Malcolm McLaren headlines at FutureDesignDays conference in Stockholm.

The list of adjectives that has been used to describe Malcolm McLaren, the notorious manager of punk rock band the Sex Pistols, is long, and not entirely pretty. McLaren was one of the headliners at the sixth annual FutureDesignDays conference in Stockholm this week.

He was joined in Stockholm by a motley crew of artists, architects, fashionistas, and other creative types that travelled from all over the world to contemplate the future of design.
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 “I’ve been accused of being many, many things… a con man, a charlatan, a thief, a murderer, a person inadvertently responsible for turning British culture into nothing more than some cheap marketing gimmick. But I’ve never ever been accused of being an artist,” the sixty-year-old Brit told The Local.

After dropping out of London art school in the early 1970s, McLaren has dabbled in a variety of creative mediums ranging from fashion design to music. And whatever others may think, McLaren considers himself to be an artist – although for him this does not necessarily mean picking up a paintbrush.

“I developed the art of provocation. I got rid of the idea of objective beauty as the classical vision of art. And I turned art into anything you wanted it to be,” he explained.

“What I had gathered and learned in art school, I was just carrying on. You could do it as the manager of a surrogate pop group that you could call the Sex Pistols and you could make these young sexy little assassins go off and create terrorist acts for the cultural good of the planet.”

With a grandmother who loved Christian Dior and a grandfather who was a tailor, McLaren was exposed to fashion at an early age. But in spite of these early experiences, or perhaps because of them, McLaren is very wary of what he calls the “treadmill.”
“I don’t really think it’s an interesting life to be on that treadmill and have to come up with next season’s big thing,” he said.

“If it wasn’t art enough, if it didn’t have a philosophy that had an inbuilt subversive quality and had all the style and sexuality to sell it…it just wasn’t worth doing. I wasn’t interested in fashion for fashion’s sake,” he said.

In 1971, McLaren and his girlfriend Vivienne Westwood opened their first clothing shop, Let it Rock, on the King’s Road in London.

“Vivienne just wanted to be a successful fashion designer, and I helped her because she was such a brilliant foot soldier in the beginning,” McLaren reminisced. “And I did that for ten years. But ultimately I had to part because it just wasn’t intellectually interesting enough for me. And to be perfectly honest, I couldn’t emotionally connect.”

Although McLaren was perhaps the most well known and infamous personality descending on Stockholm for FutureDesignDays, he was not the only big name there. Other speakers included Japanese fashion designer Tsumori Chisato and British fashion stylist Alexia Somerville, who has dressed stars such as Robbie Williams and Pink.

FutureDesignDays was initially held in Borås in 2001, organized by FutureLab, a business development and communications agency based in western Sweden. The event took off and was moved to the vast Stockholm International Fairs exhibition centre in the capital in 2004.

Other highlights of this year’s event included the FutureDesignDays Award, which is presented to up-and-coming young designers. The winner of the 50,000 kronor award was the Swedish industrial design firm, FolkForm, with designers Anna Holmquist and Chandra Ahlsell picking up the cheque at a ceremony in the Blue Hall of Stockholm City Hall on Monday night.

Holmquist and Ahlsell experiment with innovative uses of natural materials. For instance, they have embedded a real butterfly in a masonite tabletop, aiming to create a “permanent organic decoration” on their furniture.

The other nominees for the FutureDesignDays Award were Cheap Monday, RAW Sweden, and Norwegian designer Marius Watz.

Cheap Monday, a rock-n-roll inspired Stockholm-based jeans label, has received notoriety in its own right. Last year, it came under fire in the American media due to the supposed anti-Christian messages communicated by its logo, a skull with an upside down cross on the forehead.

“We received some emails stating that we were going to burn in hell,” said assistant designer Carl Malmgren. “But it’s not an anti-Christian statement, and the logo is actually a Mexican symbol from the beginning. It looks a lot like the Day of the Dead skulls.”

Like McLaren, the self-proclaimed agent provocateur, Malmgren explained that for Cheap Monday, it has become “a provocative thing. Like an aesthetic rather than a political statement.”

Although attention the brand received from the Christian right was initially unintentional, Malmgren admitted, “we’re enjoying it.”

Charlotte West  Published: 15th November 2006 16:01 CET
Online: http://www.thelocal.se/5519/

According to EU survey 77% of homes in Sweden have access to the Internet.

Swedish Internet access compares very well to that of other European countries, according to data released today by Eurostat. The European statistics office looked at access to the Internet in the EU25, as well as Norway and Iceland, for the first quarter of 2006.
For the period in question Sweden recorded more regular Internet users, 80 per cent, than any other European country.

A full 77 per cent of households in Sweden have access to the Internet. Only the Netherlands and Denmark, 80 and 79 per cent respectively, have more homes hooked up to the net.

Finland pipped Sweden to third spot when it came to broadband connections. Again the Netherlands led the pack with 66 per cent of its population wired up to high speed connections. Sweden’s 51 per cent was enough for fourth position.

