Posts Tagged ‘Sweden’

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IVF with multiple births leads to small increased risk of mental retardation

July 3, 2013

A new paper describing a Swedish study:

Sandin S et al. Autism and mental retardation among offspring born after in vitro fertilization. JAMA 2013 Jul 3; 310:75. (http://dx.doi.org/10.1001/jama.2013.7222)

Newswise — In a study that included more than 2.5 million children born in Sweden, compared with spontaneous conception, any in vitro fertilization (IVF) treatment was not associated with autistic disorder but was associated with a small but statistically significantly increased risk of mental retardation, according to a study in the July 3 issue of JAMA. The authors note that the prevalence of these disorders was low, and the increase in absolute risk associated with IVF was small. …..

…… A total of 2,541,125 children were alive at 1.5 years of age and had complete data on all the covariates; 30,959 (1.2 percent) were born following an IVF procedure. Autistic disorder was diagnosed in 103 of 6,959 children (1.5 percent) and mental retardation in 180 of 15,830 children (1.1 percent) who were born after an IVF procedure. Cases had an average follow-up time of 10 years, median (midpoint) 14 years.

Analysis of the data indicated that compared with spontaneous conception, any IVF treatment was not associated with autistic disorder but was associated with a small but statistically significantly increased risk of mental retardation, although when restricted to singletons (single births), the risk for mental retardation was no longer statistically significant. “However, the results demonstrated an association between autistic disorder and mental retardation and specific IVF procedures with ICSI related to paternal origin of infertility compared with IVF without ICSI,” the authors write.

“The prevalence of these disorders was low, and the increase in absolute risk associated with IVF was small. These associations should be assessed in other populations.”

 

 

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100 Viking queens to be trapped and transported to England

May 1, 2013

It’s the first of May and May is when they emerge from hibernation and are most abundant in Skåne in southern Sweden. But for some of them the freedom they are enjoying will be short lived.

Trappers from the UK have been given permission to capture 100 queens, refrigerate them to induce an artificial hibernation for travel and then transport them to the UK to “rape and pillage” the country-side and hopefully repopulate parts of Kent. A programme was started in 2009 to reintroduce them to the United Kingdom with queens from New Zealand. However this was not a success as many of the queens died during hibernation. DNA analysis of the New Zealand queens showed they lacked genetic diversity.

The queens of the short-haired bumblebee, Bombus subterraneus, are the unfortunate creatures being hunted. It remains to be seen if the Viking queens fare any better than their Antipodean sisters.

Swedish Radio reports:

British scientists have been allowed to capture and bring home 100 Queens of the short-haired bumblebee, fairly common in Skåne but extinct in England. Bumblebees are needed to pollinate plants and vegetables, said Nikki Gammans from Natural England, who leads this unusual hunt, when she presented the project to a large press contingent  today outside Lund . When the British began this effort last year, it was not everybody who applauded, but the resistance was mainlydue to misunderstandings according to the provincial government in Skåne.

From Natural England:

Short-haired bumblebee (c) Nikki Gammans

Short-haired bumblebee (c) Nikki Gammans

After months of careful planning and negotiations, a team of experts led by Dr Nikki Gammans have embarked on a special mission to bring short-haired bumblebee queens back to the UK from the south of Sweden.

After a period of quarantine, It is hoped the bees can then be released on the RSPB Dungeness reserve in May 2012 and eventually colonise the surrounding area – see press release. …..

…. The Short-haired bumblebee, Bombus subterraneus, was last seen at Dungeness in Kent in 1988 and was officially declared extinct in 2000 after many repeated searches. We believe this bee species along with the other threatened bumblebee species have suffered due to the loss of flower-rich habitats such as meadows.

Over the last 60 years, the UK has lost over 97% of its wild flower meadows due to intensifying agricultural practices. It is also likely that the removal of hedgerows from the UK may have reduced the available nesting and hibernation sites for short-haired bumblebees.

