Swedish News

Cast your Swedish vote in the USA. Swedish April slightly shower-less. Brad Pitt + Carey Mulligan = US Millenium remake? Most medicine for rich municipalities. April Fool’s joke can become a bike bridge. Brita Borg has died. 

  • Cast your Swedish vote in the USA.
    Born in Sweden? If you are eligible to vote in the next elections, be sure your information is filed in time. In the last Swedish national elections in 2006, votes cast by Swedish citizens living abroad increased by 25%, and officials expect another increase this year. If you are qualified to vote, you can do so by mail or vote directly at Swedish embassies and consulates. It's important to remember that voters who live abroad must report their foreign address to the Swedish Tax Authority (Skatteverket) no later than June 15. A newly recorded foreign address applies for ten years, so first time voters as well as Swedes who have not re-reported their current foreign address within the last ten years should do so immediately.
    Questions, forms or help can be found from the Swedish Election Agency by telephone at + 46 8 635 69 00 or at the nearest Swedish Embassy or Consulate. The first day to vote by mail is Aug. 5. Other timetables and information can be found at www.val.se. Source: Swedish Election Agency (Valmyndigheten)
    For links to local Swedish representations in the U.S. see end of article under http://www.nordstjernan.com/news/people/1991/

  • Swedish April slightly shower-less.
    Warm and dry weather was the average throughout Sweden last month. April in Sweden was warmer than normal, but the temperature range was from 70º F (+21º C) to -29º F (-21º C) ...a staggering 99º F (42º C) gap. Summer arrived on April 26 in Skåne, which was over two weeks earlier than normal. Although temperatures were on the average slightly above normal, April was a relatively dry month.
    Even though cold and unstable weather is expected in the southern areas of the country during the coming weeks, it is not expected for summer weather in general to backtrack from where it has already blossomed. The rest of Sweden is deep in springtime weather except for the mountainous terrain, where winter snows continue to fall and temperatures below zero persist.
    Source: www.smhi.se

  • Brad Pitt + Carey Mulligan = US Millenium remake?
    Word from England has it that British actress Carey Mulligan is ardently seeking to play the role of Lisbeth Salander in the upcoming David Fincher remake of “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” with a script written by Steve Zaillian. Sony and producer Scott Rudin are gung-ho about this project based on Stieg Larsson’s globally bestselling Millenium Trilogy. They also know that the three hit Dragon Tattoo Swedish films have built a huge worldwide fan base. According to Indie Wire, a movie news sight, rising star Mulligan is a strong bet (although an unknown actress is also a possibility) but at least she is European. Brad Pitt is of course not a European but that doesn’t seem to be an issue. Pitt will see the script when it comes in June 1. The American version of the script is still set in Sweden, and according to Indie Wire, accents are to be expected. Look forward to hearing Brad Pitt sounding like a Swede!

  • Most medicine for rich municipalities.
    Talk about different worlds. Impotence, problems with menopause and migraine are most common on Stockholm’s Östermalm. And in Danderyd there are more bacterial infections than anywhere else. Does this sound odd or what? Many reports show that lately Swedish healthcare isn’t as equal as we would like to believe. If you have dementia, chances are you get better prescriptions if you’re well educated. If you’re struck with cardiac insufficiency, and you’ve never been to college or you were born abroad, chances are you’ll get cheaper medicine, whereas those with a higher education, and those born in Sweden are given newer, more expensive medicines. Richer Swedes have bypass surgeries two to three times as often as poorer Swedes. A new study shows that those with money receive the most expensive care during their last years, too. When researchers at Karolinska Institute took a closer look at the care people receive during their last years in life, they saw that the richest group received the most expensive care, and the difference between them and the rest of the population is marked. “That people in Danderyd, Täby, and Lidingö should have more difficult bacterial infections than the folks living in Huddinge, Tyresö, Botkyrka and Salem is quite unlikely,” says Dr. Christer Norman. “It’s actually the other way around. In general, one can say that people with better socio-economy are healthier than the rest.” Norman is a Strama board member. Strama, a strategic group working for a more rational usage of antibiotics in order to reduce resistance to antibiotics, has as one of its national goals to get antibiotics prescription down to a maximum of 250 prescriptions per 1000 inhabitants and year. In 2009 there were fewer prescriptions written than the year before, but Strama is still far from their goal. In Upplands-Väsby, Danderyd, and Lidingö, there were 450 antibiotics prescriptions per 1000 inhabitants and year. “I don’t know if you can say you get better care in these municipalities,” Norman continues. “The opposite seems to be the case. The more antibiotics you consume, the higher your risk for resistant bacteria. And that also increases the risk for society in general.”

  • April Fool’s joke can become a bike bridge.
    It was just an April Fool’s joke in the local newspaper. Or was it? Barometern, the local Kalmar newspaper, printed a funny joke on April 1st, when it stated that now, since you’re no longer allowed to bike over the Öland Bridge, a bike lane will be added to the bridge, and it will hang on the side much like a flowerbox on a balcony. Many people want to bike on the island of Öland in summertime, the flatness of the island is perfect for biking, but in order to do so you must haul your bike over on a bus. Vägverket (the Swedish Road Administration) is now looking into the idea of hooking a suspended biking lane to Ölandsbron. “It might sound like a strange idea, but we thought we should look into it,” says Vägverket’s Lennart Ivarsson. “Everything’s possible thanks to technology.” However, don’t expect the flower box solution to become a reality this summer.

  • Brita Borg has died.
    Popular singer and revue artist Brita Borg has died in Borgholm. Borg began working with Povel Ramel, first in radio and later in his Knäppupp revues during the 1950-1960’s. Ramel wrote many songs especially for her, among them “Fat Mammy Brown” and “Die Borg”. Borg was also a member of the song group Flickery Flies, and had a hit with the song “Ljuva sextital” in 1969. During the 1970’s Borg began working more in musicals and operettas, she played Annine Oakley in “Annie Get Your Gun” with Riksteatern in 1973. Brita Borg was 83 years old.