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SWEDE OF THE WEEK

HOMELESS

Laila Bagge’s homeless mobile phone flap

She’s a familiar face on Swedish television, but it was her venting blog post about a homeless man's mobile phone that caught the nation’s attention this week. Laila Bagge Wahlgren is The Local's Swede of the Week.

Laila Bagge's homeless mobile phone flap

“Who the hell can afford a mobile phone when you’re homeless and begging on the street???,” Wahlgren wrote in a blog post on Wednesday morning, and her name hasn’t left the Swedish headlines since.

But before we look deeper into the blog that got most Swedes talking this week, let’s take a quick look at exactly why people care about what Laile Bagge Wahlgren has to say.

Perhaps most known in Sweden for being on the panel of judges for the hit TV programme Idol, Wahlgren is also a singer-songwriter who once penned a tune for Canadian star Celine Dion.

Born in Lund to a Swedish mother and a Palestinian father, the 40-year-old Swede has made a career within the music and television industry, now spending most of her time as a manager and talent agent.

She was previously married to fellow Idol jury member Anders Bagge, and in 2010 married Niclas Wahlgren, the actor/artist brother of singer Pernilla Wahlgren.

SEE ALSO: 2013 Melodifestivalen’s first contestants revealed

But as with many TV personalities, Wahlgren’s work away from the screen is the reason her name has been sprawled across headlines this week.

In her blog, published on a portal associated with Mama magazine, she took issue with a homeless man on Stockholm’s Kungsgatan who she spied while waiting in her car at a red light.

“Beside the car on the street was a man who was sitting with a coffee cup in front of him, praying with clasped hands for help from everyone that passed,” she wrote.

“He even had a sign that said Homeless on it!

“You can bet I was amazed when this ‘homeless’ man got out a mobile phone and answered it!!! Who the hell can afford a mobile phone when you’re homeless and begging on the street??? If you can afford a mobile phone then it’s doesn’t feel very trustworthy to sit there on your knees with your hands together begging for money with a sign saying you’re homeless!”

Wahlgren even took issue with the mystery person on the other end of the phone call, on the suspicion that they were also homeless.

“I get so annoyed when I see these kind of people, you get suspicious and afraid to help the wrong ‘homeless’ people and I don’t like that feeling. Grrr…” she continued

The blog post has since been shared on Facebook 2,700 times. It might not sound like much for a TV personality, but in comparison, her previous post had only garnered one share.

SEE ALSO: Homeless people get cigarettes for Christmas

Mainstream Swedish media was quick to enter the fray, with the Aftonbladet newspaper talking to other homeless people around Stockholm about their own mobile phone habits.

“If I have a heart attack and am alone somewhere, I need a mobile phone, it’s my last lifeline,” Jouka Jokinen, who has been homeless in the Swedish capital for over 25 years, told the paper.

Jokinen said his mobile was “as important as food” and that much of the money he gets through begging goes toward purchasing credit for the pay-as-you-go phone.

“She’s welcome to come down here and see how we live. She can have my mobile number if she wants,” another homeless man, Mikael, chimed in, explaining he paid 200 kronor ($30) for his mobile.

Celebrity handyman Aders Öfvergård, who worked with homeless people in Kanal 5’s ”Nybyggarna” programme, also slammed Bagge over her comments.

“I was really damn angry at what she said. It’s the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard. She’s talking irresponsibly about a person she doesn’t even know, who clearly has it much tougher than her,” he told the paper.

However, controversial celebrity blogger Katrin Zytomierska came to Bagge’s defence in a post published on Wednesday.

RELATED: Blogger gets the boot after gym ad attack

“If you don’t have a home and are begging for money on the street, then you clearly can’t afford a mobile phone. They’re just trying to dupe us,” she wrote.

But a spokeswoman for Stockholm’s Stadmission, which operates homeless shelters in the capital, slammed Bagge, saying she “doesn’t understand what she’s saying”.

“It’s demeaning, ignorant and a sign that she has an outdated view of humanity,” Yvonne Borg told the Nyheter24 news website.

She explained that 60 percent of homeless people in Stockholm have children and that it’s common for companies to donate mobile phones or public transit passes to the homeless instead of giving money.

RELATED: A list of The Local’s past Swedes of the Week

While refusing to speak to media about the incident, Wahlgren took to her blog again on Thursday to issue a public apology.

“What I wrote came across as truly unsympathetic – which was never my intention,” she wrote.

“I hope you all accept my apology and we can leave all this behind us now.”

Oliver Gee

Follow Oliver on Twitter here

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MOBILE

Vodafone to close all its own shops in Spain by March 2022

UK mobile and internet operator Vodafone announced on Tuesday it will shut all 34 of its proprietary stores in Spain by March 2022, laying off 509 employees and leaving only the brand's franchises and distributors behind.

Vodafone has proprietary stores in Madrid, Barcelona, ​​Bilbao, Seville, Málaga, Granada, Córdoba, Santander, Palma de Mallorca and more Spanish cities.
Vodafone will close all 34 of the stores it owns across Spain. Photo: BEN STANSALL / AFP

Vodafone stores in Spanish cities such as Madrid, Barcelona, ​​Bilbao, Seville, Málaga, Granada, Córdoba, Santander, Palma de Mallorca and more will close in the coming six months as part of the operator’s shift to digital. 

The company will pull down the shutters on all 34 of the stores it owns across Spain, confirming through its labour adjustment plan (ERE) that 509 employees will lose their jobs.

The operator is affiliated with nearly 600 stores in Spain that act as franchises and distributors, meaning it will still be possible to carry out operations relating to Vodafone in person. 

However, it will be a lot harder to get face-to-face customer service from the actual operator, if for example there is a problem with billing or you wish to cancel a contract. 

Vodafone CEO Nick Read announced back in 2019 that an increasing number of customers signing up to mobile and internet deals online rather than in stores would mean 15 percent of its high-street retail stores in Europe would close by 2021.  

Spain’s main workers’ union UGT referred to Vodafone’s offer to affected workers of severance pay equal to 33 days worked per year with a maximum limit of two years as “stingy”. 

You can check all of Vodafone’s proprietary stores in Spain here.

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