Center-right bloc ahead in latest poll index
The gap between the left and right blocs is growing. Only a week before the elections, Sveriges Radio has through Novus Opinion made an index of the different opinion polls. The center-right bloc has 50 % (own majority) while the red-greens get 43.5 %. Within the blocs, the two biggest parties Social Democrats and Moderates decrease and so do the Greens. The other parties increase and the nationalist Sweden Democrats are above the 4 % threshold with 4.6 %. Which party do you belong to? Sveriges Radio and Kompass (polling) set up a test online (in Swedish): http://sverigesradio.se/sida/gruppsida.aspx?programid=3615&grupp=11973

Politician got swastika carved into forehead
A 24-year-old candidate of the nationalist party the Sweden Democrats was attacked last weekend and cut with a knife in his home in Malmö, southern Sweden. In a crime that looked eerily like the one in Quentin Tarantino’s film “Inglorious Basterds”, two offenders carved a swastika into David von Arnold Antoni’s forehead. Earlier in the day someone had sprayed left-wing extremist political slogans on the house where he lives. The perpetrators are unknown at the moment but the police are looking for clues among those who on Friday tried to interrupt a political meeting held in Malmö by the Sweden Democrats. “I haven’t yet decided what to do but I’m leaving Malmö,” said von Arnold Antoni. It is not the first time he’s attacked, but it’s the worst attack so far. The Sweden Democrats were founded in 1988, and is a political party that describes itself as a nationalist movement. As of 2010, the party claims 4,517 members, a 26% increase from the year before. More info on the party, see http://sverigedemokraterna.se/ (in Swedish only)

Pernilla August awarded at Venice Film Festival
Swedish actress Pernilla August nabbed the directorial debut prize at the Venice Film Festival’s Critics’ Week. She won for her film “Svinalängorna” (“Beyond”) which stars Noomi Rapace. “It’s unbelievable! Amazing!” Pernilla August said when she received the news. In a role far removed from the sulky, withdrawn Lisbeth Salander in the Millennium films, Rapace plays Leena, a wife with two daughters, first seen happily amorous in bed with her husband. For the record, her smile is dazzling. It doesn’t last. She receives news that her mother, of whom her family knew nothing, is dying in a distant town. They drive to see her, in a journey that makes Leena confront a childhood darkened by parental abuse and alcoholism. The distinguished Swedish actress Pernilla August makes a noteworthy directing debut. Rapace has been called “a commanding lead”. More on the film, see http://www.heppfilm.se/beyond/

Noomi takes on Hollywood
More Noomi Rapace news. The star of “The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo” has finally booked her first Hollywood lead, the plum part in “Sherlock Holmes 2” starring Robert Downey Jr. as Holmes and Jude Law as Dr. Watson. Guy Ritchie (Madonna’s ex-husband) is back as director. Rapace’s part is, according to the Hollywood Reporter, “shrouded in mystery” although it seems she might play a French Gypsy. Maybe a love interest of either of the leading men? The production is set to start later this year.

Household debt continues to rise rapidly
Swedish household debt continues to rise rapidly, this while the credit bonanza in the rest of the western world has ended. The National Housing Credit Guarantee Board has found that the debt ratio of Swedish households is record high and rose to about 165 %, from 154 % last year. Mortgages constitute the bulk of the debt burden of the households.