Books Podcast: why did Sweden cover up incidences of mass sexual assault?

What do you think of when you think of Sweden? If, like me, the very name conjures fuzzy ideas of an enlightened and harmonious vision of social democracy, sexual liberation and ABBA tunes, the journalist Kajsa Norman has some news for you. In her gripping new book about her native land, Sweden’s Dark Soul: The Unravelling of a Utopia, she uncovers the dark present and darker past of a country that – while presenting itself as a beacon of virtue – is in denial about its racism, the sinister side of its culture of conformity and its establishment refusal to face up to violence in its midst. She talks to me about what she found when she investigated the cover up of a crime, how Sweden’s history has shaped its present – and what happens to those who criticise Sweden.