Latvia, at 80 per cent, had the lowest proportion of businesses with Internet access. The equivalent figure for Sweden was 96 per cent.

Swedes and Danes in the 55-74 age range are active Internet users, with 56 per cent of the older group spending time online. In Greece only 4 per cent of people in this age group used the Internet.

Across the European Union more men (51%) than women (43%) use the Internet regularly. The corresponding figures for Sweden were 84 per cent of man and 76 per cent of women.

The last month has seen Sweden gripped by farmer fever.

TV4's Bonde söker fru (The Farmer Wants a Wife) has proved a barnstorming success and has already overtaken Idol 2006 as TV4's most popular programme.

Over 1.5 million Swedes plonk themselves in front of the telly twice a week to watch four lucky farmers interact with a bevy of potential wives.
It all began in May when viewers were presented with eight farmers and asked to write to the one they most admired. The four farmers who got the most replies are the ones who will continue to grace our screens until late November.

Once Andreas, Marcus, Mikael and Per Martin had cast a critical eye over their fan mail they in turn selected a group of favourites. These female admirers then came to the farm to try to win the heart of their farmer of choice.

But were these single women ready for life on a farm? Would hearts melt when they encountered their favourite farmer in the flesh? Would the farmers regret the whole thing and wish they were back with their pigs and potatoes? Or would love blossom and wedding bells ring?

Enough people were interested in finding out to make the whole endeavour more than worthwhile for TV4. Nor did the channel walk blindly into the project. The Farmer Wants a Wife has already achieved a top rating for channels in Norway, Belgium and the Netherlands.

The series has now passed the half-way mark and the farmers have managed to separate the wheat from the chaff. They are each left with four potential wives.

Lars Höök from the Federation of Swedish Farmers has long understood the lure of the farmer. In 2001 his organisation launched a farmers’ calendar, which went down so well with punters that it needed to be reprinted three times in its first year.

He is planning to watch The Farmer Wants a Wife for the first time today.

"I have heard it is quite good. It is not like your average reality show. It is more serious and the intention seems to be to make a good quality programme," Höök told the Local.

"The impression I've got is that they portray farming as it really is. They do not try to make a fool of the farmers, who are just ordinary guys who would like to find a wife"

Höök has some theories regarding the concept's popularity.

"The farmer has a cult status in society. In a globalised world, where everything is moving so fast, people look for things that are stable and mature. And it doesn't get much more stable and mature than a farmer."

The growth in farmers' popularity is not all that new, according to Höök. He points to the success of the Swedish film The Guy in the Grave Next Door, a sort of farmer-meets-librarian romantic comedy, which is still doing well on the rental charts four years after its release.

"Then I think that after 9/11, when there was so much focus on terrorism and fear, a lot of people went back to basics. In a complex world farming is understandable to people."

Finally, Höök reminds us that Swedish urban development came quite late.

"There is a little farmer in all of us," he said.

"Sometimes that farmer gets bigger in our hearts. It comforts us."

According to Swedish Radio's Kulturnyttat, the change will take place at the beginning of 2007

The opposition Social Democrats have said they will fight against the reforms.
"We want to have culture policies for everyone and we noticed that this has been greatly appreciated," said Margareta Israelsson, a Social Democrat member of the parliamentary culture committee.

The vice chairman of the committee, Cecilia Wikström (Liberal Party) said she was surprised by the announcement and asked for a full analysis. She pointed to research from the Swedish National Council for Cultural Affairs, which found that 70% of Swedes were in favour of free museum entry.

Writing in Dagens Nyheter, 19 museum bosses have demanded that free entry remains in place.

The Alliance parties made clear before the election their view that free entry to museums should be abolished, but that young people up to the age of 19 should still be able to visit without charge.

Lars Amréus, head of the Historical Museum, is one of those who wants to keep free entry.

"We have doubled our visitor numbers. In 2005 we had 200,000 visitors, and before that we had 100,000 in a normal year."

There have also been many new visitors, he said.

The government's budget proposal will be made public on Monday, but the 21 state-run museums were informed of the move on Wednesday in a letter from the Culture Department.

"We have had part of the budget proposal and the only issue we have to comment on is that free entry will be abolished from 1st January 2007," said the finance director at the Nordic Museum, Karin Englund.

Published: 11th October 2006 The Local

Winner of the Guardian, Observer and Guardian Unlimited Travel Awards 2006.

Sweden came out top in the category “Favourite European Country” when the results of a survey into the preferences of readers of British national newspapers, The Guardian and Observer, as well as the online version, Guardian Unlimited, were collated. Italy came second and Norway, third. The survey offers a unique and fascinating insight into the tastes and preferences of a discerning group of travellers.

“We are very pleased that Sweden has been chosen by such a quality group of readers. The results have confirmed us in our choice of target group and we hope that those who voted Sweden top destination will help us to spread the word about Sweden for the future,” says Fredrik Barthold, Regional Director, VisitSweden (formerly Swedish Travel & Tourism Council).

