Finland

Writers have long been drawn to islands. Few have managed to express – and satisfy – that yearning like Tove Jansson, creator of the Moomins  “If I could wish something good for someone, I would wish for them an island with no address.” When Tove Jansson wrote those words sitting in her Helsinki apartment in 1962, the tiny cottage on […]

No country in the world is having a good time right now. But – coronavirus aside – why does Finland keep topping the international happiness charts? According to the old Nordic joke, a Swede goes into a bar in Helsinki. The chirpy Swede takes his drink and says “cheers” to the Finn on the barstool […]

Lahti is leading the way in carbon reduction. So what lessons does it have for other cities? As Finland’s ninth-largest city, with a population slightly smaller than Gloucester’s, Lahti is not used to being a capital. But this year is different. The city – around 100km (60 miles) north of the country’s actual capital, Helsinki – is the European Green […]