Bagehot in The Economist:

David Cameron and the coalition talk about how much Sweden and other countries have to teach us about family-friendly policies, increasing the number of women in the workforce and rising up the global rankings when it comes to well-being and childhood development.

I have no doubt that Mr Cameron is a sincere admirer of the Swedish centre-right, led by his friend Fredrik Reinfeldt. After all, Mr Reinfeldt has twice won election in a country with a strong social democratic tradition by dragging his party to the centre-ground, vowing to overhaul the state rather than dismantle it, and convincing voters that his party is best-placed to preserve all those gleaming public services with a mix of fiscal discipline and market-based competition. That must fascinate a man like Mr Cameron, leading a party like the Conservatives in a Britain emerging from a decade-long boom in public spending.

But do the British really want to compete with the Swedes?