“I suspect glamour and the pull of nature have something to do with our readers voting Sweden their favourite European destination. There can't be too many capitals like Stockholm, where you can stay in a boutique-style hotel owned by former Abba stars, enjoy a gourmet dinner, party in clubs, and then, the next morning, swap your dancing shoes for a pair of hiking boots to explore the islands or the coast. If you really want to get back to nature, you can head up to Lapland. But even there, they've made a style statement in the form of the Ice Hotel. Swedes seem to have effortlessly struck the perfect party/healthy balance, and that would appear to be a winning combination.” Andy Pietrasik, Travel Editor of The Guardian comments on the Award.

Among VisitSweden’s current campaigns is the innovative “Stockholm the Musical” campaign, in which Stockholm is marketed by the interactive website www.stockholmthemusical.com . The website forms the basis of a viral campaign to drive UK visitors to Stockholm. It takes the visitor on an ironic, fun-filled musical journey through all the city has to offer and includes an interactive retro-style short film inviting users to enjoy picturesque city sights accompanied by a vibrant, uplifting tune specially written for the website. VisitSweden has created interest in the campaign through a variety of channels, including Guardian Unlimited.

So far this year, commercial bed nights in Sweden from the UK have increased by 16%.

The Swedish Space Corporation say it could be a reality by 2011.

Not content with having them dotted all over the countryside, Sweden is now considering putting a little red cottage on the moon. The idea, first conjured up by the artist Mikael Genberg seven years ago, may become reality with the help of the Swedish Space Corporation (SSC), according to N24.

The state agency SSC has carried out a technical study showing that it is indeed possible to put a little red cottage on the moon.

"If we manage to do this Sweden will be the third country to occupy the moon", said SSC's Fredrik von Scéele.

A competition has been arranged for students to construct a little red house that is suitably sized for placement by a moon landing device. The construction may not exceed eight square metres and can weigh a maximum of four kilos.

A jury consisting of leading researchers and professors from the Swedish space industry has already been appointed to oversee the project.

The project is expected to cost 500 million kronor. Unless there are problems financing the project or there is a sudden scarcity of Falun red paint there could be a little house on the moon by 2011.

"The idea came to me in 1999. I had just finished working on a tree house hotel and was in the process of producing an underwater hotel when I saw an article in Expressen: 'Now Sweden goes for the moon'. My idea was not realistic at all. But it kept coming back to me and by August 2003 I had made quite a few enquiries. Ever since then it has grown into far more than an artwork," artist Mikael Genberg told The Local.

He explains how the last few years have seen a new race to the moon. And Sweden is keen to be involved, even if this means cooperating with other countries. Putting a house on the moon would strengthen the impression of Sweden as a hi-tech country.

"The project will cost 500 million kronor, which is quite reasonable. I think if we can make absolutely sure that this will happen it should be possible to finance it."

While the little red house is well known as a national symbol within Sweden, Genberg would like the construction to have a more international aspect.

"Everybody sees the moon, so the house should be a symbol for mankind, as well as a sort of all-seeing eye looking over us," said Genberg.

Experts could not confirm whether the cottage would finally provide a permanent housing solution for the man on the moon.

Published on The Local 11 Oct 2006.

Will the real Swedish prime minister please stand up?

The Riksdag formally approved the appointment of Fredrik Reinfeldt at 2pm on Thursday by 175 votes to 169, and he thereby became prime minister. But while Reinfeldt has the title, Göran Persson remains theoretically in the job.

“Fredrik Reinfeldt today became prime minister”, reported tabloid Aftonbladet and broadsheet Dagens Nyheter. Indeed, the Riksdag itself now refers to Reinfeldt as prime minister on its official website. If only the Swedish constitution were that simple.
“He becomes prime minister today, but the new government doesn’t take office until tomorrow,”said Roberta Alenius, spokeswoman for Reinfeldt’s Moderate Party.

Sweden has entered a momentary state of constitutional limbo, with Reinfeldt prime minister, but with Göran Persson in theory still in power for a few more hours.

The new government will formally take control at a meeting with the king at the Royal Palace on Friday. But in the meantime, it’s a bit confused as to who is Sweden’s head of government.

“He has been approved by the  and assumed the title from the speaker, so in one sense he is prime minister,” said Anna Wieslander, spokeswoman for the Swedish Riksdag.

But what if the government needs to do anything urgent in the 22 hours between Reinfeldt’s election and the meeting with the king?

“I suppose that according to protocol Reinfeldt won’t be prime minister until tomorrow. For the government to do anything official, it’s still Göran Persson who will act.”

On Friday morning at 9am, Reinfeldt will present his new government’s programme to the Riksdag with Göran Persson and his outgoing cabinet still sitting in the government seats. Yet on the Riksdag’s website it says that “the prime minister will present his programme for government.” And there, they’re talking about Fredrik Reinfeldt.

“It works in every important sense, but the protocol’s a bit confused,” admits Wieslander.

