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Sweden's Green Power Struggle

In Sweden’s far north, indigenous Sami people say their culture is threatened by carbon-cutting industries. Listen at BBC Sounds.

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Sweden's Summer Shutdown

In the summer of 1978, many Swedish workers relished the chance to take longer, paid vacations than ever before.This was thanks to an update to Sweden’s Annual Leave Act - or Semesterlagen in Swedish - passed the previous year.

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The law guaranteed all employees four consecutive weeks of vacation, and increased their total annual leave to five weeks, giving them some of the longest paid holidays in the world.These policies transformed the way Swedes do business. Many factories and offices shut down for an entire month during the summer. Today,Sweden retains its strong reputation for work-life balance, and the annual leave act has given rise to the 'sommar jobb' - short summer jobs that help cover holiday absences.

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(Photo: Inga Persson. Credit: Inga Persson)

Producer: Maddy Savage

A Bespoken Media production for BBC World Service.

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BBC Witness History

Sweden's fight for gender-neutral personal pronoun ‘hen’. Maddy Savage speaks with Nasim Aghili from the queer art collective Ful, for the BBC World Service 'Witness History' strand. https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/w3ct3c3l

Bill Walton's The Grateful Team

The late NBA star and sports commentator Bill Walton presents this extraordinary true story. Bill Walton tells the story of Sarunas Marciulionis’ journey from the USSR to the NBA. Along the way, there’s also a Grateful Dead concert…

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Amazing Sport Stories brings you the greatest twists and personal journeys from sport history. Listen for inspiring tales of courage, drama, myths and legends from all over the globe.

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Click here to listen.

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BBC Radio 4: Able To Parent

Our BBC Radio 4 documentary Able To Parent follows wheelchair-user Emily and her partner CJ as they decide whether they want to try for a baby. Producer: Leeanne Coyle. Listen in full: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m000v2t4