Jacob Christensen

• Sweden: Where tax goes up to 60 per cent, and everybody's happy paying it | Money | The Observer
  Nicholas Aylott, a 38-year-old British lecturer, is working as a political scientist at Stockholm's Södertörn University College.

  'If you start talking to someone in Britain, you can be fairly sure that they will end up saying that taxes are too high. In Sweden, you can't do the same,' he says. 'Most people trust the state to manage taxes well. There's a broad, deep faith that the money going into the welfare state will be employed usefully.'

  But he also points out that self-interest is at play: 'The median voter is a woman who works for the public sector, and around two-thirds of the electorate draw most of their income from the state, either because they work in the public sector or draw benefits from it.'

  (tags: sweden socialdemocracy politics economy)

After carefully considering the subject – and being without internet at home for a little over two months – GAAAAH! – I finally took the plunge and signed up for wireless broadband (which is what I’m using now). After a few hiccups, even a massive cold (well, all colds feel massive) couldn’t stop the installation. The speed is reasonable (the salesman promised speeds between 2-5 Mps even if advertisements say “up to 7 Mps) The next problem will be to get the wireless wireless (?!?) router to work.

I decided to drop the landline phone and I still haven’t done anything about cable-tv. Reception on a digital indoor areal is a bit shaky in central Odense but it does work and I’m not really sure that I’m missing out on anything.

(I should perhaps note that the set-top box is an MPEG2 so if I stay on DTT, I’ll need a new one in 2012 at the latest. On the other hand, the thing only cost 200 DKK).

But now I have a new problem: I can’t use “I need to check my e-mails” as an excuse to go to my office. Hmmm…