Sweden in Focus

In this week's episode we talk about why Sweden is paying Somalia to accept citizens deported from Sweden and whether the political scandal is helping or hurting the government.

We also explain why a lot of Swedes will be eating goose blood soup to celebrate St Martin’s Day.

For Membership+ subscribers we discuss why a growing number of Swedish towns are refusing to help the government with its plan to encourage more people who came to Sweden as refugees to leave the country.

Finally, we’ lift the lid on some of the biggest taboos in Swedish politics.

Host Paul O'Mahony is joined this week by regular panelists Becky Waterton and James Savage.

Here are links to some of the topics discussed in the episode:

• 'Pure bribery': Sweden paid Somalia millions to accept deportees

• Why the duck do some Swedes feast on goose blood in November?
• Gang deportations and goose blood: What changes in Sweden in November

• Growing number of Swedish councils push back on voluntary return migration

• OPINION: Sweden needs politicians who stand up for sin

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This week's episode of Sweden in Focus Extra for Membership+ poses some seriously tricky Swedish language questions. 

It’s time again to learn some Swedish as our panelists try their hand at the tricky vocabulary section of högskoleprovet, the Swedish university entrance exam. 

Host Paul O’Mahony in Stockholm is joined this week by The Local's Becky Waterton and James Savage.

Sweden in Focus Extra is a podcast for The Local's Membership+ subscribers.

Sign up to Membership+ now and get early, ad-free access to a full-length episode of the Sweden in Focus podcast every weekend, as well as Sweden in Focus Extra every Wednesday.

Please visit the link that applies to you and get a 40% discount on Membership+

• For signed-in members: Upgrade to Membership+
• For new members: Get Membership+ 

Become a member at https://www.thelocal.se/podcasts/podcast-offer?tpcc=padlock.

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In this week's episode we talk about Sweden’s new men’s football manager Graham Potter and we ask how good his Swedish is.

We dig into a survey of readers of The Local asking how people found their jobs in what has become a very difficult country to find work.

For Membership+ subscribers we’ll look ahead to what to expect from next week’s autumn school break and the Halloween and All Saints holidays.

And finally we examine the latest citizenship news after the Migration Agency announced that it will grant citizenship to far fewer people this year than last.

Host Paul O'Mahony is joined this week by regular panelists Becky Waterton and Richard Orange.

Here are links to some of the topics discussed in the episode:

• Just how good is Sweden football manager Graham Potter's Swedish?

• 'It was completely online': How foreigners in Sweden got their jobs

Sign up now and get early, ad-free access to a full-length episode of the Sweden in Focus podcast every weekend, as well as Sweden in Focus Extra every Wednesday.

Please visit the link that applies to you and get a 40% discount on Membership+

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When the hummus bar he founded really started to take off, Ibra Idrees employed his parents and brought them to Sweden But his mother and father now face deportation after the Migration Agency rejected his mother’s work permit.

In his conversation with The Local’s Becky Waterton, Idrees explains how he developed Hummusson into one of Malmö best-loved haunts and how the establishment's family-made hummus ended up on supermarket shelves.

But mostly he talks about why he thinks the Migration Agency botched the case and why he's determined to fight to keep his parents in Sweden.

• Parents of Malmö's hummus bar owner given weeks to leave country

READ ALSO:

• Syrian banker applied for 'over 2,000' jobs in Sweden before creating his own
• Sweden to hike threshold for work permit to 33,390 kronor a month
• What's in Sweden's new package of work permit rules?

Sweden in Focus Extra is a podcast for The Local's Membership+ subscribers.

Sign up to Membership+ now and get early, ad-free access to a full-length episode of the Sweden in Focus podcast every weekend, as well as Sweden in Focus Extra every Wednesday.

Please visit the link that applies to you and get a 40% discount on Membership+

• For signed-in members: Upgrade to Membership+
• For new members: Get Membership+ 

Become a member at https://www.thelocal.se/podcasts/podcast-offer?tpcc=padlock.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this week's episode we talk about last weekend’s rowdy party leader debate and what it tells us about next year’s election.

We also dig into some insights from readers of The Local on what prompted people to pack their bags and move to Sweden.

For Membership+ subscribers, we discuss accusations that politicians are using xenophobic language to describe pro-Palestinian protestors.

And finally we hear whether readers of The Local agree with the old cliché of Sweden being one of the most sexually liberated countries in the world.

Host Paul O'Mahony is joined this week by regular panelists Becky Waterton and James Savage.

Here are links to some of the topics discussed in the episode:

• Sweden needs more of the Nooshi and Ebba show
• Why is it important that the Centre Party leader has stepped down?
• ARCHIVE: ‘The Sweden Democrats no longer need to worry about how they appear’

• 'Born for Sweden': The Local's readers explain what made them move here

• TELL US: How sexually liberated are Swedish people really?

Become a member at https://www.thelocal.se/podcasts/podcast-offer?tpcc=padlock.

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Sweden is one of the worst countries in Europe when it comes to providing job opportunities for educated foreigners, according to an investigation last year by Lighthouse Reports and media outlets including the Financial Times. 

The study found for example that Sweden had the second-worst employment gap for college-educated migrants and that 68 percent of immigrants educated abroad were overqualified for their job.

In this week’s episode The Local’s contributor Amélie Reichmuth speaks about this issue of "brain waste" in Sweden with Laurence Romani, who is a professor and Director of the Center for Responsible Leadership at the Stockholm School of Economics. 

