ISSUE 5 (85) • 29 JANUARY – 4 FEBRUARY 2009 • €3 • WWW.HELSINKITIMES.FI

Newspapers remain single most important news source

L EH T IK U VA / S A RI GUS TA F SSON

DAV ID J . CORDHEL SINK I T I ME S

DOMESTIC

Fiscal Fiscal stimulusstimuluspackagespackagespage 4page 4

CULTURE

It’sIt’sJussi timeJussi timeagainagainpage 15page 15

BUSINESS

Recession Recession then and then and nownowpage 10page 10

LIFESTYLE

KayakingKayakingamongamongiceicepage 13page 13

SPORT

ShortShortsoccersoccerseasonseasonpage 14page 14

Delicacies from south to north

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Delicacies from south to north

Nearly 90 per cent of the population reads a newspaper on a daily basis.

Church groups positive towards migrant labour

ACCORDING to the provisional re-sults of a study commissioned by the Ministry of Employment and the Economy, organisations within Fin-land’s Evangelical Lutheran Church are keen on providing work to recent migrants. Despite this willingness, however, very few of the church em-ployers surveyed during the study had any previous experience hiring migrants, with only one in ten hav-ing done so within the last year.

A rough estimate places the number of church employees with a foreign background during the period 2007-2008 at around 100. Respond-ents within the church identifi ed lan-guage and adaptation issues as the greatest obstacles to further employ-ment, while overly lengthy induction was also found to be a problem.

“The process of taking on new em-ployees is seen as cumbersome and

HE IDI L E H T ONE N ,M AT T HE W PA RRY – H T

bureaucratic, and there is very lit-tle information out there on success-ful cases of migrant employees,” says researcher Henrietta Grönlund.

A clear majority, 68 per cent, of em-ployers in church organisations were positively disposed to employing mi-grant labour, the study reveals.

“This indicates that the poten-tial in terms of employment is fair-ly signifi cant, it’s simply a question of providing willing employers with adequate support,” Grönlund concludes.

The ministerial study, which will be published in its entirety in March, seeks to assess the potential role of the church in a weakening la-bour market.

On 1 February President Tarja Halonen will initiate Finland’s larg-est ever national fundraising ini-tiative, the Solidarity Fundraiser, which will collect funds to support greater employment opportunities for recent migrants.

THE NEWSPAPER has maintained its position as the most important news source, claims a new survey com-missioned by the Finnish national broadcaster YLE. The survey asked the respondents about their prefer-ence for news sources and the relia-bility of those sources. It compared newspapers and specifi c news pro-grammes, but did not ask for the names of individual newspapers.

“The newspaper was the most common answer as the preferred news source,” says head researcher Erja Ruohomaa. According to Ruo-homaa second place went to YLE’s late news while third place went to MTV3’s tena o’clock news.

Finland remains one of the world's most newspaper-friendly countries. The per capita consump-

tion of newspapers in Finland is third highest in the world, ranked after only Norway and Japan. 87 per cent of the population aged over 12 years read a newspaper every day.

The importance of the internet was reinforced as an alternate news source, especially for those younger than 35 years of age. YLE news chief Jouni Kemppainen believes that the importance of the internet will con-tinue to grow. “From a news point of view, young people are a very chal-lenging audience,” he points out. “By going to places where young people are we can reach them better.”

A separate survey last year found that young people were al-so increasing their consumption of newspapers. 66 per cent of 12 – 19 year olds read newspapers, up from 64 per cent in 2007. Those aged 20 – 25 showed a similar increase, from 68 per cent to 70 per cent.

For reliability, the best marks of the survey went to YLE’s evening news on television. YLE’s morning television news programme came in second while the national ra-dio news placed third for reliabil-ity. MTV3’s news was considered somewhat less reliable than YLE but more reliable than newspapers. The lowest rated source for reliability was YLE’s news website.

The Finnish national broadcast-er remains the most trusted news source. Seven of the top ten relia-ble sources were various YLE pro-grammes. Kemppainen credits his agency’s strong ratings to their vi-sion, accurate information and high visibility with the public. “The avail-ability of news in several media has been a major strength,” he explains.

TNS Gallup interviewed 1,055 people between October and No-vember for the survey.

2 29 JANUARY – 4 FEBRUARY 2009 HELSINKI TIMESVIEWPOINT

THE FIRST and very obvi-ous result of the recession is that many donor govern-ments are trimming their foreign aid programmes al-ready for 2009. At the time of writing this, fi nal state budg-ets were under consideration in government meetings and in parliaments. It seems that the outcome will be mixed: some will stay loyal to their earlier promises, some will cut. Some, like Norway, will even reach the one per cent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in 2009, for the fi rst time ever. In the US, Barack Obama promised a doubling of foreign assistance from 25 to 50 billion US dollars during the election campaign, but Joe Biden has already said this commitment will proba-bly be delayed because of the economic downturn.

IN MY OWN country, Finland, our aid decreased by 62 per cent during our severe eco-nomic crisis in the early 90s. Likewise, Japan’s aid de-clined by 44 per cent when hard times hit the country.

Recession: the three challenges

Pär Stenbäck is a Finnish poli-tician and debater. He has been a member of the city council of Espoo, and also the Finnish par-liament (1970-1985). He was the Minister of education 1979 to 1982, Minister of foreign re-lations 1982 to 1983. Party leader of the Swedish People’s Party 1977 to 1985. He has also been the general secretary for the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent So-cieties in Geneva.

If one projects such numbers to the prevailing slump, we could see a cut in offi cial for-eign aid by 30 per cent. This is the prediction of at least one Washington thinktank.

THE SECOND challenge to world security and stabili-ty, one that could eliminate years of strenuous efforts, is a fi nancing crisis for UN peacekeeping operations. It is easy to predict that do-nor governments will take a careful look at the ever-growing expenditure for the 14 ongoing peacekeeping op-erations around the world. In the period ending 30 June 2008, the costs for these op-erations were staggering, as much as the operations are indispensable. MONUC de-manded 1.1 billion US dol-lars, UNAMID 1.275 billion dollars and so forth. The to-tal amount required for all UN operations in that period rose to 6.7 billion US dollars. Will governments stay loy-al to all these commitments for the next few years? One can only imagine the conse-

quences when already thin operations will be cut in sen-sitive areas.

THE THIRD and probably the most threatening challenge comes from the private sec-tor and from private citizens. By far the biggest transfer of assets from rich countries to the developing world takes place through remittances made by migrant workers. Surprisingly many decision makers are still unaware of the facts: in 2006 around 150 million migrants sent some 300 billion US dollars to their families at home in developing countries (IFAD study). The number of trans-actions is huge: 1.5 billion re-mittances are estimated to have taken place during one year. This, of course, is based on the fact that most remit-tances are for a sum of only 100-300 dollars. They nor-mally go towards immediate household consumption.

BY COMPARISON, the value of all offi cial development as-sistance in 2006 amounted

The worldwide economic slump will have unforeseen consequences in many more foreign policy and security sectors than is currently anticipat-ed. These consequences may affect policies in a profound way and change the international scene considerably.

to only 126 billion US dollars. This fi gure includes assist-ance both from OECD and non-OECD countries, as well as from China.

IF THIS global network is seri-ously hurt by the recession, it will throw millions of already poor people back into pov-erty. This will happen if mi-grants lose their jobs in their host countries and are forced to return to their country of origin.

OF THE total fi gure 300 bil-lion, remittances are distrib-uted to different continents as follows: Europe 50 bil-lion, Africa 38, Latin Amer-ica and the Caribbean 68, Near East 24 and Asia 113 bil-lion (all fi gures from 2006). In all, 57 countries received more than 1 billion dollars in remittances.

SOME countries were clear-ly dependent of this income fl ow for their economic surviv-al. Let me mention only a few: Cape Verde received 34 per cent of its GDP from this exter-nal source, Eritrea 38 per cent and Burundi 23 per cent. In Asia the countries with most at stake are Afghanistan (30 per cent) and Tajikistan (38 per cent). For instance, in Moldova it accounts for 31 per cent and in Honduras for 25 per cent.

AS YOU CAN see, sever-al of these countries are in confl ict zones or are frag-ile states in some way or an-other. It goes without saying that a diminishing fl ow of funding through remittanc-es will cause added insta-bility, increase poverty and may add to increased migra-tion to other countries, with-out any assurance of work opportunities.

HAVING STATED the facts, that show how dependent many developing countries are on their citizens abroad, one must ask what can be done to ease the burden if the recession will hit migrant workers? If an estimated 10 per cent of the world popula-tion can be found among the benefactors of this income source, clearly this is some-thing that must be of concern to the “aid and assistance establishment” in the do-nor countries. Or is this a

shadowy sub-terrain that is not a part of the offi cial aid machinery?

WELL, it may be easy to say that the employment possi-bilities of the approximately 150 million migrant work-ers in the world are total-ly dependent on prevailing market forces. However, gov-ernments in Europe and else-where should take a careful look at what mechanisms are at work when migrant work-ers are sent home. These are the same governments that are ready to put money in di-rect foreign aid. Are there tax breaks which can be adapted to entice employers to keep their workers in the country? This could even be a better way to support a poor coun-try far away.

ANOTHER look should be taken at the forms of mon-ey transactions between rich and poor countries. The transaction costs often cut off a considerable portion of an already small remit-tance. Here governments may be able to intervene, as the atmosphere now is quite positive to intervention and regulation in the banking sector. One should not ex-clude the possibility that aid money could be used to cre-ate safe and cheap channels for money remittances. This would be necessary especial-ly in cases when the money cannot reach remote rural areas in an African or Asian country, places where the family of a migrant worker fi nds itself in dire straits.

WE SHOULD consider also the restrictive regulations that were introduced after the September 11 attacks. The new demands for effective control mechanisms placed an extra burden on the re-mittance system operators, all in the interest of fi ghting terrorism. It is hard to say if this actually has prevent-ed terrorism, but it certain-ly has made remittance costs higher.

SENDING money to certain countries is now allowed only through formal banking chan-nels. This has created virtual monopolies and can prevent remittance money from reach-ing rural areas where bank of-

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fi ces do not exist. In western Africa, the IFAD study tells us that just one money transfer operator handles 70 per cent of offi cial payments and this operator demands exclusivity with banks.

ALLOWING more informal fi -nancial institutions to chan-nel foreign payments would ease the money fl ow to re-mote regions. Co-operatives, credit unions or new forms of microfi nance institutions could form networks that guarantee accessibility.

OTHER restrictive legal prac-tices are in force in some countries where they exclude migrants without legal sta-tus from using offi cial bank-ing systems. In some positive cases, other countries have taken steps to make remit-tance transfers possible by using mobile phones. CONSIDERING the huge amount of remittances and their importance for keeping millions of people above the poverty line, there is a good case for institutions like the European Union to take a careful look at the remit-tance system itself. In times of fi nancial and economic downturn, such a system can be helpful in alleviating the burdens heaped on victims of the slump. Are there restric-tive practices that the EU can abolish? Can EU assist-ance be adapted to the needs of this informal, but highly important rescue network? Perhaps the EU already has a policy in place; if that is the case, let the Member States know about it and ask them to contribute to it.

FINALLY, one may argue that private investments in de-veloping countries should be discussed in this context, as one important factor when analysing which harvest of the recession that develop-ing countries will reap. How-ever, one can anticipate that such investments will inev-itably slow down during the next few years. Therefore it seems even more important how employment among mi-grant workers will evolve: only these workers can se-cure the wellbeing of hun-dreds of millions in some of the poorest countries.

329 JANUARY – 4 FEBRUARY 2009HELSINKI TIMES DOMESTIC NEWSTV GUIDETV GUIDE

Direct from the city centre to the zoo

No trams in Kaisaniemi on Monday eveningSewerage repair work on Kaisaniemenkatu sched-uled for Monday evening will force tram lines 3B, 3T, 6 and 9 onto diversion routes. From 9pm on Monday 2 February until the end of late-night pub-lic transport, trams will run through Kaisaniemi in both directions along the following streets: Lii-sankatu – Snellmaninkatu – Aleksanterinkatu. If the night frost falls below -15 degrees, however, the scheduled repairs will be pushed forward a week to Monday 9 February.

