Sweden won third place in the Women’s Soccer World Cup yesterday, beating England 2-1. Names to know from the season: goalie Hedvig Lindahl (who, besides being great in general, made a massive save on a penalty kick in the game against Canada. SvD thinks it would make a good stamp.) Kosovare Asllani who scored three goals, and Sofia Jakobsson who scored two goals, both when they were desperately needed. Oh and Nilla Fischer, who head-butted a ball away that otherwise would have been sure goal. That girl has a head on her.
Tag: swedish politics
7 June – The Sweden Democrats’ new pals
Jumping on Trump’s bandwagon, Jimmie Åkesson of the Sweden Democrats suggested cutting aid to countries that discriminate against HBTQ people. As Göran Eriksson of SvD notes, it is in many cases muslim and African countries that discriminate against homosexuals, so this fits right in with their generally xenophobic rhetoric. Later in his Almedalen speech, Åkesson quoted Sweden’s revered Wilhelm Moberg’s text called Endeavor (”Strävan”) which, in calling for Sweden to unite against forces trying to tear it apart, was written as a call for Sweden to stand up to Germany’s nazism in WWII. Raise your hand if you hear Moberg turning in his grave.
7 July – Loose moose needed
All the ”moose crossing” signs posted on Swedish roads, warning drivers regarding the prevalence of moose in the area, have become a little less relevant. SvD writes that the Swedish moose, and for that matter, the Swedish forest hare, could soon land on the list of threatened wildlife. For the rabbit, warmer winters are to blame but for the moose it’s less clear (wolves have also been upgraded to strongly threatened themselves). Not to worry though, moose disappearance isn’t on the books in any future; the Swedish identity is too tied up in it. What would all the souvenir shops do?!
29 June – Smoke ’em if you got ’em
Do you smoke? Do you sometimes sit or stand outside your fave hang, alternately shivering/enjoying the sun to have a smoke? You know it’s bad for you, but..?
You may smoke outside no more. Starting Monday, smoking is forbidden both inside and outside restaurants and other public places, like outside subway platforms. Even smoking water pipes and vaping is forbidden in public places.
So far, you can still have at it in private. But as everyone knows, our private spheres are shrinking bit by bit.
28 June – Ivar Arpi raises his head again
Another controversial figure returned to the editorial page of SvD, after a break to write a book. (Is it done??) Arpi is another figure that is not afraid to take the heat for questioning Sweden’s immigration policies – or, if he is afraid, goes ahead and does it anyway. Ivar’s main point is one of scale: the number of new immigrants, most of whom come from cultures that don’t have much in common with Sweden’s, to the number of ”landed Swedes”, is a ratio that leads to problems. He also rails against the fact that saying that aloud and in public makes a lot of people want to tar, feather and run him out of town. These screaming people he says, need to take it down a notch: They are actually in the minority.
No one in Sweden wants to actually belong to a minority (not when it comes down to it) so he can expect more pushback – and likely more support as well.
28 June – Sabuni Friday
After a fairly intensive campaign period, today is the day Nyamko Sabuni is formally chosen to be the Liberal Party’s new party leader. What she’ll now do though is somewhat unclear, in particular as she has said that immediate withdrawal from the January Agreement her predecessor Jan Björklund signed is not (at all) the first thing on her agenda. As Integration minister, Sabuni raised hackles for daring to suggest a certain level of Swedish might be a good requirement for citizenship. She also expressed a positive attitude towards forbidding veils in schools. For both these suggestions she was called many uncomplimentary names, but she failed to budge on her opinions. It is precisely that straight spine that many of her followers appreciate (as long as they agree, naturally).
27 June – I think I’ve seen you before
Isabella Löwengrip, the early influencer and entrepreneur also known as Blondinbella, has a company. Actually, she has a whole slew of them, in various degrees of wildly successful: The woman is remarkable. Maybe it’s because being recognized is such a huge part of her success, and that control over your image is so key, that she wants to install face recognition technology in her stores. If you find that slightly creepy don’t worry, the Swedish Data Inspection Authority (Datainspektion) is on the case. If Löwengrip wants to be able to recognize customers – big buyers? People who carry voluminous bags? – she’ll have to argue her case as to why she’s an exception. It’s unsure whether her approximately 1.5 million followers will be keen.
26 June – Your battery or your pension
The huge pension fund AMF, which is jointly owned by the Swedish Trade Union Confederation (LO) and the Confederation of Swedish Enterprise (Svensk Näringsliv)is investing 740 million kronor in the battery factory Northvolt, up north in Skellefteå. This means that a fair chunk of workers’ pensions are being invested in a company where barely a spade has been lifted. AMF says it’s just a part of their risk portfolio, which has got to mean they’re prepared to lose it. On the one hand, batteries are desperately needed and the sooner Northvolt’s finances are in order and they’re up and running, the better. On the other hand, a lot of money is going into a technology that everyone agrees has got to get a lot better fast, and factories aren’t known for adjusting quickly. It’s also assuming there isn’t a small quantum leap on the horizon, something which everyone is basically hoping for when what we’ve got now is pretty unsatisfactory. So, yup, a pretty risky investment that we really really hope works out.
26 June – The crappy krona
It turns out the weak krona isn’t so popular with businesses after all. SvD writes that only 1 business in 5 thinks it’s helping them, while nearly half of the responding companies say it’s negative for them. Production costs over the years have moved production out of Sweden, which means an increase in imports before exporting again: The weak krona makes these imports expensive. It’s not just people buying fruit at the local ICA that are dismayed by the exchange rate. Will the Swedish Fed notice?
26 June – A hard pill to swallow
Especially if you can’t find it. The pill, THAT pill, and at least one of the brands, will be out of stock until at least the end of the summer, wrote SvD today. Another hormone replacement therapy pill (for the more mature woman’s needs one might say) is also out of stock for at least the next few months. (Also pregnancy prevention pills for cats are out of stock, though I am not comparing.)
That so many prescription medications are suddenly not available at the local pharmacy – or at any pharmacy anywhere in the country – has been a recurring news item for several months. But are pharmacies the problem? Are they just greedy money machines that won’t order what they don’t want to order and don’t care about the old and the sick and the in pain? In a debate article from May 19 (dn.se) two Stockholm doctors say no, and that in reality Swedish pharmacies knock themselves out trying to find medicine for their customers (a pharmacist showed me recently how to find a pharmacy that had what I wanted in stock – on fass.se).
For those who weren’t here at the time, previous to 2009 pharmacies were state-owned affairs, like Systembolaget. Since the deregulation, things have improved greatly, like business hours, numbers of stores (at least in the cities) and an improved selection (state-owned tampons were not fun). It’s uncertain where the bottle neck is. After all, the pharmacies don’t make money on medication they haven’t sold, and the pill has a pretty captive audience.