “Sand” at the semi-final in Malmö on Thursday night.  

“We think it’s pretty shitty,” Hansen told the Ritzau newswire after “Sand” was one of five songs not to be put forward to the final. “There is no one who is more bitter about us not getting ahead than I am.” 

He said that after four years of weak entries which did not make the final, he believed that Denmark had cracked the code with “Sand”, with international fans largely praising the song as a return to form for the Danes. 

“It’s also a shame that it’s happening after a performance that I think was Saba’s strongest ever,” he said. 

Danish vocabulary: noget lort – pretty shitty 

Swedish police operation closes Øresund Bridge 

Swedish police closed the Øresund Bridge between Denmark and Sweden on Wednesday evening in a special operation carried out, they said, due to “a person feeling unwell”.

The bridge was closed in the Sweden-Denmark direction at 5.43pm, and then in the Denmark-Sweden direction at 6.42pm. It reopened again at 9pm.

Danish vocabulary: at genåbne – to reopen

Danish party calls for military trainers on the ground in Ukraine

The Defence spokesperson for Denmark’s Social Liberal party has called for Denmark to send military training personnel to Denmark to train Ukrainian soldiers on the ground, saying France, the UK and Lithuania are all considering this as a next step. 

“France, Great Britain and Lithuania are talking about it, and I think it is an important conversation to start, and that Denmark should be at the forefront of the discussion,” Christian Friis Bach, the party’s defence spokesperson said. “Ukraine is demanding it, and therefore I think it is important that we start talking about whether we should do it.”

Friis Bach said it was logistically challenging to take Ukrainian soldiers out of Ukraine for training, and training them in their own country would allow them to train on the equipment the country actually has available. 

The drawbacks, he said, were that the move would raise the risk of Danish casualties and risked escalating the conflict with Russia. 

Danish vocabulary: at efterspørge – to request  

Sun and 20C temperatures expected across Denmark on Sunday

After an overcast Friday and patchy clouds on Saturday, sun is expected across Denmark on Sunday, bringing summery temperatures of up to 20C, Denmark’s state forecaster DMI said on Friday morning. 

“The sun will break through completely, so there should be a lot of sun for the whole country,” Mille Jensen, one of the agency’s meteorologists, told the Ritzau newswire. 

On Friday, she said there would be light rain in the eastern part of Zealand and over Bornholm, although some parts of northwest Denmark could expect sun. On Saturday, most parts of the country will get sporadic sunshine. 

Danish vocabulary: at bryde igennem – to break through