In Sweden, government time is being spent responding to the very niche phobia of the government's gender equality minister, who has a very strong aversion to bananas.
New revelations have emerged in Sweden about the lengths to which Liberal politician Paulina Brandberg, 41, the country's minister for gender equality, has her aides go to great lengths to protect her from bananas.
Mr Brandberg admitted his fears in 2020, but made headlines earlier this month when it was revealed that he had his staff tidy up rooms and “make sure they were safe” before entering. Now, Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet says it has seen more than 44 emails from Brandberg's office. Brandberg said his staff wrote emails ahead of the high-profile meeting to prevent fruit gaffes.
Brandberg's staff sent emails to the EU summit, the Norwegian government and the Swedish parliament speaker. The heads of Swedish society are no exception, and have emailed to make sure Brandberg doesn't face any horrors beyond dinner with the king.
These emails also reveal strange and specific aspects of the phobia, including one restaurant that responded that it planned to serve some of its meals in banana leaves. At this time the host was told this was acceptable.
And although Brandberg's staff had described this urgent need as a severe allergy, Brandberg himself later admitted that it was actually an emotional reaction, calling it “the world's most It has also been revealed that he has what he calls a “strange phobia.”
The minister's spokesperson said she was seeking treatment for the problem, but progress on that front was slow. They say: “Paulina has been seeing various therapists over the years, but unfortunately hasn't made as much progress as she would have liked. She has great faith in the therapist she is seeing now. Her goals are: It’s about getting results so that your phobia doesn’t affect you or those around you in the future.”
