Last Night in Sweden

On 18 February 2017 US President Donald Trump gave a speech in Melbourne, Florida. While speaking about the importance of keeping America safe his speech digressed into talking about Sweden. 'You look at what's happening last night in Sweden. Sweden, who would believe this. Sweden. They took in large numbers. They're having problems like they never thought possible.'

In reality, nothing special happened the night before in Sweden but his comments somehow set off a raft of negative reports about the political and social state of affairs in Sweden. And while the World Cup, crop failures and wildfires dominated Swedish news over the summer it's the imminent election on 9 September 2018 that has caught the international media's attention, focusing on a sense of growing frustration among the legendarily relaxed Swedes.

Judging by the media's reporting of the run-up to the election, It's easy to gain the impression that immigration is the only thing Swedes care about these days. Traveling from her home in Gothenburg in the south all the way to Kiruna in the far north and back down along the eastern coast, Nora Lorek found a very different reality. To her astonishment she found a rather happy country and a sense of 'we're doing just fine'.