Quite strange, but 2 articles about Sweden have appeared on the main UK news websites today. The first is a written account of a report on BBC 2’s Newsnight yesterday, about how Linkoping is pioneering the use of cow entrails for the production of biogas, and how this is then being used to power trains, buses etc. The article, complete with the details of the processes involved, can be found here.

Today’s Guardian has a column by Polly Toynbee entitled "The most successful society the world has even known" – read it here. It’s a kind of broad-brush overview of what the Swedish state has managed to achieve. The analysis is broadly correct, but with some simplifications in order to make it comprehensible to a UK audience. The comparison between the Socialdemokraterna and Labour is quite interesting, especially on hospitals, and Toynbee’s comments about the need for feel-good and confidence are very valid.

[Update – 25.10.2005]
Seems the blogging network is effective… Via Eric Sundstr√∂m’s blog entry in light of this post, it was followed up by Helle Klein of Aftonbladet, the Swedish tabloid newspaper, on her blog – entry in Swedish here.