Former PM Thorning-Schmidt’s husband elected to UK parliament 

Amid the landslide victory for the Labour party in last night’s UK general election comes the news that Stephen Kinnock, the husband of former Social Democratic Danish prime minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt, has been elected to parliament.

Kinnock, the son of Neil Kinnock who led Labour in the 1980s and early 1990s, won the Aberafan Maesteg seat in South Wales.

Thorning-Schmidt has been part of Kinnock’s campaign and was yesterday photographed alongside the UK’s incoming prime minister Keir Starmer.

Vocabulary: forhenværende – previous

Foreign Ministry advises against all travel to Israel

The Danish Foreign Ministry has officially advised against all travel to Israel due to the risk an escalation in hostilities between Israel and militant organisation Hezbollah in south Lebanon.

The updated travel advisory was issued by the foreign ministry yesterday afternoon.

Previously, the ministry advised against all non-essential travel to the area.

In the advisory, the ministry states the situation can deteriorate “with no or very short warning”.

Vocabulary: at fraråde – to advise against

Fresh fish tempts tourists to Denmark

Fishing boats moored at the quayside and fresh fish sold on the harbour are draws for tourists according to a new University of Copenhagen study.

The study, which looked at the link between numbers of fishing boats and hotel guests, found that one extra fishing boat at a local harbour increased hotel stays by 1.1 percent or 90 guests.

“Tourism is affected in a markedly positive way by active fishing vessels landing at local harbours,” Max Nielsen of the univiersity’s Department of Food and Resource Economics said according to DR.

Vocabulary: fiskekutter – fishing boat

Trains keep to timetable but disruptions expected

Many trains in Denmark arrived on time during the first half of 2024, according to data released on Thursday by Banedanmark, the company responsible for rail infrastructure.

But maintenance planned for the second half of the year could result in a worsening of the figure, the company warned.

“I’m satisfied that rail traffic in the last half of the year has run well, including when you compare to many other countries,” Banedanmark’s traffic director Peter Svendsen said in a statement.

Some 78.5 percent of passengers with national rail company DSB arrived on time, meaning a target of 75 percent was achieved. Over one-fifth was thereby late by at least three minutes.

Over 90 percent of passengers arrived within 10 minutes of the scheduled arrival time.