The De-Tour de France

"De-Tour de France". This must be a reasonable name for the present "non-show" in France.

I have never personally been very interested in the sport of cycling and perhaps even seen the very professional part of it as somewhat "dirty". Easy to say today, of course. But still...

Perhaps one could say: OK, let them use doping. And the guy who is best at that will probably win. But this is, of course, very irresponsible. What an awful example to give to young people, which that sort of sport should like to attrack also in the future.

Therefore, any cheating by using any drugs of any sort should continue to be totally and completely forbidden. No more - no less. And medical doctors who still will give it should be banned from medical jobs for ever. And the cyclists who still use it should not only be excluded for some time. They should also go to prison - like anybody else, who use serious forbidden drugs.

I believe that the organisers of De-Tour de France need a really long period of reflection. They have to re-invent the Tour in a completely different form. A form which will be the world champion in people's minds for a modern and very responsible sport, which only attracts people (and sponsors), who want the REAL thing: Clean sport, clean sports people, clean competition. Perhaps such a reflection will last a few years. And so what...

Until then I hope that all TV station will do like to two national German TV stations ARD and ZDF the other day: BOYCOT the De-Tour.

This will make the organisers and in particular the sponsors focus their minds on what is really needed for the future!

We have an expression in Danish which says: Nothing is so bad that it is not good for something.

The last days developments in France is an excellent example of that :)

Danes not always welcome - in Denmark :(

Danes are not always welcome in Denmark! Especially if they have lived for some years abroad. A very strange tradition. We just received the regular magazine publisked by the organisation "DANES WORLDWIDE". In each issue it presents concrete cases. Young people who come back with exams from other countries and are often not accepted at Danish Universities. We even know a case where a young Danish lady student after rejection at the University in Copenhagen was immediately accepted at the University of Cambridge But we haven't only to read about it. Most Danes living abroad can tell many personal stories about it. People who come back from working abroad, also for ministries, are very often looked at with great suspicion by their new colleagues. And normally they have to start working at a lower level than their experience would entitle them to. When Danes from abroad visit friends and family in Denmark it is very rare that anybody (apart from the very closest relatives) asks questions about life abroad. You can go to parties after parties - without having a single question about how you are "out there". This is not a personal complaint. But a serious question about what's behind all this! We "Danish foreigners" have often discussed it. But without finding a solution. Perhaps Danes living in Denmark is SO much an inward-looking TRIBE that the surrounding world by definition is without much interest. Perhaps. I wonder, if other people living outside their home country sometimes feel the same??

Danes not always welcome - in Denmark :(