The Foreigner, Published in Norway for Expatriates.

The Norwegian industrial sausage

Ben McPherson — Thu, 16 May 2013 21:38:42 GMT

‘Abattoir slurry in a condom.’ That’s how Jonathan Meades describes the industrially-produced sausage. That’s upsetting enough when you think about British sausages: but in Norway the industrial sausage is the national dish.

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Norwegian nationalism probed

M. Michael Brady — Thu, 16 May 2013 17:20:25 GMT

COMMENTARY: In the evening of Tuesday, 17 April, some sixty academics and students assembled on the fourth floor of the venerable Armémuseum (“Army Museum”) in Stockholm, an enormous building the size of the Royal Palace in Oslo.

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The tiny Norwegian satellite with a giant job, a space success story

M. Michael Brady — Thu, 9 May 2013 11:25:30 GMT

Norway’s AISSat-1 Nano satellite marked its thousandth day in orbit just a month ago on 9 April. It had orbited the Earth more than 14,500 times in those thousand days, registering 30,000 ships round the world on each orbit.

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Letter to the Editor regarding Norway foreign students column

W.S. Warner — Tue, 7 May 2013 20:27:10 GMT

I disagree with several issues that Paul Beaumont advocates in “Foreign students: Benefit or burden to Norway?” (April 14, 2013). In part, his logic is faulty; in full, his evidence is lacking.

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Journey to the end of a road: Norway’s new National Transport Plan

Asgeir Ueland — Tue, 7 May 2013 14:21:18 GMT

COMMENTARY: The Swedes are building roads that provide economic gains for society, but the roads built in Norway are often roads for roads’ sake.

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Norwegians don’t save money with heat pumps

M. Michael Brady — Sun, 5 May 2013 08:44:58 GMT

Very few Norwegian homes had heat pumps ten years ago. One home in four has one now, but it has become an economic paradox.

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No climate for trains in Norway?

Ilan Kelman — Sat, 4 May 2013 20:46:14 GMT

I write this column on an inexplicably delayed train in England. Other common adjectives for the UK's train system include rickety, slow, cramped, and unreliable.

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Norway and its WWII pilots’ bravery

Tor Idar Larsen — Fri, 3 May 2013 12:59:39 GMT

There are many famous Norway-Britain Second World War stories, including the Rjukan heavy water plant sabotage attempts. Some of Norway’s pilots also made a vital contribution to Allied efforts.

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Aquavit, a favourite tipple

M. Michael Brady — Wed, 1 May 2013 17:16:25 GMT

Aquavit is the traditional Scandinavian tipple. Related to but distinctly different from vodka and gin, it’s flavoured with spices and most often is taken straight.

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Exotic Norwegian dishes

M. Michael Brady — Sun, 28 Apr 2013 08:36:28 GMT

Every country has its traditional dishes, most reflecting rural roots in times past. Some of Norway’s specialities range from the fairly plain to perhaps the somewhat unappetizing for some.

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The Norwegian cheese that stands alone

M. Michael Brady — Sat, 27 Apr 2013 11:01:55 GMT

Norwegian brown cheese and its various varieties and offspring siblings is in a class by itself.

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The rise of au-pairs and spoiled Norwegians

Asgeir Ueland — Wed, 24 Apr 2013 13:00:39 GMT

COMMENTARY: Is the sharp increase in the number of au-pairs, mainly from the Philippines, turning Norway back to days long gone by?

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Asylum debate in Norway down the toilet

Michael Sandelson — Mon, 22 Apr 2013 16:58:24 GMT

EDITORIAL: Good times in Norway’s oil capital region seem to have constipated the thoughts in Stavanger Aftenblad readers’ heads. As asylum seekers must endure poor living conditions in the western Norway town, other comfortably-off Norwegians put persecution as high up on their agenda as buying a roll of loo paper.

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Kale tale, a vegetable comeback

M. Michael Brady — Sun, 21 Apr 2013 09:41:24 GMT

Kale, a hardy, commonplace cabbage variety cultivated under WWII in Norwegian and UK home gardens and allotment plots, is now enjoying a revival after falling out of fashion.

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Nuking our future generations and their energy

Ilan Kelman — Sat, 20 Apr 2013 10:35:10 GMT

Nuclear energy is presented as the solution to our energy woes every few years, it seems. Yet the waste from nuclear power has been particularly concerning.

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Great expectations and Norway’s National Transport Plan

M. Michael Brady — Wed, 17 Apr 2013 12:43:24 GMT

The government’s latest NTP is big, extensive, expensive. Officials aim to get more people where they want to go.

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Bieber's hits Justin Norway

Tove Andersson — Tue, 16 Apr 2013 17:11:46 GMT

COMMENTARY: Two words unveil that the teenage hysteria that hit Norway a couple of days ago is media hysteria as well.

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Foreign students: Benefit or burden to Norway?

