The Almost Nearly Perfect People: Behind the Myth of the Scandinavian Utopia

by Michael Booth

If I can return to my choir metaphor for a moment, as I discovered during the twiddly bits of “Bohemian Rhapsody,” when you are but one singer in a choir of hundreds, it is really quite easy to contribute nothing yet remain part of the group. Switch off and mouth the words and no one will call you out because they are too busy concentrating on how they are sounding. It is easy to coast. There is a growing feeling that too many Danes have been doing just that for too many years. The most high-profile case in the media recently concerned “Dovne Robert” (Lazy Robert), a well-educated, physically able man in his thirties who has been signing on for the dole for more than eleven years, playing the system like a maestro with his Stradivarius. There was a predictable outcry, which does seem to have moved the debate forward a little, but Robert now makes a nice living as a media figure so is, essentially, still unemployed.