The Almost Nearly Perfect People: Behind the Myth of the Scandinavian Utopia
Though the Nordic people have largely grown out of religion, boasting the lowest church attendance of all the Christian countries, and though its impact on society today is little discussed, their particular form of Christianity, Lutheranism, has been a formative influence
Michael Booth • The Almost Nearly Perfect People: Behind the Myth of the Scandinavian Utopia
(In fact, when talking all this over with my Danish publisher, he said that it was the Swedes he really trusted the most. “They simply don’t have the imagination to lie or cheat,” he said.)
Michael Booth • The Almost Nearly Perfect People: Behind the Myth of the Scandinavian Utopia
By the end, virtually all the media—from the state-run TV and radio, to private TV channels and newspapers—was under the control of people closely affiliated to the ruling Independent Party. Even the National Economic Institute was abolished in the late 1990s after publishing one too many reports questioning the direction in which the country was
... See moreMichael Booth • The Almost Nearly Perfect People: Behind the Myth of the Scandinavian Utopia
“Sweden is the enemy you love to hate, and hate to love,” Neil Hardwick told me.
Michael Booth • The Almost Nearly Perfect People: Behind the Myth of the Scandinavian Utopia
hundreds of thousands of Finns are hooked on the anxiety and insomnia drug benzodiazepine. More worryingly still, they have the third highest rate of gun ownership in the world (after the United States and Yemen); the highest murder rate in western Europe; and are famously hard and reckless drinkers as well as enthusiastic suicidalists.
Michael Booth • The Almost Nearly Perfect People: Behind the Myth of the Scandinavian Utopia
“The American wants the freedom to do, the Swede wants the freedom to be.”
Michael Booth • The Almost Nearly Perfect People: Behind the Myth of the Scandinavian Utopia
The trust is based, on my understanding, on the welfare state, period. You trust your neighbor because you know your neighbor is paying tax just like you are, and when that neighbor gets sick, they get the same treatment as you, they go to the same school. That is trust: that you know that, regardless of age, sex, fortune, family background or
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Their greatly reduced circumstances bound the Danes together more tightly as a tribe than any of the other Nordic countries.
Michael Booth • The Almost Nearly Perfect People: Behind the Myth of the Scandinavian Utopia
The Oil Fund is arguably modern Norway’s greatest single achievement—the ultimate expression of Nordic self-discipline and control, and a paragon of responsible fiscal stewardhip. This brilliantly managed, tightly controlled wealth fund is the envy of every oil-producing nation—not to mention every non-oil-producing nation—in the world. The man
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