There’s a new Swedish film just out, called simply Quick, about the self-confessed ‘serial killer’ who went under the name of ‘Thomas Quick’. Quick was tried and committed to a mental hospital on the evidence of a professional psychiatrist who wanted to make her name with a new theory of ‘recovered memory’, and of some rather stupid policemen who were quite proud to have a US-type of mass murderer on their patch, but whom in fact Quick had fooled and manipulated for his own purposes – mainly because he found it got him the attention he craved – until he was rumbled by a brave journalist, acting against the advice of his editor, and who died of brain cancer just before Quick was released. The scandal touched on various aspects of human life and society, including the self-delusions of certain academics, and some of the deficiencies of the Swedish judicial system. We saw the premier tonight in Stockholm. It was very well done, in a calm, non-sensational sort of way, and is worth going along to, if it surfaces where you live. I published a piece about this affair here six years ago, for anyone who is interested: https://bernardjporter.com/2013/12/05/the-thomas-quick-affair/. I always thought it would make a good film, and this one does it justice.

We’re just back from a Seminar on counter-subversion in Turku. The city – Finland’s oldest – also well worth going along to, especially by boat from Stockholm.

I’ll resume blogging on the Brexit mess when I’ve recovered from the voyage – and all that duty-free booze. Baltic Ferries have somehow liberated themselves from the EU’s taxation laws. It has something to do, I’m told, with the special status of the Aland Islands (the ‘A’ has a little ‘o’ on top) between Sweden and Finland. There’s the EU being flexible, again.