Polly Toynbee at The Guardian comments swedish politics

Polly Toynbee, social and political commentator at the english newspaper The Guardian, talks about Sweden, Fredrik Reinfeldt, David Cameron and some other current issues.

Polly Toynbee, ledarskribent på tidningen The Guardian kommenterar svensk politik, Fredrik Reinfeldt, David Cameron.

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• toynbee
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• democrats
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• cameron
• fredrik
• reinfeldt
• moderaterna
• socialdemokraterna
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[imonthebox]

Brilliant. 

[mjonas10]

@scholion Sweden was never feudal? For the largest time of Sweden's existance Swedes have been subjugated under counts, lords and dukes, just like Britons. Sounds like you just assumed something there.

[scholion]

There are more differences between our two nations than both Swedes and Britons wish to acknowledge. To begin with, Sweden never suffered under the feudal yoke. At a time in European history when common French, Germans and Britons were subjugated under counts, lords and dukes, Swedes were running their own farms. Furthermore, Sweden never was in possession of a true empire resembling that of Britain and contrary to Britain, Sweden didn't take much part in the two world wars of the 20th century.

[Manics1989]

Spot on Polly, although the Swedish actually have centre-left parties to vote for, we've no such thing at the moment.

[davidcufc]

I would not take much notice of her comments. She predicted that Gordon Brown would be a great Prime Minister. Now even she thinks he's hopeless.

[Scott1990ss]

The UK Labour government has not worked against right wing politics but has wholeheartedly embraced them. For example they introduced student fees for university and abolished free personal home care for the elderly, something which the Alliance for Sweden doesn't even have on its radar.

I think it's important for Swedes to understand that all of Sweden's political parties lie to the left of the UK's so called Labour party in many political issues & that the UK is actually pretty right wing.

[Scott1990ss]

This woman is completely wrong in saying that Brits wouldn't elect a right-wing government. It was the Labour party that swung miles to the right so they could get back in power in 1997. In the very same way in which Reinfeldt went to the left in Sweden, Tony Blair took the Labour party to the right in the 90s.

Fredrik Reinfeldt is in many ways far more of a Social Democrat than any New Labour politician in Westminster. As a UK citizen I can assure you of this.

[Scott1990ss]

jjj

[Scott1990ss]

What a moron. Reinfeldt's Alliance government is miles to the left of the New Labour party in this country. It is the Labour party that she is quietly praising as some sort of equivalent to Swedish social democracy that has ripped Britain even further to the ground and taken us even farther away from the Swedish social model.

[Sonsequence]

She's a columnist. She is a writer of opinion and she is speaking to a like-minded interviewer. She makes clear her leaning but doesn't set out her defense of it because that isn't what the video was made for.