Swedish News

Better study results with Swedish method. His Royal Highness Daniel. Allow Swedish women to become surrogate mothers. Lasse Hallström makes “Salmon fishing in the Yemen”. Royal wedding – not that interesting. 

• Better results with Swedish method
  Whether you’re a fulltime student or just trying to learn something new, it’s hard to discipline yourself when the sun is shining and the beach is beckoning. But there’s a remedy. Swedish mental trainer Olof Röhlander has created a method he calls AKO, which is supposed to help you get more motivated for physical training, but it works just as well when it comes to mental work. “If you master your own inner dialogue, you take control over your greatest obstacle – yourself,” he says. Fredrik Oldenborg studies to be a doctor and is using the AKO program. “It’s hard because I am always finding excuses not to study. It’s especially hard this time of the year, when the sun is shining and everybody wants to go out for a cup of coffee. There are thousands of temptations. My experience is, that I have failed exams with just a few points because I’ve wasted away a week.” AKO to the rescue! A = Alternative. What alternate ways can you use in order to get through a particular section of your studies? Would mind mapping work? Would working in groups with others work? Could you use a competition or a stopwatch as incentives? Keep your studying varied. K = Karaktär (Character). When you feel like playing hookey, use the moment as a way to build character by telling yourself “each study period is important”. O = Omtolkning (Reinterpretation). Try reinterpreting the conception of “studying”. For instance, allow yourself to listen to your favorite kind of music only when you’re studying, never at any other time. Then “studying” will get a different meaning, and hopefully be more of an attractive pull.

• His Royal Highness Daniel
  Yes, it is now a fact – Daniel Westling will receive the title “HRH” in conjunction with his and Crown Princess Victoria’s wedding. Last weekend the couple and their families gathered for the publishing of the banns of marriage, and the palace then also revealed that Westling will be granted the title His Royal Highness (on top of titles Prince of Sweden and Duke of Västergötland, that is). By raising Daniel’s rank to HRH, Victoria’s former trainer will have the same status as Prince Carl Philip, Princess Madeleine and Princess Lilian. The king’s sisters, Princesses Margaretha, Desirée and Christina, lost their rank after marrying commoners. Since Victoria will be Sweden’s first reigning queen since Ulrika Eleonora in the 18th century, no recent precedent exists for the king to follow when it comes to Daniel’s title.
  
  Allow Swedish women to become surrogate mothers
  Mother’s Day was celebrated the other day in Sweden, and two members of Moderatmännen (Moderate Men, as in Moderate Party, Sweden’s most conservative party) chose to put the spotlight on the surrogate motherhood. “Instead of sending flowers to mother, we want to put the attention on all mothers around the world who want to become surrogate mothers in order to help gay couples and single men become fathers. The debate is a logic consequence of the fight in the 1990’s that gave lesbian women the right to artificial insemination at Swedish hospitals, a fight that is not over as single women are still being this possibility. As earlier arrangements between gay men and their lesbian friends are phasing out, as the women choose Denmark instead or get help to parenthood in Sweden, the only possible way for gay or single men to become fathers is through surrogate mothers.” The Moderatmännen, which is Sweden’s first political group of men only, further believe that Swedish men are constantly discriminated against in court when it comes to custody battles, another reason why surrogate mothers would be preferable to turning to female friends for help, and they think this is a question that should be debated in the upcoming election. “We will do our utmost to get the Moderates that in true liberal spirit broaden the possibilities to parenthood for all citizens.”

• Lasse Hallström makes “Salmon fishing in the Yemen”
  For a man who is reportedly relocating his family to Sweden after many years in the US, Lasse Hallström is sure keeping busy filming. The Swedish film director (and husband of actress Lena Olin, with whom he has a daughter) is making a movie called “Salmon fishing in the Yemen”, starring Ewan McGregor, Kristin Scott Thomas and Emily Blunt. “We begin shooting in England in August,” Hallström says. “It’s a low-key comedy based on a very good script. What Hallström should’ve filmed was “The Danish Girl”, a film about the first gender operation which took place in Denmark, with Nicole Kidman – a project he inherited from Tomas Alfredson, another Swedish film director. But that film has been postponed. “It has been hard schedule wise to find the right actress for the second lead,” explains Hallström. The “Salmon fishing” project was something he inherited from another director, as is often the case in Hollywood. “It came through very recently. The script writer Simon Beaufoy is always writing good stuff, the latest being ‘Slumdog Millionaire’.” Hallström further reveals that his new film is a charming story, which takes place in England and Yemen (“but we will shoot those scenes in Morocco”), and that though Kristin Scott Thomas and Emily Blunt were already onboard when he took over, he had a hand in choosing Ewan McGregor. “I haven’t met him yet, but he is a great actor and seems to be a great guy. This will be fun!”

• Royal wedding – not that interesting
  It’s been reported everywhere, including here, how nearly impossible it is to find a hotel room in Stockholm during the royal wedding. Well, turns out it’s not that bad. The general interest for the wedding is not as big as expected. There are still empty hotel rooms in the Swedish capitol, and many bus- and train tours especially designed to ship people to the wedding have been canceled due to too few people signing up. But there is still expected to be at least one million people out on the streets of Stockholm on June 19.