Grass isn't always greener, not in Sweden anyway

by Adam McCulloch

Working in social care journalism you can easily be fooled into thinking that all is doom and gloom here in the UK. The mantras of 'lack of resources', 'lack of training', and 'why can't we be more like the Swedish?' have become familiar. But this Guardian article adds fuel to the growing realisation that the Swedes (despite their relative wealth and low population) no longer offer a model that we should look at so enviously.
Meanwhile, a friend of mine living in Japan referred me to this Times article . To claim benefits in Japan you first have to sell your 'luxury items'. These include car, musical instruments etc. Also, as my friend has found to his horror, any illness that prevents you from going to work is subtracted from one's already meagre holiday entitlement.
Maybe the good old UK isn't so bad a place after all...