Get a headache in Sweden and the pills you buy will be from a government-owned pharmacy. Buy shares and the stock market is part-owned by the state. Whether posting letters, making phone calls, placing a bet, buying a bottle of wine or spending an evening at the opera, the national authorities are an important shareholder – if not outright owner – of all the companies involved.

With stakes in 55 groups employing around 190,000 people, the state’s huge corporate presence forms part of the famed Swedish model, a dovetailing of state and society whereby a large government and high taxes are mixed with liberal economic policies to provide Sweden’s citizens with a high standard of living.