Nordic countries

"IN “THE LION AND THE UNICORN”, written in 1941, George Orwell invoked the spirit of England in a handful of images—“solid breakfasts and gloomy Sundays, smoky towns and windy roads, green fields and red pillar-boxes”. When this correspondent tried to summon up appropriate images for the spirit of the Nordic region he found himself turning to the welfare state: Swedish fathers enjoying a leisurely lunch while their children sleep in prams (Sweden’s paternity leave is among the most generous in the world); Danish mothers cycling, helmetless, through the early morning mist with their children in sidecars (Copenhagen has more than 350km of cycle lanes, and a third of the population cycles to work); a Finnish physics teacher discussing the nature of elegance with a class of 15-year-olds (Finland regularly comes near the top of international league tables for educational attainment)."