Indeed, when Reinfeldt and his colleagues emerge from their visit to the palace on Friday at lunchtime, there will be no doubt as to who rules Sweden.

Published: 5th October 2006 14:46 CET  The Local.

Young Swedish director aims for an Oscar with his debut film.

The Swedish Film Institute has named Farewell Falkenberg as Sweden's official selection for the Oscar nominations for Best Foreign Language Film.

The film opened in cinemas across Sweden on September 22 and has received glowing reviews from the Swedish press. It was also highly acclaimed when screened at the Venice and Toronto Film Festivals.
The west coast town of Falkenberg is home to director Jesper Ganslandt, Born in 1978, Granslandt is a self-taught director who has previously worked with music videos and feature films.

With Farewell Falkenberg - Granslandt's feature film debut - he will be attempting to add a fifth Oscar to the Swedish trophy cabinet. Ingmar Bergman is a three-time winner, while Bille August picked up a statuette for Pelle the Conqueror in 1988.

The film is about five childhood friends growing into young men in a small Swedish town. Europeanfilms.net describes it as "a freewheeling dive into the hermetically sealed world of all-male friendships that […] feels natural and true."

Granslandt was not exactly overcome by emotion upon being told that his film was to Sweden's official selection. "I plan to celebrate in the Swedish way, with a cup of coffee", he told Metro.

The young director will have to wait until January 23 to find out whether his film is to be one of the final five nominees for Best Foreign Language Film.

Paul O'Mahony   The Local

Finland ranked 2nd and Sweden 3rd in Global Competitiveness Report 2006-2007

Switzerland, Finland and Sweden are the world’s most competitive economies according to The Global Competitiveness Report 2006-2007, released by the World Economic Forum on 26 September 2006.

The rankings are drawn from a combination of publicly available hard data and the results of the Executive Opinion Survey, a comprehensive annual survey conducted by the World Economic Forum.

Countries that, like the Nordics, are investing heavily in education are likely to see rising levels of income per capita, growing success in reducing poverty and an increasing ability to establish a presence in the global economy," said Augusto Lopez-Claros, Chief Economist and Director of the World Economic Forum’s Global Competitiveness Network.

Finland has a very healthy macroeconomic environment and transparent and efficient institutions, as well as an excellent educational system and a highly innovative business community.

“Finland is very well managed at the macroeconomic level, at a time when many other industrialized countries are struggling in this area. The willingness of Finnish governments to run budget surpluses, so as to be able to meet future social commitments linked to the aging of the population, is particularly impressive. The country is also endowed with public and private institutions that are assessed as
being the most efficient and transparent in the world. Finland is also unsurpassed with regards to the quality of higher education available to citizens, which is so critical for adaptation in a fast-moving global economy. Furthermore, the private sector shows a high proclivity for adopting new technologies and nurturing a culture of innovation, placing Finland very firmly among those countries closest to the high tech frontier,” said Augusto Lopez-Claros.

Sweden's position on the Business Competitive Index, a sister rating focusing purely on business conditions in 121 countries, was seventh. Despite being ranked third for 'sophistication of company operations and strategy', Sweden came eighth for the 'quality of the national business environment'.

High tax rates and restrictive labour regulations were highlighted as the most problematic factors for doing business in Sweden.

Global Competitiveness Index 2006 and 2005 comparisons
Country	GCI Rank 2006	GCI Score 2006	GCI Rank 2005
Switzerland	1	5.81	4
Finland	2	5.76	2
Sweden	3	5.74	7
Denmark	4	5.70	3
Singapore	5	5.63	5
United States	6	5.61	1
Japan	7	5.60	3
Germany	8	5.58	6
Netherlands	9	5.56	11
United Kingdom	10	5.54	9

Source: World Economic Forum click here.

The refined art of fermented fish.......

Truth be told there are few “bring the house down” parties, but the custom is regularly practiced in small bunches of dinner guests. Ironically, there seems to be a great sense of style and refinement expected for those who take part in the tradition.
And a tradition it is. In 1999 the Fermented Herring Academy was created. Its mission is to maintain the surströmming culture and promote its development. Ruben Madsen, Chairman of the academy takes his PR responsibility for the fermented fish quite solemnly:

“Surströmming should be eaten with finesse. Should one host a surströmming party all the fixings ought to be represented on the table: minced onion, dill, sliced tomatoes and bread; that gives visual appeal,” Madsen says.

“Potatoes boil while the guests settle and chat at the table sipping some sherry or snack on some crisp bread with Västerbotten cheese or blana - a paste of whey butter and cinnamon. Only after the potatoes are done should the tins of surströmming come out.”

Apparently the sophistication of the tradition ensures some dignity of eating a strong smelling fish in the age of refrigeration and food preservation.

But why are these events associated with September?

The surströmming season runs from late August through to the end of September. It is now that the fermentation process is complete and the herring is ripe to eat. This is the time that these die-hard traditionalists unlock the bulging conserved tin of the fermented herring.

