Some researchers (who I guess are at the other end of their careers to me) have just sort to answer the research question, “in which country is it best to die?”

Hopefully this isn’t something I need to think about for a long time, but it seems overall my best option is to go back home to Australia (via The Swedish Wire). However, remaining in Sweden will prove to be cheaper.

I think it is important for Australians to realise that not only are things not that bad, they’re actually quite good. Rather than talk about winging Poms, we need to reflect on attitudes a little closer to home.

Let’s start with healthcare. Public opinion rates this as the governments poorest performing area, yet a recent study rated our healthcare system second best in the OECD and I’ve already mentioned our end-of-life care. Further my healthcare experiences in Australia have been positive, so I cannot explain this disconnect. This is especially confusing for me when most Swedes are very proud of their healthcare system – but every session I see a number of international students go home developing and third-world countries because the Swedish healthcare system is unable to deliver them health outcomes they deem to be acceptable.

Next, public transport. I will admit that I lament at the state of Sydney’s public transport system. Yet the cumulative delays for my travel on Swedish public transport in the last week is over five hours, and while the northern hemisphere has been enduring a heatwave the airconditioning has been broken on around one-third of the carriages. And while Sweden not making the Eurovision finals was described by the media as a fiasco, the state of public transport this week didn’t rate a mention.

And I don’t want to even write about the misinformation and fear in the so called asylum seeker debate.

Im not trying to say things are better in Australia than in Sweden. I am saying that with a positive outlook everyone is happier, and you can still work to achieve greater things. We should still aim high. Things could be better and should be better. I can think of many areas where I would love to see improvement. But rather than bitch and moan about things that aren’t that bad, we should raise the quality of our political debate. When it comes down to it, we are all going to die, and Australia is one of the best places to do it.