Campaign for mobile phone etiquettePosters encouraging users of public transport to consider their fellow passengers when using a mobile phone have been on display on buses, trams and the metro during January. The goal of the ”Älä kailota” (”Don’t shout”) campaign is to re-mind passengers that they are in a public space, and to pay heed to what they are saying and where they are saying it. Discussion of private matters or company secrets, as well as speaking at the top of one’s voice, are habits the campaign is especially trying to discourage. The campaign received a positive reception a year ago when it was run for the fi rst time. The sub-ject was discussed widely both in the media and among users of mobile phones. In a survey of pas-sengers on public transport, loud phone conver-sations, ring tones and keypad tones were iden-tifi ed as particularly disturbing, as were lengthy phone conversations about personal health or re-lationship issues, or confi dential corporate affairs. Use of coarse language was also found to irritate some. In contrast, brief, discrete calls were not considered disturbing.

Changes to the timetable of bus 42 The bus line 42 will switch over to a new timetable on 9 February due to congestion on Hakamäen-tie caused by repair works on that street. Intervals between one bus and the next will stretch by 1-2 minutes, and the morning’s fi rst departure from Kannelmäki will leave 5 minutes earlier. The line’s night timetable for services after 9pm, as well its weekend timetable, will remain unchanged.

Tram tickets only availablefrom automats or with a travel cardAs of the beginning of this year, it is no longer pos-sible to buy the cheaper tram-only tickets from drivers. This ticket type still exists, but it can now only be purchased from ticket automats for 1.80, or with credit loaded onto your travel card for only 1.37. Drivers on both trams and buses continue to sell single tickets for Helsinki or the whole metro-politan region, as well as one-day tourist tickets.

from the Central Railway Station platform 8 at hourly intervals. The fi rst departure leaves the Central Railway Station at 9.40am and the fi nal return departure leaves Korkea-saari for the centre at 4.15pm. One of the buses on line 11 is Korkea-saari Zoobus. Decked out in Korkeasaari colours, the Zoobus features a display screen which includes information on ini-tiatives to protect the environment we hu-mans share with animals. Winter is an excellent time to visit the zoo since it is easier to get closer to many of the animals than it is during summer. Fans

of the arts should also make a trip to Kor-keasaari since the island will also host the international ice sculpting event Art Meets Ice during January and February. The com-petition will take place on two weekends, from 31 January to 1 February, and from 7 February to 8 February. On the fi rst of those weekends, sculp-tors will celebrate the zoo’s 120-year his-tory by sculpting a work entitled ’Saved by the Zoos’. On the second weekend, the theme ‘Frogs unlimited’ will draw attention to the campaign to save endangered am-phibians.

permanent abode of some 850 people. The island’s residents are served by a primary school, a crèche and a library among other facilities.

Ferries through the winterThe ferry to Suomenlinna runs between the Helsinki Market Square and the island from early in the morning until 2am at night. Dur-ing the winter, there are 1–2 departures eve-ry hour. HKL tickets valid in Helsinki and in the metropolitan region are also valid on the ferry. If you do not have a travel card you can purchase a ticket from an automat sit-uated at the ferry terminal. One economi-cal alternative is the special Suomenlinna-ticket which provides passengers with a return trip to the island. Valid for 12 hours and solely on the ferry itself, the ticket costs 3.80 per adult and 1.90 per child. Group tickets for groups of 2–31 people are also available at the terminal automat. As this comes in the form of a single tick-et, all passengers covered by a group ticket must travel together.

Island services during winter

The visitor Centre Suomenlinnakeskus

– tourism advice, Suomenlinna Museum

– open daily 10am-4pm through to 30 April – during the winter, guided walking

tours in English are held on Saturdays and Sundays and depart at 1.30pm from the Visitor Centre (adults 6.50, children 3)

The Ehrensvärd Society arranges tours for groups throughout the year in a number of different languages. Reservations can be made by sending an email to guidebooking@suomen-linnatours.com

Additional information in English on Suomenlinna’s services is available at www.suomenlinna.fi

The Suomenlinna ferry’s timetable

can be found at www.hkl.fi /timetables

The historical fortress island of Suomen-linna is a fantastic destination any time of year. A winter visit is a mere 15-minute ferry ride away from Helsinki’s harbour.

Leave the city’s hustle behind without trav-elling more than a couple of kilometres from Helsinki’s Market Square. On Suomen-linna you can discover historical treasures and wintry natural beauty, whether you take one of the guided walking tours or set out on your own to explore the ancient fortress which gives the island its name. There are around eight kilometres of centuries-old fortifi ed walls, as well as more than a hun-dred historic cannons. The Visitor Centre, Suomenlinnakeskus, and the Suomenlinna Museum which tells the history of the fortress island, are both open the entire year round. The island’s restaurant, local store and kiosk are also open.

Finland’s and Helsinki’s historySuomenlinna is one of the largest maritime fortresses in the world and one whose his-tory is closely entwined with that of Finland and the Baltic region. The fortress was con-structed in the eighteenth century at a time when Finland formed the eastern part of the Swedish realm, and it was intended as a bul-wark to protect the realm’s eastern fl ank. When Finland fell under Russian control in the nineteenth century, Suomenlinna’s role was to help guard the sea routes leading into Saint Petersburg, then the Russian capital. Much of Helsinki’s growth as a city can also be put down to the importance of Suomenlinna: the presence of the Swedish fortress helped jump-start Helsinki’s eco-nomic growth, and later enhanced the city’s credibility as the new capital of the autono-mous Grand Duchy of Finland in 1812. In addition to its status as a popular tour-ist destination, Suomenlinna is also an offi -cial residential district of Helsinki and is the

A winter excursion to Suomenlinna

The Helsinki Zoo in Korkeasaari is open dai-ly in winter 10am-4pm and it can be reached by taking the bus number 11 which departs

4 29 JANUARY – 4 FEBRUARY 2009 HELSINKI TIMESDOMESTIC NEWS

M AT T I KOSK INE NHEL SINK I T I ME S

Parties vague on fighting racism

Government acts to stimulate economy

DAV ID J . CORDHEL SINK I T I ME S

Fiscal stimulus packages are being set to help improve the state of the economy.

The value-added tax on food should fall from 17 per cent to 12 per cent this year.

Budget changesThe 2009 budget aims to put more money in the hands of taxpayers. Income-tax cuts will be spread equally across all levels. As an exam-ple, those earning 35,000 eu-ros this year will have about 540 euros more to keep. It is hoped that this extra cash will be used to purchase goods and services, therefore helping Finnish businesses.

The value-added tax on food will also be slashed. Lat-er this year taxes should fall from 17 per cent to 12 per

THE FINNISH government is hurrying to stimulate the economy. With production decreasing and redundan-cies being announced on a daily basis, elected offi cials are trying all means at their disposal to reinvigorate the stalling national economy.

With monetary policy in the hands of the European Central Bank, policy makers are to-day left with fi scal policy. By increasing spending, cutting taxes or changing regulations the government hopes to in-crease economic activity and create new jobs. Overall fi scal policy will be eased by about one per cent of gross domestic product this year.

After the previous budget plan for 2009 was not deemed useful enough, an additional supplementary proposal fo-cused on industry fi nancing, improving employment and helping with job training for those made redundant. More may be on the way. Finance Minister Jyrki Katainen has given Raimo Sailas the task of fi nding different ways that the state can stimulate the Finnish economy. About 300 million euros has been ear-marked specifi cally for the stimulus package this year.

THE ISSUE of immigration was a topic of much debate in the municipal election last autumn, and at times led to heated exchanges. Following the election, Ombudsman for Minorities, Johanna Suur-pää, requested that all par-liamentary parties report on their activities to fi ght dis-crimination. All political par-ties currently represented in the Finnish parliament have signed the Charter of Euro-pean Parties for a Non-Racist Society, and all but one pro-duced the report.

While all of the parties as-sured in their reports that they are committed to fi ghting rac-ism, the wording of the Char-ter was generally not known in detail. Altogether the answers were not specifi c, nor were they grounded on the Charter.

“The answers overall were positive, but lacked concrete-ness. All parties were commit-ted to fi ghting discrimination on a general level,” Suurpää told HT. She is reluctant to discuss individual parties. While some parties had policy papers on specifi c issues such as the Roma question or im-migration policy, few detailed concrete, proactive anti-rac-ist programmes.

Candidates were usual-ly requested to familiarise themselves with the party agenda, which contain vari-ous commitments to oppose discrimination. This, accord-ing to Suurpää, is not enough. “Many new municipal offi cials were elected, and the par-ties have an obligation clearly stated in the Charter to edu-cate their personnel on dis-crimination issues,” she said.

One reason for the sur-vey was to remind parties of

the Charter, especially as the issue is becoming more and more topical. As Finland be-comes home to an increas-ing number of immigrants, Finnish society is undergoing a profound transformation. This calls for an open discus-sion on Finland’s immigration policy. The aim is by no means to stifl e critical discussion.

Suurpää closely followed the debate on immigration during the election last au-tumn, especially on the inter-net. She saw a lot of variety in the online exchanges, even some extreme incidents. However, these were indi-vidual cases and no signato-ry party of the Charter for a

Non-Racist Society was con-sistently marked by such in-fractions in their overall campaign. On the other hand, evidence of an expressly anti-racist agenda was also rare.

Suurpää calls for more concrete actions against dis-crimination, more effi cient training on and more atten-tion to following up on the obligations set by the Char-ter. Parties should also pay more attention to minori-ty representation at various levels. Suurpää says her of-fi ce is offering an open in-vitation to parties: “We are seeking co-operation in our efforts to educate party of-fi cers and elected offi cials.”

cent, saving grocery shop-pers about 500 million euros. This should be of great help to those on a low income, be-cause they generally spend more on food.

More measures have been included to stimulate the battered construction in-dustry, which has been hit particularly hard. The gov-ernment has taken steps to promote housing construc-tion and renovation. An ex-tra 30 million euros has been tagged specifi cally to reno-vate school buildings.

To improve the fi nanc-ing situation of companies looking for money, the gov-ernment has also increased the capitalisation of several state-owned fi nancing com-panies. The environmental and energy sectors will also receive an extra 15 million euros available for demon-stration projects.

PoliticaldifferencesPrime Minister Matti Van-hanen is also planning on a long-term stimulus pack-age. He recently called for a multi-billion euro invest-ment project for new road and rail links between Hel-sinki and northern Finland, energy projects and more spending on research and development.

Member of Parliament Paavo Arhinmäki of the op-position Left Alliance is un-impressed. “In Parliament the speeches have mainly been about businesses and the plight of the banks, but almost nothing has been de-bated about the economic crisis in the social dimension at the individual level, unem-ployment and poverty,” he writes on his blog.

He argues that more mon-ey should be spent on social programmes. “Our aim must be the concerns of people, not the success of business own-ers,” he writes. Arhinmäki denounces companies that pay excessive dividends yet lay off workers, and calls for the nationalisation of steel-maker Rautaruukki. “The Left must present ts own al-ternative to the current eco-nomic system.”

Another parliamentari-an, Arja Karhuvaara of the National Coalition, appears sceptical as to how far social spending should be extend-ed. “Society has a safety net, not a hammock,” she writes on her website.

L EH T IK U VA / K I M MO M Ä N T Y L Ä

A recent survey conducted by the Ombudsman for Minorities reveals that Finland’s political parties are committed to fighting racism, but as yet have no concrete policies for doing so.

Ombudsman for Minorities, Johanna Suurpää, urges parties to

fight discrimination on a concrete level.

The Charter of European Parties for a Non-Racist Society:

– A project initially carried out by the National Bureau against Racial Discrimination in the Netherlands with the European Parliament, the Migration Policy Group and the municipality of Utrecht, with financial support from the European

Commission. – Approved by representatives of 40 political parties from

EU member states in Utrecht on 28 February 1998.– Calls on democratic political parties within the EU to act

responsibly when dealing with issues related to race, eth-nic and national origin and religion.

– Encourages parties to work towards fair representation of racial, ethnic, national and religious minorities within and at all levels of their party system.

L EH T IK U VA / TOR W ENNS T RÖM

529 JANUARY – 4 FEBRUARY 2009HELSINKI TIMES DOMESTIC NEWS

Managing waste

leftovers into a paper bag and take it to the compost or bio-waste container at the build-ing’s garbage area.

Apartment buildings have also a paper-recycling box or one can fi nd it in a recycling container nearby one’s home. The basic rule for what kind of paper that can be recycled is: everything that comes through your letterbox can be put into the container.

Metals, glass and plasticsUnlike paper, recycling met-als or glass is slightly more challenging because it can be tricky to fi nd containers for such waste. Usually, large containers can be found at bigger recycling areas of larger supermarkets.