The eating of “sour herring” began centuries ago when salt was a hard-to-come-by commodity and the people ate what they could get. The preservation process uses salt sparingly to slow down the decaying process in a delicately timed dance which relies on the fermentation process to take over in conservation.

But back to the gobbling of suspicious smelling herring. Keep in mind that no herring, fermented or fresh, should ever be served in Sweden without the accompaniment of copious amounts of beer and chilled spiced aquavit.

Helan Går!

Elizabeth Dacey-Fondelius, The Local.

Swedish research shows that Oily fish prevents kidney cancer.

People who eat oily fish at least once per week have increased protection against kidney cancer, according to a Swedish study presented on Wednesday.

Between 1987 and 2004, the eating habits and sicknesses of some 60,000 Swedish women were followed by researchers. The participants were asked to fill in a questionnaire regarding their food habits and given a mammography during the late 80s. The same routine was done in 1997.
The institute for environmental medicine at Karolinska Institute analysed the results and has now concluded that the regular consumption of fatty fish at least once per week reduced the risk for renal cell cancer, the most common form of kidney cancer.

“This is the first study of its kind,” said Alicja Wolk, a professor working on the subject, to Svenska Dagbladet.

“Earlier investigations have not differentiated between oily and lean fish.”

The big difference between oily fish and other fish is the amount of the omega-3 fatty acids and vitamin D. Fatty fish have 20 to 30 times more omega-3 fatty acid and three to five times as much vitamin D.

“We think it is a combination of omega-3 fatty acids and D vitamin that works against cancer,” said Susanna Larsson, a doctor with the Karolinska Institute.

“We already knew that fatty fish helps prevent heart disease, and that vitamin D reduced the risk for other cancers.”

The study was published on Wednesday in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

The only ferry route between Britain and Sweden to be discontinued from the end of October.

Danish shipping company DFDS Seaways is to scrap the only passenger ferry route between Sweden and Britain, with the axing of the Gothenburg-Newcastle route at the end of October.

The company said that "a number of factors" were behind the decision, including rising fuel costs and falling passenger numbers.

DFDS has been running ships between Gothenburg and England for decades, with the Newcastle route the last to close. The company had previously also served ports including Harwich and Immingham.

The company said it would still continue to operate routes to England from Norway and Denmark. The company said it was in the process of purchasing the M/S Fjord Norway from rival ferry company Fjord Line, and would run the ship on a Norway-Newcastle route.

DFDS has faced competition from airlines in recent years on its routes between the UK and Sweden's second city. Ryanair has invested in new lines from Gothenburg, and FlyMe has recently introduced new flights to London.

DFDS Seaways' sister company, DFDS Tor Line, will continue to run shceduled freight ships between Gothenburg and several English ports, although these have limited capacity for passengers.

Published: 6th September 2006 15:11 CET
The Local by James Savage

Image by Kjell Holmner, Goteborg & Co.

Televised debate to be in their second language as it is felt they will be less evasive and will keep it simple.

There can’t be many countries where you could persuade four high-level politicians to turn up for a televised election debate in their second language.

But this is Sweden, and Swedish politicians are as keen as the rest of their fellow countrymen to show-off their English skills – as well as to give people who understand English better than Swedish the chance to hear the issues debated.
That’s why on Wednesday evening SVT will be showing Election 2006, a one-hour debate between representatives of the two blocs competing to form Sweden’s next government.

Presenter Keith Foster says that the main aim of the debate is to give immigrants a better understanding of the election, with four leading politicians discussing issues including unemployment and immigrants’ integration in Sweden.

But the programme should be interesting even for people with a grasp of Swedish and for Swedes themselves.

Doing a debate in English makes it harder for politicians to be evasive, Foster says:

“When politicians are asked questions in a foreign language, it’s harder for them to avoid answering.”

"It also keeps the debate at a basic level - you don't have to have a knowledge of Swedish political history to be able to grasp it," he says.

The debate, pre-recorded last week, will also be unusual for only featuring women: the Social Democrats are represented by sustainable development minister Mona Sahlin and foreign aid minister Carin Jämtin, while the Alliance is represented by Centre Party leader Maud Olofsson and the Moderates’ Ewa Björling.

The debate takes place on Wednesday, 6th September, at 9:30 pm on SVT1.

The Local: James Savage

Image by: R Ryan. Stockholm Visitors Board

Swedish Authorities find a unique way to test driver observation skills!

Swedish authorities are trying to remind drivers of the dangers that lurk in woods along the country's roads.

This week, papier maché elks will be positioned off the road in several places throughout the country in hopes drivers will realize how easy it would be for an elk to walk out from the woods onto the road.

“They could, for example, be placed about 25 meters to 50 meters from the road so that it appears as real as possible,” said Lars Sävberger, spokesman for the project, according to Dagens Nyheter.

Swedish police, SOS Alarm and the Swedish Road Administration are all involved in the week-long project.

After a meeting with an imitation elk, police will stop many drivers and ask them if they saw the animal. Some 9,000 car travelers were stopped during last year’s campaign.