While I can see that such a project could be fascinating and challenging, the purpose of the exercise as described by Natural England is rather vague and fuzzy and well-meaning and not at all very convincing. Vague claims of being “critical” to our farming economy read like a sales pitch. These bumblebees failed to adapt / evolve to survive in the UK. Yet they are being  re-introduced without any actions to make the species more likely – genetically – to survive in its new environment. All that has been done is to create some protected habitat (flower corridors). It seems to me that the “conservation” movement is far too backward-looking and must focus more on helping threatened species to evolve genetically rather than trying to prevent the changes to habitat which are inevitable:

Bumblebees pollinate many important agricultural crops and are critical to our farming economy. More bumblebees = better crop pollination – there is evidence that the shortage of pollinators is reducing crop yields. By creating corridors of flower-rich habitat across Romney Marsh area, we have seen an increase and spread in the numbers of bumblebee species in Kent. Five threatened species, which include England’s rarest bumblebee the shrill carder bee, have all increased their geographic range in this area after decades of decline.

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“Gender neutrality” idiocy in Sweden

April 26, 2013

This is Sweden — (of course) where “gender neutrality” is a religion which transcends realities. Kill the inequality by enshrining the inequality. Vive la différence!

It seems to me that those lacking in intelligence often try to compensate by jumping onto some “politically correct” bandwagon without realising quite how illogical or irrational or ludicrous their pronouncements are. I suppose I am a little square but I take the position that being stupid may be genetic but intentionally displaying that stupidity is the height of obscenity.

I wonder if this “warrior for gender neutrality” – a certain Camille Trombetti –  has at least the intelligence to realise that she has just managed to define a new third gender of transsexual  “freaks” who need to be separated from other “normal” people.

Oh well! I suppose even these mentally disadvantaged must be protected in a caring and compassionate society.

The Local (SE): A Stockholm high school is set to open a third changing room for transsexual pupils and those who don’t want to define themselves as being male or female, a move believed to be the first of its kind in the country.

“It’s for people who aren’t comfortable being divided into gender stereotypes,” Camille Trombetti, who sits on the student council at Södra Latin gymnasium, told The Local. 
She said management at the central Stockholm high school at first welcomed the idea. 
“They were very positive and welcoming but we had to figure out how to do it practically,” said Trombetti, who underlined that the student council has long pushed to expand the rights of LGBT students.

How do they plan to identify who can use the new changing room? The next step could be to ensure that all such “freaks” be registered and bear a clearly visible identifying symbol – a yellow star perhaps.

Or why not have separate changing rooms for

  • women,
  • gay women,
  • women who would like to be men,
  • men who would like to be women,
  • gay men and
  • men.

Would that cover everybody to achieve “gender parity”?

And what should we do about short people?

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Getting confusing – Sweden’s Social Democrats are not the Sweden Democrats – or are they?

April 17, 2013

In Sweden the Sweden Democrats is a  (relatively) new anti-immigrant party with neo-nazi and skinhead roots which is growing in support and has managed to win seats in Parliament. Apart from being anti-immigrant and of blaming all problems in any area on immigration their Parliamentarians have mainly distinguished themselves by regularly getting involved in scandals (old-fashioned hooliganism and drug and alcohol abuse) and subsequently resigning.

Sweden’s Social Democrats on the other hand was founded in 1889, has its roots in the labour movement and was till 2003 the dominant party of Government through the 20th century. It is the party of Tage Erlander and Olof Palme and the largest party in the country and can be credited for most of the social advances made in Sweden. For a left-leaning party they have been remarkable in being very pragmatic and supportive of private manufacturing industry. It is currently in opposition but ought – in the normal course of affairs – to return to power in the 2014 elections.

Unless they can snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.

Right now they seem to be keen on showing the world all their dirty washing and looking for ways to lose the next election.

It is still a party where party decisions are made in back rooms (no longer smoke-filled) by the few who exert the real political power. Within the party it is old fashioned power politics which matter and there is little trace of any real democracy. Lately the twists and turns over getting rid of Mona Sahlin as leader, appointing Håkan Juholt in a coup and then replacing him after a media campaign with Stefan Löfven, indicates that the internal antagonists have been well matched with the advantage shifting between the right/left and the left/left wings of the party. (All the factions are left of centre of course but the field is wide)!

