I have lived in Denmark for 15 years. The people are very rude (mostly unintentionally - they just haven't been shown manners), they have no sense of humour and they are the worst drivers in the world . I stay here because it's relatively safer than England to operate in on most levels.
David Moore, Copenhagen, Denmark
"In the meantime, we can take some comfort from last week’s food scare. Bacon, a product for which Denmark is famous, can apparently cause lung disease and may well be one of the biggest killers in the world.
That should wipe the smile off their faces. "
Hm, maybe, but our biggest export country is Great Britain...
We make money on making you I'll sort of....
Anton Bohse, Copenhagen, Denmark
Denmark is very lovely, I go there quite often. Helsingborg in Sweden is better though, that's where all the pretty girls and boys live.
Kate, Helsingborg, Sweden
Haha Clarkson, you've got a sense of humour - No doubt there.
And you are partially right. We are in general a small, boring country with no real militant force, and no real voice in the world.
The real reason why we are so happy is because we don't really have any worries. Our country isn't important enough to bomb (Knock on wood), we don't really have any homeless because our welfare system is simply astonishing (well, no country is perfect), and if we do anything illegal, we just check into the local pritel (Prison and Hotel mixed together), where you can relax with some uncencored TV, and wait out the sentence which, most of the time, is an incredibly short period of time.
But there is a few more downsides. We would be happier than all the countries put together if our goverment would remove that insane 180% extra tax slam on each car. And remove that annoying "3-strikes and out" penalty on your drivers licence.
Oh well.
Keep up the good work. May Top Gear never perish.
Morten Hemmingsen, Silkeborg, Denmark
Currently working with people from all around Europe, I can only say that you hit the nail on the head, Jeremy. In their minds, the English are still a big colonial power, there are still remains of the old empire, and you still have a fantastic football team (1966 yeah!).
When reality then bites them in the ass and things aren't quite as they expect, they tend to get disappointed. Working abroad, I have also found that English seem to have more difficulty than others settling in and adjusting to the workings of living abroad.
That being said I love the English and I would not for a moment want to live without their humour and (once you get past all the whining) fun to be had.
Also to correct you I believe there is lots to do in Copenhagen, and mind you this comes from a modest Dane :)
Kim Jensen, Copenhagen. Currently Paris,
Loved the piece. Clarkson is funny as usual. Denmark is boring. Although that is probably in part why Danes are happy, I suspect that it is not the only reason. Danes consider their society the best in the world. Much like the English apparently. The only difference is that Danes are not fazed by reality. We keep telling ourselves that we have the best education system (although we rank close to Albania); we still believe that our medical system is excellent (despite the fact that the waiting list is only slightly longer in Tanzania and that the patients get sick from the food); we prize ourselves of being very tolerant (yet have a government supported by a xenophobic party). When talking football, we have dubbed ourselves 'The Brazilians of the North', although no one in their right mind would watch a match in the Danish league. Actually, no one in their right mind does - only football fans do.
So there is the answer. Expect more and don't let reality interfere.
Michael, Copenhagen,
To Pierre Bernardi- Paris
In Answer to your question.......about as much as the French !!!
C O Connor, Dublin, Ireland
I can honestly say that there's heaps more fun to be had in Vancouver than Australia.
Here, you can't go out in the day without sunglasses, sunhat, sunscreen and aircon... and even then you get sweaty and burned. Then, when it cools off, you get eaten alive by the mosquitos.
Sure, I've got more land in Oz than I had in the UK, but if you can't venture out into it, what's the point?
Vancouver is in a beautiful part of the world. The city's power is hydroelectric and it has a plentiful supply of freshwater, which is more than can be said for drought-ridden coal-burning Australia.
However, it's Britian that I always long to return to. On the doorstep of Europe, you're never far from some of the world's best culture. You're also well placed for overseas travel, and you have an economy that allows you to afford to do so as and when you want.
