Swedish News:

The most popular moving day. Most modern brand in Sweden. Stargazing beetles. Many Swedes lack a real friend. Sadness on top. Police confirms Roma register.  

  • H&M, a favorite brand among Swedes and one that’s deemed most ”modern.”
  • The most popular moving day
    If you're in Sweden and about to move, you're not alone. October 1 is the day most Swedes move. One would think that periods during which most Swedes are off work (such as any time during the summer months) would be the most popular time to move, but such is not the case. Instead most choose to pack and prepare for a move during the summer, and then move in the fall. This is nothing new. Ever since the 19th century, October has been a popular migration month for Swedes—it suited the farming society back then. Many agricultural laborers could get out of their one-year contracts only after the September harvest. Perhaps that’s why Swedes still choose to move in October, even though it may complicate things since school and work are back in session. After October 1, the most common days to move are June 1 and August 1; however, July 1 comes in ninth place on the list of popular days to move in Sweden. Says Mattias Ejbe, CEO for Moveria AB, a company that helps people plan and organize a move: ”We think many need a vacation to prepare for a move. Many people use their vacation to pack, clean and take care of administrative things, and then it’s only natural that the day of the move is later on in the year."

  • Swedes Marie Dacke, Emily Baird, and Eric Warrant from Lund University were awarded the Ig Nobel Prize for their discovery that dung beetles navigate using the stars. The dung beetle, known also as a roller, rolls dung into round balls which are used as a food source or brooding chambers.
  • Most modern brand in Sweden
    According to a brand survey performed by Yougov on behalf of Media Company MK, H&M is the brand deemed by city dwellers as ”among their favorites.” H&M is also among the top three brands for attributes such as ”cheap,” ”modern" and ”youthful.” ”H&M has really succeeded here,” says among others Metro’s fashion editor Caroline Sandström. ”It’s very important to have an image that is perceived as modern.” The brand Dressman is also considered by many to be ”cheap,” however at the same time it is a brand that 31 percent of the people say they dislike. The survey is built on a pilot study based on 500 participants, and also on a larger study with 2,000 participants, of whom 50 percent lived in a big city and 50 percent lived outside a city.

  • Organizing, packing, cleaning and stuffing a van full of furniture and stuff? October 1 is the day when most Swedes move.
  • Stargazing beetles
    The Ig Nobel Prizes honor achievements that first make people laugh, then make them think. At this year's gala in Boston, three Swedes were awarded: Marie Dacke, Emily Baird and Eric Warrant from Lund University were given the combined biology and astronomy prize for their discovery that dung beetles navigate using the stars. The researchers had been studying the beetles' ability to roll their balls of dung in straight lines by using the moon as a guide—they use the pattern of polarized light around the moon as a kind of celestial compass. "One night, however, the night was moonless yet we noticed the beetles could still orient in straight lines," said Warrant. "At first we were shocked and worried that our previous experiments using the moon were wrong. But then looking up we saw the broad stripe of light that is the Milky Way and realized they might be using this as a compass cue. This, it turns out, was the case." 
Warrant said other nocturnal navigators such as birds and moths may also use the Milky Way as a compass. And there's a potential practical use too, he added. "The principles we are uncovering in dung beetle navigation may be useful in the design of autonomous vehicles and robots, although this is likely to be few years off." By the way, the “ig” in Ig Nobel Prize, is a play on the words “ignoble” (meaning baseness, lowness or even meanness) and the Nobel Prize.
    For more info: www.improbable.com/ig

  • Many Swedes lack a friend or two to talk to, which in the long run can adversely affect your health. Loneliness in numbers: The question on the survey was, "Not counting your spouse/partner, do you have a close friend that you can talk about anything with?” In total 13.5 percent of the Swedes answered ”no.” 19 percent of the men in smaller municipalities lack a close friend. Of the men living in big cities, the equivalent number was 13.3 percent. 10.5 percent of all women said they lacked close friends. Source: Statistics Sweden
  • Many Swedes lack a real friend
    Nearly one in seven Swedes has no friend to share life with. A new survey from Statistics Sweden confirms Swedish loneliness. To not have a friend may actually be bad for your health, as it adds stress to your body. That’s according to psychologist Daniel Kraft, who works with people who have problems building friendships and relationships. ”We frequently meet crises of different kinds. And we need others to help solve these,” he says. Kraft believes groups and organizations may fill an important function for lonely people. ”It’s a great arena in which to practice having deeper relations,” he says.

  • Melancholy lyrics are the kind that Swedes seem to like the most, according to a recent vote.
  • Sadness on top
    In a vote for ”Svensktoppen,” a record chart at Sveriges Radio, the best lyrics of three songs were highlighted. Among them were Magnus Uggla’s version of ”Jag och min far” (Me and my father). ”Melancholy lyrics in Swedish are always popular with the audience,” says ”Svensktoppen” host Carolina Norén.

  • Police confirm Roma register
    Malmö police confirm they’ve a directory of over 4,000 Roma persons. According to Skånepolisen’s press person Lars Förstell, the directoryhas been created by an employee. ”There is such a directory but it was not created by the authority. We are investigating whether it is a single person or a group of employees behind it. It is not in accordance with regulations,” Förstell says.
    Daily Swwedish DN published information that as many as 4,000 Roma people, also known as Gypsies, have been identified and catalogued by Malmö police. This is something several experts call unconstitutional. ”We have explicitly said that we have five minoroties in this country, whose rights we support, and if we simultaneously investigate them in this manner, then that goes against the constitution,” says Professor Emeritus Olof Ruin, to Expressen. According to DN, the directory includes information about Swedish Roma people’s personal identification numbers, family relations and nationality. Says Lars Fröstell: ”There’s a directory that fits that description, but if it is completely correct is something I cannot say. I have people who are investigating that now.” Fröstell adds that the directory is in a computer system with a great many different folders that many people can access. ”It’s not that strange that we didn’t discover this right away, since it is an extensive data base with a great deal of information. It’s not something that’s sitting there openly on the desk. In order to create this type of directory, one has to have access to the program and also have gone through a special kind of training. It is also not something that’s easily accessible in our computer system so that everyone can see it. That’s the only explanation I can give at the moment.”
    Police are currently gathering information about the directory to try to figure out who created it and when it happened. According to DN, Rikskriminalen (Swedish Federal Bureau of Investigation), länskriminalen i Skåne (Skåne County Criminal Investigation Department), and Kriminalunderrättelsetjänster (Criminal Intelligence agencies), among others, have used the directory. But Fröstell does not yet know if this is correct. ”The people working with data bases can go in and collect and add information,” he says. ”But that doesn’t mean they can see a directory dealing with Roma or other things.” Rikskriminalpolisen are currently investigating this particular issue, Press Secretary Sara Kvarnström says: ”We’re looking into it, to see if we have had any access [to the directory].”
    Recently, the Parliamentary Ombudsman received the first complaint from a private person asking the ombudsman to investigate whether Swedish police have violated the law. ”We’ve just received a complaint via email, and we will consider now how to handle it. We cannot discuss how we will do that, or how the Parliamentary Ombudsman will relate to other regulatory authorities, for instance the Data Inspectorate, in this case,” says Per Lagerud, office manager at the office of the Parliamentary Ombudsman. He believes more complaints will be received.