27/08/2006 3:57:48 pm
The Guardian: Higher Unemployment in Sweden Than the EU Average. Last year, Polly Toynbee, the leftist editorial writer of the British daily The Guardian, wrote an article infamously calling Sweden "the most successful society the world has ever known". The day after, I had a reply in The Guardian correcting her false facts and a few months after that, the news section of The Guardian published a more balanced picture.

Despite this, however, her first article has been cited numerous times by Social Democrats as the evidence that the world loves them and their policies and that no change is needed in Sweden. Large articles giving a rather critical image of the country and the government′s policies in substantially more serious and respected media like the Financial Times received hardly any attention in Sweden.

Anyway, now Polly Toynbee has written about Sweden again. She points out that the situation "looks grim" for the Social Democrats before the election. But she has corrected herself on the facts and now points out, for example: "Highish unemployment - almost certainly higher than the official 6% rate - is a key battleground. As in most of the EU, hidden unemployment lurks in the sickness figures and in some government make-work schemes. But although it is probably only a bit above the EU average, the Swedes worry."

Still, she finds it odd that Swedes don′t unanimously unite in supporting the Social Democrats for ever and eternal time. But this time, after providing new facts, she only calls Sweden "one of the most successful countries the world has ever known"...

Read the article here - >