York Anglo Scandinavian Society ​

By Dr Beck Sinar (YASS Chair and Senior Lecturer at the Norwegian Study Centre, University of York) The passing of His Majesty King Harald V today (28th August 2026) marks the end of a significant chapter in modern Nordic history. As members of the York Anglo-Scandinavian Society, we send our deepest sympathies to all those in Norway and across the international community affected by his loss. A monarch's role in a modern democracy is rarely without debate, and the institutio

By Professor Knut Øystein Høvik and Dr Beck Sinar Sometimes, dreams—and beautifully awkward diplomatic dilemmas—really do come true. This Saturday, England faces Norway in the quarter-finals of the World Cup. For the York Anglo-Scandinavian Society, this is the ultimate test of our allegiances. This blog is a truly collaborative effort, co-written by the Director of the Norwegian Study Centre (a football-obsessed Norwegian riding a wave of national euphoria), Knut Øystein, an

It was billed as ‘a new musical’ and ‘a journey through the dark’. I’m not a fan of musicals, and morality tales usually leave me unmoved. I only went because it was Norwegian! Not a clue what to expect, and the flyer didn’t give too much away. So it was an act of faith, on a baking hot day in York, to head for a small studio theatre with an entirely black interior where even if you’d sat in the back row – and I sat right at the front – you’d have still been in the way of t

A moment to pause and remember a candlelit Sankta Lucia evening.