“There is a tendency for many drivers to not pay attention to that which exists on the side of the road,” said Sävberger. “If you did, you could reduce the number of accidents.”

Some 35,000 elk are hit on Swedish roads each year. The program will last until September 3.

First published in The Local, by Adam Ewing.

Image provided by:Håkan Vargas S. / Swedish Travel & Tourism Council

For further deytails on visiting Sweden Click here.

Clients love the Stockholm, Viking Line, Helsinki and Tallinn combination.

This spring and summer we were contacted by many people looking for city breaks who following our advice took the opportunity of using the excellent Viking Line services to experience several Baltic capitals in one trip. For many the overnight cruise between Sweden and Finland was a highlight of their trip. We thought you might like to hear a little more about it in their words.

“ I am writing to thank you for your seamless organisation of our Baltic trip.
 We enjoyed our stay on the boat from Stockholm to Helsinki and the hotel in Helsinki was excellent and I would recommend it as convenient for the city and the port.
The Tallinn hotel was also good and altogether it was a very enjoyable break”

Julia Lecky
Neston
South Wirral

Image by Nicho Sodling.

We had done the usual city break locations, Paris, Amsterdam, Prague and Barcelona. When we started to look for somewhere new a friend recommended Stockholm. After doing some research it sounded brilliant so we decided to give it a go.
When we called Emagine and started to talk through the various options Loraine suggested that we
might want to combine Stockholm with an overnight sailing through the archipelago on Viking Line to Helsinki and if we had time to do a day visit to Tallinn. Our planned short break had now transformed into a fabulous long weekend all of which you kindly arranged.

We took the morning flight to Stockholm and reached our hotel, Scandic Malmen, just after lunch. The welcome was friendly, location good and room clean and bright. We dropped our bags and headed off on foot to the Old Town. Stockholm is a beautiful city and the weather was very kind. We spent the next 2 days hopping on and off boats, visiting amazing museums, eating picnics in the parks and enjoying the local nightlife. The hotel had quite a few bars and restaurants close by which was perfect.

The next afternoon we boarded the Viking Line ship. We certainly weren’t prepared for something so grand, I guess we just thought it would be like the ferries at home but this was more like a cruise ship. The three of us shared a cabin which was fine for one night. It had its own toilet, sink and shower. After a quick tour of the ship we knew we wouldn’t be spending much time in our cabin. We started the evening with the buffet dinner (thanks for the recommendation Loraine), so much great seafood and wine included. The rest of the evening was a blur of listening to live bands, in the many bars and then rounded off until the small hours in the brilliant nightclub. We did keep popping out onto the deck to take in the views, especially as it remained light nearly all night!

The last day was manic. We packed our bags and left them at the hotel. We then hopped on the hydrofoil to Tallinn with Nordic Jet. The journey was smooth and fast, only 1 ½ hours.  You arrive quite centrally. As we had limited time we did the sightseeing bus tour from the hydrofolil which was a great way of getting to know the city. After this we had a couple of hours to explore the old town and grab a bite to eat before it was back on the hydrofoil. Tallinn was really interesting and had a great buzz about it. We all agreed we would go back for longer, even a full day may have done the trick but we are glad we went. Once in Helsinki it was a taxi to the airport and our flight home…….
Thanks so much from all of us for arranging such a brilliant holiday.  We are now telling all our friends about our adventure and will be in touch to arrange that crazy weekend on Viking Cinderella that you recommended as our next girls get together.
 
L..P. and friends.
Manchester.

For more information about Viking Line and Baltic combinations click here.

National Geographics update on Wolves in Sweden and Norway.

The call of the wild can once again be heard in forests in Sweden and Norway, heralding the recovery of the gray wolf.
The wolf had been driven to extinction during the last century, and the animals' comeback since the 1980s has the elements for a conservation success story.
But the growing presence of wolves in Scandinavia has polarized residents there and put the mammal's long-term future in the region in doubt.
Many rural communities have brought strong opposition to wolf conservation, saying the wild predators kill their livestock and hunting dogs.

Public opinion in Norway, which has a large rural population, has tended to side against the wolf, and in Sweden the carnivore also appears to be losing support.
Increasing numbers of gray wolves are being killed illegally, researchers say. At the same time the population has been isolated and, as a result, weakened by inbreeding.

With the Swedish countryside seen as a key battleground in what's expected to be a close-run general election in September, the wolf debate is at the top of the political agenda.
"All the political parties are now saying you must listen to the people living with the wolves," said wolf researcher Olof Liberg of the Grimsö Wildlife Research Station in Riddarhyttan, Sweden.
According to Stockholm-based ecologist and commentator Petter Hedberg, the wolf in Sweden has become "a symbol for the way the political power in Stockholm dictates the way people live in rural areas, without [the politicians] having to face the consequences of their decision."

Controversial Conviction

Gray wolves were thought to be extinct in Sweden and Norway by the 1960s following centuries of persecution.

