The year begins with an energy crisis and petrol rationing. And there will be parental insurance so that even fathers can stay at home with their children. Cleaners around Sweden are on strike for better conditions. Worry grows for the Swedish tourists in the holiday paradise of Cyprus. That and much more in this column about the year 1974.

At the end of August 1973, a robber takes hostages at the Kreditbanken at Norrmalmstorg. A week or so later, on September 15, King Gustaf VI Adolf dies in Helsingborg's hospital and Sweden gets a new king: Carl XVI Gustaf. In Chile, the military takes power and the popularly elected president Salvador Allende is overthrown. That and much more in this column about the year 1973.