Sweden’s polite war with Elon Musk

Unions are cheerfully preparing to fight Tesla for 538 years

By Miles Ellingham

The Swedes don’t often go on strike. “It’s about 40 years since we’ve had one of this magnitude,” explained Stefan Leiding, a co-ordinator for IF Metall, the country’s main industrial union, as we drove to a Tesla service centre on the edge of Stockholm. The car crawled on frozen roads past warehouses and dealerships framed by white, skeletal trees. Leiding, who used to sing in a heavy-metal band, gripped the steering wheel, tattoos protruding from beneath his sleeves.

Explore more

More from 1843 magazine

1843 magazine | Will there ever be a Google Translate for pets?

The tech world is on the case – but there’s no guarantee that our animals will have anything interesting to say

1843 magazine | The year in pictures 2024

Images that defined the year



1843 magazine | The earthling’s guide to building a Moon base

One-armed robots are being trained in lunar construction

1843 magazine | Inside the AI back-channel between China and the West

Computer scientists are reaching out across the geopolitical divide to try to stop an apocalypse

1843 magazine | A journey through the world’s newest narco-state

Drugs transformed Ecuador from a Latin American success story into a war zone