“Before dropping the cans and tins to a container, one should rinse them. This is be-cause of hygiene and to avoid smells,” warns Linsiö. “Of course, one should not use too much energy for rinsing the cans. There is no need to wash them with a washing-up liq-uid,” says Linsiö, with a smile.

In theory, plastics can be recycled. But in the real life, this is only done by indus-try. The problem with house-hold plastics is that there are several types of plastics and they are not plain enough to be materials used for new products. Nevertheless, some shops have collection points for plastic bags.

RI T VA L A R VA-S A L ONE NHEL SINK I T I ME S

In some cities, ener-gy waste is also collected. Energy waste will end up as fuel for industry, which means that all compustible waste belongs in this cate-

Sorting and recycling are key factors for everyday waste management at home.

THE DISCUSSION on waste management is a hot topic in many municipalities. Al-though, Helsinki Metropoli-tan Area Council (YTV) made the decision to build a new waste-fi red power plant in Vantaa in December, the goal is to reduce overall waste production. Sorting and re-cycling have a signifi cant role in terms of reducing the amount of waste.

How and what to recycle? Regulations state that people living in apartment buildings should sort bio-waste, paper and cardboard. Alongside these, glass and metals are easy to sort.

Drinks bottles and cans on which a refund has been paid are best returned to ordinary grocery stores. Since Septem-ber, batteries can be returned to supermarkets as well.

Where to start?“The most important thing is to take the hazardous waste, such as energy-saving light-bulbs, fl uorescent lighttubes or paints to special collection points, which are located at a number of petrol stations,” advises Olli Linsiö, Respon-sible-Environmental Expert at YTV Waste Management.

Then, at home, one can continue with bio-waste. Throw tea bags, fruit and vegetable peels, and food

The households of the metropolitan area annually generate 300 kilos of household waste per inhabitant.

Did you know?

– Brown-paper bags and wrapping paper goes to cardboard recycling, but not paper– Medicines should be returned to pharmacies– Explosives such as fireworks should be taken to the police – Bikes and big garbage to Sortti waste disposal stations in the

Helsinki metropolitan area or recycling spots at the waste-management area

– Clothes, china, furniture to recycling centres, charity shops or flea markets.

MIRVA BROL A – S T THEIDI L EH TONEN,M AT T HE W PA RRY – H T

Survey finds enthusiasm for Swedish at school

aged between 15 and 24 who were surveyed defended the current policy. In older age groups, that fi gure fell from slightly over half of respond-ents to slightly under half.

The recent government decision to make Swedish a voluntary part of the matric-ulation exam drew support from over half of those sur-veyed, while 40 per cent of respondents considered the change a mistake.

Women more positiveWomen tended to be more sympathetic towards Swed-ish-speakers and the Swed-ish language in general, than men. Of those surveyed, 65 per cent reported that they could consider marrying a Swedish-speaking Finn.

Attitudes vary widely across the country. Finnish-speakers living in eastern Finland were less likely to view the language as neces-sary, while some of them felt that Russian was more im-portant than Swedish.

Competency in the lan-guage and Swedish-speak-ing friends often went hand in hand with more positive

attitudes among Finnish-speakers. The majority of Finnish-speakers neverthe-less rated their command of the language as weak.

Only one fi fth of Finnish-speakers felt confi dent about their own ability to speak Swedish. This does, howev-er, represent a slight increase over the last decade.

Faith in the futureMagma's Olav Melin con-siders the results a pleasing surprise.

“A 74 percent majority of Finns see the Swedish lan-guage as an important part of Finnish society. This re-fl ects a rise of four per cent over the last ten years,” Me-lin observed.

Some of the results were nevertheless contradictory. Despite the fact that Finland is moving towards a more pluralistic society, readi-ness among Finnish-speak-ers to actually study Swedish has fallen. The relegation of school Swedish to volun-tary rather than compulso-ry status is seen as a major challenge to many Swedish-speakers. Melin remains op-timistic about the future, however.

“Finland is and will re-main a bilingual country, and moreover, an increasingly multicultural one. I see that as enriching.”

Younger Finns are most likely to defend the presence of Swedish in the curriculum.

ATTITUDES among Finnish-speakers towards the Swed-ish language have surprised the authors of a recent study. According to their survey, the majority of Finnish-speakers believe that Swedish remains an essential part of Finnish society. Most also feel that the country’s leading politi-cians ought to have a com-mand of both Finnish and Swedish.

“‘There was a feeling among Swedish speakers that the social atmosphere with re-gard to their native language has worsened, but these re-sults have come as quite a pos-itive surprise,” beamed Kjell Herberts, a sociologist at Åbo Akademi.

There appears to be a good deal of enthusiasm for bilin-gual Finns. Swedish speakers have no need to be concerned

about their linguistic or cul-tural identity.

The Finland-Swedish thinktank Magma commis-sioned market-research group Taloustutkimus to conduct the survey of Finn-ish-speakers’ attitudes to Swedish. Some 1,000 Finnish-speakers were questioned.

Mixed reactionsDespite the heated rheto-ric of some, the survey indi-cates that compulsory school Swedish is not a source of irritation for all stu-dents. Exactly half of Finn-ish-speakers held the view that the language should re-main compulsory in schools. The proportion of Finns who wanted it made voluntary has, however, risen slightly over the last decade.

Perhaps most surprising-ly, younger respondents were especially likely to defend compulsory Swedish. No few-er than 60 per cent of those

L EH T IK U VA / S A RI GUS TA F SSON

gory. The rule is: sort haz-ardous waste first, then recyclable waste, and then the rest to the energy waste and to the ordinary mixed-waste containers.

COLUMNCOLUMN IN BRIEF

Finland's ParkCom suspends operationsFinnish parking enforce-ment company ParkCom said 27 January it would suspend its operations over uncertainty about the legal-ity of the entire business.

November last year, the Helsinki appeals court up-held a district court rul-ing saying a motorist was under no obligation to pay fi nes issued by ParkCom.

ParkCom has fi led a pe-tition for leave to appeal the ruling before the Su-preme Court. ParkPatrol, another parking enforce-ment fi rm, suspended its operations in December before declaring insolven-cy last month. STT

Finnish military orders directional mines from ForcitThe Finnish military said in a statement 27 January it had placed a €16.7-million order with Finnish explo-sives maker Forcit for di-rectional mines to replace pressure-triggered ones banned under the Ottawa treaty.

The Finnish Defence Forces added that Forcit would supply the weapons by 2012.

The Finnish government has pledged to sign the Ot-tawa treaty in 2012. STT

Jaakonsaari mulls standing in Euro-electionLiisa Jaakonsaari, a Finnish Social Democrat MP, said 27 January she would hold a news conference about June's European Parlia-ment election on 29 Janu-ary. Jaakonsaari added she had yet to decide whether to stand. STT

Finnish government export credit aid to €3.7 blnThe Finnish government said in a statement 27 Jan-uary that the cabinet com-mittee on economic affairs had approved the trebling of the government's export credit aid package to about €3.7 billion. Parliament had approved a 1.2-billion-euro export credit package in the autumn. STT

Ljubljana and Zagreb welcome Ahtisaari as mediator Olli Rehn, the EU enlarge-ment commissioner, said 27 January that the Euro-pean commission's pro-posal to name the former Finnish president Mart-

ti Ahtisaari chief mediator of a border row between Croatia and Slovenia had been welcomed in Za-greb and Ljubljana. Rehn visited both capitals last week. Slovenia has blocked Croatia's EU accession process over the long-run-ning dispute involving the former's access to interna-tional waters from the Gulf of Piran.

"What is at stake here is an area of no more than a few square kilometres, yet the dispute threatens to undermine the credibil-ity of the EU's enlargement policy as a whole," Rehn told Finnish reporters in Brussels. STT

Young Finnish motorists speed weekly One in two of the Finnish motorists aged under 25 in-terviewed for a poll admit-ted to exceeding the speed limit on a weekly basis, Finnish insurer Sampo said 27 January.

It added that a third of the young motorists in-cluded in the poll said they tended to break the speed limit more frequently than once a week.

According to Sampo, young motorists are six times more likely to cause an accident than other age groups are.

Commissioned by Sam-po, market research com-pany Taylor Nelson Sofres interviewed about 1,000 motorists in December. STT

Finnish FM wants EU to help US house Guantánamo prisonersAlexander Stubb (cons), the Finnish foreign min-ister, said 26 January he hoped the EU would "lend a hand" to the US to help re-locate the prisoners of the camp in Guantánamo Bay in Cuba.

Speaking to the Finn-ish News Agency (STT) in Brussels, Stubb added that the presidential term of Barack Obama had ushered in a new era in relations be-tween the EU and the US and that the former should act accordingly.

Stubb said that it was understandable if some of the about 30 people to be released from Guantána-mo did not want to remain in the US given that they had been kept illegally in-carcarated for years and possibly tortured.

Stubb had said at the weekend that he did not see Finnish prisons housing former Guantánamo prison-ers. Obama promised after his inauguration last week that the Guantánamo Bay "detention centre" would be closed within the year. STT

6 29 JANUARY – 4 FEBRUARY 2009 HELSINKI TIMES

The sudden changes in air pressure caused by the train entering the tunnel may have loosened pieces of ice, which could explain the mysterious window breakages.

www.iprint.fi

You'll lovethe way we print it

The bigger printing house gives you more possibllities

FROM THE FINNISH PRESS TRANSLATIONS BY MICHAEL NAGLER

Entrepreneurs campaign against recession

Computer entrepreneur Kaarlo Aintila from Seinäjoki shrugs off talk of recession. He is among the first to join the small and medium-sized businessmen’s anti-recession campaign, reports the Seinäjoki-based daily Ilkka.

ILKKA 24 January

THE “KETÄÄN ei sanota irti’ (No one will be laid off) cam-paign, which started in Pir-kanmaa last Monday, has received a tremendous wel-come. Seinäjoki businessman Kaarlo Aintila also set off to fi ght the recession.

ATK-Apuri Seinäjoki is among the businesses prom-

ising to outlast the recession. In the web pages of Pirkan-maa’s entrepreneurs Aintila has publicly pledged to re-main a businessman for this year at least. ‘I joined the campaign a few days ago. All this jabbering about the re-cession started to get on my nerves,’ he says.”

Sex used to lure Finnish UN menThree attempts have been made to enlist long-time UN employee Reijo Raitasaari into the service of a foreign power, reports the national daily Helsingin Sanomat.

HELSINGIN SANOMAT 19 & 20 January. MATTI HUUSKONEN

“THERE have been repeated attempts to lure Finnish UN employees into serving a for-eign power in the Middle East and Kosovo. Sex and money were used as bait.

Those who have fallen in-to a sexual relationship may have also been blackmailed,

especially if they were married.

Captain Reijo Raitasaari, who has served the UN and oth-er international organisations for most of his career, remem-bers three different recruiting attempts from three different decades. During the Lebanon

War in 1983 he received a clear offer to serve Israeli military intelligence. In Beirut in 1974 and in Macedonia in 1999, the attempted induction was done by Americans.

Raitasaari says he has heard similar stories from over ten colleagues, all of

whom are Finnish UN em-ployees. He also knows of some who took the bait.

Many Finns who have served in the UN have also confi rmed the recruiting at-tempts to Helsingin Sanomat.

Neither are the Finns the only ones to be lured into serving a foreign power.

In his 2003 book, Dutch war historian Artur ten Cate names Dutch military observ-ers who have spied for Israel during the Middle East crisis.

The Finnish Security Po-lice (Supo) will begin training in resisting attempts by for-eign intelligence services to lure those employed in crisis zones. The fi rst classes were held this month. Training will be given to about 150 Finns employed in the world’s cri-sis centres.

Supo, the Interior Minis-try and the Crisis Manage-ment Centre (CMC) Finland decided on Monday to start the training after the Hels-ingin Sanomat had reported the incident”.

Foreign intelligence services have tried to induct many UN employees into their service.

L EH T IK U VA / JUK K A RI TOL A

Meat still essential to the family diet

“NEARLY 80 per cent of con-sumers regard meat as an essential part of a family’s balanced diet. The larger the family, the more important meat is regarded to be for health and wellbeing.

This is revealed by a study on meat consumption com-missioned by Lihatiedotus.

Almost two thirds of con-sumers fi nd it hard to go with-out meat in their diet. It is much harder for men to go vegetarian than it is for wom-

An overwhelming majority of Finns eat meat, reports Maaseudun Tulevaisuus.

MAASEUDUN TULEVAISUUS 23 January

en, and more diffi cult on aver-age for youths than for older people.