Paul Beaumont — Sun, 14 Apr 2013 08:51:10 GMT

Sweden, Denmark and Germany are the latest countries to start charging fees to foreign students. Norway increasingly appears like a last beacon of kindness; or a beacon of stupidity if you take the other view. ‘The sucker’ in a prisoner’s dilemma game of co-operation.

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Surrogacy in Norway a touchy issue

Tove Andersson — Wed, 10 Apr 2013 15:26:44 GMT

Labor’s (Ap) Health Minister Jonas Gahr Støre has no intention of changing Norway’s anti-surrogacy laws. Nevertheless Norwegians travel to other countries to rent a womb, or ‘shopping in baby factories’, as some surrogacy opponents describe it.

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Why Europe doesn’t smile when we say cheese

Nikola Astrup — Tue, 9 Apr 2013 09:38:16 GMT

This winter marked a milestone in the history of Norwegian protectionism. EU representatives have been provoked over the last weeks and months by the Norwegian government’s decision to change the tariffs on several agricultural products that went into force on January 1 this year.

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Are Norwegians sick, crazy, or just too good?

Tove Andersson — Sun, 7 Apr 2013 08:47:55 GMT

Self-harm, eating disorders, ADHD and nerve medicine is a part of everyday speech in the world’s happiest country. Older people get overmedicated and a survey shows that over a million Norwegians use nerve medicine.

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Reaping the fruits of our disfavours?

Ilan Kelman — Sat, 6 Apr 2013 08:54:49 GMT

Does growing strawberries north of the Arctic Circle perhaps mean that climate change is not so bad after all?

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Centrists draw bottles at dawn

Michael Sandelson — Thu, 4 Apr 2013 11:09:26 GMT

COMMENTARY: Two of Norway’s leading Centre Party (Sp) politicians are battling out drinking time rules from their respective sides of the bar counter.

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‘In fair weather, prepare for foul’

Ilan Kelman — Sat, 30 Mar 2013 11:00:54 GMT

Thomas Fuller had a point. Easter holidaymakers in southern Norway are basking in the sunshine, whilst people are losing their lives in the north.

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Easter bunnies and Norway's oil

Paul Beaumont — Fri, 29 Mar 2013 07:53:24 GMT

‘Mister Paul, Sir, what is the Easter Bunny?’ asked Anil, the 19-year-old class joker. Before I could respond He followed up with ‘Is it your god?’

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Norway Met Office’s user-friendly online weather forecasts

M. Michael Brady — Thu, 28 Mar 2013 11:32:40 GMT

Yr.no is the Norwegian online weather forecast site. Founded in 2007, it’s a relative newcomer.

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Swedes shun Norway’s ‘Kon-Tiki’

Michael Sandelson — Wed, 27 Mar 2013 08:05:54 GMT

COMMENTARY: Famous Norwegian adventurer Thor Heyerdahl may have managed to cross the Pacific on a balsawood raft successfully, but the film about him is grounding across the border. All is not well in IKEA country, it seems.

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Beats, bands, and beers in Bergen

Shruti Chauhan — Sun, 24 Mar 2013 08:20:13 GMT

The excited murmur running around the romantically lit room was hushed by the restaurateur and our host for the evening. Ove Svendsen took centre stage.

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The odder side of Norwegian news

Michael Sandelson — Wed, 20 Mar 2013 19:49:06 GMT

COMMENTARY: Norway’s global participation as a hydrocarbon and fishing nation is indisputable, its wealth unassailable. Norwegians are also avid consumers of news and technology. But why on earth do some of its media sometimes have a focus so narrow, that it would make even a Norwegian country track look roomy?

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KSAT, the Earth image downloader

M. Michael Brady — Sun, 17 Mar 2013 08:47:01 GMT

Norway’s Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (NTNF) scientists could not have known their proposal to set up a radio station at Tromsø in 1965 for receiving signals from orbiting satellites would lead to a global enterprise. But that’s what happened.

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The sound of Norwegian black metal music

Shruti Chauhan — Sat, 16 Mar 2013 12:57:32 GMT

Distorted instruments screeching through the records matched with visuals, band members with long hair, painted faces, and the dizzying durations of head banging pretty much define black metal for most.

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Wood and the art of sitting

Tove Andersson — Fri, 15 Mar 2013 06:50:10 GMT

Western Norway-born jazz musician Peter Opsvik is the father of the famous ‘Tripp Trapp’ chair. He also realized ‘Balans’, the art of dynamic sitting.

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FrP’s foreigner flap is a load of…

Michael Sandelson — Thu, 14 Mar 2013 11:01:06 GMT

EDITORIAL: Bullish deputy Progress (FrP) leader Per Sandberg is once again out shovelling the illegal immigrant fear factor, not even 48 hours after the Eshetes’ victory over the Appeals Board (UNE).

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50 shades of wood

Tove Andersson — Wed, 13 Mar 2013 06:56:20 GMT

Norway’s Swedish neighbours have been firing several cultural critiques at the land of oil and money since sportsperson Petter Northug’s victories.

