Leader:
We learn for life, not for school

Now 90 per cent, not as before 10 per cent, of Swedes finish high school. Universities have adapted by lowering their quality and letting many students that should not pass, pass. The universities (those funded by the governemnt) are paid by the number of students that pass final exams and a teacher giving F grades may be called mean or a racist (if the failing student is of the wrong race).

Racist leftists taking control of public service media, by Tommy Hansson

Three public service broadcasting companies Sveriges television, Sveriges radio and Utbildningsradion have recently been attacked for leftism and political correctness in general. All three companies are subsidiaries of a government controlled foundation, with their respective boards appointed by the Foundation, and the board of the Foundation directly appointed by the government. Leading positions in the three companies are now held by various (female) leftists.

Should we worry about Poland,
by Kjell Albin Abrahamson

Kjell Albin Abrahamson, for many years Warsaw correspondent of the Swedish Broadcasting Corporation (see previous note on Sveriges Radio) discusses the media development in Poland., He is not worried about the appointment of Jacek Kurski as head of the Polish goernment owned television channel. His elder brother Jaroslaw has other views on politics and there is some kind of semi-public dialogue between the two brothers.

The Solidarity Museum in Gdansk,
by Géza Molnár

Géza Molnár tells about the gigantic Solidarity Museum in Gdansk in Poland.

Crooks from Sweden and abroad,
by C G Holm

The Swedish National Council for Crime Prevention has twice made studies on crime among Swedes and immigrants – the studies were made in 1996 and 2005 respectively and were sensitive in the sense that foreigners were much more criminally inclined, even if adjusting for demogracpic and social factors. And especially so among people from North Africa and the Middle East (East Asians had crime rates slightly below native Swedes). There is however a more recent report giving approximately the same information, a report from The Swedish Prison and Probation Service on people convicted to at least four years in prison, all having passed through a center att Kumla high security prison before being forwarded to other prisons (women are similarlíly screened at the Hinseberg Women’s Prison). More than half of the long time convicts are foreign citizens or born abroad, compared to less than 20 per cent of the population.

Refugees and public pensions, by C G Holm

The vast number of refugees (more than 160 000 arrived in Sweden last year, approximately 2 per cent of the entire population and fifty per cent more than the number born in the country) will affect the autonomous system for public pensions. Pensions are paid according to demographic fomulas with money not controlled by the governemnt, but by inependent institutions (the main formula is shown on page 10). What will happen with pensions is a rapid increase in pensions during the next couple of years, followed by a sharp downturn as more refugees join the labour force with lower pay than the Swedes.

Thinking about tolerance, by Helge Eyser

Tolerance has turned into a rubber phrase meaning almost anything. It is consistently misused by the advocates of political correctness. Some turn ”tolerant”, because they are afraid of people that actually are intolerant and prepared to use violence to defend their views on tolerance.

A fossil free Sweden, by Tommy Hansson

The green/red government of Sweden has decided that Sweden should be ”fossil free” in the future (all electrical power is generated by hydropower or nuclear power, but the government is now trying to tax nuclear power to force the close downs of more power plants. But transport needs fossil fuels. And abolishing the present fossils will turn Sweden back to a poor country.

Polish domestic policies and the European Union, by C G Holm

The European Union is a union of 28 independent countries, but when the elctorate in small and medium sized countries choose a government not liked in Brussels, the EU tries to use supranational powers that they are not granted in the treaty. Poland is the latest example.

Anarchism v conservatism,
by Allan C. Brownfeld

Anarchism and conservatism are opposing philosophies, both of them however critical against governemnt and state. There are points of common views, but more so areas for conflict.

The Church of Sweden as a center of leftism

The Lutheran Church of Sweden has advocated leftist standpoints in many social and political matters (also in foreign policy). The Church of Sweden however is slow to act in matters which its members see as vital, such as helping local poor, offering pastoral cure and spreading the gospel.

Putin’s Kleptocracy, by Bertil Hoffman

Karen Dawisha is Professor of political science at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio. In her book Putin’s Kleptocracy she gives a detailed description of the way Vladimir Putin and his allies conquered power in the world’s largest country and how they profited from getting access to government properties.