According to the study, 97 per cent of Finns eat meat, and the fi gure has not changed from the previous year. Over half consume meat daily or almost daily, men more often than women.

The most critical towards meat-eating are 25-34-year-old consumers, seven per cent of whom do not eat meat or meat products at all.”

47 windows in Pendolino train smash in tunnel

“A PENDOLINO train that left Helsinki for Turku on Fri-day at 17:09 had 43 windows break when passing through the187-meter Lillgård tunnel.

Because only the out-er layers of the triple-glazed windows smashed, the pas-sengers were not in danger.

Nearly all the cars in the train had their windows bro-ken. Despite this, the train ar-

A large number of windows in a Turku-bound Pendolino train broke in a tunnel. The cause remains unclear, reports the Turun Sanomat.

TURUN SANOMAT 24 January. ANNE SAVOLAINEN

rived in Turku only about fi ve minutes behind schedule.

A woman from Turku who was on the train described the sound as similar to rocks being thrown at windows. Timo Metso, the transport coordinator in VR’s transpor-tation administration centre, thinks that vandalism is not a logical explanation. ‘It might be due to ice or debris which

fell from the tunnel surface, maybe due to pressure vari-ations. But the cause is being investigated.’

It is not the fi rst time a Pendolino had its windows break. ‘However, the amount of smashed windows today is shocking.’”

Meat remains a favourite amongst Finns.

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729 JANUARY – 4 FEBRUARY 2009HELSINKI TIMES

Tempting the Irish to say yes

DAV ID C RONINIP S

Ireland's rejection of the European Union's Lisbon treaty has led Brus-sels officials to plan a major publicity campaign aimed at convincing voters that they should respond favourably to the bloc's economic, social and foreign policies.

LATER this year the Irish gov-ernment will hold a second referendum on the Lisbon treaty, after a majority of Irish voters opposed it dur-ing 2008. Anxious to avoid another defeat, the European Commission has earmarked 2.7 million euros for an ad-vertising strategy designed to encourage a "positive emo-tional identifi cation" with the EU, according to a document outlining the project.

Ireland is alone among EU countries in giving its citi-zens the opportunity to vote on the treaty. With all 27 countries required to ratify the treaty before it can come into place, the Dublin govern-

INTERNATIONAL NEWS

DUBLIN

ment has undertaken to hold a second referendum.

EU campaigns for a YesThe publicity campaign is to be largely directed at young people. This follows research indicating that 62 per cent of people aged 18-24 who cast their vote rejected the treaty, more than ten per cent high-er than the general 'no' vote.

Joe Hennon, a Commis-sion spokesman, said that publicity efforts will not be specifi cally focused on the second referendum but on addressing "the longer-term problem of lack of knowledge about the EU in Ireland."

According to the Com-mission, the publicity being planned is in response to a report drawn up by Ireland's parliament. It stated that EU bodies pay "insuffi cient at-tention" to explaining the ra-tionale behind its laws, and particularly the treaties that form the bloc's core rule book.

But critics of the EU's pol-icies argue that the Commis-sion is meddling in internal Irish affairs. A 1995 ruling of the Irish Supreme Court

Ireland was the only EU country that held a referendum on the Lisbon treaty. The Irish voted against it last June, and will have another referendum on it later this year.

found that the use of public funds for a partisan advoca-cy campaign ahead of a refer-endum violated the country's constitution.

Patricia McKenna, a former member of the Euro-pean Parliament who insti-gated the legal action in that case, said it would be "outra-geous" for money from the EU taxpayer to be used for a one-sided publicity campaign.

The treaty is no treatAlthough supporters of the Lisbon treaty maintain that it is primarily aimed at streamlining the EU's deci-sion-making apparatus, it would nonetheless enshrine controversial principles of economic policy into the Un-ion's rule books. For example, it commits the Union to re-moving any barriers that Eu-ropean companies encounter when doing business abroad. Some anti-poverty groups believe such 'barriers' in-clude social and environmen-tal legislation enacted by poorer countries with which western fi rms do not wish to comply.

The treaty also has pro-visions that are considered a threat to Ireland's status of being militarily non-aligned. It requires each EU country to come to the aid of anoth-er that fi nds itself under at-tack. And it stipulates that each country will increase its expenditure on defence, without providing any simi-

lar onus on states to improve health, education or other so-cial services.

Leader of the Irish Socialist Party Joe Higgins said that the Commission's "interference will be resented by the major-ity of people here, including people who voted Yes."

As well as campaigning against the Lisbon treaty,

Higgins will be a candidate in the forthcoming Europe-an Parliament elections. "It would be a great concern if the EU launches a campaign before the elections with the intention of infl uencing the outcome of the elections in favour of political parties who happen to be campaign-ing for a Yes vote," he said.

Mobile, international, long distance calls and Carrier-service 09 4247 50000. Service available in Finnish, Swedish and English. Business hours Mon-Fri 8.30-16.30.

Cubio Communications Vilhonvuorenkatu 11A, 00500 Helsinki Finlandtel. 09-689677 fax 09-689666

L EH T IK U VA / A F P / LOIC V ENNIN

8 29 JANUARY – 4 FEBRUARY 2009 HELSINKI TIMES

Trying times in the labour market calls for proactive actions and an up-beat attitude. Just as important, the awareness of your rights as an em-ployee is essential in negotiating the transition in and out of work.

Jobs and careers by

IN THE current economic cli-mate it pays to secure your place in the labour market. You don’t want to be forced to react to events, be dis-couraged about your situa-tion or be in the dark about what your rights are.

FIRST, be proactive with your situation. If worse comes to worse, you don’t want to be hindered by long delays be-fore you are ready to start job hunting. Keep yourself pre-pared for any eventuality. Make sure that your CV is cur-rent and you have copies of any documentation you may need for a job application, such as education certifi cates.

ONE SMART tactic is to regis-ter with Monster and upload your CV for all prospective employers to look at. Not all vacancies are openly adver-tised, rather some employers will identify promising inter-viewees from a CV database.Don’t be caught by surprise.

Proactive, positive and aware

Stay up-to-date with the fi -nancial health of your com-pany. Are earnings down? Has the fi rm lost big cus-tomers? Pay attention to any news you might hear from your shop steward, but don’t be alarmed by rumours.

SECONDLY, the times demand a positive attitude. You have to keep your spirits up and stay encouraged. This may be diffi cult, but focus on all the desirable traits you possess that employers would love to have in an employee.

EVEN if the job hunt does not necessarily result in the de-sired outcome right away, per-sistence does eventually pay off. Don’t give up. Even the smallest steps will take you along the road of your career.

FINALLY, be aware of your rights as an employee:

FurloughFurlough means the tempo-

Monster is the world’s leading provider of online recruitment services, operating in 56 countries. It has over 75 million registered users worldwide. 75% of Mon-ster Finland is owned by Alma Media, one of the largest media companies in Fin-land, and 25% is owned by Monster Inc. The business started in 1998, and in ten years the internet has become the most popular recruiting channel, causing Monster Finland to become the market leader with over 60% of the total online recruitment business. In 2007 Monster Finland’s turnover grew 47% in compar-ison to 2006.

rary suspension of work and pay. During a period on fur-lough, all other aspects of the employee’s contract remain unchanged. Employees may be furloughed temporarily, indefi nitely or by reducing working hours.

Cooperation negotiationsThe aim of cooperation nego-tiations is to augment gen-uine cooperation between staff and their employer. The goal is to give employees more opportunities to infl u-ence matters affecting their work and job stability.

When a working relationship endsDo not sign an agreement un-less you are absolutely sure that you understand its mean-ing. Check with a trusted ex-pert that the redundancy is properly conducted and on rel-evant grounds, and make sure you visit the Employment Of-fi ce as soon as possible.

Advertisement enquiries: Monster Oy, tel. +358 10 665 2293, e-mail: yritys@monster.fi

IS TOC K P HOTO

929 JANUARY – 4 FEBRUARY 2009HELSINKI TIMES FINLAND IN THE WORLD PRESS

MP TALK

“EERO SAARINEN’S radical and innovative 1948 design for the Gateway Arch made his name and propelled him into a leadership position among modernist architects striving to transform the post war world.

St. Louisans can be for-given if their knowledge of Saarinen is limited to the Arch. It is the most dramatic and visionary structure in the region, and probably Saari-nen's most dramatic and vi-sionary realized design.”

“Saarinen appeared on the cover of Time magazine in 1956. After the death of his father, Eliel Saarinen, in 1950, his large fi rm produced buildings for virtually every American constituency.”

“Saarinen did not have a signature style at a time when serious architects were

Eero Saarinen: more than the ArchFinnish architect Eero Saarinen is well known in the US, writes the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH 25 January. David Bonetti

Stainless steel giant set to axe jobs

THE STAR 23 January

Outokumpu’s Sheffield smelter won’t be safe from cuts that are taking place among the company's plants worldwide.

THE SPRING session of parliament begins on 3 Febru-ary. During the winter break, parliamentarians have again been on the receiving end of countless com-plaints about our lengthy holidays. It seems futile to explain all the other work that MPs do when we are not sitting in meetings within the confi nes of parliament. It’s best to take the criticism in one's stride and get on with the job.

THE CHRISTMAS period brought more than just a peace-ful break from parliamentary sessions for family get-togethers. In the Middle East, the cost of the latest exercise in power politics has been over 1000 killed through bombing raids. I doubt Israel would have re-sorted to such measures if certain politicians did not have an eye fi xed on the approaching election. This confl ict did not begin with the missiles fi red by Ha-mas into Israel, it goes much further back than that. The peoples of the Middle East are paying the price of deals made decades ago among the Great Powers, ones that were convenient for themselves but which over-looked the interests of those whose lives they would most affect.

FROM WHERE I live, in Lapland, faraway confl icts seem too abstract to have much of an emotional impact. And then, suddenly, the phone rings. It's the world calling. A close friend of mine who migrated from Palestine to Finland called for a chat. He’d been following the situ-ation in Gaza daily through the Internet and the inter-national news channels. The anguish of the Palestinian children and women had driven him to tears.

I HAVE been baffl ed as to why usually thoughtful poli-ticians – people I personally admire – often seem so narrow-minded when commenting on the confl ict be-tween Israel and Hamas. Even the recognition that it is reprehensible to make innocents pay for the actions of their leaders is overwhelmingly diffi cult for many to accept. For many, it seems to be a higher priority to de-clare which side they are on.

I AM interested in different religions, though none of them have inspired me to embrace any single one. But I am not an atheist, since I don’t think it is possible to deny something of which I have no knowledge, experi-ence or certainty. But I have never stopped wondering at how easily religions preaching love and peace can in the hands of some become weapons of war.

QUESTIONS of war and peace have given me pause for thought in other ways, too. Recently our former presi-dent, Martti Ahtisaari, received the Nobel Peace Prize. Ahtisaari's lengthy career as a diplomat and peace-maker duly deserved this highest distinction.

AFTER receiving his award, Ahtisaari expressed his conviction that Finland belongs within the Nato alli-ance. That left a bad taste. Almost a quarter of a cen-tury ago, when long-serving president Urho Kekkonen hosted the OSCE conference in Helsinki in 1975, his credibility as a mediator was based on Finland's strict policy of neutrality between the two competing Cold War blocs. The OSCE conference brought important re-sults. The Warsaw Pact leaders would scarcely have an-ticipated where the path laid in Helsinki in 1975 would eventually take them.

THE WORLD is full of states that have declared which side they are on, though those that seek to work with all sides for the common good are fewer. That is one of the reasons why I oppose the present push for Finland to join Nato.

Gods of war

A model of Eero Saarinen’s Gateway Arch is part of an exhibition of his works that have been on show in several countries.

Markus Mustajärvi. Member of Parliament, Left Alliance, Lapland constituency.

Finnish steel com-pany Outokumpu is forced to cut jobs, reports The Star.

expected to practice only one style — which wasn't per-ceived to be a style at all, but a politically and ethically cor-rect way to design.

Mies van der Rohe, a Ger-man emigrant who jolted Chi-cago's vibrant architectural community into pre-emi-nence, was the form giver. Those who didn't follow him were seen as seekers who did not fi nd, sell-outs or adher-ents to outmoded practices.”

“The Arch represented a vision that went beyond the rigid geometries of Mies and other fi rst-generation mod-ernists. Along with his corpo-rate projects, Saarinen was designing sculptural, even expressionistic buildings that exulted in an exuberant organicism.”

