Helsingin Sanomat led with a story on estate agents' new role in helping homebuyers finance their purchases. 'Chains' are apparently slowing down the housing market with banks insisting homes be sold before a new property can be bought. Estate agents are, according to HS, now acting as consultants and contacting banks and lenders on behalf of customers who are finding financing difficult.
The paper also covered parliamentary debates over the government's structural reform package. Predictably, the opposition had some harsh words for the plans. Finns Party leader Timo Soini was unhappy with the government parties' language, claiming they were trying to sugar-coat spending cuts. His party was also displeased about plans to reduce beds in care homes for old people, while the Centre party criticised the Social Democrats' move to raise the age for compulsory schooling to 17.
The long day of public politicking continued on Yle's TV1 later, when the leaders of Finland's eight largest political parties convened for a televised debate. HS chose to focus on Jyrki Katainen's irritation when questioned about his leadership, Turun Sanomat saw local government reform as the key issue up for discussion, while STT looked at the debate over care for the elderly.
Ilta-Sanomat, meanwhile, lamented Yle's choice of format: according to the paper's political correspondent Timo Paunonen, there were too many people in the studio for a genuine debate. He would have preferred a discussion between PM Jyrki Katainen and the Centre party's Juha Sipilä.
Ilta-Sanomat's front page conveyed a gloomy vision of Finland's future. The paper covered a report from Sitra that looked at how climate change of four degrees Celsius or more might affect the country. There would be frequent storms, wealthy people would move to live in gated communities and civil unrest would be more common. Even forest berries, a staple of the Finnish summer, would no longer be edible.
Tampere daily Aamulehti had news of a local business success story. Nokia tyres, who were spin off from the phone company of the same name and remain based in the town of Nokia, were threatened by local mafia types in their Russian operations. The firm's CEO Kim Gran, however, had one useful contact who had offered to help out: Vladimir Putin. One phone call later, Nokia tyres had no more problems with the hoodlums trying to steal the business.