Our tenth episode of All Points North features Licia Prehn, a legally blind immigrant and multimedia maven, who takes us through the trials and triumphs visually-disabled people face as they navigate cityscapes in Finland. We also discuss what can help or hinder their daily lives, and how they observe body language in a country known for its silence?
We also discuss the headline political news of the week as Yle's duty editor Ville Seuri guides us through the backstory and ramifications of the National Coalition Party's MP Harry "Hjallis" Harkimo's walkout. The first-term MP who is known for his high profile in business, sports and the media spotlight, called it quits from the centre-right party due to disagreements over policy, most notably the government's flagship project to reform national social and healthcare services.
This week's news recap looks at a call by Centre Party youths to make brothels legal in Finland, a proposal by Finland's Non-Discrimination Ombudsman to have the authority to intervene in workplace discrimination and a claim by the interior Ministry that the extreme nationalist group Finland First committed up to 30 criminal offences during a months-long sit-in at Helsinki's Central Railway Station last year.
Also in the news is a construction strike over pay disputes that began on Thursday, Hesburger expansion plans with the Finnish fast food chain's first outlet in Iran, and last but not least, we pick apart a list of Finland's favourite foods..
If you have any questions or would like to share something on your mind just contact us via WhatsApp on +358 44 421 0909, on our Facebook page or Twitter account, or at yle.news@yle.fi.
This week's podcast was presented by Egan Richardson and Denise Wall with guests Licia Prehn and Ville Seuri. Show produced by Mark Odom and our sound technician was Juha Sarkkinen.
The All Points North podcast is a weekly look at what's going on in Finland. Subscribe via iTunes (and leave a review!), listen on Spotify and Yle Areena or find it on your favourite podcatching app or via our RSS feed.