But during the last week the party has shown itself as being particularly inept and the “dirt” from the battle for power has manifested itself as seeming to be racist and anti-immigrant! They appointed an immigrant to their governing board and then the internal fight began and the unfortunate Omar Mustafa was forced to resign less than a week later. But the double whammy for the Social Democrats is that in addition to their dirty washing becoming visible they now look exactly like the party they love to hate – the covertly racist and overtly anti-immigrant Swedish Democrats!

(If I were to be very cynical it could even seem that the Social Democrats are trying to win some of the anti-immigrant vote back from the Sweden Democrats).

 The Local: Embattled Social Democrat Omar Mustafa, who also chairs Sweden’s Islamic Association (Islamiska förbundet), resigned from all his duties with the party on Saturday night, bowing to calls from within the party that he leave the governing board.

“The party leadership believes that having a mandate within the party and within Muslim civil society is incompatible. The party leadership’s view isn’t only regrettable, it’s also a frightening signal to Muslims and other Social Democrats who are people of faith,” he wrote in an open letter. 

“I therefore feel that the party leadership doesn’t have confidence in me and have forced me to resign from all my duties in the party.”

Mustafa, 28, was chosen to sit on the governing board of the left-of-centre opposition party at last weekend’s party congress. Mustafa’s announcement came following a Saturday night crisis meeting among Social Democrats in Stockholm who had previously lobbied to have him included in the party’s governing board.

“Knowing what we know now and considering how events unfolded, the situation became unsustainable. I therefore urged him to resign,” Veronica Palm, chair of the Social Democrats in Stockholm, told TT.  Palm explained that she and her colleagues had nominated Mustafa to the Social Democrats’ governing board because he’d “done a good job” for the party in Stockholm.

The Local continues in its next article:

.. Demonstrator Malika Moor has supported the Social Democrats for 36 years, but said she wouldn’t vote for the party today.

“I don’t understand why it’s come to this. It might be because his name is Omar, because he’s an immigrant, or a Muslim. I really want the Social Democrats to explain this to us,” she told TT.

Meanwhile, 29 active Social Democrats signed an open letter published on Tuesday in the Svenska Dagbladet (SvD) newspaper taking issue with the party’s management of the situation.

According to the authors, it’s unacceptable that someone elected at a party congress should be forced to resign due to unfounded criticism from party colleagues and media hype.

They demand the party leadership distance itself from the accusations directed toward Mustafa and express their confidence in him. The authors also want those who published the unfounded accusations to apologize.

“We state with sorrow and anger that Mustafa was forced to leave the party’s governing board,” they wrote.

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Corruption is rife among municipal politicians and officials – believe Swedes

April 9, 2013

The Swedish Ministry of Finance publishes a report today by their Expert Group on Public Finance which shows that every other Swede suspects that corruption is widespread among municipal politicians and officials. Unlike other parts of the EU, in Sweden local politicians and officials are suspected far more than at national level and around 60% believe that cronyism, bribery and nepotism are common at the municipal level. The study was set up partly in reaction to the Gothenburg corruption scandal.

The report by the expert group consisting of Prof. Anders Bergh, Lund School of Economics, Prof. Gissur Erlingsson, Linköping University, Prof. Mats Sjölin, Linne University and  Richard Öhrvall, Institute of Industrial Research, is published today. The report proposes a system of random independent audits and that information available to the public under transparency regulations must be much more understandable.

I don’t think that the public perception presented here is that far from reality.

Dagens Nyheter: 

Our central proposal for action is for a system of annual external audits of financial statements of a number of randomly selected municipalities. We also suggest that municipal finances disclosures shall be made accessible and that citizens who suspect fraud should be able to request external review of the municipality.

The legal aftermath of the corruption scandal in Gothenburg has now been running for two years. Despite some convictions, it is clear that morally reprehensible behavior does not necessarily lead to prosecution or heavy penalties. The Gothenburg scandal fits well into the general pattern.

In the new report presented today, we argue that corruption problems in Swedish municipalities are in an ethically gray area that does not fall clearly within narrow legal definitions. Corruption is a special case of abuse of power where politicians and officials benefit themselves or their relatives at taxpayers’ expense. Precisely because the boundaries are not clear, it is important that we do not rely only on the law to counter the problems. A positive side effect of the Gothenburg scandal is that the discussion about what we should expect from our elected officials and civil servants seems to have been established on the political agenda. ….. 

