Archive for July, 2009

‘Virginity has never been a big thing in Sweden’

Miscellaneous: July 13th, 2009 by PO

Columnist Jonathan Power provides Prospect readers with a potted guide to Sweden. It’s not all sex and loose morals you know. Or is it? Nobel committee secretary Horace Engdahl gives his view:

Urbanisation came late in Sweden, and consequently the influence of the middle class with its strict norms of sexual behaviour has been limited.

Read the full article. It’s worth it.

Howling at the midnight sun

Miscellaneous: July 3rd, 2009 by DL

Swedes never miss a chance to celebrate the arrival of summer and the extended twilight that displaces winter’s cold endless nights.

But sometimes, alcohol-soaked celebrations can go a bit overboard, with consequences that are normally shrouded in darkness suddenly laid bare for all to see in the bright glare of the midnight sun.

The phenomenon is made all too clear by this recent video clip shot in Östersund in northern Sweden at around 10pm in the evening.

Hard to say what’s more difficult to believe (especially for folks who haven’t spend time above the 60th parallel in June): the rampage or the claim that the video was shot at just two hours before midnight.

Click here to check out the original video on YouTube