The word "Nordics" is correct and usable in written English.
It is used to refer to the countries in northern Europe that are culturally, socially, and politically connected: Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Iceland, and the Faroe Islands. For example: "The Nordics are commonly known for their high regard for social welfare and egalitarian values."
So is Turkey.At the other end of the scale, the Nordics undoubtedly win the prize for cleanliness.
It also explains why Nordic countries can often seem to be amalgams of left- and right-wing policies.Pragmatism also explains why the Nordics are continuing to upgrade their model.
Old friends, such as the Germans, Nordics and Dutch, are increasingly exasperated.
Growing numbers of wealthy Germans, Britons or Nordics spend parts of the year somewhere sunny and then go home again.
All the Nordics are worried about competition from less heavily taxed countries, as well as EU legislation and the ability of capital to move round the globe at will.
The top scorers tend to be Russians and Nordics, developed in amateur programmes renowned for emphasis on the basic skills.
This is another respect in which Britain is more like the Nordics than like America: some 70% of its poorest sons escaped from poverty within a generation.The Nordic countries are distinctive in one further way: the sons born at the bottom (into the poorest fifth) earn roughly the same as those born a rung above them (the second-poorest fifth).
Lastly, to the extent the Nordics have prospered, they have done so un-Nordically, by curbing the state.
The Nordic combination of big government and individualism may seem odd to some, but according to Lars Tragardh, of Ersta Skondal University College, Stockholm, the Nordics have no trouble reconciling the two: they regard the state's main job as promoting individual autonomy and social mobility.
But the Nordics are continuing to introduce structural reforms, perhaps a bit too slowly but stolidly and relentlessly.
And America needs a dose of Nordic pragmatism if it is to have any chance of reining in entitlements and reforming the public sector.The Nordics are hardly blushing violets when it comes to advertising the virtues of their model.
