The Almost Nearly Perfect People
''The Almost Nearly Perfect People: The Truth About the Nordic Miracle'' is a 2014 nonfiction book by the British journalist Michael Booth. In the book, Booth focuses on the five Nordic countries—Denmark, Iceland, Norway, Finland and Sweden—dedicating a section of the book to each one. He began writing the book after migrating from England to Denmark, based on his perceptions of the Nordic region before and after moving. He wanted to present an alternative perspective to the extremely positive depiction of the region in British media. The book received mixed reviews: some critics found it to be overly critical with poor humour, others praised its tone and informativeness. Background and release Michael Booth began writing ''The Almost Nearly Perfect People'' when he moved from England to Denmark about 15 years before its publication in 2014. Before moving, he had perceived Scandinavians to be a "bearded, woolly jumper-wearing, recycling bunch of people", but afterwards was ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Michael Booth (writer)
Michael Booth is an English food and travel writer and journalist who writes regularly for a variety of newspapers and magazines including the ''Independent on Sunday'', ''Condé Nast Traveller'', ''Monocle (UK magazine), Monocle'' and ''Time Out (company), Time Out'', among many other publications at home and abroad. Career In June 2010, Michael Booth won the Guild of Food Writers Kate Whiteman, Kate Whiteman Award for Work on Food and Travel. His book on Japanese cooking, ''Sushi and Beyond: What the Japanese Know About Cooking'', was adapted into a Japanese anime television series which began airing in April 2015. Personal life He has a wife, Lissen, and two children, Asger and Emil. They live in Denmark. Bibliography *''Just As Well I'm Leaving: To the Orient with Hans Christian Andersen'' (2005) *''Sacré Cordon Bleu: What the French Know About Cooking'' (2008) *''Doing without Delia: Tales of Triumph and Disaster in a French Kitchen'' (2009) *' (2009) **''Super Sushi Ram ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Huldufólk
or hidden people are elf, elves in Icelandic and Faroese people, Faroese folklore. They are supernatural beings that live in nature. They look and behave similarly to humans, but live in a Parallel universes in fiction, parallel world. They can make themselves visible at will. cites a 19th-century Icelandic source claiming that the only visible difference between normal people and outwardly human-appearing is, the latter have a convex rather than concave philtrum () below their noses. In Faroese folk tales, hidden people are said to be "large in build, their clothes are all grey, and their hair black. Their dwellings are in mounds, and they are also called Elves." Some Icelandic folk tales caution against throwing stones, as it may hit the hidden people. The term was taken as a synonym of (elves) in 19th-century Icelandic folklore. Jón Árnason (author), Jón Árnason found that the terms are synonymous, except is a pejorative term. contends that originates as a euphem ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Financial Times
The ''Financial Times'' (''FT'') is a British daily newspaper printed in broadsheet and also published digitally that focuses on business and economic Current affairs (news format), current affairs. Based in London, the paper is owned by a Japanese holding company, Nikkei, Inc., Nikkei, with core editorial offices across Britain, the United States and continental Europe. In July 2015, Pearson plc, Pearson sold the publication to Nikkei for Pound sterling, £844 million (US$1.32 billion) after owning it since 1957. In 2019, it reported one million paying subscriptions, three-quarters of which were digital subscriptions. In 2023, it was reported to have 1.3 million subscribers of which 1.2 million were digital. The newspaper has a prominent focus on Business journalism, financial journalism and economic analysis rather than News media, generalist reporting, drawing both criticism and acclaim. It sponsors an Financial Times and McKinsey Business Book of the Year Award, annual book ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Rationalist Association
The Rationalist Association was a charity in the United Kingdom which published '' New Humanist'' magazine between 1885 and 2025. Since 2025, the Rationalist Press has been the publishing imprint of Humanists UK. The original Rationalist Press Association (RPA) was founded in 1885 by a group of freethinkers who were unhappy with the increasingly political and decreasingly intellectual tenor of the British secularist movement, which made its name publishing cheap reprints of classic literature – such as works by Charles Darwin and John Stuart Mill – through its Thinker's Library series, along with literature that was deemed too anti-religious to be handled by mainstream publishers and booksellers. In 2002, the RPA became a wholly owned subsidiary of the Rationalist Association, a charity established to continue its work. In 2025, the Rationalist Association merged with Humanists UK, which took over ownership of the RPA and publication of ''New Humanist''. As the R ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Ian Thomson (writer)
Ian Thomson (born 1961) is an English author, best known for his biography ''Primo Levi'' (2002), and reportage, ''The Dead Yard: Tales of Modern Jamaica'' (2009) Biography Ian Thomson was born in London in 1961. His parents moved to New York City that same year, where his father worked for a Wall Street bank. (His mother, a Baltic émigrée, came to England in 1947 at the age of 17.) Thomson was educated at Dulwich College, then at Pembroke College, Cambridge, where he read English. He is the godson of the British painter Carel Weight. In the 1980s he taught English literature and English as a foreign language in Rome, then became a translator, journalist and writer, contributing to the '' Sunday Times Magazine'', ''The Independent'', ''The Guardian'', ''The Observer'', ''The Spectator'' and ''Times Literary Supplement''. He was Royal Literary Fund Fellow at the University College London. Currently he is a Senior Lecturer in Creative Non-Fiction at the University of East Angl ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Mariella Frostrup
