Where have I been? I’m so glad you asked. I’ve been in Denmark for a week. I’d forgotten just how interesting this country is. For example, the country frequently features as the “happiest place in the world” and also ranks number one in terms of income equality.

It certainly seemed the trustworthiest (is that a word?). There were bikes parked everywhere in Copenhagen but I’d estimate that less that twenty per cent were locked. Or how about the restaurant in the National Museum. Help yourself from a buffet and then pay – not the other way around. I didn’t see a single CCTV camera anywhere either.

There was even an open bottle of vodka on one table so that customers could mix themselves a Bloody Mary. Can you imagine that in the UK? People would either steal the bottle or help themselves to so much alcohol they’d fall over.

Contrast this to an American hotel I stayed in recently that contained a mini-bar that had a label on the outside saying that if I picked anything up I’d be automatically charged for it. One assumes the best in people. The other assumes the worst.

The other thing that struck me about Denmark was the quality of the public buildings (e.g. the new National Library and the airports) and how clean it all was. Another thing was the fact that everyone seemed so confident. It was as though there was a mutual understanding of what the country was about and where it was going. I’m sure the country has problems. It was expensive for one thing. But in many ways it represents a model of how a city, if not a whole country, should be run.