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Retro revival: Promoting the past, helping the present

M. Michael Brady — Sun, 10 Mar 2013 10:18:55 GMT

Metal home and office furnishings are in vogue again, with eastern Norway’s Eskoleia in Kongsvinger now offering sturdy 1950s designs in a spectrum of colours for today’s interiors. But on the inside, the company is fairly contemporary.

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One person's rubbish is another person's treasure

Ilan Kelman — Sun, 10 Mar 2013 07:42:09 GMT

Or so the ancient idiom says. In today's environmentally conscious world, another idiom is 'The Three Rs: reduce, reuse, recycle.'

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A ‘species’ in danger: the case of the Visual Anthropology Programme at UiT

Consuelo Griggio — Fri, 8 Mar 2013 15:02:36 GMT

I got a disturbing message from a friend last week. Northern Norway the University of Tromsø’s Visual Anthropology Programme is under imminent threat of being closed down for good.

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International Women’s Day, it seems pretty self-explanatory, right?

Ruby Lott-Lavigna — Fri, 8 Mar 2013 12:11:36 GMT

Well actually, it’s much more than just an ‘international day for women’ (I.W.D.) this year in Norway. 8th March 2013 is 100 years since Norway first gave women the right to vote and established itself as one of the most forward-thinking in terms of gender equality across the globe.

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Solidarity with whom?

Jenny Klinge — Fri, 8 Mar 2013 07:00:33 GMT

International Women’s Day is an important day. The question we still have to ask ourselves is, for whom?

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Increased immigration puts welfare state sustainability in question

Asgeir Ueland — Wed, 6 Mar 2013 15:02:36 GMT

COMMENTARY: The Brochmann report has sort of disappeared from the public debate since it was published nearly two years ago. None of Norway’s Parties have so far used it as a guide for their political programs in the upcoming elections.

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On board with equality

Ruby Lott-Lavigna — Sun, 3 Mar 2013 07:54:26 GMT

Norway is not unaccustomed to being a trail-blazer when it comes to gender equality. It was ranked first in the world for its gender gap index, and has legislation implemented to encourage gender equality that most countries haven’t even attempted yet. Norway, all in all, is pretty much the closest we have to a feminist haven.

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Vikings with a Newfie accent: L’Anse aux Meadows and Norstead in Newfoundland, Canada

Consuelo Griggio — Fri, 1 Mar 2013 13:45:49 GMT

Norse adventurers briefly settled the northernmost tip of the Great Northern Peninsula in Newfoundland (Canada) around the year 1,000 A.D.

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Passive houses: Here now, more soon

M. Michael Brady — Wed, 27 Feb 2013 11:08:25 GMT

All new private and public buildings must be ‘passive’ from 2015 on and they must meet the more stringent requirements of ‘nearly zero’ energy consumption from 2020. Like the periodic inspection of cars, these requirements are in compliance with an EU directive that applies also within the EEA, of which Norway is a member.

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Wonderful waffles

M. Michael Brady — Mon, 25 Feb 2013 13:08:44 GMT

International Waffle Day is just one month away. It’s the traditional Nordic countries’ day for consuming waffles and for waffling on almost any topic.

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Strong voices in the battle for climate unity

Ilan Kelman — Sat, 23 Feb 2013 10:00:22 GMT

Which small country with shipping as an economic base is concerned about climate change and sustainability? Norway, but also Singapore.

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Oh Norse, oh Norse, your kingdom for a...horse

Michael Sandelson — Fri, 22 Feb 2013 12:06:35 GMT

Readers who are old enough will remember the 1969-71 TV programme ‘The Galloping Gourmet’. Eat, drink, be merry, and you are what you eat.

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Arty letterbox experiences made by Munch

Tove Andersson — Thu, 21 Feb 2013 15:28:34 GMT

People should keep an extra eye on the post these days as Posten, Norway’s postal service, has printed Edvard Munch’s famous ‘The Scream’, ‘The Sun’, and other if his motifs from on stamps.

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Plant hardiness zones, a gardener’s guide

M. Michael Brady — Wed, 20 Feb 2013 19:46:16 GMT

Norway’s plant hardiness zone map indicates what sorts of garden and agricultural plants can be grown where. You’ll see its designations whenever you browse seed catalogues or labels on shrubs and seedlings in garden centres.

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‘I’d never thought about mushing before, it seemed a little crazy’

Sam Riches — Sun, 17 Feb 2013 09:34:19 GMT

EXTENDED FEATURE: It’s nearly three in the morning and Norwegian Markus Ingebretsen is asleep in the Braeburn Lodge, a log cabin roadhouse 100 miles north of Whitehorse, Yukon Territory.

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Integration is a common responsibility

Minister Inga Marte Thorkildsen — Fri, 15 Feb 2013 14:03:46 GMT

COMMENTARY: The recent public debate about Norwegian culture has partly been dominated by the view that the Norwegian culture would be threatened by immigration. This is a view which I do not share.

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