“Only in recent years has Saarinen's star begun

Icelanders involved in producing new Finnish movie

ICELAND REVIEW 20 January

Forthcoming film about former Presi-dent Mannerheim will see Icelandic participation, reports the Iceland Review.

“ICELANDIC producers Ingvar Thórdarson and Júlíus Kemp will participate in the produc-tion of a new movie by Finnish/American fi lmmaker Renny Harlin, Mannerheim, about former Finnish President Carl Gustaf Emil Mannerheim.”

“According to Thórdarson, the total cost of production is approximately 11 million eu-ros. ‘We will then have all rights in Iceland and receive a certain percentage of the fi lm’s global profi ts.’

Icelanders will also be in-volved in the making the fi lm; actor Helgi Björnsson will have a role in it. The premiere is scheduled for next year.”

EU clears Finland's guarantee for Kaupthing rescue

HERALD TRIBUNE 21 January

“EUROPEAN UNION regula-tors cleared Finland's state guarantee for banks that compensated customers of the local branch of insolvent Icelandic bank Kaupthing.

The European Commission permits Finnish banks to compensate Kaupthing customers, writes the Herald Tribune.

Finnish depositors were unable to make withdraw-als after Kaupthing collapsed in October … Finnish banks stepped in and offered to com-pensate depositors in full.

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Translated by Matthew Parry.

“FIFTY jobs are being axed at Outokumpu's Sheffi eld melt-ing shop, four months after the stainless steel giant an-nounced it was closing its thin strip business at Mead-owhall with the loss of 230 jobs.”

A spokesman for the fi rm said, ‘This proposal is neces-sary as a direct response to the current depressed market situation for stainless steel.’”

“Last month Outokumpu announced a total of 450 jobs were to go in Sweden … and warned of more job cuts at plants worldwide.

Chief executive Juha Ran-tanen blamed weakening demand and worse-than-ex-pected fourth quarter fi gures for the cuts.

Attercliffe MP Clive Betts, whose ward covers the melt-ing shop, said it was ‘very concerning’ news ‘obviously most of all for those people

to shine again. Architects who use a computer are as-tounded by Saarinen's or-ganic works of the '50s with their sensuous curves. After decades of neglect, the TWA

terminal at JFK is seen as an antecedent for the architec-ture that has excited people all over the world ever since Frank Gehry's Guggenheim Museum Bilbao opened.”

The Finnish government guarantee covers those banks … against the risk of losing money from any pos-sible legal action brought by Kaupthing creditors.

The European Commis-sion said it seemed unlike-ly that there would be any claims and that the govern-ment would ever have to pay out.”

“It also said it could al-low the state grant a subsidy to the banks in this case be-cause their actions had pre-vented a serious disturbance in the Finnish economy.”

whose livelihoods are to be affected’.”

“Both Betts and MP Da-vid Blunkett, whose neigh-bouring ward is Brightside,

said the one light on the ho-rizon was the fi rm's compet-itive edge in Europe and the US because of the falling val-ue of the pound.”

Renny Harlin, director of the upcoming film about the life of Mannerheim.

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10 29 JANUARY – 4 FEBRUARY 2009 HELSINKI TIMES BUSINESS

SOMEONE should go over to KONE’s headquarters and fi nd out what is going on. As everyone should know by now, we are in a deep recession and the economic sky is falling. But while dozens of companies are announc-ing falling profi ts and increasing redundancies, KONE has just announced record income. Evidently CEO Mat-ti Alahuhta didn’t bother to read the memo about the recession.

CONVENTIONAL wisdom states that if any compa-ny should be taking a beating right now, it should be KONE. After all, it manufacturers elevators and esca-lators, and the global construction market has weak-ened considerably. But instead, KONE just had a record year. It wasn’t a minor gain, either: the company made more profi t in 2008 than the boom years of 2007 and 2006 combined.

ON THE BACK of a record 2008, KONE remains optimis-tic for 2009. It is planning on sales and operating prof-it to increase by 5%. It has good reason to be optimistic because its order book stands at 3.6 billion euros, up from 3.3 billion euros in December 2007.

PERHAPS one sign of the company’s plans for the future comes from the nomination of Juhani Kaskeala for the Board of Directors. Kaskeala is Finland’s Chief of

Defence and is well versed with global politics. With gov-ernments around the world spending billions on economic stimulus packages,

KONE hopes to gain from investments in infrastruc-ture. Alahuhta explained that Kaskeala’s knowledge could be very valuable for the company.

SO HOW is KONE doing it? What are they doing right? For one, they stick to what they know best. Gone are the conglomerate days. Over the past fi fteen years or so, KONE has whittled itself down to become a special-ist in moving people inside buildings. Konecranes and Cargotec have been spun off to live their own corporate lives and KONE is left to focus on one core business.

THIS FOCUS and narrow specialisation has served the company well. KONE was able to snatch market share in the important North American and Chinese mar-kets. This was the fourth consecutive year of increas-ing market share.

THE COMPANY has invested heavily in its geographical reach. It is not content to fl y salesmen out to meet with customers. Instead it has pinpointed the geographical areas in which it plans to excel and developed a strong presence in local markets. In effect, KONE is not a glo-bal company. In the eyes of its customers, it is a local company operating around the globe.

KONE is also very conservatively capitalised. As Ala-huhta proudly pointed out at the press conference, the company is now debt-free in net terms. In 2007 it paid almost €5 million in net interest charges. Last year the company earned €7 million in interest from lending.

WITH a constant barrage of disappointing news coming out of Finnish companies, it is heartening to see one demonstrate how to thrive in the current market con-dition. Let’s hope that other CEOs are taking notes.

COLUMN

DAVID J. CORDis a private investorwith over ten years

of international experience.

KONE shrugs off downturn and posts record results

david@davidcord.com

Evidently CEO Matti Alahuhta didn’t bother to read the memo about the recession.

The recession: then and now

The international econo-my began to slow while Eu-ropean interest rates began to rise after 1990. Then the Soviet Union collapsed. The great eastern trade route was mangled beyond all rec-ognition and Finland was left to deal with the loss of a ma-jor trading partner.

The markka was devalued to spur exports, especial-ly to help the important for-estry sector. Unfortunately, much of the debt held by in-dividuals and companies was denominated in foreign cur-rency. The devaluation of the markka and high interest rates made foreign debt diffi -cult to service, and a wave of bankruptcies followed.

Times were tough. GDP shrank by 14 per cent and al-most one in fi ve people were unemployed. “My mother, be-ing a single parent, did have to struggle quite a bit to pro-vide for us,” remembers Da-niel Helvaci. “She was unem-ployed a few times and did a lot of job hunting, which was not unusual at the time.”

“Banking crisis seems improbable”Today much is different. “In the 1990s the econom-ic problems soon resulted in a banking crisis, which was fi nally solved using govern-

ment aid,” says Mäki-Fränti. “Although the current fi nan-cial crisis now plays a central part of the worldwide eco-nomic crisis, a 1990s-style banking crisis seems im-probable. Today the number of problem debts is lower and interest rates are not nearly as high, which helps custom-ers service their debt.”

As Finland is now part of the eurozone, there are few-er reasons to be anxious. “Be-cause of our Economic and Monetary Union member-ship, we don’t need to wor-ry about exchange-rate or current-account issues,” ex-plains Mäki-Fränti.

But people are still wor-ried. “Today it seems that quite a few students in our school are somewhat hesi-tant to think of graduating this year because of the poor number of job opportunities,” continues Helvaci. “Person-ally, I have yet to experience

FINNS have long memories. With the current econom-ic downturn at the centre of attention, thoughts immedi-ately turn to the sharp reces-sion that the nation suffered in the early 1990s. The situ-ation 17 years ago was trau-matic, and people are hoping that they will not have to go through the same again.

“Some have already talked about the 1990s recession re-curring,” writes Member of Parliament Reijo Paajanen on the National Coalition party website. “The compar-ison is not very apt, because this time the threat comes from outside our borders.”

A majorblow to exportsPaajanen’s point is well made. Economist Petri Mäki-Fränti of the Pellervo Economic Re-search Institute (PTT) ex-plains that the roots of the recession in the 1990s can be found in actions that Finland took in the 1980s. Financial deregulation allowed a fl ow of foreign credit that rapidly increased domestic liquidity. Households were eager bor-rowers and private-sector debt more than doubled be-tween 1987 and 1990.

Finns are comparing the economic recession of the 1990s with the current situation, but a lot is different this time round.

DAV ID J . CORDHEL SINK I T I ME S

any big problems with the economic slowdown.”

Mäki-Fränti believes that many have yet to see the full extent of the downturn. “The consensus view of PTT’s econ-omists is that the Finnish GDP will shrink by two per cent and we will lose 100,000-150,000 jobs in 2009-2010. Unemploy-ment increases in Finland will be offset by a large number of retirees shrinking the la-bour force. The Finnish econo-my starts to gradually recover no sooner than in the end of 2010.”

While many people may be worried about how bad the situation will get, at least one economist isn’t seeing quite as much gloom. “Actually, we see light at the end of the tunnel,” writes Helge Pedersen, Global Chief Economist for Nordea, in the bank's latest econom-ic outlook. He believes that a gradual recovery will start by the second half of this year.

With Finland a part of the eurozone, worries of exchange-rates and current-account issues are unnecessary now than compared with the 1990s recession.

L EH T IK U VA / A F P P HOTO / DOMINIQUE FAGE T

How things are different now

1990s recession Current recession

GDP -14% -1%

Unemployment 17% 7%

House prices -50% -3%

Interest rates 13% 2%

Retail trade -18% -1%

1129 JANUARY – 4 FEBRUARY 2009HELSINKI TIMES

HOSTING large events can be quite lucrative for ar-ea businesses, as Helsinki learnt during the Eurovision contest. The city would like to play host to more such events, but it can be diffi cult even for a local organiser to wade through the bureau-cratic red tape required. An event may need security, permits, rental agreements or help with traffi c.

“The administrative sys-tem is not the easiest for an outsider,” explains Helsinki Event Manager Saila Mache-re. “There are many contacts you have to make, and if you’ve never worked with the city be-fore, whom do you call?”

The person to call, of course, is Machere. Coming to the city of Helsinki from In-front Sports, she has worked on events such as Eurovision and the Athletics World Cham-pionship. With her experience, she knows exactly how to get an event off the ground in Hel-sinki. “If we can, we make it easier,” she puts it modestly.

Machere has to work hard to make it easy for event or-ganisers. When she is not developing the internal ap-paratus of the new unit, she is busy meeting organis-ers or various Helsinki City departments.

Asked to refl ect on the fi rst anniversary of the Events Unit, her enthusiasm bursts out. “Very busy!” Machere exclaims. “But it is very in-teresting. This is a new of-fi ce so we have the possibility to create what we would like to do. It is best when you can start from scratch.”

The Helsinki Events de-partment was created last year and Machere was cho-sen from 129 candidates. The unit currently has a staff of fi ve, but they plan to add one more in March. Machere is im-pressed with how everyone in the unit works together. “I like to see how all my colleagues work. They are motivated and professional. We have a lot of work to do, but the mo-tivation is very high. There is a good spirit, in that everyone knows that events are impor-tant to Helsinki.”

BUSINESS

www.helsinkibusinesshub.fi

Th is page is provided by Greater Helsinki Promotion.

BUSINESS BUSINESS

Did you know …Helsinki hosted the Summer Olympics in 1952.

BUSINESS BUSINESS BUSINESS BUSINESSHELSINKI Business Hub

Th e Helsinki City Events Unit is celebrating its one-year anniversary.

Putting on a show

Finland’s Laura Lepistö, gold medalist, performs at the European Figure Skating Championships in Helsinki.

PAUL W IL L I A M S

DAV ID J . CORDHEL SINK I T I ME S

Events are indeed impor-tant. They can bring money to local establishments and help establish Helsinki as a sought-after destination. Even televi-sion events can be important. Besides fi lm crews and report-ers spending money in Helsin-ki, people around the world are exposed to the city. “The Eu-ropean Figure Skating Cham-pionship is a television event,” says Machere. “I was there and there was such a nice feeling in the atmosphere.”

Even events that are aimed solely at local inhabitants are important. The Mayor’s Inde-pendence Day Celebrations, for instance, are not aimed at tourists from the Continent. Events such as this do help the local economy, certainly, but they also contribute to a shared sense of communi-ty in the city. “Everyone liv-ing in, coming to or staying in Helsinki make the atmos-phere,” Machere believes.

