Editor’s note

Eva Robards

The Editorial Board normally has two meetings a year, in January and September — unless there is a pandemic going. For the last two years we have carried out our meetings online, via email. However, just recently (in early May), we had our first personal encounter since January 2020, an additional meeting, just because it’s possible again!

Our work naturally focuses on trying to keep the quality of this magazine as high as we can. We consider not only its content but also its physical appearance. In the Language & culture section, our ambition is to provide some variety — both regarding countries and topics — and we assume that our readers have a wide range of interests. From time to time we analyse the balance of articles and try to make adjustments. We also discuss neglected areas but often have to be pragmatic and depend on submitted material — or the lack of it: finding authors is not always easy.

We are not short of ideas for topics. When discussing what you, our readership, might like to read about, it was suggested that food, the arts, and climate could be subjects of interest. Questions of language, any aspect of the various links between the British and Scandinavian countries, national symbols, and personal past experience might catch your eye, we thought. You are as always most welcome to express your views — there is no need to be shy.

In this issue of the magazine, some of the areas mentioned are represented. There are the arts in the form of opera, the Danish opera Aladdin. There is also art in the form of literature: a poem. And there is language in an article about bilingualism which is based on personal experience.

Finally I would like to wish you a happy summer with a ‘bouquet of flowers’, all symbols for the Nordic countries. Reflecting on the Swedish descendants in Gammelsvenskby in southern Ukraine, it felt relevant also to include the flower of their country.