For the past 40 years the town of Gävle in Northern Sweden has erected a giant straw goat in the town square. And every year it is burned to the ground. The goat has only made it past Christmas once. Watching it burn on local TV is as big a tradition as watching the Christmas omnibus of Eastenders. This year Gävle authorities have taken extreme measures to keep the goat alive through the winter. They’ve got it soaked in industrial strength flame retardant, and have a webcam monitoring it 24/7. The goat also has its own blog. I’m from Edsbyn, one of the shittiest places in the world, and Gävle was the metropolis where we would go to let our hair down as 14-year-olds — but it’s still a very, very dull place. You can tell all the Gävle-ites are walking by the goat, just itching to set it on fire.