On Sunday, the citizens of Sweden votes on whether to join the last phase of the EMU (European Monetary Union) and thereby stop using Swedish Kronors as currency, and start using Euro as our currency instead. This will have significant impacts on the economy (both good and bad); and the vote is currently all the rave here. How Sweden casts their vote will have large influence on how other nations vote.

However, yesterday, things took a bad turn, when Anna Lindh, the foreign minister of Sweden, was stabbed in public by an unknown assailant, and later died at the hopital. Anna Lindh was one of the front figurines for the Euro, and also a strong model for women in Sweden.

Attacks on public figures is very rare in Sweden, and we are quite chocked over this. The last time a politican was killed was when Olof Palme was murdured in 1986. This is a very nasty assault on democracy, and a reminder of how important it is that we appriceate the fact that we have it, and that we need to protect it actively.