She is especially excit-ed about the upcoming Hel-sinki Week in June. A range of events will take place throughout the city. “It is one brand for several events,”

THE FIGURE skating Europe-an Championships received a perfect ending for the hosts on the last day of compe-tition. In the ladies’ event, Laura Lepistö took the gold medal and Susanna Pöykiö the bronze. It was the fi rst Championship gold for Fin-land since Rahkamo’s and Kokko’s triumph in 1995 and the nation’s fi rst two-medal showing in history.

Lepistö pulled off her win in stunning fashion, as she had to meet the challenge put up by the favourite Carolina Kost-ner. The Italian had skated a near perfect performance, and this must have put enormous pressure on 20-year-old Lep-istö. She successfully complet-ed her programme and when the judges’ scores appeared, Lepistö found herself just 1.9 points ahead of Kostner. Pöykiö, who went next, skated a decent programme and her total score put her comfortably in third place. The third Finn in the competition, Kiira Korpi, managed to climb two spots from the short programme and ensured the Finns an im-pressive 1-3-5 fi nish.

If the ladies’ competi-tion belonged to the Finns, the French-born were equally dominant in the men’s event. The winner’s name was famil-iar, Brian Joubert, who took his third European title and eighth medal overall. His choice of music for the free programme, Matrix Reloaded, was a little disappointing because he had already used the Matrix theme in 2004 and 2006. The real

discovery of the competition was Samuel Contesti, who performed a dashing cowboy routine to a Spaghetti West-ern score by Ennio Morricone. Contesti was born in Le Havre, France, but decided to repre-sent Italy after the 2007 sea-son. The bronze medal went to Belgium’s Kevin Van Perren, who hung on to third place by mere 0.06 points.

The pairs short programme began dramatically for the reigning champions from Germany, Aliona Savchenko/Robin Szolkowy, when Szolkowy fell on the pair’s opening triple toe. This meant that Russians Maria Mukhor-tova/ Maxim Trankov were in the lead before the free programme. However, it was Russians’ turn to falter on the next day, and Savchenko/Szolkowy skated seemingly without much pressure and easily overcame the defi cit to claim the gold. Mukhorto-va/Trankov were left in third place after fellow Russians Yuko Kawaguchi/Alekdan-der Smirnov beat them by 0.70 points.

Russian pair Jana Khokhlo-va/Sergei Novitski, who placed third in last year’s World and European championships, won the ice-dancing compe-tition. The rest of the podium was seized by fi rst-timers, as Italians Federica Faiella/Mas-simo Scali took the silver and a British pair Sinead Kerr/John Kerr the bronze. Khokhlo-va’s comments after the vic-tory may have resonated with Casablanca movie fans, when she said: “I think this gold med-al is only the beginning, but it was a big step for us.”

Lepistö’s gold topsthe week for FinnsM A NU PA AVOL AHEL SINK I T I ME S

The light work designed by Mikki Kunttu light up the Dome Church and Senate Square in downtown Helsinki.

Upcoming events:

Viapori Winter Blues

27-28 February

Church Music Festival

21-29 March

May Day 1 May

Helsinki Week

4-14 June

UEFA Women’s

Football Tournament

23 August-10 September

Herring Market

4-10 October

Machere points out. Helsin-ki Week is being expanded in 2009 to make it an even larg-er and more diverse event than in past celebrations.

And to help make the at-mosphere in Helsinki pos-itive, events such as these need to go off without a hitch. “I am very happy that Helsin-ki has recognised that events have a meaning. They real-ised that they have to help and give support.”

L EH T IK U VA

12 29 JANUARY – 4 FEBRUARY 2009 HELSINKI TIMES

Age-old maritime tradition lives on

PUUVENEVEISTÄJÄT RY, an association established in 1990 to provide carved-to-order wooden boats as well as wooden-boat mainte-nance and repairs, now has 70 member carvers.

“Once upon a time, the skills required in carving boats were passed down from father to son, but these days practically all new carv-ers will have formally stud-ied their trade somewhere. Some of these qualifi ed carv-ers continue to work exclu-sively on wooden boats, while others take up work in oth-er parts of the boat-building industry. So far, our associa-tion has picked up new mem-bers at a rate of 1–2 a year,” explained Puuveneveistäjät ry’s Jari Reijonen.

Fully renovated saloonboat to hit the waterThe Helsinki Internation-al Boat Fair “Vene 09 Båt” in February is an opportunity to

The carving and restoration of wooden boats is an ancient but still thriving trade, kept alive by craftspeople with a shared passion for a bygone sailing aesthetic.

M AT T HE W PA RRY HEL SINK I T I ME S

admire professional wooden-boat carvers demonstrating their skills. Additionally, the Mahogany Yachting Society ry will display the fully ren-ovated saloon boat AEB. The boat’s name is taken from the name of the fi rm August Ek-löf Borgå, and the boat once served as the company’s pro-motional vessel.

The AEB was designed by the renowned boat design-er Gösta Kyntzell in 1928. A year later Kyntzell designed the motorboat Kultaranta II for Finnish President Lauri Kristian Relander.

During the war the AEB was used by the Finnish De-fence Forces in Helsinki, and after the war the boat was sold to the fi rm Serlachius. In subsequent years, the boat was passed among a number

of different owners until the wooden-boat enthusi-ast Ismo Postareff seized the opportunity and began to restore the boat in August 2004.

“So far a good 5,000 hours’ worth of labour has gone into this project. The vessel was stripped of eve-rything except the hull, some nine square metres of which we’ve renewed. We’ve or-dered around fi ve and a half cubes of hardwood for the boat. All of the boat’s struc-tures have been reconstruct-ed in the original style and some of the fi ttings have also been chosen in keeping with the original,” said Postareff.

The boat has been retired from service for around 30 years but once restored, its home dock will be in Turku.

Vene 09 Båt

will take place at theHelsinki Fair Centre7-15 February.

BOATINGIS TOC K P HOTO

1329 JANUARY – 4 FEBRUARY 2009HELSINKI TIMES LIFESTYLE

Cutting through the ice – in a kayak

A N T HON Y SH AWHEL SINK I T I ME S

WINTER months in north-ern Europe are famed for the brightness of the snow, the shortness of the days and the darkness of the nights. But in southern Finland the prev-alent weather increasingly comes from the south-west, meaning cloud and overcast skies.

As Al Stewart sang of the infantry soldier’s lowly perspective, “the grey skies of Russia go on forever.” To counteract this depress-ing reality, what better way to confront this grey - and what better vehicle to do this - than with a sea-kayak. And the weather that makes for messy, often dirty-grey real-ity of melting snow on land, on water is ideal for a local speciality: ice-breaking.

Even if overhead, there is a monotony of colour; on the

water one quickly becomes aware of the variety. Gran-ite rocks and pebbles on the stony shore contrast with the snow patches nearby. The windblown roll of matted reed that lines the shore has a glossier hue than the bro-ken grass stalks in the adja-cent fi elds.

I travelled 80km west from Helsinki to fi nd a shel-tered area of sea, still largely unfrozen – unlike the many inland lakes and ponds that I had driven past on the way. Following nearly a week of subzero weather, the few cen-timetres of ice were covered with a sprinkling of powdery snow, refl ecting a bright grey sky. By the sea shore the wa-ter is a few critical degrees “warmer” and the wind more effective in maintaining clear water.

The location is a familiar one to Jöns Aschen, proprie-tor of The Paddling Factory, a

small rental operation work-ing from his summer cabin just outside the town of Tam-misaari (Ekenäs). Based on the side of the broad deep-water channel leading to Po-hja, kept open by the passage of ships, Aschen offers ice-breaking outings through the winter.

Dead of winterMy route last December afternoon was explicit-ly utilitarian – to the local general-store cum fuel-sup-ply cum café, about 6 km dis-tant. In the summertime this trip would witness numer-ous tourist cruisers, yachts, silent fi shermen, maybe oth-er paddlers, not to mention a multitude of wildlife on land and water.

Mid-winter brings change: empty expanses of water, skies devoid of wildlife apart for a few moorhens and, on our trip, a distant circling sea eagle. This was no Arc-tic expedition, but after ini-tial contact with a net-laying fi sherman, the total lack of human presence during our trip confi rmed that we were operating at the edge of the civilised world.

Unfortunately, our at-tempts at ice-breaking our way through a short-cut channel came to nothing. Powering the front end of the kayak up onto the ice re-sults in a few seconds of rath-er perilous tottering atop the ice before breaking through.

Then one is left in the mid-dle of a quivering mass of ice fl oes. This restricts your paddle’s access to free water or tends to trap it under the surface. Not fun for a wobbly novice.

Home after duskStarting the return journey, we exited the warm café in-to the blackness of early evening to fi nd the tops of the canoes glistening with a layer of ice. Actually, the ice covering was not a signifi -cant safety factor, though on a longer trip it could be tricky if it builds up. Neither was the chill a problem after a few minutes’ exertion.

Most challenging, in fact, was the lack of light to help the visual senses reinforce the sense of balance, already shaky in a narrow canoe. As every drunk knows, walking a straight line with eyes shut is no easy matter. Howev-er, as the vestiges of natural light faded it became appar-ent that our isolation from civilisation was in fact very relative.

The skies overhead were soon black, but the horizon refl ected the lights of Tam-misaari and the distant glare of an industrial plant. These, and the dim fl ashes of far nav-igation lights, gave straining eyes the minimal stimulation to keep the kayak upright. The greatest threat to balance is typically from cramping forearm muscles, this time working overtime against a headwind for the last two kilometres.

In fact, the most precip-itous activity of the whole trip was exiting the kay-ak on tired muscles, fi nding

COLUMNCOLUMNCOLUMN

BY NOW the hunt must be on to fi nd Finland’s Barack Obama. There is a quaint habit here of relating Finland to the rest of the world by saying such things as “Jy-väskylä is Finland’s Athens” or “so-and-so is Finland’s Brad Pitt.” Nobody was grubbing after the ‘Finland’s George Bush’ title, probably because practicing Bush-isms in Finnish was far too demanding. But it’ll be a tough job for the politico who chases after the Barack Obama title. Consider the diffi culties: you’d have to be cool, have a relaxed dress style, superb oratory skills and a comfortable sense of the grand occasion.

OBAMA’S rhetorical style derives from the black Amer-ican pulpit. Here in Finland verbal parsimony in a pol-itician is admired and any tendency to eloquence is distrusted, a sign of superfi ciality and perhaps dishon-esty. The muttering monotone is the preferred Finnish style and is even an election winner. The former Prime Minister Paavo Lipponen’s great election slogan was “like Moses, I too am a slow speaker”. Media experts gave this a triple A rating for sheer political brilliance. Does being tongue-tied in this country indicate leader-ship? I had the pleasure of chatting in English to Lip-ponen and found a fast-talking, twinkle-eyed, laidback persona. Was he advised to keep his verbal agility hid-den as a potentially damaging attribute?

THE WORD is out that the current frontrunner for the “Finland’s Barack Obama” mantle is Parliamentary Speaker Sauli Niinistö. One of Niinistö’s selling points is the intensity and focus of his gaze. In the last presi-dential elections there were photographs of him stay-ing tightlipped, but fi xing his stare on anyone within eyeshot. This was even thriftier than Lipponen’s Moses brand - no words at all! But Niinistö is nonetheless very comfortable in television TV debates.

THE FINAL obstacle to getting the award is handling the set piece grand show. The combined scale and in-formality of the inaugural ceremony is something only the US can pull off. Monarchies might excel at high cer-emony, but cannot do easy informality. So what about Finland’s grand set piece show, the President’s New Year Ball? Is it not time that this dreadful event got a makeover? At the moment it has all the panache of a village fete. Let’s hand it over to gay pride organisers, who might come up with something with a lot more glamour and fun, especially for the men.

Finland’s Obama

L E SL IE H Y DE

We know the planet is warming up and that the good old white win-ters in southern Finland are becoming rarer. So why not face the grey – with a paddle, a sea kayak and some good equipment.

Equipment used:

Barracuda sea kayak by Pri-jon of Germany, paddle mitts by Palm of UK (very effec-tive) and two-piece Gore-tex drysuit by Polar Safety of Finland. And of course, a good woolly “pipo”!

the landing-stage slats cov-ered with a mirror sheen of smoothly rounded ice. The knobbly granite shoreline lit-tered with broken reeds was a welcome surface on which to stand up on, take stock and appreciate the beauty of the blustery open water we had just travelled.

