so, why do people think Sweden is a model of social inclusion, fair, just and a socially mobile society? It couldn't possibly be due to it's 20+ year rule by progressive, lefty governments could it? No, never!

The fact remains if you couple redistribution of wealth with other measures you gain a fair, balanced and yes equal society which makes everyone in that society feel a belonging to it and a need, no, reason to not damage, rebel and turn against it. How can you gain a socially inclusive society when you have some people in a constant circle of deprivation and poverty.

Rory, you have far too little faith in people. Give people who do not have a lot of money some money and they will not go out and blow it, they will use it wisely, for they know the value of it. Your view of the poorest and most needy in our country is merely based by Daily Mail column inches, the real, vast, majority of people want to - and try to - strive for a better life for themselves and most importantly their children. When you redistribute wealth - and people forget EMA's, minimum wage as well as the basic benefits are forms of redistribution too - you create a plain unto which these people can start to have a level footing with those who are in professional middle to high paying jobs. Just because someone is not as clever as someone else it does not mean they do not work as damn hard as anyone else and do as needy jobs to society as anyone else, a doctor is no more valuable to a society than a dustbin man.

After this kind of redistribution you are left with people who feel a connection with the society they live in because there is something to strive for other than the deprivation and poverty that is the norm.

Divinus Arma - you are talking rubbish, three of your examples are dictatorships - of which we are not talking here and are so irrelevant, even if they may or may not have practiced redistribution of wealth. And Hugo Chavez is vastly helping his people, look at the lives of the poor in Venezuela and you will see the improvement in education - especially - and healthcare, housing and livelihood. You wouldn't know this because you don't open your eyes to the world around you, after all you are just a conservative, passport-less American.