Pour me another glass of Helsinki, please!
- Details
- Parent Category: Columns
- Category: Expat view
- Created on 18 May 2012
I was just sipping my apple cider (one of the Finnish drinks that don’t actually fit my preferences) when this idea crossed my mind about the city that made me fall in love with it at first sight. If there were a drink called Helsinki, what would it be like? I immediately pictured a sweet, fizzy, fancy-colored cold liquid in a tall glass, so that everyone can have a taste of the Finnish spirit. I even made up a recipe in my head.
Investing in youth means investing in the future
RECENTLY we celebrated one of the year’s most upbeat festivals, vappu or May Day. May Day is traditionally a celebration of work. In Finland it is also a student celebration. Work and education are indeed things worth celebrating. The welfare society is founded on an equality of opportunities. In global comparison, quality education is available to everyone in Finland. Free education and welfare services are paid for by people’s work. The welfare society has been built on work from the very beginning. Nor will Finland be successful in the coming years without commitment to hard work.
Putting resilience at the heart of development
Resilience cannot be built overnight. It takes time. But it is our best chance of locking-in progress made to date, and advancing equitable and sustainable human development, writes Helen Clark.
THE WORLD’S population today is healthier, wealthier, and better educated than ever before. Yet, despite incredible progress, disconcerting realities stubbornly persist. Many people still live in extreme poverty, even where economies are growing rapidly. Over 20 per cent of the world’s population lives in states which are considered fragile and highly vulnerable.
Let’s meet at the middle ground!
The question of employment-based migrants and asylum seekers living in Finland is highly charged. On the one side, immigrants are taken as a danger to Finnish economy and even culture. On the other, views questioning the success of immigration policy are condemned as hate speech. Regarding social media especially, it feels like there is no middle ground. The extremists on both critical and liberal sides have taken over the debate. One cannot throw in one’s thoughts without being verbally attacked. Even more, the fear of being counted among the “haters” or the “lovers” leads to an absence of truly constructive solutions to immigration.
The danger of climate change denial
The cynical campaign to spread misinformation and discredit climate scientists and their work is dangerous, writes Michael E. Mann.
As a climate scientist, I have seen my integrity perniciously attacked, politicians have demanded I be fired from my job, and I’ve been subject to congressional and criminal investigations. I’ve even had death threats made against me. And why? Because I study climate science and some people don’t like what my colleagues and I have discovered. Their attacks on scientists are part of a destructive public-relations campaign being waged in a cynical effort to discredit climate science.
The land of a thousand opportunities
FINLAND’S primary economic goal for the coming years is to retain our triple-A credit rating. Achieving this goal requires that we achieve three intermediate goals: the national balance of trade has to be brought up to surplus level, people need to be motivated to stay in work longer, and the State deficit has to be got under control.
Losing the AAA credit rating would mean higher interest rates on state loans, and higher interest rates for Finnish companies and citizens alike. The state would be left with even less money at its disposal for funding public services. Higher interest rates would weaken the viability of business efforts, and would provide a strong disincentive to investments. Private persons would be left with less disposable income for consumption, which would further harm the economy.
We are not there yet
Though in international comparisons Finland is held up as a country of equality, in Finnish society there are still gender equality paradoxes, writes Pirkko Mäkinen.
In international comparative studies, Finland is often seen as a country of equality. This assessment is based on the fact that there are nearly as many women as men in political decision-making positions. The second reason is a good level of education. In fact, on this front, women are gradually increasing their advantage over men. Thirdly, women participate in working life almost as much as men. Both sexes engage in full time work. This is made possible by a well-functioning day care system.
Hard but responsible decisions
A few weeks ago Jyrki Katainen’s government set the Finnish economy on the right course. The financial troubles in the European economic area are far from being over. Since Finland is an export-oriented economy, Europe’s situation has a strong impact on our national economy. That is why we have to keep our national economy as stable and as healthy as possible. Only a strong and determined economic policy can assure that our central government debt stays within controllable limits.
America in decline?
A Q&A with Zbigniew Brzezinski, former national security advisor to US President Jimmy Carter, in which he talks about the implications of the rise of China and what it means for the United States.
There have been other periods in recent American history where the United States was seen to be in decline – for example, after the launch of Sputnik in 1957, and after the Vietnam War and Watergate. Is the decline of the United States in 2012 more real than it has been in the past?
China inspires
A week in Beijing and Shanghai got me excited. I led the Parliament’s Finance Committee’s Labour and Commercial Affairs Subcommittee’s delegation to strengthen Finland and China’s cooperative relations. The trip was useful, informative and fruitful in every way. The inspiring attitude of Chinese politicians and business leaders about the future and their determination to fulfil goals in record time made a big impression.
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