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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... |
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