No increase in police recruitment among minority groups (Aftenposten)

Despite a recruiting drive including magazine advertisements, school visits and a range of other activities, the number of young people from the country’s ethnic minorities applying for a place at the Norwegian Police Academy remains the same. 35 of those who applied to the Norwegian Police Academy in 1998 were from ethnic minorities. Today the figure is still 35. "We are not happy that there are so few applicants from minority groups, but it must be remembered that we have experienced a substantial fall in the overall number of applicants since 1998. In this context we are pleased that the number of applicants with a minority background has stayed the same over the past three years," says Hans Petter Horne, head of the Norwegian Police Academy.

Crime costs Norway NOK 100 billion (Dagsavisen)

Crime costs Norway upwards of NOK 100 billion per year. This is figure more than twice as high as in 1988, according to calculations made by the Police Union. The union have accused the country’s political parties of not taking the increase in crime seriously enough in their election campaigns. Justice Minister Hanne Harlem and legal affairs representatives from the political parties reject this claim.

46 defeats for Stoltenberg (Aftenposten/Sunday)

The Labour government has been defeated in the Storting 46 times during the past eight months. The Stoltenberg government has been forced to accept stronger opposition from MPs than the Bondevik administration, which Jens Stoltenberg described as "uniquely weak". One of the most serious defeats suffered by the Labour government was the complete collapse of its efforts to secure a broad consensus on the country’s future defence policy. The list over individual lost causes is long , and includes issues ranging from the environment to the economy and the health service.

Centre Party calls for forced relocation of country’s power elite (Verdens Gang/Sunday)

Centre Party chairman Odd Roger Enoksen is calling for large parts of the civil service to be moved out of Oslo. He has now put together a list showing which government agencies and functions he believes could easily be located anywhere but in the capital. According to his proposal the entire Central Bureau of Statistics would be relocated to Kongsvinger, the Norwegian Industrial and Regional Development Fund (SND) would head for Harstad in the North of Norway, while the experts employed by the Central Office of Historic Monuments would in future find their offices located in the historic town of Røros. Mr Enoksen points out a number of other towns, villages and regions which deserve the privilege of hosting a government agency. Initially the Centre Party wants to relocate 6,000 government jobs.

Look what you get in return (Dagbladet)

Finance Minister Karl Eirik Schjøtt-Pedersen believes the election campaign should not only revolve around how much the state takes in taxes, but how much the individual citizen gets back. Each month the Government saves the average household from paying the equivalent of NOK 17,250 in bills. He presents the following simple equation which will make people appreciate our welfare system, based on the so-called Scandinavian model. Public expenditure on health, schools, transport, benefits and pensions amounted to over NOK 420 billion last year. Divided by the number of inhabitants, this comes to NOK 207,000 per head. The calculation was done by the Norwegian Confederation of Trade Unions (LO), while the Ministry of Finance has endorsed the figures.

Our disappearing tax money (Dagbladet)

"Our welfare system is not dependent on how much we have to pay in direct and indirect taxes. If it were we would have the best schools and the best health service in the world," said Børge Brende, the Conservatives’ spokesman on tax. Mr Brende is not particularly impressed with what we get back in return for the high level of taxes we pay to the Government.

Tougher times for tax dodgers (Aftenposten)

The deadline for paying the first instalment on last year’s tax arrears runs out today. The country as a whole owes NOK 3.7 billion in back taxes. However, six out of ten taxpayers ignore the deadlines, and some never pay the money they owe their local tax office. But there are tougher times ahead for those who default on their taxes. The tax authorities are thinking of using stronger measures, including legal action to recover unpaid tax debts.

Americans shun Telenor (Dagens Næringsliv)

American investors have turned their backs on Tormod Hermansen and Telenor. Only a fraction of the company’s shares are traded in the USA. Telenor was floated on New York’s Nasdaq exchange, which specializes in technology stocks, on the same day that the company was launched on the Oslo Stock Exchange at the end of last year. A daily average of just over 60,000 Telenor shares have been traded in New York, compared to more than three million shares per day in Oslo.

Worth Noting

• In 1998 the Labour Party promised two years of parental leave for young families in response to the centre alliance government’s controversial additional cash benefit for children under three. Today that promise has been forgotten. (Dagsavisen/Saturday)
• Kværner’s top secret battle plan to defeat Kjell Inge Røkke’s attempt to merge it with Aker Maritime was mistakenly sent by e-mail to a private individual. Parts of that strategy now risk being made public. (Verdens Gang)
• Orkla’s selection committee will today present their recommendations for a new board of directors. Only one person will be replaced – chairman Finn Hvistendahl. The committee is recommending Tom Ruud in his place. In addition, a woman will be included. (Dagens Næringsliv)
• Starting this summer anyone who wants to see a medical specialist must first have been to their GP for a referral. The change applies to examinations by gynaecologists, respiratory disease specialists, etc, and to such treatments as light therapy for psoriasis. (Nationen)
• Never before have Norwegians bought so much alcohol from Sweden’s state-run wine and spirits stores as in July this year. For the first time ever we spent over NOK 100 million in the course of just one month. (Verdens Gang)

Today’s comment from Verdens Gang

Taxes and sick pay are the two issues which have generated the most heat so far in the election campaign. And it is the Conservatives and the Labour Party which, from their diametrically opposite points of view, have brought these issues to the fore. We cannot see that either of them have won the debate, but the Conservatives have definitely been pushed onto the defensive. The party enjoyed a long period in which it was left in peace with its message to voters that enough was enough and that the time was right for substantial tax cuts. But then Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg entered the fray with the opposite argument: that the conservatives’ tax cuts would be eaten up after only a few days off sick, because the Conservatives’ want to make substantial cuts in sickness benefits. The Labour Party seems to have had success with the first phase of its campaign strategy – to shoot holes in the contents of the Conservatives’ message. Phase two of Labour’s strategy is first and foremost to keep plugging the superiority of its own policies. The rest of the campaign will show how successful that approach is. Perhaps the Conservatives will mount a tremendous counter attack, but they will certainly have had to fight hard for whatever success they may have on polling day.