 Unexpectedly in the 1980s a single breeding pack was discovered in south-central Sweden.
Studies suggest the pack came to the area naturally from the Finnish-Russian border region more than 1,000 kilometers (620 miles) away

The wolves had been granted government protections since the 1960s in Sweden and the 1970s in Norway that made it illegal to shoot wolves in the wild.

The latest surveys by Swedish and Norwegian researchers with Skandulv (the Scandinavian Wolf Research Project) indicate that the wolf population is currently growing at a rate of about 20 percent annually.
Latest estimates suggest there are around 125 gray wolves living wild in Sweden and about 25 in Norway.
The population's stronghold is the densely forested central southern region of the Scandinavian peninsula but as wolf numbers increase, the animals are moving closer to human territory, and conflicts are on the rise.

Last year a sheep farmer from Dalsland in central Sweden was sentenced to six months' imprisonment for illegally shooting a wolf that he claimed had recently attacked his flock.
The conviction was followed by a successful campaign by the farming and hunting lobby to allow farmers to kill wolves that pose an immediate threat to fenced livestock.
"Before, you had to wait until the wolf had actually put its teeth in the animal," Liberg said.
This month Swedish media reported that rural campaigners are seeking to petition the Swedish Parliament for a further relaxation of wolf protection measures.
Their proposal would allow wolves that attack hunting dogs or livestock outside of fenced areas to be shot.

Maximum Number

Governments already place limits on the number of breeding packs or individuals that can exist within their borders.
Norway, which has around two million free-grazing sheep, wants just three reproducing packs.
The government there has established a wolf zone next to the Swedish border outside of which wolves may be shot.

Sweden has a preliminary population target of 200 wolves. Liberg, coordinator of Skandulv, is now doubtful whether this figure will be increased.
"If you had asked me five years ago, I would certainly have said, Yes," the researcher added. "Now I'm not so sure, because the wolf issue has become hotter politically."
If the Swedish wolf population continues to grow at the current rate, he says, this will probably mean licensed culling.

According to a new Skandulv study yet to be published, fatalities of radio-tagged wolves suggest that up to 20 percent of the Scandinavian population is killed illegally each year.
"That's about 25 to 30 wolves," Liberg added. "It's a very heavy drain on the population."
Wolf researchers are also worried about the health of a population founded by just a few individuals.
Such packs have little genetic diversity and are vulnerable to inbreeding. As result, Skandulv says, litter sizes are decreasing.

And further wolf migrants from the north are being prevented from coming to the rescue, Liberg says.
"The northern third of Sweden [part of Lapland] is a reindeer husbandry area, and the Saami herders say they cannot tolerate any wolves at all," he explained.
Proposals to import new blood from Finland or Russia are seen as too controversial, Liberg adds.
"The politicians are not ready for that," he said.
"In the long run we need new wolves," he added, "Sooner or later the litter sizes will be so small they will not compensate for mortality."

James Owen for National Geographic News 
August 17, 2006

Image by phantom_ace_x1 (flickr)

Along the west coast of Sweden they really know their oysters.

Oysters from the west coast of Sweden rank among the best in the world, because they grow slowly in cold water. They are exported in small amounts to first-rate restaurants all over the world.
Most Swedish oysters come from Bohuslän, and are hand-picked mainly near Grebbestad, which is also where the oyster safaris leave from.
          
In 2004 the non-profit Oyster Academy was established, for oyster lovers all over Sweden. One of its aims is to realise the huge potential of the exquisite Swedish oysters, and to support and encourage oyster lovers, restaurateurs, fishermen, suppliers and divers.

Start of the Oyster season celebrations.
To celebrate the start of the Oyster season there will be the Oyster Day on 2 September in Grebbestad (approx 2 hrs north of Gothenburg) on the West Coast. All restaurants will have special Oyster menus with Oyster Champagne. At Tanums Gestgifveri (click here for hotel details) , there will be Oyster weekends including a 5 course gourmet dinner in conjunction with the nearby celebrations in Grebbestad. There will be special boat trips to the Oyster banks and tasting of Oysters on the boat , departing from they jetty in Grebbestad.
On 3 September they will be Oyster Golf on the local Golf course.

    
The Västsvensk Mersmak culinary certification body
In Western Sweden, the language of the local cuisine has a particularly powerful resonance, and the inspiration and raw ingredients for this are drawn from nature’s well-stocked pantry of delicacies from the sea, forest, field and lake.
The Västsvensk Mersmak culinary certification body Was launched in 2000 by the Tourist Board of Western Sweden with the aim of further developing the already highly recommended cuisine of the area. It is forging a strong partnership between restaurants and producers of raw ingredients, and it is enriching the gastronomic experience of visitors to the region as well as a detour. As anticipated, this initiative has been a great success from the outset, with restaurants and food producers of the region demonstrating the excellent form they are in.

To date the region boasts 33 accredited restaurants and a large number of committed producers of raw ingredients. All accredited restaurants display our Västsvensk Mersmak plate edged in blue as a mark highest quality and guarantee to you of a gastronomic experience to remember.

