Swedish News:

The Royal family - now on Facebook. Lasse Brandeby has passed away. No ginger snaps for Nybro children. 

  • The Royal family – now on Facebook
    Finally, after many requests from the public, the Swedish royal family is now on Facebook. “Since many have asked, we’ve now connected our web site to Facebook,” says Bertil Ternert, Director of the Information and Press Department at the Royal Court. “We want information to get out faster and also brief people about the 11 royal palaces.” Ternert says the Royal Court’s website has gone from having 4,000 visitors daily to 10,000 visitors daily. The Swedish royal family took a hint or two from the Norwegian royals who have been Facebook regulars for some time. But Facebook in all honor, how about some royal twitter? “I don’t want to say anything about that right now,” Ternert continues, and reveals that everybody in the royal family is interested in information technology.
    www.kungahuset.se or, for the Swedish speaking: http://www.facebook.com/Kungahuset

  • Lasse Brandeby has passed away
    Swedish actor, comedian and journalist Lasse Brandeby has died. Brandeby, who was born in Göteborg’s Majorna district in 1945, made his acting debut in the early 1980’s at Nationalteatern in Göteborg, and developed the quirky Kurt Olsson-character – with which he became known and loved throughout Sweden. Brandeby was a versatile man; an engineer, journalist, teacher and actor who also worked for the radio. He sang with Siw Malmkvist, acted with Eva Rydberg and Hagge Geigert and did vaudeville shows with Kent Andersson. Brandeby also participated in the 2007 “Let’s dance” (the Swedish equivalence of “Dancing with the Stars”). Brandeby was treated for kidney problems last summer. He was 66 years old.

  • No ginger snaps for Nybro children
    Ginger snaps (pepparkakor) and Lucia buns (lussekatter) means Christmas for all Swedes, and for school children it is usually part of the “julbak” (Christmas bake) that takes place every year in schools all over Sweden. But the children in Nybro can forget about it, local authorities want to save money and have decided there will be neither baking nor any Christmas crafts for the children. “Apart from the fact that it is terrible to take away Christmas from the youngest, it is also a piece of cultural heritage that we’re losing,” says Mikael Jörgenstam, a Nybro local. Now the people of Nybro have decided to collect money to make sure the children can bake anyway.