tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4897554020551470090.post2758131763629228746..comments2024-02-14T19:25:38.935+01:00Comments on Trond Norén Isaksen: Norway veers to the rightUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4897554020551470090.post-66233027433663844172013-09-14T03:53:08.333+02:002013-09-14T03:53:08.333+02:00Thank you, those are quite interesting observation...Thank you, those are quite interesting observations.<br /><br />It is heartening to hear that the tenure of a female prime minister was able to dispel the silliness you recount regarding Denmark (and which struck me as reminiscent of Sarah Palin's turn on the American national stage, during which even many of her supporters sexually objectified her in a rather disgusting manner). Enoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4897554020551470090.post-26272164727317696192013-09-12T21:04:06.345+02:002013-09-12T21:04:06.345+02:00I did not vote for Erna Solberg's party, but I...I did not vote for Erna Solberg's party, but I have not much in particular against her as a person, although I find her refusal to answer crucial questions about her policy and her plans for the government verging on the dishonest. The big problem is the far right wing populists of the Progress Party, whose leader, Siv Jensen, is wholly unsuitable for government, which, if further proof was needed, I think she showed with her very undignified and embarrassing behaviour on election night. While Erna Solberg made a dignified speech, where she also had the grace to thank the outgoing PM for his service and for having been a unifying figure for the whole country in the dark summer days of 2011, Siv Jensen pranced around the stage and started her speech by bellowing: "This I have looked forward to saying for a looong time: GOOOODBYYYYEEEE, JEEEEENS!!!!!!!!" The rest of her speech is best forgotten.<br /><br />As for Erna Solberg's gender this has barely been mentioned in Norway, which I find quite interesting. I think female politicians of all parties have a lot to thank Gro Harlem Brundtland for, who through ten years proved herself such a capable Prime Minister that gender really ceased being an issue because people got so used to the Prime Minister being a woman. Of the seven parties in the present, outgoing Parliament four have female leaders (down from five until last year). I did note a certain difference between Norway and Denmark when Denmark got its first female PM two years ago and you could read comments by serious journalists (also those friendly disposed to her) that "Well, now we have to get used to that the Prime Minister can be a blond woman" and some rather infatuated comments about how she "glides past on her high heels". Gro Harlem Brundtland's long and competent tenure somehow seems to mean that we got over this twenty or thirty years ago.Trond Norén Isaksenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15744875538993319059noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4897554020551470090.post-12365868810774325712013-09-12T20:33:44.356+02:002013-09-12T20:33:44.356+02:00I understand that you are no great fan of Erna Sol...I understand that you are no great fan of Erna Solberg, but as an American, I cannot help feeling a touch envious that your country is soon to have its second female head of government (and, within this century, a female head of state). :)Enoreply@blogger.com