Diary of a Shopkeeper, 2nd June 2024

 No sooner had the last notes of the folk festival echoed around the venerable woodwork of Stromness Town Hall, than the amplification and lights were carted out, the seats rearranged, and the cinema screen readied for action. And on Monday evening Lesley Riddoch presented the latest film in her Nordic documentary series, Denmark: The State of Happiness.

Riddoch has previously made films about Faroe, Estonia, Norway and Iceland. The relevance of these countries to our own is probably more obvious to us living in the northern isles than it is to many in Glasgow or Edinburgh. The shared history of communities around the edges of the northern North Sea is well known to us, and we don’t have to think too hard to identify commonalities in areas such as economics, climate change, minority languages and cultures, and political self-determination.

Riddoch’s documentary made a good job of introducing some of the key factors that result in the Danes regularly being rated as the world’s happiest people: GDP a third higher than the UK’s, an unusually green energy infrastructure, a child-centred education system, and – maybe most startling to us in the Land of Permanent Austerity – the ‘flexicurity’ social security system, that allows employers to increase or decrease their workforce at will, with employees receiving generous financial support while out of work. In Denmark, it seems, job flexibility is not a requirement of a heartless economic model, but something that is welcomed: a chance to work and contribute in various fields over a lifetime, without the fear of plunging into poverty between jobs.

I’m no expert on Denmark, and watching a 60-minute film was not going to make me one. No doubt there are negative aspects to life there, and no doubt there are some people who don’t share its general state of happiness. Lesley Riddoch mentioned undercurrents of racism, for instance, playing out at the moment in public housing policies. But we don’t study other countries because we think they’re perfect. We study them to see if we can learn from them. No one would suggest Scotland should adopt the entire Danish polity, just as no one would think a Faroese set up would be perfect for Orkney. Nonetheless, we can certainly draw inspiration from our neighbours.

One small but currently hot topic we might look at is cycling. With better weather finally here, local sport and leisure cyclists are out in numbers. And the shoals of cruise passenger bikes are on the move again – slightly better marshalled than last year, but only slightly. You have to feel sorry for the visitors. Orcadians are annoyed at them for arriving here on the most polluting form of transport – cruise liners. Then, when they switch to the least polluting form of transport – pedal bikes – we’re still annoyed at them. They can’t win! It’s just as well they’re unaware of the controversies swirling about them, or our reputation as friendly and welcoming would be shredded.

There are 7,500 miles of cycle paths in Denmark, nearly two-thirds of which are completely segregated from other traffic. As a result, cycle use for everyday practical purposes such as commuting and shopping is far higher than here, where it’s mostly considered a sport or leisure activity. Even where bikes and cars do mix in Denmark, signage, street markings and a respectful driving culture result in a remarkably safe experience. It was astonishing to see virtually none of the cyclists in Riddoch’s film wearing helmets. Why not? Because the roads are so safe they don’t need to.

During her Q&A after the film, Lesley Riddoch tried to get us enthused about expanding cycle paths across Orkney. ‘Even just one between Kirkwall and Stromness,’ she pleaded. I wasn’t alone in agreeing wholeheartedly that it would be a good thing, while simultaneously despairing at our prospects of ever achieving it. Even if every penny of the £20 million Orkney Towns Board fund was spent on such a path, it wouldn’t pay for the whole route. And even if it was enough, who’s going to persuade every farmer along the way to give up three or four metres of every field along the roadside? I doubt even Lesley Riddoch’s exceptional eloquence could achieve that.

I’m reminded of an old American folk song, ‘Arkansas Traveller.’ A wandering stranger chances across an ancient hayseed sitting on his ramshackle front porch.

‘Tell me farmer,’ says the traveller, ‘How do I get to Little Rock?’

‘Lordy,’ comes the reply, ‘You can’t get there from here.’

It’s a good line, but it’s also nonsense. We can get anywhere we want to, wherever we start from. We just have to agree on our destination and start moving. We’ll get there eventually.

You can watch Denmark: The State of Happiness here on Lesley Riddoch’s website. You can also find out about her books, blog and the rest of her work. Well worth a look.

This diary appeared in The Orcadian on 6th June 2024. A new diary appears weekly. I post them in this blog a few days after each newspaper appearance, with added illustrations, and occasional small corrections or additions.