The Social Democrats are particularly divided on the EC issue and face further time in opposition unless they can unite under Ingvar Carlsson, whose leadership is being questioned following defeat in 1991, The other current preoccupation is race relations or rather a lack of them. After decades of pursuing fairly liberal immigration policies, the backlash that swept Europe throughout 1992 also spread to Sweden, where refugee housing centres were set on fire and extremist groups suddenly became very vocal. The racist New Democracy Party, which holds the balance of power in the coalition government, has at present a high profile that many Swedes find attractive though just as many are horrified by what appears to them to be another manifestation of the counttv's social, moral and economic breakdown. CHAPTER NINE S tockholm comes lauded as Sweden's and Scandinavia's most beautiful city and, apart from a couple of sticky modem developments and a tangled road junction or two, it lives up to its own propaganda. Straddling several small islands, the capital is a delightful place in which to spend time, not least as a contrast to the apparently endless lakes and forests of the rest of the country. It is attractive and accessible good for a few d regal monuments, hightech, highcost consumerism and its stylis Move away from Stockholm and it's not difficult to apprec geographical position. Water surrounds the city, and though yo train and bus it's worth making the effort to follow the serene la rivers by boat. The eastern arcMpelo is within easy reach islands and a summer playground for holidaying Stockholmers.' to the west of the city, there's Drottningholm, the seventeenth residence that gains nothing from its description as Sweden's everything from its glorious lakeside location. Another easy trip ii important castle of Gripsholm at Mariefred, again just an hour And still within daytrip reach is the ancient capital and quiet med town of Uppsala, a distinctive foil to Stockholm's burgeoning mod STOCKHOLM "It is not a city at all," he said with intensity. "It is ridiculous of it to as a city. It is simply a rather large village, set in the middle of som some lakes. You wonder what it thinks it is doing there, looking so imp Ingmar Bergman, interviewed by J Selfimportant perhaps, but STOCKHOLM is without doubt a dis one whose tracts of water and parkland, and range of monumental it an ageing, livedin feel an atmosphere that's at odds with Sweden's most contemporary and forwardlooking city. Gamla Stan, the old town quarter and site of the original sel atmospheric mixture of pomp and historical authenticity: ceremc surrounded on all sides by a latticework of medieval lanes. Further the surrounding modem city, Stockholm trades tradition for a the date feel wide boulevards, shopping malls and conspicuous, shoi the city isn't glitzy: you're never far from water or greenery, a Stockholm is one of Europe's saner, more rural capitals.