What an Entrance!

I'm going to a wedding later today. Will it be like this, I wonder?!

Friday Laugh

Fishing in Utopia - A Must-Read!

I'm reading a really good book at the moment. I haven't finished it yet but I want to recommend it anyway.

"Fishing in Utopia: Sweden and the Future that Disappeared"
- by Andrew Brown


Story
In the 1970s, Andrew Brown, a misfit young Englishman, moved to Sweden, enticed by the possibility of a cleaner, kinder, more rational future. He married a Swedish woman, learned to fish, and brought up his young son in their makeshift cottage in the woods. But during the 1980s, his marriage and his [new] country fell apart as the temptations of the outside world forced their way in. The prime minister, Olof Palme, was assassinated. The welfare system crumbled. Brown returned home. Twenty years after Palme's murder, Brown travelled the length of Sweden in search of the country he had loved, and then hated, and now found he loved again.

Voices about the book
"A story of modern rootlessness and the search for something to believe in... I can see it becoming a cult book" - John Carey, Sunday Times

"A brilliant book, formidably intelligent in its control of complex material yet shining with humanity, and with the old Swedish belief that we all deserve a just, yet kind society." - Independent on Sunday

"Extraordinary... part memoir, part quest, part travelogue... Fishing in Utopia is a wonderful exploration of a social experiment that did not entirely succeed, and did not entirely fail." - New Statesmen

"A remarkable tour of the country, its people and their mindset...as perceptive as Bill Bryson - and often, just as funny." - Spectator

And two reviews in Swedish.

A Bit of Sweden Promotion

Thought I'd list some studies and surveys I've come across recently that give Sweden top grade in the various areas compared. You are allowed to be proud of your country, right!

• * Sweden among the world's best trade nations - Only Singapore, Hong Kong, Switzerland and Denmark score higher. Why? The answer is smooth border administration, efficient transportation and communication systems and a thriving business environment.
• * Northern Europe 'better' for SMEs - This includes Sweden among the top six or seven countries.
• * Stockholm, Europe's first green capital - The first "winner" of this new European award is Stockholm (for 2010). Stockholm is good at including environmental aspects in its city planning and have made much progress on problems such as air pollution, traffic, greenhouse gas emissions and waste management. (Although this work has been slowed down since the current local government came into power, in my view.)
• * Sweden promotes climate-smart food - Climate-smart food is the topic for one of the conferences held under the Swedish Presidency of the EU. Sweden has sent out guidelines for climate-friendly food choices - basically advice to reduce one's meat and rice consumption -, the first of their kind, for reactions and inspiration from other EU countries. According to Swedish statistics, Swedes eat an average of ten kilos per person more meat annually than ten years ago (making it 65 kilos a year). Ten kilos! That's a big change in only ten years! Did you know that one kilo of beef contributes up to 15-25 kilos of greenhouse gases - which is ten times more than the carbon footprint of the equivalent amount of chicken?! Think about this next time you go shopping! I'm not asking you to become a vegetarian - I'm not either - but I try to limit the amount of meat (any kind) I eat. A piece of meat gives you protein for four days so it's not like you have to eat meat every day.
• * Sweden most innovative country in the EU - Sweden is one of the "innovation leaders" together with Finland, Germany, Denmark and the UK (in that order). Sweden is especially strong when it comes to human resources, investments in R&D and measures to promote innovation in companies. Something that could still improve is commercialising discoveries and innovations, a general problem for Europe.
• * Sweden most sustainable society - The results is based on 2 indicators including air and water quality, health, renewable energy use, gender equality and education.

Balcony Makeover

The old "love seat" was getting a bit moldy (it wasn't really made for outdoors and we tended to forget to put on the cover particularly on nights when it rained) and had to go. Got this little set from Furniture Box. What do you think?!

I Love Summer!

What a wonderful weekend! Dinner at Jessica's place on Friday evening (after a quick drink in the work bar), delicious brunch with Maria & Daniel at our place on Saturday followed by dinner at Fredrik & Jessica's on Saturday evening. Today Sunday, long sleep-in before spending most of the day with the paper or a book in the sunshine on the balcony. Then the weekend's finale; dinner (meat and vegetables on the grill) on the balcony, as you can see in the photo.

Bounce Tribute to Michael Jackson

Remember the great T-mobile commercial from Liverpool Street Station in London? Now Swedish dance group Bounce has made a tribute to Michael Jackson using the T-Mobile concept.

UK-Swedish Relations

The British Ambassador to Sweden, Andrew Mitchell, spoke about UK perspectives and expectations on the Swedish Presidency of the EU, which started on Wednesday.

Funny Guy x 2

Tonight's speaker was Göran Hägglund, leader of the Christian Democrats. I don't agree with his politics at all but as a person he seems very nice and he's also soo witty. He's was almost running the show, taking over from the interviewing journalist as well as the imitator. Who's who in the photo? :-)

Political Fraternising

I'm at the famous political week aka Almedalen on the island of Gotland where the political elites mingle with business and lobbyists (and a few Embassy people). This photo is taken at the grilling of the political party speaker of the evening (each party gets a day each; luckily there are seven parties in Parliament...as of now) after the speech. As my Swedish readers can see tonight's speaker was Mona Sahlin, leader of the Social Democrats. She was really good both in her speech and the interview afterwards, but then again, I'm biased. The imitator Göran Gabrielsson, who's a regular feature on the after-show, was also a hit, especially when he did (Mona's predecessor) Göran Persson!