Jacob Christensen

In the middle of the election campaign, we had a reminder of one of the weirdest affairs in Swedish politics as Lars Danielsson announced that he would be resigning his post as Assistant Secretary to Prime Minister Göran Persson.

Since the details of the Chancery’s and Foreign Office’s problems in the handling of the Decembver 2004 Tsunami where a large lumber of Swedish tourists were killed or injured, Danielsson has been in the line of fire as he consistently failed to give a satisfying explanation about his whereabouts during December 26.

The latest round in the affair was performed this Monday as the Swedish Ombudsman published a report on Danielsson’s performance and especially the information he gave – or failed to give – to the Disaster Commission and later the Constitutional Committee of the Swedish parliament. The Ombudsman’s report contained a strong criticism of Danielsson’s performance in relation to the administrative and political inquests and in the end acted as the straw that broke the camel’s back.

Whether Danielsson through his behaviour during the crucial days following the tsunami and the inquests also will be a nail in Göran Persson’s political coffin (to use another tired old phrase) remains to be seen.

c|net has this very scary story: News.blog: Has a company patented e-learning?

What troubles critics most is the broad nature of Blackboard’s patent, which apparently goes far beyond any particular technology to cover fundamental aspects of large-scale, widely used “Learning Management Systems.”

Why am I not surprised?