Thursday saw quite a number of difficulties with postal deliveries in Finland. The Social Democrat weekly Demokraatti said that the postal company Posti had lost its entire print run, which Posti denied (it turned out the papers had been sent out as second class deliveries), while Helsingin Sanomat reported that an entire Helsinki apartment building's post disappeared and was then found on a train.
There was plenty for the media to chew on, and Aamulehti led with wonder at Posti's expansion into non-traditional mail company services with the headline "Why mow lawns when you fail at the basics?". It's a reference to Posti's move into domestic services, and it can be expected to strike a nerve with householders anxiously waiting for deliveries.
AL interviews Turkka Kuusisto, a manager at Posti, and he admitted that certain areas in the regions of Uusimaa, Pirkanmaa and south-west Finland had suffered delivery problems. He attributed these difficulties to financial problems caused by a decline in physical post deliveries, saying that the volume of letters and publications had dropped by a third since 2010.
Helsingin Sanomat carries quotes from Anne Berner, Minister of Transport and Communications, suggesting that a reform due to come into effect next summer will help solve the problems. That law will reduce the obligation to deliver post in urban areas to just three days a week, with rural areas retaining deliveries five days a week--with the help of private companies. She foresees a future in which passenger transport and package deliveries can be carried out together, bringing a little more dynamism to the rural postal service.
Russia looks for Finnish support
Ilta-Sanomat has a big story on a Russian priority project, on the day that Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev arrives in Finland to meet his Finnish counterpart, Juha Sipilä. It's based on reporting by the Russian news agency Tass, which says that Russia expects Finland to support the Nord Stream 2 pipeline project--in the face of EU opposition.
Sergei Prikhodko, a deputy Prime Minister, says that he expects quick decisions and permits from Finland.
"We'd like to hear Prime Minister Juha Sipilä's statements on Finland's position regarding this important project," IS quotes Prikhodko as saying. IS interviews Pami Aalto, a Russia expert at Tampere University, who says this is a clear message to Finland and it is intended to pile on the pressure.
Aalto says the statements are strange, because the pipeline needs only environmental permits from Finland, not official political support. However other EU countries are less positive about the project, and Sweden has already announced that it will try to prevent the pipeline from proceeding by lobbying within the EU.
KL lauds cities
Business daily Kauppalehti has an editorial on a favourite theme: the benefits of urbanisation. This time the spark is recent results from the Pisa international educational rankings, which showed that children in the capital city region were as good if not better than those from anywhere else in the comparison--but their performance was weighed down by less academically-able children from elsewhere in the country.
KL sees this as one of the bonuses of living in cities, and suggests that more should be done to help overcome the geographical and socioeconomic hurdles some children face.
"Finland still lives according to the principles of an agrarian society, in which cities and urban living are seen in a negative light," writes KL. "In fact urbanisation is inevitable and brings benefits to the whole country."