….. It is difficult to say if the scandals are exceptions to the image of Sweden as free from corruption problems or is the tip of an iceberg. More newspaper articles, more prosecutions and convictions does not necessarily mean that corruption has become more common. But when more people perceive widespread corruption problems it damages the credibility of democracy. Here Sweden differs from the other Nordic countries: Compared with Denmark, Finland and Norway,  Swedes distrust the honesty of public officials to a much greater extent. Studies show that 9 out of 10 Swedes believe that public officialsbehaviour depends on personal contacts, a remarkably high figure by international standards. The pattern is repeated in several studies. ….. 

Transparency principles are well established in Swedish government. In many municipalities  however, significant parts are run as businesses in corporate form, which often leads to ambiguities of the status of Freedom Of Information principles. Nor is it sufficient that the documents may be requested by anyone. To combat corruption documents must be understandable and encourage reviews and comparisons  with other municipalities. Many municipalities use information technology inspired by the trend in open data. But it rarely occurs in a way that makes it easier for citizens, researchers and journalists to examine, for example, how the municipal councils are using their money, or what municipalities pay for various construction projects. ….

….. An analysis of, say, a dozen municipalities annually may not lead to new scandal revelations. But the audit is a strong reason to avoid precisely the kind of behavior that would be considered problematic if it was discovered. ….

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Apartheid is still alive and well – in Sweden

March 25, 2013

The days of segregating bus passengers by skin colour and their appearance are not just something from the bad old days of the American South or from the days of apartheid in S. Africa. It would seem to be alive and well and practised in Sweden even today. For some it brings back memories of  Bosnia where those with the “wrong” names were selected to be put on the “death-buses”.

Sweden has a population of 9.55 million and around 19.6% or 1.858.000 inhabitants who have a foreign background, defined as being born abroad or being born in Sweden of two parents born abroad. Many sectors of industry and public services are totally dependent upon the “immigrants” as in the rest of Europe. The welfare states of Europe are more and more dependent upon the immigrants of working age who help support the ageing demographics. Overt discrimination in Sweden is probably much less than in many other parts of Europe but it would be quite wring to think that it is absent. The latent dislike of “others” will always be present under the surface but it is the political “respectability” provided by the new fascist or neo-Nazi parties which encourages this “latent” behaviour to openly manifest itself .

Another Kristallnacht somewhere in Europe within the next decade is not unthinkable. And if it happens it may well be in Greece or Germany or Austria but it could also happen further North.

Dagens Nyheter reports (my free translation):

The segregation of people having a different appearance which DN revealed on Saturday is not unique. When Viking Line buses would depart from Örebro, bus drivers  used name-lists to place the “immigrants” on one  bus and “Swedes” on another. “There was absolutely no way that this was random,” said Faruk Smailhodzic.

DN’s articles on how Eckerö Line buses, run by the People Travel Group owned by Veolia, on at least two occasions segregated passengers  according to their skin colour has aroused strong reactions. And now it turns out that Wednesday’s and Thursday’s events are not unique.

On two occasions in December Viking Line drivers had been provided with lists of passengers in order to divide them onto different buses. One list contained the names that appeared to be “Swedish” and other names that appeared to be “foreign”. ….

For one couple it brought back memories of Bosnia. Memories of how some people were selected  while others escaped. “We have experienced of when people are separated and put on a bus and it is not a good feeling. And there was always a feeling that maybe we were not going on any cruise, but maybe somewhere else”, says Faruk Smailhodzic.

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Math and Reading gender differences are not affected by level of gender equality

March 18, 2013

A new paper suggests that  math and reading differences between the genders persist  regardless of a country’s “gender equality” level. Though I am not sure why there should be so much surprise about such a finding. That the genders are fundamentally different – I would have thought – was self-evident. That some of the biological differences between the sexes must lie in the brain also seems obvious. It has always confused me as to why legislation – which should be for ensuring the equality of opportunity between the genders – often tries to suppress or deny gender differences in futile attempts to try and make the genders “equal”. We will – I think – only achieve a real equality of opportunity when we truly understand and acknowledge all the inherent differences between the sexes. Legislation can surely help to address behaviour but it cannot do away with the inherent differences. As Prof. Geary states “Educational systems could be improved by acknowledging that, in general, boys and girls are different.” And I would add that equality of opportunity between the genders has to start by acknowledging that men and women are different. It could well be that “Swedish boys fall behind in reading more so than in most other highly developed nations” just because Sweden spends so much effort to create gender equality by suppressing gender difference.

