A nation that has 44 Michelin stars, earns a fortune from visiting diners and then invents the appetite suppressant Ozempic is either multitalented, or very foolish. Either way, I am in the Danish capital again. If it isn’t the restaurants that make Copenhagen my favourite city in the world of this size, then it might be the architectural mix, or the unforced bohemia. It was said of the Frederiksberg-born Michael Laudrup that he would have been the greatest footballer ever, but came from too benign a setting. This always seemed to me like determinist nonsense. Looking around, I wonder?.?.?.
For a politics nut, Denmark has another point of interest. It is one of the hardest countries to place philosophically. It presents as left-liberal, but is tough-ish on immigration. (The foreign-born are 12 per cent of the population, to Sweden’s 21.) Welfare is generous but bosses can hire and fire with some freedom. (“Flexicurity” is the unbeautiful word for this blend of market forces and paternalism.) Even in its foreign dealings, Denmark is a cuddly aid donor and founding member of Nato, with none of the neutrality that Sweden kept up until it became unsafe and unconscionable.