To those who say Britain has gone to the dogs, I thumb my nose.
Chris Reynolds, Buderim, Australia
To Aiya from Dublin: and what exactly did Ireland do in WWII?
Pierre Bernardi, Paris,
Ohh the bacon thing is funny ;o) Danes don't eat a lot of bacon, we send it to the UK and in return we get to watch some incredible tv-shows featuring fat English people trying to loose weight...
I must admit though that I'm mostly a happy Dane because of the fact that I've moved across the border to Sweden to get acess to a wonderfull world of cars without the staggering Danish 180% tax.
Life is good!
Rikke, Sweden,
Have you ever been to Denmark Jeremy? If you had, you might have discovered that that Hans Christian Andersen's house, or H C Andersen Hus as the Danes refer to it, is in Odense, not Copenhagen. That means that it isn't even on the same island.
Rob Whitmarsh, Poole, UK
I'm quite interested in the research you did in Vancouver, and whether it was sponsored by Gilette?
George Edwards, harrogate, UK
If bacon causes lung cancer maybe cigarettes are okay after all.
I would rather give up smoking bacon than smoking cigarettes; bacon is hard to roll in a ‘rizla’.
besides after the sky dies and we all catch birdflu it will not matter too much where you live or what country is the best
David, Peterborough, UK
Jeremy: You mention Mumbai where I spent a thoroughly miserable couple of weeks earlier in the year. it has to be the unhappiest city in the world and certainly has the largest slums.
A typical cheap trick that politicians used everywhere is to attempt a makeover. Mumbai needed a colossal new image so they changed the name from Bombay. The thing is...nobody in India likes the new name so we have the bizarre situation that apart from Mumbai council the entire country calls the city Bombay whilst the BBC and other media types try to be frightfully corrrect and use the new name.
Thinking about it let's call Rome - Roma and Munich - Munchen. Paris will stay as Paris but Finland becomes Suomi and Croatia something unpronouncable beginning with H.
Bethany, London E8, Great Britain
Harold is right. I usually get upset when people bash the French, but Clarkson does it with such style ....
Nick Moore, St Ouen, France
Bombay, not Mumbai. Mumbai is the Hindu name, and offensive to Sikhs etc. Why not just use the English name?
Herbert G., Leeds,
Happiness... Let us not forget the people who brought us Pearl Harbour..look no further than Japan..Life in Japan ! Black suits-male & female, trundling across zebra crossings the length of the lower amazon, to get to "home"..Namely a shoebox sized apartment filed to the ceiling with every electronic gadget, and cupboards full of AAA batteries..What more could one need to make it a happy time.. raw whale meat... (oh well perhaps we in UK are blessed), after all we have battered Mars Bars.
Ken ROBERTS, Belfast, UK
Ahh, Jeremy, you're in fine form this morning. You must've been stirred along by a ride in that appalling Caddy SUV you've just reviewed.
A couple of things, though:
1. I was disppointed you didn't bag the French in your article. What is piece of "Clarksonia" without a cheeky reference to your dear Entente Cordiale cross-channel friends?
2. Sadly for old flag-waving Empire lovers like you, "God Save the Queen" is an almost unrecognized tune in Australia to anyone under 30 these days (about time, too!) Now, if only Australians were mature enough to choose their own Head of State......
3. On the list of "dearest friends" with the US, you still rate well ahead of us in the love-in stakes. Australia is only a "great friend" of the USA (according to the White House press release 13.6.02) - but I haven't worked out if that's good or bad....
Harold, Melbourne, Australia
"We can't trust people who have such bad food. After Finland, it's the country with the worst food" Jacques Chirac on the English.
But does anybody trust Chirac? Anyway, he's about to be replaced by a Franco-Hungarian midget.
By the way I like to call him Tony 'Glair' - Glair is the French equivalent of the English word 'greenie'.