Stoet G, Geary DC (2013) Sex Differences in Mathematics and Reading Achievement Are Inversely Related: Within- and Across-Nation Assessment of 10 Years of PISA Data. PLoS ONE 8(3): e57988. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0057988

The University of Missouri has a press release:

… even in countries with high gender equality, sex differences in math and reading scores persisted in the 75 nations examined by a University of Missouri and University of Leeds study. Girls consistently scored higher in reading, while boys got higher scores in math, but these gaps are linked and vary with overall social and economic conditions of the nation. 

“Educational systems could be improved by acknowledging that, in general, boys and girls are different,” said David Geary, MU professor of psychological science. “For example, in trying to close the sex gap in math scores, the reading gap was left behind. Now, our study has found that the difference between girls’ and boys’ reading scores was three times larger than the sex difference in math scores. Girls’ higher scores in reading could lead to advantages in admissions to certain university programs, such as marketing, journalism or literature, and subsequently careers in those fields. Boys lower reading scores could correlate to problems in any career, since reading is essential in most jobs.”

Generally, when conditions are good, the math gap increases and the reading gap decreases and when conditions are bad the math gap decreases and the reading gap increases. This pattern remained consistent within nations as well as among them, according to the study by Geary and Gijsbert Stoet of the University of Leeds that included testing performance data from 1.5 million 15-year-olds in 75 nations. The top five percent of scores within nations generally showed girls to be lower in math and boys to be lower in reading. That pattern continued in lower scoring groups until reaching the lowest scoring students, where the math achievement of boys and girls evened out but the reading gap increased, according to Geary.

“The consistent pattern within nations suggests the sex differences are not simply related to socio-economic factors,” said Geary. Socio-economic and cultural factors are important in that they influence the performance of all students, but boys, as a group, respond more strongly than girls, perhaps due to a biological difference in sensitivity to wider conditions.”  For example, in nations with impoverished or violent conditions, boys’ scores tended to fall faster and further than girls. On the other hand, in wealthier, socially stable nations boys’ scores benefitted more than girls. This resulted in boys reducing the reading gap and widening the math gap.

“This finding has important implications for how we interpret the math gap of other countries,” said co-author Gijsbert Stoet of the University of Leeds. “For example, policy makers often take Sweden as an example of being particularly good for reducing the gender gap in science, technology, engineering and math, but they do not realize that Swedish boys fall behind in reading more so than in most other highly developed nations. This is a good example of the inverse relation between the math and reading gaps. This phenomenon urgently needs more attention.” ……

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On being 65!

February 23, 2013

If I’d been out till quarter to three
Would you lock the door,
Will you still need me, will you still feed me,
When I’m sixty-four?

I was 65 last Sunday and still sometimes go out till quarter to three. But I carry a key.

I am now officially “past-it” and this is wonderful. Nothing of earth-shattering significance is any longer expected of me. Anything I can manage to do now makes me an over-achiever.

People ask whether I have “retired” and here in Sweden I am asked if I am a “pensioner”, but I never know how to reply correctly. A “pensioner” is used here as a kind of a label which I find less than flattering. While I have activated some “pensions” as sources of income, I take on consultancy assignments and lecture and write and that also generates some income.  So, yes I have stopped being an “employee” but  no – I have not retired from life  – yet!. I don’t mind if strangers offer me a seat in crowded places!  I don’t mind being called “uncle” when I am visiting India but I’m still getting used to being addressed as “the old man” or as “Grandfather”. I am expected to be opinionated – which I was anyway. My natural arrogance is less offensive or perhaps I have mellowed and have lost some of my cutting edge. I am not dishevelled but I don’t worry much about how I look any more or if my colour combinations are bizarre. I only need to – or wish to – wear a tie once or twice a month. I can even get away with wearing my old shoe-string ties from the 60’s or broad flowered ties from the 70’s. If I could have gotten into some of my old bell-bottomed trousers I would have (and I don’t know why I am still preserving them). I get reminders about influenza vaccinations but they don’t convince me. I get diabetes diets sent to me by post and e-mail but they don’t offer anything better than what common sense tells me. I get special health insurance offers but they are just junk-mail. Investment opportunities for “seniors” come through tele-marketeers or drop through the letter box but I suspect that they use “senior” as a euphemism for “senile”.