A N T HON Y SH AW

14 29 JANUARY – 4 FEBRUARY 2009 HELSINKI TIMES

Degree programmes starting in autumn 2009, in Tampere

Degree Programme in NursingDegree Programme in Tourism

12 January – 13 February, 2009

www.admissions.fiMore information admissions@piramk.fi tel. (03) 245 2397, www.piramk.fi

SPORT

sudoku SOLUTION ON PAGE 18

Super Bowl is here again

M A RI K A ISL A NIE MIHEL SINK I T I ME S

The weather in Finland isn’t always favourable for playing football, but climate isn’t the only thing to blame for Finland’s short football season.

L EH T IK U VA / M AT T I B JÖRK M A N

to reach millions of viewers, blaming the economic situ-ation. Others such as Pepsi-Cola are getting discounted rates for buying multiple ad-verts. DreamWorks are ad-vertising their new fi lm Monsters vs. Aliens with a 3-D trailer.

The half-time show will be as grand as ever, with a per-formance by Bruce Springs-teen and the E Street Band.

THE 43RD Super Bowl will be played on 1 February in Tam-pa, Florida. The match will decide the winner of the Na-tional Football League’s (NFL) 2008 season. This year's bat-tle is between the American Football Conference champi-ons Pittsburgh Steelers and the National Football Con-ference champions Arizona Cardinals.

Pittsburgh is going into its seventh Super Bowl match and is after its sixth win. Ar-izona is on its way to its fi rst Super Bowl and fi rst league title since 1947.

The Cardinals have trav-elled a long path to get to the fi nal game and credit must be given to their coaches. Ken Whisenhunt, Cardinals head coach, was the offensive co-ordinator of the Steelers up until the end of the 2006 sea-son. Assistant head coach Russ Grimm also transferred from coaching the Steelers to coaching the Cardinals after the 2006 season.

An audience of millionsThe Super Bowl is known to be a big event for advertis-ers and this year is no dif-ferent. The game will be

Superbowl fever will reach its yearly peak as fans around the world excitedly wait to see who will be this year’s winners.

Veikkausliiga fixtures offer a compressed 2009 season

EG A N RIC H A RDSONHEL SINK I T I ME S

Finland's climate is not the best for football, but there is still room for improvement in this season's schedule, which will take two international tournaments into account in 2009.

VEIKKAUSLIIGA'S 2009 fi x-tures were announced last week and were immediate-ly greeted by much wail-ing and gnashing of teeth. The problem is simple: foot-ball's season is too short, and matches are cramped together in the schedule. The Veikkausliiga season will be interrupted by the

European Under-21 Cham-pionships, in which Finland will participate, and by the Women's European Champi-onships, which will be held in Finland.

Veikkausliiga begins on 18 April this year, two and a half weeks later than the Swed-ish and Norwegian leagues, and a month later than the Russian Premier League. The Finnish league will al-so end earlier than those

leagues, which will not break for the women's European Championships.

“I suppose it's two games a week again, right,” said In-ter coach Job Dragtsma when Helsinki Times asked him about the new fi xtures. “It's not ideal, but we have a plan for it, and that plan worked very well last year. We have to be ready, and we will be, because the start is the most important time in any sea-

son, and this schedule makes it more so.”

Climate blamedThe Finnish climate is usually blamed for the short football season, but it is becoming more apparent with each passing year that the prob-lem is a lack of profession-alism, rather than freezing temperatures.

Leagues to the north, south, east and west of

Veikkausliiga will start ear-lier and fi nish later than Veikkausliiga. Allsvenskan, the Swedish top fl ight, will begin on 30 March, while Damallsvenskan, the Swed-ish women's league, starts on 1 April this year. The latter in-cludes games played in Piteå and Umeå on 1 April, and both towns are farther north than all but one Veikkauslii-ga club.

“We are trying to get it changed,” said Britta Åke-lund, Umeå IK's Club Direc-tor. “We have UEFA games the week before and the week after, so we would prefer to play on 16 April instead.”

So there's no problem with the pitch conditions or weather in Umeå at that time of the year?

“No, not at all. We can play from February onwards, whereas before we got the pitch we could not play be-fore mid-May and had to fi n-ish in mid-October. Now we can train on the pitch year-round, and the pitch is UEFA compliant.”

Money problemsSuch concerns are quite dis-tant for Veikkausliiga clubs. Tampere United, who of all Finnish clubs have come clos-est to a European run in recent years, are currently experienc-ing fi nancial diffi culties and have been forced to loan out Finland under-21 starlet Tomi Petrescu, send last season's goal machine Henri Myntti to Hansa Rostock on a free trans-fer and allow New Zealand midfi elder Chris James to fi nd a new club in England's Cham-pionship League.

It will be diffi cult for Veikkausliiga clubs to al-lay these fi nancial pres-sures while they are saddled with the current schedule. Veikkausliiga lasts for 183 days in total, compared to 221 days for ice hockey's SM Lii-ga and 228 days for basket-ball's Korisliiga. Other Nordic football leagues are similar-ly lengthy, with Norway's Tip-peligaen coming in at 232 days and Damallsvenskan at 221.

broadcast on NBC with 30-second commercial time slots costing a record three million dollars. The compa-ny had no problem selling air time until the economic situ-ation took a turn last year. A week before the game there were still a few commercial spots to be sold.

Classic advertisers such as General Motors and Fed-Ex are passing up the chance

1529 JANUARY – 4 FEBRUARY 2009HELSINKI TIMES

Finnish film industry professionals gather on the 1st of February for the Jussi Awards, the annual celebration of the best in Finnish film.

FEW MUSICIANS in Finland can boast a CV like that of Tuomo Prättälä. An ac-claimed jazz pianist, soul singer, composer, lyricist and producer, he does it all. He is at home with almost every kind of groove music and has played with countless live and studio bands. The tire-less Prättälä can currently be seen with the Emma Saloko-ski Ensemble, the Ilmiliekki Quartet and Huba.

He is also releasing the so-lo album Reaches Out For You, the follow-up to his 2006 de-but My Thing. As a solo artist, the multi-talented musician shows yet another side to himself: the sweet-voiced soul singer-songwriter with a fl air for the classic soul sound. “The fi rst album cre-ated so much hype that this time the reception might not be quite as ecstatic,” Prättälä remarks.

Thanks to rave reviews, extensive radio play and an immediate rush to the Top 10 on the Finnish album charts, My Thing was the surprise hit of 2006. Its smooth and ele-gant soul drew comparisons

SOL A R F IL M S / JA N GR A NS T RÖM

CULTURE

M AT T I KOSK INE NHEL SINK I T I ME S

THE WINNERS of the Jussi Awards (the Finnish equiv-alent of the Oscars) will be announced at the Kaapeliteh-das in Helsinki on 1 February. The Jussi prize was founded by the Film Journalists’ Asso-

SUS A N FOUR TA NE HEL SINK I T I ME S

Red carpet and glamour

ciation and fi rst awarded on 16th November 1944, earn-ing it the title of Europe’s old-est fi lm award.

Jussi nominees are select-ed by members of Aura Film, the Association of Finnish Film Professionals and by se-cret ballot. The Jussi Awards cover 14 categories: best fi lm,

Reaching out

to icons like Curtis Mayfi eld and Stevie Wonder, not least because of Prättälä's silky vocals and fl awless produc-tion that captured the es-sence of vintage soul.

“That was defi nitely what we were going for. We want-ed to do something that sounded like 1970s classic Motown, not contemporary nu-soul stuff,” he says. Stylis-tically the new album will of-fer more retro grooves, with some slightly edgier shades of rock thrown in.

A wave of retro-oriented soul appears to have swept Finland over the past few years: artists and groups like Nicole Willis, Sharon Jones and Huba all take their cue from classic 60s and 70s soul music. Critics and listeners alike are into vintage sounds, it seems.

“I do think it's a wider phenomenon reaching be-yond the Finnish music cir-cles, which after all are pretty confi ned. If you con-sider the popularity of art-ists like Amy Winehouse for instance, you can tell clas-sic soul is coming back,” says Prättälä. “But in Finland it's still a pretty fresh, small-scale phenomenon.”

The highest amount of nominations went to The Home of Dark Butterfl ies/Tummien perhosten koti (10 nominations), Sauna (7 nom-inations) and Falling An-gels/Putoavia enkeleitä (4 nominations).

My bet for best script would be Three in Love (Kol-mistaan), directed by Peter Lindholm. The Jussi for best direction could well go to Mika Kaurismäki for Three Wise Men (Kolme viisasta mi-estä). As for best fi lm, I would go for The Home of Dark But-terfl ies, the story of a trou-bled teen and his journey discovering inner strength and self-acceptance.

A scene from the film The Home of Dark Butterflies.

The Renaissance man of blue-eyed soul releases the eagerly anticipated follow-up to his celebrated solo debut.

THE FIRST weekend’s theme, “Saved by the Zoos”, gives artists the opportunity to in-terpret animal species that have been saved from extinc-tion through the intervention of zoos around the world. De-pending on who you ask, practically every animal on Earth is threatened in some capacity, and species regu-

JUS T IN GONE YHEL SINK I T I ME S

Art meets ice at the Helsinki Zoo

larly disappear forever with-out us even knowing about it. Fortunately, zoos around the world have played a bigger part in slowing this trend, and several species have been successfully returned to their habitats though re-habilitation programmes.

The second weekend has the artists supporting an EAZA initiative to raise awareness of the world’s de-clining amphibian popula-

Korkeasaari hosts its 6th annual international ice-sculpting compe-tition, spanning 2 weekends, 4 competitions, 18 countries, 52 artists and hundreds of endangered species.

tion by working under the theme “Frogs Unlimited”. Of the more than 6,000 spe-cies of amphibians, nearly 3,000 have declining popu-lations, with more than 120 species having become ex-tinct within the last 25 years. Contributing to this crisis are primarily human factors such as the destruction of wetlands, pollution and the abduction of amphibians for illegal exotic-animal trade,

Saved By the Zoos 31 JanFrogs Unlimited 7–8 Feb

Kanneltalo, Klaneettitie 5www.kanneltalo.fi

TUE 3.2. 7 PMHeinavanker (Estonia)A well-respected vocal group of old church music sings Estonian spiritual folk songs from the religious awakening of the nation and a pre-Christian epic song Luominen (Creating).

Tickets € 10/8 reservations tel. (09) 310 12000 or www.lippupalvelu.fi

best director, best actress in a leading role, best actor in a leading role, best actress in a supporting role, best ac-tor in a supporting role, best script, best cinematography, best music, best editing, best sound design, best set design, best costume design and best documentary.

traditional medicine and cu-linary consumption.

With this being its sixth such ice-sculpting competi-tion, the zoo counts on the transient and fragile nature of ice as a sculpting medium to symbolise our role in ei-ther the destruction or the conservation of nature it-self. Each weekend will fea-ture both four-hour and seven-hour competitions, and though the fi nished piec-es will be on display until they melt, it is worth going to see how the artists work, as the sculpting process itself is fast paced and interesting.

HELSINKI is full of places that tell us stories. Art histori-an Julia Donner and photog-rapher Taneli Eskola take us on a journey through Helsinki and its places in their recent-ly published book Löytöretki Helsinkiin-Paikkoja, polku-ja, puutarhoja (Exploring Helsinki-Places, paths, gar-dens). You’ve probably walked through Esplanadi park, and you might have visited Kai-

M A RI K A ISL A NIE MIHEL SINK I T I ME S

Hidden Helsinki

vopuisto, but this book tells the stories behind places that you may have never noticed or new stories about places you visit daily.

LenininpuistoYou may have made a trip to the Linnanmäki amusement park, but you’ve probably missed the small park tucked behind it up on the hill. Lenin-inpuisto (directly translates to Lenin’s park) was built in the early 1960s for a garden ex-hibition. These days the small

Right outside your doorstep is an adventure waiting to happen. You can start by visiting these places and then go exploring to find your own special slice of Helsinki.

park, through which trickles a manmade stream, attracts people seeking a bit of solace. Lenininpuisto is often quite deserted, which makes it the perfect hideaway in the mid-dle of the city.

TöölönlahtiThe area around Töölönlah-ti (Töölö Bay) is a landscape of grand schemes. The likes of Eliel Saarinen and Alvar Aal-to had visions to expand the Helsinki city centre onto the shores of Töölönlahti. Their de-signs were never carried out and instead nature and city have been left to merge natu-rally. The shores of Töölönlahti are graced by the Finnish Na-tional Opera, where the Töölö sugar factory once stood, and Finlandia House, which stands where a sports fi eld used to be.