Hahaha
Mat Sumner, Mulhouse, France
I have lived in Denmark for 15 years. The people are very rude (mostly unintentionally - they just haven't been shown manners), they have no sense of humour and they are the worst drivers in the world . I stay here because it's relatively safer than England to operate in on most levels.
David Moore, Copenhagen, Denmark
"In the meantime, we can take some comfort from last week’s food scare. Bacon, a product for which Denmark is famous, can apparently cause lung disease and may well be one of the biggest killers in the world.
That should wipe the smile off their faces. "
Hm, maybe, but our biggest export country is Great Britain...
We make money on making you I'll sort of....
Anton Bohse, Copenhagen, Denmark
Denmark is very lovely, I go there quite often. Helsingborg in Sweden is better though, that's where all the pretty girls and boys live.
Kate, Helsingborg, Sweden
Haha Clarkson, you've got a sense of humour - No doubt there.
And you are partially right. We are in general a small, boring country with no real militant force, and no real voice in the world.
The real reason why we are so happy is because we don't really have any worries. Our country isn't important enough to bomb (Knock on wood), we don't really have any homeless because our welfare system is simply astonishing (well, no country is perfect), and if we do anything illegal, we just check into the local pritel (Prison and Hotel mixed together), where you can relax with some uncencored TV, and wait out the sentence which, most of the time, is an incredibly short period of time.
But there is a few more downsides. We would be happier than all the countries put together if our goverment would remove that insane 180% extra tax slam on each car. And remove that annoying "3-strikes and out" penalty on your drivers licence.
Oh well.
Keep up the good work. May Top Gear never perish.
Morten Hemmingsen, Silkeborg, Denmark
Currently working with people from all around Europe, I can only say that you hit the nail on the head, Jeremy. In their minds, the English are still a big colonial power, there are still remains of the old empire, and you still have a fantastic football team (1966 yeah!).
When reality then bites them in the ass and things aren't quite as they expect, they tend to get disappointed. Working abroad, I have also found that English seem to have more difficulty than others settling in and adjusting to the workings of living abroad.
That being said I love the English and I would not for a moment want to live without their humour and (once you get past all the whining) fun to be had.
Also to correct you I believe there is lots to do in Copenhagen, and mind you this comes from a modest Dane :)
Kim Jensen, Copenhagen. Currently Paris,
Loved the piece. Clarkson is funny as usual. Denmark is boring. Although that is probably in part why Danes are happy, I suspect that it is not the only reason. Danes consider their society the best in the world. Much like the English apparently. The only difference is that Danes are not fazed by reality. We keep telling ourselves that we have the best education system (although we rank close to Albania); we still believe that our medical system is excellent (despite the fact that the waiting list is only slightly longer in Tanzania and that the patients get sick from the food); we prize ourselves of being very tolerant (yet have a government supported by a xenophobic party). When talking football, we have dubbed ourselves 'The Brazilians of the North', although no one in their right mind would watch a match in the Danish league. Actually, no one in their right mind does - only football fans do.
So there is the answer. Expect more and don't let reality interfere.
Michael, Copenhagen,
To Pierre Bernardi- Paris
In Answer to your question.......about as much as the French !!!
C O Connor, Dublin, Ireland
I can honestly say that there's heaps more fun to be had in Vancouver than Australia.
Here, you can't go out in the day without sunglasses, sunhat, sunscreen and aircon... and even then you get sweaty and burned. Then, when it cools off, you get eaten alive by the mosquitos.
Sure, I've got more land in Oz than I had in the UK, but if you can't venture out into it, what's the point?
Vancouver is in a beautiful part of the world. The city's power is hydroelectric and it has a plentiful supply of freshwater, which is more than can be said for drought-ridden coal-burning Australia.
However, it's Britian that I always long to return to. On the doorstep of Europe, you're never far from some of the world's best culture. You're also well placed for overseas travel, and you have an economy that allows you to afford to do so as and when you want.