Back in my youth when I turned 60 my son – very dispassionately – said to me, “You studied for 20 years , worked for 40 and you have 20 years left. Why would you want to do anything you did not want to?”. At that time I was deciding whether to continue working for a large multi-national or to do my own thing. With the question formulated as my son did, the answer became a “no-brainer”. Well I have been doing what I wanted to since then. Now I have 15 years to go and don’t intend to do anything I don’t want to. I may be past-it but the list of things I want to do – and can do – keeps expanding. Fifteen years won’t come close to being long enough to get through the entire list so I will have to make priorities. Paradoxically, I am in no rush though.

I wrote my first book a couple of years ago and 3 more are burgeoning in my head. I want to get at least a couple of these written and published. I have idle thoughts about combining onions and red chillies with management theory. It will have to be a cookery book on odd numbered pages and management analogies on even numbered pages! That will take some doing and I have no idea  – yet – of how to make it work. I must still organise my books and establish my “library”. I have still to be fully converted to Kindle. Over the years I have visited some 100 countries while “on business” but now I want to see some of those places without the constraints of having “business” to do. I want to retrace my father’s steps in 1942 when he journeyed 3000 miles to freedom and that is a major project spanning 6 countries which may take a year or so to set up. I want to continue lecturing and especially to young graduates as long as I can still maintain relevance and connect with them. I want to continue holding workshops and seminars for managers as long as I can stay abreast of what is happening in industry and I can add value. I want to drive slowly across what was once called Eastern Europe but I have no desire to sacrifice comfort while doing so. I want to go on a leisurely safari in South Africa. I would like to cruise to the Galapagos and Easter Island. I would like to participate – for a day or two – in an archaeological dig. I would like to truly find a fossil in the field (and not from a museum shop).

I don’t believe in catastrophe theories. Generations to come will solve their own problems far more effectively than us trying to anticipate and eliminate their challenges. The world is far from perfect. But more people are being fed and clothed then ever before in the history of humanity. The glass is more than half-full.

To be without the burden of the expectations of others is a luxury and being 65 looks like fun!

The world is lovely, dark and deep,
But I have promises to keep
and miles to go before I sleep

(apologies to Robert Frost)

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Swedish justice system in free fall as serial killer who never was is cleared

February 1, 2013

The Swedish justice system not only looks ridiculous today but also apparently deals with something other than justice.

As a film script it would not be considered even for a C-movie. But the Swedish justice system seems to have conspired and cheated and framed a man as a serial killer for 28 murders and had him convicted and imprisoned for 8 of them. Gullible judges and a conspiracy-ridden prosecution service would seem to be the stars of this circus.

As a comment on the article at The Local puts it:

…..  He was then asked a series of blatantly leading questions, and his ramblings presented to a rather gullible judge as his “confessions”. The prosecution probably only stopped at 28 murder “confessions” because they had run out of unsolved murders that occurred during Mr Quick’s adulthood. One wonders if they considered sub-contracting him out to other countries to clear up their cold-case load too.

The small prosecution team made their careers on this charade, and to this day, have important and well-paid jobs in government, justice and medicine. …..

….. This is a scandal of titanic proportions that brings great shame on Sweden. On top of the Assange case, jurists from other countries must be wondering what on Earth is going on here.

I find the whole case fantastic since I usually associate the Swedish justice system with undue leniency and as requiring an unreasonable level of evidence. Criminals acting in concert have been known to get away even with murder by blaming each other. But this case turns all my perceptions on their heads.

Swedish Wire: A Swedish man long considered Scandinavia’s worst serial killer was formally acquitted Friday of the 1988 murder of a nine-year-old Norwegian girl, a Swedish court said.

