Finland's decision to stop paying national pensions to citizens living abroad brought a wave of criticism from pensioners based outside Finland last year.
The move will save on pension outgoings, but older Finns based outside the country say it could leave them in poverty.
The government says it is just aligning with other European countries, as national pensions are intended to support low-income pensioners whose occupational pensions are small.
As such, the government says they should be paid based on residence, rather than citizenship. That justification does not cut much ice with the affected pensioners, reports Iltalehti on Tuesday.
The paper visited Uppsala in Sweden to meet the local Finnish pensioners' association. Around 30 pensioners turned up, most of them having moved in past decades in search of work.
Roughly a third of them lost their national pension payments at the start of the year.
"This is sad and unjust," said Anneli Sinisalo. "We've been abandoned, even though we were forced to move to Sweden in search of jobs. It's like a punishment, on top of everything."
Sinisalo moved to Sweden in 1962, when she could not find work in her hometown of Jakobstad. She says the pension changes disproportionately affect women and especially widows, as women's pensions tend to be smaller than men's.
Around 18,000 Finns in Sweden received the national pension before the changes, with an average payment of 130 euros per month.
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Union lobbying worsens labour shortage
Finland suffers from a shortage of daycare staff, and has even been forced to import some early years teachers from Spain.
Helsingin Sanomat has analysis of the situation that suggests one culprit for exacerbating the situation: teaching unions. Specifically OAJ, the union representing daycare teachers who have a university degree.
Those with a vocational degree from a university of applied sciences have a different union. And that's important, because the OAJ has successfully lobbied for legislation to increase the minimum ratio of university teachers to other staff in daycare facilities.
From 2030, at least half of the educational staff at daycare centres should have a university degree in teaching, and overall two thirds of staff should either have a teaching degree or a social work degree. At present, just one third of daycare staff are university-qualified teachers.
HS suggests this lobbying was a response to demographic change, and an attempt by the OAJ to ensure job security for their members even as group sizes shrink in early years education.
But the situation has led to poor relations between the OAJ and Talentia, the union representing other daycare staff. And what's more, the ratios in the law are likely to be nearly impossible to achieve, according to HS.
That's because students in university often change course and study something slightly different, with a relatively high proportion never working with children in daycare. So even if more study places are created, the staffing gap will endure.
This has left cities like Helsinki seeking staff from abroad, as they are at least qualified on paper.
HS notes that customer satisfaction surveys for daycare in Helsinki record excellent results, and show no sign of a desire for different qualifications among the staff.
Children themselves care very little for the paper in a staff member's pocket, and there is little evidence that trade union lobbying was in children's interests.
Cutting food costs
Ilta-Sanomat's lifestyle section has an interview with a Tampere father who has cut his monthly food spending to just a couple of hundred euros for him and his teenage daughter.
Pyry Suomela says that avoiding takeaway food and ready meals, cutting out meat and focusing on vegetables and beans means he can serve a varied and nutritious diet and still keep things affordable.
Protein comes from eggs, and he prepares his vegetables, potatoes and beans in an air fryer — along with appropriate spices.
He says he picks bilberries in the summer and freezes them, with a harvest of 20 litres enough for the whole year.
Suomela says this penny-wise, largely vegetarian cuisine has helped him slash his food budget to 250 euros per month.
The All Points North podcast looked at ways people can save money to beat inflation. Listen to the episode via this embedded player, on Yle Areena, via Apple, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.
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