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Bjorn went straight up to his room after dinner, and feeling fully satisfied by the meal, and a little drowsy from the wine, he prepared himself for bed. Having to get up in the middle of the night, it was pretty much ideal that he felt this way, since it would allow him to have a proper rest before getting up.

Bjorn turned on the TV to have a quick look at the latest news before calling it a day. But there was nothing new going on apart from a few developments in ongoing news stories. The most noteworthy development being the sentencing to life in prison of a man who quite randomly killed a child in a play park some months ago.

The details of this story were never told, but rumors had it that he slashed the little boy's throat for no reason whatsoever. However, others held that he was an aspiring Syria fighter who could not wait to claim his place in heaven by killing an infidel. And with all the talk of what to do about returning Syria fighters, this latest rumour had caught on to the extent that many believed it to be an established fact.

One thing was certain, though. Whatever happened in the play park that day was not to be officially confirmed or denied by anyone. The court case was held behind closed doors, and apart form the accusation of premeditated murder, and the guilty sentence that had just been announced, nothing was neither confirmed nor denied about the rumors.

But Bjorn was beyond being shocked by the story. It was already an old story, and the announcement that the perpetrator was finally found guilty did not stir up any unpleasant feelings. Rather the opposite was the case. Justice had won the day, and an evil criminal was put behind bars.

In other news, there was the continuing story about the crisis, which for some reason had recently had its name changed to the recovery. One had to be an idiot to believe that things were actually getting better. But the recovery was, according to the news, now evident in everything from the stock market and commodities prices, to the ever falling gold price and stabilizing house prices. Very soon now, the man in the street would also be able to see that the recession was over, and that a new economic dawn was on its way.

The very latest political invention which would allegedly help the recovery on its way, was a proposal to outlaw the use of cash, thereby forcing every transaction to be electronic. The banks, having long ago made all electronic payments free of charge, were fully equipped for such a change, and with only the black market in contraband and illegal services really needing cash for their opaque business transactions, there was nothing to loose in a right out ban on cash.

The savings to the banks and the central bank in administrative overhead alone were phenomenal, and the tax man could easily pull in several percent more in revenue through an increased power to monitor and track every transaction. Criminals were in fact the only ones who would loose anything by a move to a cashless society, and the bill was already well on its way to become law, which would make Norway the first country in the world to fully embrace such a system.

Bjorn felt a sense of pride swell up in him on digesting this latest statement. As a Norwegian he would be taking part in what was truly a great leap forward, and although this was not in any way his idea, he could not help take pride in the forward looking genius and pioneering spirit of his fellow country men.

And with this sense of achievement, as it were, Bjorn turned off the TV and the lights in his room which pretty much immediately had him fall into a deep dreamless sleep.