Norway

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Oslo • Røros • West Coast • Lofoten

 

I wrote the book, Hell is in Norway  to explode some of the myths surrounding this supposedly just, caring country.  The reality is closer to 1984, and has more in common with the Soviet Union than a modern democracy. 

 It is a land where you can buy meat from whales and other endangered species, but where there are only two types of cheese. You can only buy wine before 5 o’clock and not at all at weekends and even then only at outrageous prices from the Vinmonopolet, the one off-licence in town (run by the government).  A country claiming to have the most advanced social welfare provision in the world, but where it costs £10 to see a GP and callers to the emergency services are answered by a recorded message and put on hold.   Not surprisingly it has one of the world’s highest suicide rates. Social justice means that hairdressers earn more than university professors and plumbers charge £500 to change a tap and get away with it.  It is an advanced, high tech economy with an electrical system built to the same specification as Albania’s and where, as a result, they have more domestic electrical fires than any other country in Europe.

Unfortunately, on my return to the UK after two years, I discovered it had also gone to hell in my absence inspired by the "enemy within", which was proving more effective at engaging the public than mere benefit fraud. 

On the plus side, Norway is quite beautiful in a cold sort of way...

vigeland9.JPG (15620 bytes) roros (5).JPG (68739 bytes) trondheim (1).JPG (62268 bytes)
Oslo Røros West Coast Lofoten

 

 

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© Jeremy Harrison 2005-2020