Nothing to write home about

According to guidebooks and Finns themselves, not a great deal happens here, so it’s understandable that, after a big news story like last week’s sentencing of Ilkka Kanerva (NCP) and his cohorts, the country’s papers wouldn’t all be talking about the same things. In saying this though, editorial space over the weekend and at the beginning of week was used for some overlapping purposes.

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Kiviniemi bites the dust

Hot on the heels of Minister of Defence Stefan Wallin’s announcement on Friday that he won’t be standing for re-election as leader of the Swedish People’s Party, Mari Kiviniemi, leader of the Centre, surprised us all with news that she’ll be doing the same.

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Politics for dummies

Minister of Defence Stefan Wallin (SFP) stands accused of having lied about the grounds for leaving Dragsvik in Raseborg off the list of garrisons earmarked for closure. Whereas both he and Prime Minister Jyrki Katai-
nen (NCP) have stated in Parliament that Dragsvik’s fate was decided by the Finnish Defence Forces alone, it now appears that Wallin gave “political guidance” that secured the garrison’s future for linguistic reasons.

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Do as we say, not as we do

Most organisations with a chairperson who has been accused by a staff member of bullying would probably try their upmost to keep a low profile while an investigation into the matter was ongoing. Not Transport Workers’ Union AKT, though, those far-sighted mavericks! But let’s be fair – if anyone knows how to act when the unfair treatment of an employee comes to light, they do.

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Good but could be better

While doing a Bachelor’s degree at my local university in Aberdeen, Scotland I made friends with a number of Finns, including my wife-to-be, through my involvement in a student society with an interest in social justice and environmental issues. Although the University of Aberdeen in general attracts what seems to be a disproportionate amount of Finns, our society was even more jam-packed with these Nordic creatures than your average square metre of campus. Among the numerous nationalities represented in the society, Finns outnumbered Scots by something like a ratio of 2:1.

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All quiet on the home front

Until about a week ago it had felt as if Finland’s media had been totally consumed by domestic-election fever for over a year.

So, with the presidential election over and local elections a whole eight months off, what’s going on in the post-election purgatory in which Finland finds itself? Not much of any consequence, according to newspaper editorials over the weekend and at the beginning of the week. I’m exaggerating, of course, but it’s true that even regional newspapers’ editorial teams have suddenly woken up to the fact that the world doesn’t end at Finland’s borders.

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It’s all over bar the presiding

Finland has a new president. It’s true! For anybody who’s moved to Finland since 2000, Finland without Tarja Halonen as head of state will seem like a strange place once Sauli Niinistö moves his belongings into the official residence of Finnish presidents, Mäntyniemi.

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Looking to the future and the past

As you’d imagine, this coming Sunday’s presidential election has dominated the Finnish press this week and last. Alongside coverage of Sauli Niinistö (NCP) and Pekka Haavisto (Greens) gallivanting all over the country, the media has given us background information on the candidates and their partners, speculated about how Finns who voted for one of the other six candidates in the first round will vote this time around (if at all), and generally reduced politics to the level of gutter entertainment and/or an exercise in rudimentary statistical analysis. Aren’t we lucky to live in a representative democracy with a free press!

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100% accuracy guaranteed

No one theme dominated the editorial pages of the Finnish press over the weekend and into the first half of the week.

The City of Helsinki’s bid to host a Guggenheim Museum garnered some attention in newspapers around the country in the week following last Tuesday’s announcement that a yearlong feasibility study into the matter yielded a positive assessment. Yet the news hasn’t been pored over in the same way as in the metropolitan area despite editorials on the subject appearing in papers such as Turku’s Turun Sanomat, Jyväskylä-based Keskisuomalainen and Vaasa’s Pohjalainen.

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The world according to Halonen

On Sunday, President Tarja Halonen gave her last ever New Year’s Speech, which was commonly referred to in papers at the beginning of the week as her “political testament”, “societal testament” or merely “testament”.

Halonen covered a lot of ground in 11 minutes, highlighting issues surrounding the EU and the euro crisis, equality and marginalisation, globalisation and the need for international cooperation, the importance of democracy and human rights, the environment and the contribution Finland can make to a sustainable global economy, and the good relations the country enjoys with its neighbours.

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