From: kitty_goth	Date: September 30th, 2006 02:49 pm (UTC)		(Link)

I saw this and thought of you - and wondered what you'd make of so much religious hoo-ha still being an integral part of the British system of justice.

	From: vexen	Date: September 30th, 2006 03:45 pm (UTC)		(Link)

Well it doesn't look compulsory, and it doesn't sound expensive, and unless the Church of England has started charging for its services it doesn't like a particularly expensive ritual... so, I don't really mind or see it as much of my business.. I *would* like to know how much it does cost the taxpayer though! I just don't think it is much.

Thanks for that link, it's an interesting blog you've found there!

From: ex_flashcat696	Date: September 30th, 2006 09:28 pm (UTC)		(Link)

I hear about Iceland allllllllllllllll the time from my in-laws. They're big into Scandinavia as well. For good reason!

What happens in a month? You finally get to go home?

	From: vexen	Date: September 30th, 2006 09:35 pm (UTC)		(Link)

Yeah!

From: ex_flashcat696	Date: October 1st, 2006 12:58 am (UTC)		(Link)

When? Early October?

	From: vexen	Date: October 1st, 2006 03:15 am (UTC)		(Link)

Well closer to November really... all our dates keep changing!

From: ex_flashcat696	Date: October 3rd, 2006 06:40 pm (UTC)		(Link)

Hopefully in time for Halloween!

	From: theoptimist	Date: October 11th, 2006 08:47 pm (UTC)		(Link)

Denmark was by far the nicest country I've been to.... not that I've been to that many.

It has but one unforgivable flaw.

The Danish word for Oranges is Applesin; this for some reason annoys me.

	From: vexen	Date: October 12th, 2006 02:19 pm (UTC)		(Link)

Ha! Well, find out what the German word for 'pineapple' is!

You'll have to tell me sometime what you were doing in Denmark! Is a great country. Were you on the mainland or on an island? Drop me an email!

From: (Anonymous)	Date: January 15th, 2007 12:42 pm (UTC)		(Link)
Get it right

I become highly suspicious of this article immediately. That is because the article makes the incredulous implication that Finland is in Scandinavia. I guess that's good if you're trying to insult Finns...

Finland can accurately be called Nordic or Baltic though Baltic is not used too often.

	From: vexen	Date: January 15th, 2007 05:19 pm (UTC)		(Link)
	Re: Get it right

The only 3 countries I've seen called 'Baltic' are Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.

Apart from that, I've called Finland 'scandinavian' just for ease, it's simpler to say "In Scandinavia" rather than "In the Nordic countries"; no 'offense' could possibly be intentional from such a thing. That it makes you feel "highly suspicious" of an otherwise-outstandlingly-positive page makes me think you're overly concerned with the surface-titles of the page rather than the (much more interesting) content!

From: (Anonymous)	Date: January 28th, 2007 04:37 pm (UTC)		(Link)
Scandinavia

Like your page but I found one error.
Norway is home of the Nobel peace prize not Sweden. The other Nobel prizes (med,phys,chem,lit and eco) however are rewarded in Sweden.

From: (Anonymous)	Date: May 6th, 2007 04:38 pm (UTC)		(Link)
Estonia

This is not a criticism of Scandinavia, however, in one of your quotes The Economist has very wrongly pointed out that Estonia has a progressive tax system.

This is wrong, Estonia has a flat-rate income tax, something which sets it apart from other Nordic countries and significantly lessens its awesomeness.

From: (Anonymous)	Date: June 16th, 2007 09:46 pm (UTC)		(Link)
Finland

Iäm afraid your "criticisms of Finland" section is utter nonsense. "The most violent society in the EU"???? You have got to be kidding me.

From: (Anonymous)	Date: March 26th, 2008 11:39 pm (UTC)		(Link)

Suicide – an American rumour!

Sweden is quite far down in the European suicide table, in 15th place. Yet people abroad still tend to describe us as being more suicide-prone than others. The source of the rumour is a speech given by US president Dwight D Eisenhower in 1960, in which he claimed that “sin, nudity, drunkenness and suicide” in Sweden were due to welfare policy excess. People soon forgot the link to welfare policy, but Ike’s suicide label spread round the world.

Source Åke Daun, Professor of European Ethnology: http://www.sweden.se/templates/cs/Article____12355.aspx