The Swedes have established a reputation for making the welfare state work, incidentally by keeping alive some of the principles like the work ethic that are required to make the market order function effectively.
But this is a bit over the top.
Revelations that Sweden’s spy agency treated itself to a lavish James Bond-themed party have embarrassed the government in a country whose reputation as a model of rectitude has been sullied by a series of public spending scandals.
The party, which included 1,000 guests, casino tables, celebrity entertainers and a tuxedo-clad band playing Bond themes, cost 5.3 million crowns, took place in June 2011 during a government austerity drive.
I found myself yesterday, to my surprise, persuaded by arguments put by Naomi Wolf.
Ooh Honey Honey
3 Sep 12 at 8:03 am
Very interesting can of worms there!
Poor Old Rafe
3 Sep 12 at 9:03 am
A spy agency? Hope they kept this little bash a secret. Strangely, something somewhere seems to have leaked out about it.
Elizabeth (Lizzie) B.
3 Sep 12 at 9:03 am
It was bound to leak. The place was crawling with spies.
TerjeP
3 Sep 12 at 9:25 am
Oooh. Spy versus spy. I like it.
Guess you’d have to come in from the cold in Sweden.
Elizabeth (Lizzie) B.
3 Sep 12 at 10:16 am
5.3 million Krona is close enough to $800000 or $800 a head per party person.Makes some of our local Bank’s Christmas orgies look positively parsimonious.
Lew
3 Sep 12 at 10:18 am
So, big tax-funded spy parties and according to OHH’s link, not a lot of care for their women and this:
“The Swedish Parliament passed a draconian law in 2010 purporting to ban homeschooling, all school curriculums except the Swedish government’s, and all alternative education nationwide. Despite a global outcry, the prohibition went into effect last year.” (From this site.)
Perhaps not the land of milk and honey everyone supposed.
Ellen of Tasmania
3 Sep 12 at 12:18 pm
Sweden has very high taxes and huge duties on alcohol, so I bet at least half the cost of the party went straight back into government coffers.
squawkbox
3 Sep 12 at 12:45 pm
They thought if they threw a party, Olaf Palme’s killer might just walk in and boast about it.
They’ve tried everything else…
David Brewer
3 Sep 12 at 4:21 pm