Always-be-joking?

The differences between my motherplanet and the acquired new home was clear this week when I attended a lecture with the Swedish Prime Minister at the very esteemed London School of Economics.

Being Swedish, Correct, Serious, Bleak and Bold and, yes not entirely funny, he stood up for a good 40 minutes and told us about the New Swedish Model. One that he clearly wasn't part of building up given that he is highy right-wing and this "amazing" (this can also be debated) model was very left wing. Anyway, it was interesting although it was more or less a presentation of the Moderate's party's party propaganda rather than a "neutral" presentation of a country model.

Moving on, after him, good ol' mr Cameron [conservative leader] gave a little "response" to Herr Reinfeldt's speech. After the correct Swede Mr Cameron appeared to be not far from a normal circus clown; tanned, polished and with shining white teeth moving around on stage in a restless manner that reminded me of Basil Fawlty welcoming another poor victim to his B&B.

To grind himself further down, he kicked off his response with joking about the fact that he spending the evening with the "New Swedish Model" and that this model was called Fredrik! And he obviously got everyone laughing, it that ho-ho laddish manner and I am sure that no women (and probably no men either in all honesty) found it at all funny.

Ok, call me Swedish, Correct, Serious, Bleak (but not bold, hehe!) but that was just such a low point that I almost wanted to leave. Yes, I DO appreciate that always-be-joking attitudes, but sometimes it gets to extremes. This was a after all a lecture at LSE, not a stand-up session in a pub.

But hopefully this only mirrors our dear Cameron's real personality: Low-quality, predictable and sexist, rather than a generalized view of the country. But I must say that it's alarming given that he is one of the most prominent politicians here...