Something Rotten in the State of Sweden (4)

Today is May 1st, and true Socialists in Sweden are supposed to be out in the streets waving their red flags and singing their old songs.

They would be demonstrating in favour of status quo and the powers in place. "No To Change" would be their main slogan.

Somewhat strange in a world of profound change, you might think, but that's the way things are.

I guess some actually were, but most Swedes as usual used the extra vacation day to go out to the countryside and enjoy the good weather.

Attendance seems to have been moderate - at the very best.

And in the fourth largest city Uppsala TV News tonight reported that a demonstration organized by the not too large Christian Democratic Party attracted three to four times as many people as the classic Social Democratic red march.

Although the economy is doing well, the Social Democrats aren't really succeeding in getting rid of the different scandals. In spite of a less than spectacular past month in terms of their own activities, the opposition Alliance remains fairly solidly ahead in the polls.

But the main political sensation of the day was another one, in my opinion.

Today, the largest newspaper in the country - Aftonbladet - which on its editorial pages supports the Social Democratic government published a virtual declaration of war against the Prime Minister.

It's all about the scandal of his State Secretary Lars Danielsson that I have been writing about here before.

The plots has gotten thicker since then. Danielsson is struggling, and Prime Minister Persson's strategy seems to be to try to ignore the issue.

But it will not succeed.

Official lying be senior state officials on important official issues is a most serios issue.

Simply speaking: it must not be tolerated.

A few days ago the senior political commentator of Aftonbladet Lena Mellin - among the most experienced and respected in the country - published a very major piece in which she said that the Danielsson affair might well be "the scandal of the decade" in Sweden.

Strong words.

And today the Editor-in-Chief of Aftonbladet Anders Gerdin follows up with an article in which he literally makes it editorial policy of the news pages of the paper to pursue the story day after day until the lying is completely exposed and the thruth established.

I can only applaud. I was long astonished by the silence over the issue.

But now it clearly gathers speed.

It could well be one of the critical ones in bringing the entire government crashing down.

Stayed tuned. There is drama coming.