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PODCAST

Sweden in Focus

Sweden in Focus is The Local’s weekly podcast where we discuss the big news and talking points in Sweden as well as explore and explain the issues that impact life in the country. We also answer your essential questions and look ahead at what’s coming up.In each episode presenterJames Savagechats about the most important news and must-know information with The Local Sweden’sEmma Löfgren,Richard OrangeandMandy Pipher. They are frequently joined by other expert commentators. Become a member at

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All Episodes

32:27

Why The Local is investigating Sweden's immigrant...

Sweden in Focus ·

2025/11/29

In this week's episode we talk about Sweden’s immigrant deportation centres and why reports of miserable conditions there should concern everyone in Sweden.We also discuss the two-decades old murder in a religious sect of a pastor’s wife in a case that gripped Sweden for months at the time.With 2026 nearly upon us, we hear some of The Local’s readers’ predictions for what next will bring.Finally, a Sweden Democrat youth leader argued at the weekend that Islam has no place in Sweden. Is this kind of

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4:09

Talent deportation: 'It's a lose-lose game for Sweden...

Sweden in Focus ·

2025/11/26

In this week’s episode we hear a conversation our Nordic editor Richard Orange had recently with Sasan Kazemian, an Iranian doctor who quit his job and left Sweden for Iran in September after he was refused a work permit extension.We’ve spoken to him previously for the podcast and wanted to catch up again to find out about his application to return to Sweden on a Blue Card visa.But any hopes he had of coming back to his girlfriend and apartment in Huddinge have been put on hold after the Migration

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22:59

Liberals in crisis: Will Sweden soon have one less...

Sweden in Focus ·

2025/11/22

In this week's episode we talk about strategies for coping with the long Swedish winter now that temperatures have taken a serious nosedive.In politics, with several parties teetering on the brink of the parliamentary threshold, we examine what happens to their votes if they don’t quite make it.For Membership+ subscribers, we discuss new figures from the Migration Agency confirming a major slowdown in citizenship and work permit approvals.Finally, we look at what readers of The Local are telling us

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3:40

Meet the New Zealander who missed pies so much in...

Sweden in Focus ·

2025/11/19

In this week’s episode deputy editor Becky Waterton chats with Tom Simpson, a New Zealander who missed the kind of savoury pies that were commonplace in his homeland so much that he set up his own bakery and set to work creating NZ pies, which can now be found in supermarkets all over Sweden.So what's in his pies, and what advice he would give to anyone considering setting up their own business in Sweden? Become a member at https://www.thelocal.se/podcasts/podcast-offer?tpcc=padlock.Hosted on

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23:34

Why is the Sweden Democrats' 'immigration map' not...

Sweden in Focus ·

2025/11/15

In this week's episode we talk about a new map that shows just how successfully we immigrants are managing to take control of Sweden.We also put faces to the names of some of Sweden’s most popular brands.For Membership+ subscribers we uncork the results of a reader survey about the Swedish sense of humour.We also get into why it will no longer be possible to drop in for a visit to your local Migration Agency contact centre.Finally, we examine why language tests for citizenship applicants might not

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3:24

How good is your Swedish vocabulary? - Quiz 14

Sweden in Focus ·

2025/11/12

Can our panelists pass the vocabulary section of högskoleprovet, the Swedish university entrance exam?Host Paul O’Mahony is joined this week by The Local's Richard Orangeand James Savage.Can you tell your lenses from your lentils? Have you heard the term på måfå?And what's a show trial in Swedish?READ ALSO:SWEDISH TEST: Can you pass the vocab part of Sweden's version of the SAT?What you need to know about applying to university in SwedenThe seven stages of learning Swedish every foreigner goes

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14:37

Sweden's divorce rate not Europe's highest – but more...

Sweden in Focus ·

2025/11/08

In this week's episode we talk about how many people get divorced in Sweden and what the experience has been like for readers of The Local.We also look at international flights: why are there more flights than before out of Stockholm and why is it so expensive to fly from Gothenburg? Also,who are all those people in the photos in the arrivals hall at Arlanda Airport?For Membership+ subscribers, we examine what detainees are saying about conditions inside Sweden’s immigrant detention centres.And with

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3:36

How good is your Swedish vocabulary? - Quiz 13

Sweden in Focus ·

2025/11/05

It's quiz time again in this week's episode of Sweden in Focus Extra for Membership+ subscribers.Can our panelists pass the vocabulary section of högskoleprovet, the Swedish university entrance exam?Host Paul O’Mahony is joined this week by The Local's Becky Waterton and James Savage.Get Membership+ to listen to all The Local's podcastsSweden 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

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17:06

Why many Swedes feast on goose blood in November

Sweden in Focus ·

2025/11/01

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

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4:00

How good is your Swedish vocabulary? - Quiz 12

Sweden in Focus ·

2025/10/29

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 Watertonand James Savage.Get Membership+ to listen to all The Local's podcastsSweden in Focus Extra is a podcast for The Local's Membership+

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19:03

Does it matter if Sweden's foreign football manager...

Sweden in Focus ·

2025/10/25

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

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5:37

'We belong to this city': Malmö hummus bar owner...

Sweden in Focus ·

2025/10/22

When the hummus bar he founded really started to take off, Ibra Idrees employed his parents and brought them to SwedenBut 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

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14:16

How hatred and threats are undermining Swedish democracy

Sweden in Focus ·

2025/10/18

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

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4:50

'We're not in a labour market in Sweden, we're in...

Sweden in Focus ·

2025/10/15

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

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37:03

'We're not in a labour market in Sweden, we're in...

Sweden in Focus ·

2025/10/15

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

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17:08

What's too expensive in Sweden (and what do you miss...

Sweden in Focus ·

2025/10/11

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

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4:58

Volvo engineer leaves Sweden for Brazil after 'mean...

Sweden in Focus ·

2025/10/08

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 lawREAD ALSO:Sweden proposes tighter rules on self-sufficiency for family

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19:34

Bilingual schools under fire from Sweden's education...

Sweden in Focus ·

2025/10/04

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

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6:20

Sweden’s teen deportation problem ‘extremely easy’ to...

Sweden in Focus ·

2025/10/01

In this week’s episode The Local's Nordic editor Richard Orange interviews the Gothenburg-based immigration lawyer Tomas Fridh.Many of The Local’s readers have been directly affected by a law that has led to the young adult children of permanent residency applicants being forced to leave Sweden unless they’re able to fully provide for themselves.When the government recently proposed new family reunification rules they indicated that this would effectively put an end to teen deportations.While he

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24:16

What's in the Swedish right's radical new plan (apart...

Sweden in Focus ·

2025/09/27

In this week's episode we talk about whether immigrants will soon have to sign a contract promising to follow Swedish norms, and what's in the Swedish right's radical new plan for the next four years if it wins the 2026 election?We also examine reactions to a bumper budget and its impact on voters.For Membership+ subscribers we have updates on the issue of the Migration Agency not accepting some passports as a valid form of ID.Finally, we look at what readers of The Local have been telling us about

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