Newspaper Helsingin Sanomat covered the government's announcement of an anti-racism campaign, set to launch between May and June.
Prime Minister Petteri Orpo's (NCP) government initially announced the plan in the wake of last summer's far-right and racism scandals which threatened to topple the governing coalition.
The All Points North podcast reviewed last summer's series of racism scandals and asked if racism is becoming normalised in Finland. Listen to the episode via this embedded player, on Yle Areena, Apple or via Spotify.
The campaign aims to get organisations from different sectors — like labour, sports, culture, civic groups, businesses, and other communities — to make specific pledges to fight racism and support equality.
"Primarily, we are looking for organisations with more influence as employers, leisure and education providers, but of course we also want to give individual citizens the opportunity to contribute," Katriina Nousiainen, Senior Expert at the Prime Minister's Office, told Finnish News Agency STT.
The campaign is scheduled to last for a year and Nousianen said it is still being worked out how various organisations and individuals will get involved in the campaign.
Finland's next F1 hope
Tabloid Iltalehti ran an in-depth feature on Finland's next potential big racing star.
IL spoke with 17-year-old Tuukka Taponen while he was visiting his home in the Uusimaa municipality of Lohja.
The young racer's bedroom is decorated from floor to ceiling in trophies and medals won throughout various levels of competition. Taponen's most recent trophy came from winning the Formula Regional Middle East Championship — one of the feeder competitions into Formula One — this winter.
"It went beyond expectations. Everything went pretty much according to plan," Taponen said.
Finland's only current racer in Formula One is Valtteri Bottas on the Kick Sauber team, after Kimi Räikkönen retired from the competition in 2021.
Taponen spends most of his time outside of Finland, whether competing internationally or training at the Ferrari Driver Academy in Maranello, Italy. In addition to learning how to drive at speeds over 300 kilometres per hour, Ferrari also has the racing prodigy enrolled in Italian lessons.
Though he spends most of his time outside of Finland, the young Finn received an early exemption to get a driving licence before he turned 18 years old.
While in Finland, he will also visit with partners, including one in the South Ostrobothnian city of Seinäjoki, which is about a four-and-a-half hour drive from Lohja. Even though he has a licence, the Ferrari academy prospect has opted to take the train for this trip.
"I only drive to the train station by car. I can't drive such a long distance," Taponen laughed.
Fuel prices during strike
Ongoing political strikes are impacting many aspects of daily life in Finland, and tabloid Ilta-Sanomat spoke with an expert on how it will affect fuel prices.
It is difficult to predict the possible bump in fuel prices, Senior Adviser at the Finnish Information Centre of Automobile Sector Hanna Kalenoja told IS.
However, she said if the demand for liquid fuel outstrips supply during the strike, it could lead to a temporary increase in fuel prices.
Kalenoja stressed that even then the price increase would not last long, but it could be a short price spike, which would fall at the latest after the strike has ended.
So even if the price of fuel were to rise during the strike, it would not make a big dent in drivers' wallets.
"If someone had to fill up at a higher price one time, the next tank would very likely be at a more stable price level," Kalenoja said.
Kalenoja also pointed out that the strike will leave plenty of fuel-hungry lorries off of the highways, which should help the domestic supply of diesel last longer throughout the two-week strikes.
Ville Kaitila, a researcher at the Research Institute of the Finnish Economy (Etla) agreed with Kalenoja that fuel would not run out in Finland.
"I don't know if there's any specific factor in the whole picture that would affect prices. [A price increase] could be driven by availability in certain regions, but I wouldn't go so far as to say that this would be certain," Kaitila said.
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