Mariella Frostrup (born 12 November 1962) is an Irish-Norwegian journalist and presenter, known in British television and radio mainly for arts programmes. She has written for ''The Daily Telegraph'' as a travel writer, ''The Guardian'', ''The Observer'', ''The Mail on Sunday'', '' Harpers & Queen'' and the ''New Statesman''. For almost 20 years until 2021 she was ''The Observers agony aunt on its relationships page. In October 2024 she was announced as the UK Government's Menopause Employment Ambassador. Early life Frostrup was born in Oslo, Norway, to Peter and Joan Frostrup, but moved with her family when she was six'' The TV That Made Me'' s2 e5, 11 March 2016 to Ireland in 1969, living in Kilmacanogue, a small village near the town of Bray in County Wicklow. Her Norwegian father, who died aged 44 when Frostrup was 15, was a journalist (including Foreign Editor) on ''The Irish Times'', and her Scottish mother an artist. She has four siblings. Career After the death of ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Belarus
Belarus, officially the Republic of Belarus, is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by Russia to the east and northeast, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the northwest. Belarus spans an area of with a population of . The country has a hemiboreal climate and is administratively divided into Regions of Belarus, six regions. Minsk is the capital and List of cities and largest towns in Belarus, largest city; it is administered separately as a city with special status. For most of the medieval period, the lands of modern-day Belarus was ruled by independent city-states such as the Principality of Polotsk. Around 1300 these lands came fully under the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and subsequently by the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth; this period lasted for 500 years until the Partitions of Poland, 1792-1795 partitions of Poland-Lithuania placed Belarus within the Belarusian history in the Russian Empire, Russian Empire for the fi ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Alexander Rybak
Alexander Igorevich Rybak (; born 13 May 1986) or Alyaksandr Iharavich Rybak () is a Belarusian-born Norwegian musician and actor. Based in Oslo, Norway, Rybak extensively worked on television programs and on tours in Europe, particularly in Scandinavia and Eastern Europe throughout the early 2010s. Performing in English language, English, Russian language, Russian and Norwegian language, Norwegian, Rybak has released five albums. His debut 2009 album, ''Fairytales (Alexander Rybak album), Fairytales'', charted in the top 20 in nine European countries, including a top position in Norway and Russia. After two pop albums in ''Fairytales'' and ''No Boundaries (Alexander Rybak album), No Boundaries'' (2010), Rybak switched to become a family-oriented artist, focusing on children's and classical music and frequently performing with youth orchestras. Rybak in the Eurovision Song Contest 2009 and won the competition with 387 points—the highest tally any country achieved in the his ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Social Democracy
Social democracy is a Social philosophy, social, Economic ideology, economic, and political philosophy within socialism that supports Democracy, political and economic democracy and a gradualist, reformist, and democratic approach toward achieving social equality. In modern practice, social democracy has taken the form of predominantly capitalist economies, a robust welfare state, policies promoting social justice, market regulation, and a more Redistribution of income and wealth, equitable distribution of income. Social democracy maintains a commitment to Representative democracy, representative and participatory democracy. Common aims include curbing Social inequality, inequality, eliminating the oppression of Social privilege, underprivileged groups, eradicating poverty, and upholding universally accessible public services such as child care, Universal education, education, elderly care, Universal health care, health care, and workers' compensation. Economically, it support ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Nordic Model
The Nordic model comprises the economic and social policies as well as typical cultural practices common in the Nordic countries (Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden). This includes a comprehensive welfare state and multi-level collective bargaining based on the economic foundations of social corporatism, and a commitment to private ownership within a market-based mixed economywith Norway being a partial exception due to a large number of state-owned enterprises and state ownership in publicly listed firms. Although there are significant differences among the Nordic countries, they all have some common traits. The three Scandinavian countries are constitutional monarchies, while Finland and Iceland have been republics since the 20th century. All the Nordic countries are however described as being highly democratic and all have a unicameral legislature and use proportional representation in their electoral systems. They all support a universalist welfare state aime ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Sisu
is a Finnish word variously translated as stoic determination, tenacity of purpose, grit, bravery, resilience, and hardiness. It is held by Finns to express their national character. It is generally considered not to have a single-word literal equivalent in English (tenacity, grit, resilience, and hardiness are much the same things, but do not necessarily imply stoicism or bravery). In recent years, sociologists and psychologists have conducted research on , attempting to quantify it and identify its effects, beneficial and harmful, in both individuals and populations. Meaning is extraordinary determination in the face of extreme adversity, and courage that is presented typically in situations where success is unlikely. It expresses itself in taking action against the odds, and displaying courage and resoluteness in the face of adversity; in other words, deciding on a course of action, and then adhering to it even if repeated failures ensue. It is in some ways simila ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Antipsychotic
Antipsychotics, previously known as neuroleptics and major tranquilizers, are a class of Psychiatric medication, psychotropic medication primarily used to manage psychosis (including delusions, hallucinations, paranoia or disordered thought), principally in schizophrenia but also in a range of other psychotic disorders. They are also the mainstay, together with mood stabilizers, in the treatment of bipolar disorder. Moreover, they are also used as adjuncts in the treatment of Treatment-resistant depression, treatment-resistant major depressive disorder. The use of antipsychotics may result in many unwanted side effects such as Extrapyramidal symptoms, involuntary movement disorders, gynecomastia, impotence, weight gain and metabolic syndrome. Long-term use can produce List of long term side effects of antipsychotics, adverse effects such as tardive dyskinesia, tardive dystonia, Akathisia, tardive akathisia, and brain tissue volume reduction. The long term use of antipsychotics ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |