Swedish News:

Habo - safest in Sweden. Danish-Swedish subway? Sundsvall worst. Green hair in Skane. Two of a kind, most definitely and yet inseparable. 

• Habo – safest in Sweden
  The safest municipality in Sweden in Habo, north of Jönköping. The risk of accidents, fires, crimes, burglaries and thefts are lesser here than anywhere else in Sweden, according to annual reports. You can also feel pretty safe in Öckerö, Salem and Lomma. Truth be told, you can probably feel safe almost everywhere in Sweden.

• Danish-Swedish subway?
  A joint pre-study will commence in the new year, to see if a subway linking Malmö and Copenhagen is a future possibility. The study will investigate what the needs for personal transportation between the two cities are, and how they will develop. It will also look into how Copenhagen Airport might be effected if the Öresund Bridge is relieved of some of its pressure, what building techniques would be preferable and whether the subway link would need several different stations. The thought is to build the new subway line from the developmental area Nordhavn north of central Copenhagen to Malmö Central station. The European Union’s regional Öresund Fund will contribute with 4.5 million SEK ($652 702.5), and both municipalities will add just as much. Local politicians in Malmö hope that the project gets a priority over the new, permanent link between Helsingborg and Helsingör. “The daily commute between greater Malmö and Copenhagen is increasing faster than all other Öresund traffic,” says Ilmar Reepalu, Malmö’s financial commissioner.

• Sundsvall worst
  Something’s definitely not right in Sundsvall. When it comes to education, the schools of Sundsvall continuously make it to the “worst”-lists, more so than schools in any other Swedish city. Says one student, Miriam El Kalawy, at Ljustadalsskolan in Sundsvall: “New books wouldn’t hurt. One geography book still refers to the Soviet Union.” In general, Swedish students are doing worse at school; the number of students passing is getting smaller. Meanwhile, the gap between high and low achievers is widening. And in Sundsvall it’s more apparent than in other places. Anna Östman teaches Swedish at Ljustadalsskolan, which has been rated the worst school in all of Sweden. She is often asked: “You couldn’t get any other job?” when people hear where she teaches. “But nothing could be more wrong,” Anna says. “I chose this school, because I wanted the challenge. I’ve been to many schools, I don’t think this is worse.” The school’s director since 2009 is Leo Oras, during that time the qualification for high school has gone from 58 to 71%. To get even more students to qualify, Leo has special goal setting meetings with them. “All these students must pass, they are good, many of them are survivors. This is not only a question of resources; you also have to focus on results. Really help them, really ask; ‘What do you want with your life?’” The school has suffered a number of changes in the teacher body, and many students lack proper support from home. Another student, Ben Said, says: “Everybody’s screaming during the lessons. There’s only one teacher who can actually do something about it.”

• Green hair in Skåne
  When several residents of Anderslöv in Skåne got green hair after their morning shower, they suspected the water was the culprit. But it turned out new houses in combination with warm showers was the real perpetrator. When the warm water collected overnight, the copper in the pipes and the water heater seeped into the water, and in turn acted as unwanted hair dye. In order to avoid the green tint, inhabitants are advised to wash their hair in cold water. Or move to an older house.

• Inseparable
  It was love at first sight. Hunter Anders Fransson and Bambina are now inseparable. “She’s amazing, she follows every step I take,” Anders says. The deer’s mother was run over and Bambina was left alone. Last midsummer she met Anders Fransson and fell in love. She moves around his farm in Bor outside Värnamo, and comes whenever Anders whistles for her. Anders tried to let her back out but she didn’t want to leave. “I didn’t want to let her out in the forest among lynx and fox, so I took her to an island and built a wind shed for her and left food.” But when he began to row back to the mainland, the incredible happened: Bambina jumped into the water and swam out to him in the boat. These days Bambina likes to get out in the woods with Anders and his dogs and even goes inside his house. She eats fodder for reindeer and drinks “välling” in the evenings. “She is like a dog, very social. I’m a hardcore hunter but have not killed a deer since I met her,” Anders admits. He believes Bambina will leave him eventually for a male deer. “But I think she’ll come and see me for as long as I live,” he adds.