To those who say Britain has gone to the dogs, I thumb my nose.
Chris Reynolds, Buderim, Australia
To Aiya from Dublin: and what exactly did Ireland do in WWII?
Pierre Bernardi, Paris,
Ohh the bacon thing is funny ;o) Danes don't eat a lot of bacon, we send it to the UK and in return we get to watch some incredible tv-shows featuring fat English people trying to loose weight...
I must admit though that I'm mostly a happy Dane because of the fact that I've moved across the border to Sweden to get acess to a wonderfull world of cars without the staggering Danish 180% tax.
Life is good!
Rikke, Sweden,
Have you ever been to Denmark Jeremy? If you had, you might have discovered that that Hans Christian Andersen's house, or H C Andersen Hus as the Danes refer to it, is in Odense, not Copenhagen. That means that it isn't even on the same island.
Rob Whitmarsh, Poole, UK
I'm quite interested in the research you did in Vancouver, and whether it was sponsored by Gilette?
George Edwards, harrogate, UK
If bacon causes lung cancer maybe cigarettes are okay after all.
I would rather give up smoking bacon than smoking cigarettes; bacon is hard to roll in a ‘rizla’.
besides after the sky dies and we all catch birdflu it will not matter too much where you live or what country is the best
David, Peterborough, UK
Jeremy: You mention Mumbai where I spent a thoroughly miserable couple of weeks earlier in the year. it has to be the unhappiest city in the world and certainly has the largest slums.
A typical cheap trick that politicians used everywhere is to attempt a makeover. Mumbai needed a colossal new image so they changed the name from Bombay. The thing is...nobody in India likes the new name so we have the bizarre situation that apart from Mumbai council the entire country calls the city Bombay whilst the BBC and other media types try to be frightfully corrrect and use the new name.
Thinking about it let's call Rome - Roma and Munich - Munchen. Paris will stay as Paris but Finland becomes Suomi and Croatia something unpronouncable beginning with H.
Bethany, London E8, Great Britain
Harold is right. I usually get upset when people bash the French, but Clarkson does it with such style ....
Nick Moore, St Ouen, France
Bombay, not Mumbai. Mumbai is the Hindu name, and offensive to Sikhs etc. Why not just use the English name?
Herbert G., Leeds,
Happiness... Let us not forget the people who brought us Pearl Harbour..look no further than Japan..Life in Japan ! Black suits-male & female, trundling across zebra crossings the length of the lower amazon, to get to "home"..Namely a shoebox sized apartment filed to the ceiling with every electronic gadget, and cupboards full of AAA batteries..What more could one need to make it a happy time.. raw whale meat... (oh well perhaps we in UK are blessed), after all we have battered Mars Bars.
Ken ROBERTS, Belfast, UK
Ahh, Jeremy, you're in fine form this morning. You must've been stirred along by a ride in that appalling Caddy SUV you've just reviewed.
A couple of things, though:
1. I was disppointed you didn't bag the French in your article. What is piece of "Clarksonia" without a cheeky reference to your dear Entente Cordiale cross-channel friends?
2. Sadly for old flag-waving Empire lovers like you, "God Save the Queen" is an almost unrecognized tune in Australia to anyone under 30 these days (about time, too!) Now, if only Australians were mature enough to choose their own Head of State......
3. On the list of "dearest friends" with the US, you still rate well ahead of us in the love-in stakes. Australia is only a "great friend" of the USA (according to the White House press release 13.6.02) - but I haven't worked out if that's good or bad....
Harold, Melbourne, Australia
"We can't trust people who have such bad food. After Finland, it's the country with the worst food" Jacques Chirac on the English.
But does anybody trust Chirac? Anyway, he's about to be replaced by a Franco-Hungarian midget.
By the way I like to call him Tony 'Glair' - Glair is the French equivalent of the English word 'greenie'.
Hahaha
Mat Sumner, Mulhouse, France
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