Rick´s News

I don´t care if you call me a Grumpy Old Man which really only means you find my reasoning or complaining irritating, not necessarily untrue. 20 years younger and the epithet would have been ”Messerschmidt” the Swedish equivalent of ”Besserwisser” which means, well you know.  There are politer ways of pointing out a person of experience and using one of these derogatory terms rather implies that the person at the receiving end of all this wisdom is probably not too happy with a condescending attitude rather than anything else. Yes, the cap fits and I´m wearing it!

I have lived in Sweden since 1971 which is probably longer than most Swedes. When I first came here from the UK one of the things that impressed me was the free movement of Scandinavian or more correctly Nordic nationals within the Nordic Countries. I suppose some rudimentary form of identification would have been required in some instances but I observed that fellow passengers mostly just waved their boarding cards exuding Scandinavian, or more correctly Nordic, self assurance..

My passport had expired and I had sent in an application for a new one, together with the necessary documentation and my old passport, to the British Embassy in Stockholm. No sooner said and done when my boss came to me and said he wanted me to fly to Oslo for a meeting and return the same day. Making excuses, however valid, are not recipes for successful careers so I nodded in compliance. My day return was from Örebro airport to Oslo Fornebu. The journey there went without a hitch. At Fornebu I waved my boarding card and exclaimed ”från Örebro” as if I didn’t´t have a care in the world.  If there was any doubt in the immigration (border control is the term nowadays I have noticed) officers´s mind it might have been, ”I wonder which part of Sweden he comes from, strange dialect?”  Well, I´d made it to the meeting which was the important thing.  Örebro airport was a lot busier on my return with 2 aeroplanes on the tarmac. There was no waving any boarding pass this time and my attempts at a casual ”från Oslo” were met by a question in English. Without thinking I also reverted to English immediately realising my mistake. ”Where is your passport?” ”I don´t have it with me;” I replied. ”In that case I am afraid you can´t come to Sweden” ”But I live here,” I said almost in desperation. Without hesitation he let me through. I will of course never know exactly why. What I do know is that his decision was based on trust, a currency somewhat devalued these days.

”Lagom”  The most Swedish of words. Understand this and you will understand Sweden.

Quite a statement, right?  ”Lagom” is translated into English thus: moderate, good enough, adequate and maybe one or two more. (An unkind translation would be mediocre or average but that would be missing the dartboard altogether.)  Linguistically speaking none of these translations do it justice. Much like eating chocolate with the paper on.

”Lagom” is a euphemism for doing it right. ”Lagom” represents the art of doing whatever is necessary, using the correct tool at the right time with the right amount of force or application by the person best suited to do the job and thereby get the desired results. More than adequate and no room for mediocrity, yet all hidden in a little word that offends no-one.

”Yes you did, no I didn’t” followed by ”You did, no I didn’t´. I think for most of us this type of conversation is more reminiscent of the time we hadn’t acquired too many social skills and quite prepared to hit the other kid on the head with a plastic spade for lying or, telling the truth whatever the case may be. Most of us have come a long way since then, so much so that we realise that this kind of behaviour will not open very many doors. To me there seems little doubt that this type of behaviour actually opened one door, making Donald Trump probably the most talked about man on the planet.

Sweden is no exception, neither when it comes to talking about Trump nor being used as a tool to justify his politics in the US. There may be some poetic justice here, considering the immigration debate in Sweden. On the one hand everything is hunky dory with ”New Swedes” (new as opposed to old where old is not the opposite of young) on their way to work in blue and yellow hijabs, on the other the looming destructure of a society and a people. No, to be fair not many people in Sweden believe either. Most Swedes are well enough educated to point out Europe on a map and even Sweden. On my travels I have noticed that that is not always the case in countries that don´t play soccer and have never heard of Zlatan Ibrahimovic, the Swede in everybody´s heart here. Say no more!

This is Sweden, so the borderlines for the extreme right or the extreme left have to be moved inwards a bit. Leaving out the loony left and the loony right makes things somewhat easier, less noisy and definitely less hypocritical. Adapting to a changing world which includes taking in refugees, is not a bone of contention either. Not that surprising considering Sweden´s commitment to the EU not to mention Sweden´s reliance on exporting its products. Swedes like to say ”in Sweden we have a system” which expresses discreet pride in the country´s achievements i.e. a generous and well functioning welfare state. Now we arrive at the heart of the matter. ”The Swedish System” is something a self preserving politician here just has to embrace but not necessarily refrain from pointing out weaknesses and possible solutions even to the point of giving Donald Trump a point.  Yes Mr President you´re quite right. Look at Sweden. It´s called Democracy.

Well, it’s a funny old world that´s for sure. As a start that remark opens up a whole Pandoras box of responses which I will hopefully be able to tick off one by one as this newly started blog develops. As a computer/internet autodidactic you will as a reader just have to bear with me. Eventually I will be getting around to fixing and displaying a little more information about myself. I managed to squeeze in a photo, which was taken in Valparaiso last year and also indicates a few things about my person. I love to travel, have very little hair and am always wondering where I am going. If you can see a bottle in the picture, well, yes I love beer. On a more serious note I feel myself to be a true European with 3 countries I call home which of course is not plausible, thus Europe (EU) is my home. Why I write in English? There are several reasons, the most important being that it is the language I feel most comfortable with and don´t have to ask my wife to check the spelling although she does proof read with annoyingly good suggestions. More about me at a later date.

Two things attracted my attention in the news here in Sweden recently. Jämtland, a Swedish county, challenges the law concerning the distribution of refugees. Nothing new I thought as quite a few local councils had earlier voiced their discontent with being forced to receive a minimum number of refugees/asylum seekers. A law passed by the Swedish government to ensure costs are more fairly shared around the country. Apparently this law is very specific and regulates not only a minimum number of people but also a maximum number. Jämtland is one of several rural counties in Sweden that has a decreasing population and now sees its chance to do something about that by taking in a larger quota of refugees but is being thwarted by a law intended to do the opposite. ”We need these people” Well, whatever we´re talking about, as much as ”Pipe Dream” Swedish Democrats would like to have it, it is not xenophobia.

I have nicknamed the Swedish Democrats (populist party) ”Pipe Dream” as leading members were once filmed on the streets of Stockholm brandishing iron pipes to be used for whatever purposes only they can tell but conjures up nasty political images in my mind. ”Pipe Dream” as an expression also fits in nicely with with SDs political platform. In short, in Sweden, it will not work but remain a pipe dream. I am still convinced that we will not be seeing their leader Jimmie Åkesson as prime minister but hardly thanks to the political establishment who seem to have been doing whatever possible to increase SDs popularity. SD has been completely ignored and treated like something the cat dragged in. It seems to me that many Swedish voters do not like being told who or who not to vote for at the same time being refused a discussion on what worries them. This has resulted in a 17% mouse. Today Swedish minister for Justice and Migration, Morgan Johansson, debated with SD politician Mattias Karlsson about what is true about Trump´s words on Sweden. Back to normal? Then maybe we can soon chuck that mouse in the bin.

Ironically leader of the opposition, Anna Kinberg Batra suggested talks with SD a few weeks ago. Her party´s popularity decreased as a result. It´s a funny old world, that´s for sure.

Ricksnyheter is a pun on Riksnyheter which in Swedish means national news. Now you know.