Columnists

Mikko Kiesiläinen is the head of Libera think tank, and a parliamentary election candidate for the Green Alliance. Follow him on Twitter at @MKiesilainen. Finland is one of the few countries in the world where the government operates an alcohol monopoly….

There’s hardly any daylight between the countries at the top of the recently-published World Press Freedom Index. Norway ranks in first place with Sweden, Netherlands, Finland and Switzerland rounding out the top five. While the list can be a good overview…

Let’s talk about some serious problems. Like the decline in the number of bees which can have a grave impact on nature and future harvests. Or world leaders with considerable military power behind them appearing less predictable than ever. The…

The Finnish Ministry of Transport and Communications wants to build an Arctic railway line through the indigenous Sámi heartland in Northern Finland. The Ministry recently announced that a railway routing from Rovaniemi to the Arctic Ocean via Inari and Kirkenes…

"Help! This comes at short notice, but I’m looking for a smart Sámi, who’d be in Helsinki next Tuesday February 6, and could go and speak about Sáminess at a theme day of the Mäkelänrinne secondary school." A familiar shout-out…

The highlight of Sauli Niinistö’s first term as a president of Finland? This, if you ask me: “Indigenous Peoples should have the right to participate in matters concerning them in the United Nations. We look forward to the Secretary-General`s proposals…

This is my first column this year, and I hope you start 2018 like me with recharged batteries. You might have noticed that we have a presidential election coming up! Of course we all have known this for quite some time,…

The turn of the new year saw another domain loss for those who cherish the idea of Finland as a bilingual country, when news service FNB Finska notisbyrån, the Swedish language department of STT News Agency, closed for good. For…

The Saana fell in Kilpisjärvi, in the ‘Arm of Finland’ is illuminated on Monday and Tuesday as part of the official programme celebrating Finland’s 100 years of Independence. Saana lies in the heartland of the Sámiland – a thoroughly colonized area, which has been carved up by the borders of the four nation states, and continues to be…

As I write this on Friday 17th November, the western extension of the Helsinki metro system is about to open for passengers after a considerable delay, several budget overdrafts and, obviously, a lively heritage of sarcastic social media memes…