Sture Bergwall had in March been granted a new trial for the murder of Therese Johannesen, but the prosecutor decided to drop that case last month due to lack of evidence, effectively acquitting him.

“The prosecutor’s decision to drop the indictment should be the basis for the assessment of this case. In light of that … the acquittal is authorised in accordance with Sture Bergwall’s claim,” court documents read.

Bergwall, who for many years was known as Thomas Quick, is serving a life term in a psychiatric institution after being convicted of eight murders committed between 1976 and 1988.

YahooNews: 

On Friday, a court in northern Sweden granted a retrial for Sture Bergwall in two murder cases from 1976 and 1984, citing doubts over confessions he made in the ’90s but which he has since withdrawn.

Bergwall’s five other murder convictions have already been overturned.

Bergwall, now 62, told AP on Friday that he had lied about the murders “to make myself interesting,” and while being under the influence of heavy medication.

His lawyer Thomas Olsson said that if Bergwall is cleared at the retrials he could be released later this year.

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The real Sweden peeks out from under the hate-mongers

January 24, 2013

Over the last decade or so the sometimes virulent anti-immigration rhetoric has obscured the reputation of Sweden as a land of opportunity for innovators and one offering sanctuary to the politically oppressed and has hidden the reality that:

Immigration has been a major source of population growth and cultural change throughout much of the history of Sweden. 

But once in a while a story such as this one reassures my faith that the real Sweden is  not only still present – but alive and well and thriving. And it can be found wherever one looks – just under the surface but sometimes hidden by noisy rabble and hooligans wielding iron bars.

The Local:

A small-town shopkeeper’s folksy Facebook greeting to newly-arrived Syrian refugees kicked off a big-time media frenzy that continues to reverberate, making Bo Oskarsson of Kaxås our pick for Swede of the Week.

Oskarsson’s unexpected ascent to nationwide recognition began with a humble posting on the Facebook page of the Ica grocery store he runs in Kaxås, a small village in Offerdal, nestled among the hills and forests of the northwestern Swedish county of Jämtland.

“We welcome all those newly arrived from Syria and we hope that you’ll enjoy beautiful Offerdal,” read the post, published on January 18th. …

… By Tuesday, Oskarsson had been featured in several Swedish newspapers, prompting comments from celebrities and commentators mystified over the fact that more Swedes seemed to be talking about a local grocery store than news that Swedish Equality Minister Nyamko Sabuni was stepping down.

“Every now and again you catch a glimpse of a hero. First time I’ve been proud to have an Ica-card,” tweeted author and comedian Jonas Gardell along with a link to the story.

While most of the attention was positive, Oskarsson also found himself the target of criticism and threats from those critical of Swedish refugee policies.

“Someone wrote that I should be hung from a lamp post,” he told the Aftonbladet newspaper.

…. Oskarsson sees the refugees as a needed boost for the area’s dwindling population, but remains baffled that his Facebook experiment has engaged people across the country. 
“We only created the page to make it easier to publicize offers to our regular customers,” he said before hastily drawing the conversation to a close. 
“I’ve been doing interviews for four days and need to get back to work.”

Of course the loony far-right and their hangers-on are appalled and have stepped up their hate campaign. They would rather not acknowledge that it is the inflow of immigrants which is vital to the future demographics of Sweden. It allows the number of people in the working population to increase. Without this there would be an unsustainable shrinkage of the working-age population as the Central Statistics Bureau writes:

Net migration to Sweden has by and large been positive since the 1930s. As a consequence the number of foreign-born people has risen. The number of people who are born abroad is presumed to increase during most of the forecast period at about the same rate as observed in the last preceding decades. In 2005, 12.4 percent of the population was born abroad. According to the forecast, this percentage is expected to increase to 18.5 percent in 2050. …. The number of people of working age (20-64 years old) is rising but the proportion of people of working age is shrinking. The cause of the shrinking proportion despite an increase in numbers, is mainly that the number of people aged 65 and over is increasing much more relative to other age groups.

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Posted in Behaviour, Politics, Sweden | Comments Off on The real Sweden peeks out from under the hate-mongers

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