Cheese Binge

Stockholm, Sweden, April 20, 2005:

A poor showing in polls has driven Swedish Prime Minister Goran Persson to the cheese-board.

"I eat when I am stressed," he admitted in an interview with daily Expressen. "I am doing that right now. I'm stuffing myself with cheese -- whole plates with four or five pieces of different types at least once a day."

"That's what I do!" exclaimed Ron while he got a pedicure in Newark, New Jersey. The topic arose when the spa assistant started some small talk with Ron before she applied another coat of nail polish to his toes.

Ron's love of cheese is well known worldwide.

"When Brad gets me down and people are riding my hump, I grab some havarti and havart-at-it...ha-ha! It's cool that me and this Swedish dude connect like that," Ron concluded -- showing his desire to reach out to foreign dignitaries and governments, save for the French.

Persson's government has been under pressure for failing to tackle unemployment and for its lax response to the December 26 tsunami, which killed hundreds of Swedes.

But neither the risk of losing an election early next year nor the cheese, known to give people nightmares, are interrupting his sleep.

Persson, who has been prime minister for nine years, said his experience of the ups and downs of political life meant he was not short of rest.

"One thing I know, sometimes things go well, other times they go badly," he said. "I have the capacity to switch off and walk away and I sleep well."

"Yeah, I sleep like a baby after a cheese binge, too," Ron concluded.

Posted by Bittle at April 20, 2005 08:38 AM