• Tackling Sweden’s ‘brain waste’: How employers can unlock migrant talent

READ ALSO:

• How many immigrants are overqualified for their jobs in Sweden?
• Want to build your Swedish network? Here's where to start
• How to play office politics in Sweden... and survive

Become a member at https://www.thelocal.se/podcasts/podcast-offer?tpcc=padlock.

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Sweden is one of the worst countries in Europe when it comes to providing job opportunities for educated foreigners, according to an investigation last year by Lighthouse Reports and media outlets including the Financial Times. 

The study found for example that Sweden had the second-worst employment gap for college-educated migrants and that 68 percent of immigrants educated abroad were overqualified for their job.

In this clip from Sweden in Focus Extra, The Local’s contributor Amélie Reichmuth speaks about this issue of "brain waste" in Sweden with Laurence Romani, who is a professor and Director of the Center for Responsible Leadership at the Stockholm School of Economics. 

• Tackling Sweden’s ‘brain waste’: How employers can unlock migrant talent

READ ALSO:

• How many immigrants are overqualified for their jobs in Sweden?
• Want to build your Swedish network? Here's where to start
• How to play office politics in Sweden... and survive

Sweden in Focus Extra is a podcast for The Local's Membership+ subscribers.

Sign up to Membership+ now and get early, ad-free access to a full-length episode of the Sweden in Focus podcast every weekend, as well as Sweden in Focus Extra every Wednesday.

Please visit the link that applies to you and get a 40% discount on Membership+

• For signed-in members: Upgrade to Membership+
• For new members: Get Membership+ 

Become a member at https://www.thelocal.se/podcasts/podcast-offer?tpcc=padlock.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this week's episode we talk about the politics behind Sweden's planned new salary threshold for work permit holders.

We also look at what readers of The Local always make sure to do when they’re back visiting the countries they moved from.

For Membership+ subscribers we discuss the Swedish government’s controversial plan to lower the age of criminal responsibility from 15 to 13.

Finally, we’ve been trying to get answers on who will potentially be affected by a proposal to withdraw permanent residency from some immigrants and we bring you the latest on what we know.

Host Paul O'Mahony is joined this week by regular panelists Richard Orange and James Savage.

The episode also features interviews with Ibra Idrees, a Malmö-based restaurateur whose parents face deportation over a work permit issue, and Ludvig Aspling, the Sweden Democrats' spokesperson on immigration and one of the driving forces behind a plan to revoke permanent residency from as many as 120,000 immigrants. 

Here are links to some of the topics discussed in the episode:

• Sweden to hike threshold for work permit to 33,390 kronor a month
• What do we know about plans to further raise the work permit salary threshold?

'Everything except Wasabröd': What's cheaper or better in your home country than Sweden?

Sign up now and get early, ad-free access to a full-length episode of the Sweden in Focus podcast every weekend, as well as Sweden in Focus Extra every Wednesday.

Please visit the link that applies to you and get a 40% discount on Membership+

• For signed-in members: Upgrade to Membership+
• For new members: Get Membership+ 

Become a member at https://www.thelocal.se/podcasts/podcast-offer?tpcc=padlock.

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In this clip from the latest episode of Sweden in Focus Extra, The Local's Nordic editor Richard Orange interviews José Naves Moura Neto, a Brazilian software engineer.

Neto, who was working at Volvo, moved back to Brazil last month after his 19-year-old son was ordered to leave Sweden just weeks after graduating from high school.

• 'We are devastated': Volvo engineer’s family forced out of Sweden by teen deportation law

READ ALSO:

• Sweden proposes tighter rules on self-sufficiency for family reunification
• Why Sweden's family reunion proposals will cause more teen deportations
• EXPLAINED: How to avoid Sweden's teen deportation trap

Sweden in Focus Extra is a podcast for The Local's Membership+ subscribers.

Sign up to Membership+ now and get early, ad-free access to a full-length episode of the Sweden in Focus podcast every weekend, as well as Sweden in Focus Extra every Wednesday.

Please visit the link that applies to you and get a 40% discount on Membership+

• For signed-in members: Upgrade to Membership+
• For new members: Get Membership+ 

Become a member at https://www.thelocal.se/podcasts/podcast-offer?tpcc=padlock.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this week's episode we talk about bilingual English-Swedish schools in Sweden and why they’re under fire from the authorities. 

We also discuss the pros and cons of rail travel in Sweden after the launch this week of a multi-billion kronor plan to improve Sweden’s railway network.

For Membership+ subscribers we examine the government’s controversial plan to revoke permanent residency from more than 100,000 people.

Finally we find out how people in Sweden spend their time online after the publication this week of the annual Svenskarna och internet report.

Host Paul O'Mahony is joined this week by regular panelists Becky Waterton and James Savage. 

Here are links to some of the topics discussed in the episode:

• Sweden's Liberal leader calls for crackdown on English language schools

• What's in Sweden's 1,200 billion kronor plan to fix the country's railways?
• Sweden's SJ train company releases Christmas tickets

Sign up now and get early, ad-free access to a full-length episode of the Sweden in Focus podcast every weekend, as well as Sweden in Focus Extra every Wednesday.

Please visit the link that applies to you and get a 40% discount on Membership+

• For signed-in members: Upgrade to Membership+
• For new members: Get Membership+ 

Become a member at https://www.thelocal.se/podcasts/podcast-offer?tpcc=padlock.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.