Inside Sweden: We're starting to feel Eurovision fever build in Malmö
The Local's Nordic editor Richard Orange rounds up the biggest stories of the week in our Inside Sweden newsletter.
Hej,
This week I attended my first event connected to next month's Eurovision competition in Malmö, so I'm starting to feel the excitement build.
I was pretty impressed that I actually recognised one of the more than a hundred dresses displayed in the Lars Wallin Fashion Stories exhibition, the opening of which I went to on Thursday night. This was the green dress the Swedish fashion desiger made for Petra Mede for when she hosted Eurovision in Stockholm back in 2016.
Fashion is not my thing, but I've no doubt that many of the 100,000-odd Eurovision fans descending on Malmö from May 6th will be in raptures of recognition when they visit the exhibition in Malmö's Tekniska Museet museum, which has clearly been set up to give them something to do in Malmö during the day.
Lars Wallin, Sweden's leading creator of over-the-top shimmering ballgowns, has made dozens of dresses for Eurovision and the Melodifestivalen festival Sweden uses to choose its contestants, dressing Carola Häggkvist for Invincible, her 2006 Eurovision entry, for instance.
At the opening Karin Karlsson, Malmö's Eurovision coordinator, interviewed Wallin about what inspired him to bring French-style couture to Sweden, setting up his own atelier, and on what he hoped to achieve.
Until my office mate Charlotte dragged me out to the exhibition, there were only two reasons why I was conscious of the coming festival: we're repainting our flat so it looks less shabby when we rent it out to some fans from Norway; and my daughter is terrified because her choir are down to sing ABBA songs at the Eurovision village.
But there are signs the event is slowly grinding into action.
This week the police in Malmö held a press conference outlining how they plan to bring in reinforcements from Denmark and Norway, will be posting officers carrying submachine guns, imposed a no-fly area over the competition area, and have installed systems which can disrupt communication systems for drones.
You can hear me and Becky discuss the preparations in the weekly Sweden in Focus podcast.
In other news
This week I interviewed Roland Sjölin, the lawyer at the Swedish Tenant's Association who, among other things, helps people renting second-hand get back any excess rent they have paid. In Sweden, you are not allowed to make any profit from subletting your apartment, and if you suspect your landlord is, its relatively simple to get back anything he or she has overcharged you. He explained to us what you need to know about process.
Sweden’s government has proposed scrapping tax on ISK accounts with a balance of 300,000 kronor or less. Becky wrote an article explaining what these accounts are and how they work. She also looked into claims that the EU has banned Swedes from having bonfires in their gardens.
The Local’s trainee reporter Gearóid Ó Droighneáin interviewed Martin Källberg from the Swedish hunting magazine Svensk Jakt to get his tips on what to do in the very unlikely event that you get attacked by a bear while walking out in the Swedish forests.
Gearóid also put together a list of eight of the best summer festivals you might want to get tickets for now before they sell out.
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Hej,
This week I attended my first event connected to next month's Eurovision competition in Malmö, so I'm starting to feel the excitement build.
I was pretty impressed that I actually recognised one of the more than a hundred dresses displayed in the Lars Wallin Fashion Stories exhibition, the opening of which I went to on Thursday night. This was the green dress the Swedish fashion desiger made for Petra Mede for when she hosted Eurovision in Stockholm back in 2016.
Fashion is not my thing, but I've no doubt that many of the 100,000-odd Eurovision fans descending on Malmö from May 6th will be in raptures of recognition when they visit the exhibition in Malmö's Tekniska Museet museum, which has clearly been set up to give them something to do in Malmö during the day.
Lars Wallin, Sweden's leading creator of over-the-top shimmering ballgowns, has made dozens of dresses for Eurovision and the Melodifestivalen festival Sweden uses to choose its contestants, dressing Carola Häggkvist for Invincible, her 2006 Eurovision entry, for instance.
At the opening Karin Karlsson, Malmö's Eurovision coordinator, interviewed Wallin about what inspired him to bring French-style couture to Sweden, setting up his own atelier, and on what he hoped to achieve.
Until my office mate Charlotte dragged me out to the exhibition, there were only two reasons why I was conscious of the coming festival: we're repainting our flat so it looks less shabby when we rent it out to some fans from Norway; and my daughter is terrified because her choir are down to sing ABBA songs at the Eurovision village.
But there are signs the event is slowly grinding into action.
This week the police in Malmö held a press conference outlining how they plan to bring in reinforcements from Denmark and Norway, will be posting officers carrying submachine guns, imposed a no-fly area over the competition area, and have installed systems which can disrupt communication systems for drones.
You can hear me and Becky discuss the preparations in the weekly Sweden in Focus podcast.
In other news
This week I interviewed Roland Sjölin, the lawyer at the Swedish Tenant's Association who, among other things, helps people renting second-hand get back any excess rent they have paid. In Sweden, you are not allowed to make any profit from subletting your apartment, and if you suspect your landlord is, its relatively simple to get back anything he or she has overcharged you. He explained to us what you need to know about process.
Sweden’s government has proposed scrapping tax on ISK accounts with a balance of 300,000 kronor or less. Becky wrote an article explaining what these accounts are and how they work. She also looked into claims that the EU has banned Swedes from having bonfires in their gardens.
The Local’s trainee reporter Gearóid Ó Droighneáin interviewed Martin Källberg from the Swedish hunting magazine Svensk Jakt to get his tips on what to do in the very unlikely event that you get attacked by a bear while walking out in the Swedish forests.
Gearóid also put together a list of eight of the best summer festivals you might want to get tickets for now before they sell out.
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