The Airportline: Observations

Being from Sweden is interesting. People love Sweden. Even though they have never been there, the image of my home country is painted with blond women, free health care and beautiful nature. And ABBA. A disturbingly large part of the world population find that this is something we Swedes should be proud of. I find this love for Sweden a bit unsettling at times, not because I'm not proud of my home country, but because it is built on some ideas that might not be completely accurate.

Ruben Andersson in The Guardian went full out on Sweden last week in article called Death of the super model, punching holes in all kind of ideas. And even though his picture is almost equally as inaccurate like that of the Swedish paradise, it is an interesting read. This is his explanation of the Swedish health care system:

Take healthcare. Swedes do not enjoy free public care: it costs to see a GP. That is, if you manage to see one. Queues are long and scandals rack the system. Psychiatric care, the source of many such scandals, has a near-medieval penchant for authoritarianism with few European equivalents. People are locked up for months for not taking medicine, given no therapy, and spat out of the system into despair and destitution. The mentally ill die in wards and in outpatient isolation. And they do not even have charities to turn to because state-run healthcare is supposed to work: this is Sweden, after all.

Having some knowledge about the Swedish health care system, which by all means is not perfect, this is a tad bit (as he Brits might say when they discuss it over some biscuits) over exaggerated. Still, I don't see the harm is some Sweden bashing from time to times. And to be honest, now with Andy Murray being out of Wimbledon, anything to make the Islanders a bit happier.