For further details of a gourmet tour of the region click here.

A record 1370 athletes - 739 men - 631 women - from 48 countries will compete.

48 is the highest number of countries ever to compete at the event, beating the record set in Munich four years ago by one. Only Armenia and Liechtenstein will not be represented in Gothenburg. 1370 athletes represents over 100 more than competed at the 1998 and 2002 Championships.

The biggest team is Russia with 118 athletes (56 men and 62 women) and Germany (90), Spain (87), France (85), Great Britain (85) and Italy (83) all also have teams numbering over 80 athletes.
The host nation Sweden will have a team of 69 athletes which is their biggest team ever in a European Atletics Championships.

On Sunday 6 August at 8.00pm, Göteborg will treat everyone to a spectacular opening ceremony for the European Athletics Championships 2006 at Götaplatsen in the city centre. This will be the first time that the championships have been officially opened outside the stadium. Ronan Keating and several other popular performers will be entertaining the crowd. The orchestra for the evening is naturally the Göteborg Symphony Orchestra, and Helena Paparizou will be performing the official championship song, “Heroes”.

Alongside the athletics taking place at Ullevi stadium, the city is putting on an impressive programme of entertainment that has something for everyone. The big City Festival stages will transform streets and squares into festival venues. The championships themselves begin at Ullevi on 7 August, but the City Festival kicks off earlier on 4 August and continues until 13 August.

For further details about Gothenburg click here.

Western Sweden amazingly still to be discovered by British gourmets!

The West coast of Sweden remains a mystery to most Brits which is amazing as we consider ourselves to be such a nation of food fanatics these days. For anyone that loves seafood a short break or holiday to the region of Bohuslän, it runs from Gothenburg, hugging this stunning archipelago coast, north to the Norwegian border, is a must.

Pretty, individual family run hotels along the coast boast exquisite kitchens serving seafood throughout the year but the arrival of the lobster season at the end of September sees the addition of special menus as people flock to the region from throughout Sweden to mark the occasion.

If you are in search of a special gourmet experience and charming accommodation why not visit one or more of the following hotels in Western Sweden this September.

For Villa Sjötorp click here.

Grand Hotel Marstrand click here.

Handelsman Flink click here.

The annual Swedish migration.....Where exactly have all the Swedes gone.

If you are planning to invade Sweden do it now. The lights might be on 24/7 above the Arctic Circle, but there’s no one home. Not really anyway.

You’ll find leggy, golden-tanned blonds crowding the streets on the Greek Isles, particularly on the islands of Rhodes and Crete. The Costas del Sol y Brava are also entertaining their Scandinavian guests. While using Swedish as your secret language might work in Switzerland, it won’t be as effective anywhere near sunny beaches serving cheap chilled beer. Vi talar svenska is on all the menus.

The ones who are home have packed the Volvo and absconded to a picturesque red cottage trimmed with white, probably within a walk or bike ride to a cool, dark bathing. If they’re not basking in the sun or cooling off in a dark lake, they might be plodding about in the woods picking the last of the wild strawberries or blueberries or if they’re lucky, the early wild mushrooms.

Stockholm echoes a purring hum rather than a roar and crackle. No one runs for busses and there’s no lines—anywhere! Well, except for at the tourist spots.

Don’t even think of invading Sweden through the Vasa Museum just after opening. It’s not because of hoards patriotic Swedes are at the ready to man the cannons. It’s just about hoards; hoards of every nationality imaginable, mostly on shore leave from their cruise ships bobbing in the Stockholm harbor.

Just because they have to, Stockholmsbörsen, the Swedish Stock Exchange, is open for business and trading. Don’t worry if you can’t reach your stock broker, you’re not missing anything. You will never make or lose a fortune day trading on the Swedish exchange in July.

Just because the stock exchange is open for business doesn’t guarantee any other business is open at all. Every Mom & Pop shop has a handwritten sign on the closed front door telling you whether they will be closed two, three or four weeks. You really should call before you lug that printer across town to be repaired.

Production concentrated towns and regions have industrial shut down. For some production line employees, four of their five weeks of mandated holiday will be spent the month the factory is closed in July. That still leaves a week for either the sports holiday or Easter break.

So now back to the strategy of invading Sweden. Plan the invasion for a sunny day July. Any time would work, but just after the evening meal might work particularly well. The end of the day is most often winds down corking a bottle of wine or cracking open a beer.

Whatever you do, avoid a naval attack. The armada of sailboats and other recreational ships are so complete it would be difficult to reach the coast before a few thousand mobile phones call, send a text or picture or even a live streaming feed.

It wouldn’t be unimaginable that with the laptops booted and a Bluetooth connection to a mobile phone equipped with GPS, Swedes as young as toddlers could coordinate a counter offensive.

Your best bet is to drive in at just above the speed limit on the highways in Volvos packed full of gear.

By Elizabeth Dacey. Originally Published: 11th July 2006 10:59 CET In The Local