Keep your eyes open when you walk around the city, you might fi nd new spots of beauty.

If the weather isn’t inviting, you can go to the Finnish Museum of Photography to see Asphalt Gardens – Paradises beneath the urban fabric, an exhibition of Taneli Eskola’s photos. It is on show until 24 May. The Finnish Museum of Photography is lo-cated at the Cable Factory, Tall-berginkatu 1 G.

Tuomo Prättälä’s second solo album, Reaches Out for You, will be released in the beginning of February.

T UOMO

16 29 JANUARY – 4 FEBRUARY 2009 HELSINKI TIMES

Nepalese Restaurant

Welcome to SatkarFredrikinkatu 46 (Kamppi, Autotalo). 00100 Helsinki, Finland

Tel. +358 9 611 077, +358 40 707 1140 www.satkar.fi

SSATKAATKARRThe biggest Nepalese Restaurant in Helsinki

• Suitable for group parties• Fully licensed

• Delicious food with tandoor

EAT & DRINK

DAV ID BROW NHEL SINK I T I ME S

WHILE in some parts of the world the idea of inviting six or eight people over for din-ner has long been one of the most common ways of both socialising with old friends and getting to know new people, the idea has only re-cently begun to catch on in Finland. This is possibly be-cause the famous Finnish so-cial reserve makes it diffi cult to chat to new people with only a glass of chardonnay for security, and possibly be-cause the idea of producing varied and international cui-sine at home isn’t something that a lot of people feel com-fortable with.

But with Finnish culture opening up more and more to visitors from other coun-

tries, the chances are that the concept of the large din-ner party will also start to become more commonplace here too.

In Australasia and North America, a fairly standard-ised dinner-party etiquette has developed during the past 20 years. As a general rule, there will be between four and eight people, in-cluding the hosts. The guests bring wine, or occasionally dessert (if asked); failing to do so is considered rude. Ar-riving late is also a serious faux pas – you never know if the hosts are producing a souffl é, which has a lifespan of 30 seconds. There are usu-ally three courses: entrée, a main and dessert. It is Finn-ish tradition to also bring a houseplant or chocolates as a gift – if invited to a Finn-

ish home, it is an inexpensive and appreciated gesture.

For those new to dinner parties, here are some top tips.

1) Test new recipes beforehandMost failures happen with recipes that are made for the fi rst time. After that, it is usu-ally not diffi cult to know that the recipe needs a little less salt, a little longer in the ov-en or is simply terrible. Mak-ing the recipe for the family during the week beforehand means that you can usually avoid total humiliation later. This will also help you deter-mine what you need to buy.

2) Have a themeHaving an entrée from Thai-land, a Mexican main and a French dessert may seem in-

Dining at home

IS TOC K P HOTO

ternational, but in practice is it usually more likely to cause stomach upset. Sticking with one style of cuisine is more sophisticated and means that the courses sit well with each other.

3) Allow plenty of timeI generally allow the full day for shopping and cooking for a French meal, or a half day for faster Asian food. Des-serts and soups can often be made in the morning, mean-ing that you are free to sit and chat when the guests ar-rive. If the dishes are com-plex, you can also set the table and make any sauces or garnishes ahead of time. This also means you are more like-ly to spot missing ingredients before it is too late.

4) Don’t over-extendDinners are supposed to be fun. While some of us love spending the day in the kitch-en, if you don’t, then try and produce meals that are simple and which you feel confi dent about preparing. Ingredi-ents such as yeast, gelatine and egg whites present a lot of challenges, whereas any-one can produce a dessert of fried pineapple slices in choc-olate sauce without too much effort.

5) Invest in ingredientsIt is all about quality. Buy-ing all of your meat and fi sh

from kauppahalli will make a defi nite and notable dif-ference to the quality of your meal. Using organic ingredi-ents can also be a nice touch. And always buy a little more than you need – it helps if you have a tendency to drop the occasional cup of cream on the fl oor.

6) Thinkabout your guestsAlways check whether any of your guests are lactose intol-erant, have allergies or sim-ply hate the idea of veal. If you are making Thai or Mex-ican, also check whether or not they like chillies. Even asking whether or not they actually like escargot can save your evening from po-tential disaster.

7) Think aboutyour guests againIf your guests don’t know each other, give some thought to whether or not they might like each other. Not speak-ing the same language is an obvious starting point, but inviting people with simi-lar careers, hobbies or tastes means that they should have something to talk about.

8) Think about your kitchenIf your kitchen is small you probably don’t have unlim-ited oven space, stove el-ements, pots or plates. In

SC A NS TOC K P HOTO

which case, you will need to plan your menu according-ly. If your main spends two hours in the oven, your start-er might best be one cooked on the stovetop.

9) Check your plates and cutleryGive some thought to plates, cutlery, wine glasses and even chairs. It’s fi ne to ask guests to lend you a few forks if you are short, but it is best to know what you need well beforehand. Finding out that you don’t have enough plates might mean that someone has to wash a pile of dish-es while your guests sit and wait.

10) Be inspiredDinner-party food should be a little special. It is a time to be creative and have fun in the kitchen. Arranging food nicely on the plate, forming things into shapes and add-ing little garnishes can look very professional. Putting warm chocolate sauce into a plastic bottle means it can be used to ‘paint’ lines or circles on the plate. Cooked rice can be pressed into a cup and in-verted to form a small tower on the plate. It’s fun, creative and looks great.

A few ofthe best and worst dinner partiesProbably my most audacious dinner party was for 20 peo-ple in New Zealand. My Finn-ish girlfriend (now wife) was fl ying in, but I’d got the time difference confused, and rather than arrive the day before dinner, she got to the house after a 30-hour fl ight about an hour before I served the fi rst course. My worst ex-perience was probably when I checked my duck l’orange in the oven – and it slid out of the oven and on to the fl oor – and exploded into fl ames. A guest had just wandered into the kitchen in search of wa-ter and muttered “I'll come back later”.

Sarah, Australia:We were having a potluck dinner, where everyone just brings a plate of something. We had invited 20 or so peo-ple, so I was sure we’d have an amazing array of food. And we did – except that we had 14 desserts, and only a plate of escargot for the main! It’s the only dinner that I’ve ever had where people had lemon-meringue pie for their main course, followed by choco-late cake.

Geoff, New Zealand:We had invited 20 or so peo-ple over for a housewarming dinner and asked everyone to bring a plate. One guy had brought a soup, so we decid-ed to use that as an entrée. It was Curried Orange, and looked amazing, but was the hottest thing I’ve ever tast-ed in my life. Everyone was sweating and groaning, but luckily most people did like hot food. The only prob-lem was, no one could taste a thing for the rest of the evening and the only thing that people remembered about the party was the ‘soup that nearly killed me’.

1729 JANUARY – 4 FEBRUARY 2009HELSINKI TIMES

PUB ANGLETERRE - FREDRIKINKATU 47MON-THU 15-01,

FRI 15-02, SAT 13-02

EAT & DRINK

RESTAURANTS RESTAURANTSRESTAURANTS

Open: Mon-Fri 11-23, weekends 12-23, Lunch: Mon-Fri 11-15Contact: Ratakatu 1 b, 00120 Helsinki. www.himalaya.fi

Book your table: tel. (09) 647 551, fax. (09) 647 552

FIRST ORIGINAL NEPALESE RESTAURANT

Time stands still at the Brezhnevian era’s last monument Kafe Moskova,

situated in central Helsinki. Cold beer and freezing service.

Open: Mon-Sat 6pm-2am. Sun closed.

Contact informationEerikinkatu 11, 00100 Helsinki, Finland

Tel. +358 9 751 75613 www.andorra.fi

FROMMIAMITO HELSINKI

New Latino Cuisine Finally in Helsinki!Korkeavuorenkatu 47 / Etelä Esplanadi, Helsinki

tel. 09 678 345 www.nuevolatino.fi

Advertise your restaurant here.

For example, this size:37.5 x 31 mm

Advertise your restaurant here.

For example, this size:37.5 x 31 mm

SHEEP THIEF

SERVICE BY DESCENDENTS OF CRIMINALS

Transported to Australia in 1828 for the crime of steeling a sheep,this man was never to see Europe again. Now his descendents are back.

Serving you with criminally good Australian beer, wines and snacks in Helsinki today.

AUSSIE BAR Salomonkatu 5, Kamppi00100 Helsinki, Finland

Come and havea Tooheysor two!

Tel. +358 (0)9 737 373Email: aussiebar@aussiebar.net Web: www.aussiebar.net

Open: 14-02 Sunday-Tuesday 12-03 Wednesday-Saturday

WHAT’S ON AT THE AUSSIE BAR:Thursday 29th - Cocktail Night cheap cocktails plus DJ’s pumping groovey tunes

from 9.30pm. Fri/Sat- Chaos & Mayhem AUSSIE BAR STYLE!! Get in early!!Sunday 1st - Live Football LIVERPOOL v CHELSEA! Steve’s a chav!

Mon/Tues - chill out evenings with the crew - wash away those hangovers!Wednesday 4th - Live Music with “Jeff Bagley Indian Sensation” from 10pm

Proudly sponsored by:

SandeepIndian Restaurant

Menu: www.sandeep.fi

Open: Mon-Fri 10:30-23:00 Sat 12:00-23:00 Sun 12:00-21:00Reservations: lucky.tarsem@elisanet.fi

Lönnrotinkatu 22, 00120 HelsinkiTel/fax: (09) 6856 206

Salomonkatu 19, HelsinkiTel. 09 694 0750

Mon-Fri 11-23, Sat 12-23, Sun 12-22www.ravintolatandoor.net

Mon-Thu

11-24

Fri-Sat 11-01

Sun 13-21

Mikonkatu 8, 00100 HelsinkiTel. 09 - 6222 625. www.meze.fi

Transforming Finnish

gifts of nature in an

innovative manner to

suit modern tastes.

Korkeavuorenkatu 27 HelsinkiTel. +358 9 635 732www.juuri.fi

Advertise your restaurant here.

For example, this size:37.5 x 31 mm

Advertise your restaurant here.

For example, this size:37.5 x 31 mm

in the spirit offinnish

countryside

18 29 JANUARY – 4 FEBRUARY 2009 HELSINKI TIMES

Pelkki’s, Carrie Schneider’sand Sauli Sirviö’s solo exhibitions.The Finnish Museum ofPhotographyTallberginkatu 1 GTue - Sun 11:00–18:00Tickets €6/4/0www.fmp.fi

Until Sun 23 AugWhat a Feast!Exhibition introduces the colourful and most varied festive traditions of Helsinki. Sederholm HouseAleksanterinkatu 16–18Wed - Sun 11:00–17:00Free entrancewww.helsinginkaupunginmuseo.fi

Wed 28 Jan to Sun 1 FebDisney on IceA magnificent show and lovedDisney characters.Hartwall ArenaAreenankuja 1Tickets €18-42www.hartwall-areena.com

Fri 30 JanComedy Club Laugh RiotMatt Kirschen will perform inEnglish with Harri Lagströmand Pekka Jalava.Studio Krunikka, 22:00Meritullinkatu 33 ATickets €20/12www.studiokrunikka.fi

31 Jan & 1/7/8 FebArt Meets IceInternational ice sculpturecompetition.Korkeasaari ZooMustikkamaanpolku 12Mon-Sun 10:00–16:00Tickets €7-12www.korkeasaari.fi/artmeetsice

solution sudoku

Feminine DelightFeminine Delight is a dance work with unusual humour, where choreographer and performer Frans Poelstra, playwright and author Robert Steijn, and musician and composer Martin Siewert tell the story of a personal drama that is at the same time part of the history of dance and theory. They follow the tracks of the work; the life of those women who helped get-ting modern dance accepted; and also the women who broke with the rules of modernism, becoming figureheads of post-modern choreography.

Feminine Delight is a part of Sidestep Festival, which has throughout its history aimed at bringing out different currents in dance thinking. The seventh Side Step Festival at the Cable Factory shows various viewpoints on contemporary dance and the possibilities of dance artists in today's society.

Thu 29 JanHelsinki Philharmonic OrchestraJohn Storgårds will be conducting Uuno Klami’s ever-popular Kalevala Suite.Finlandia Hall, 19:00Mannerheimintie 13 ETickets €20/13/6www.hel.fi/filharmonia

29/31 Jan & 2/4 FebThe Magic FluteA fairy-tale opera for thewhole family.Finnish National OperaHelsinginkatu 58Tickets €14-62www.operafin.fi

Fri 30 JanTapiola SinfoniettaA youth concert featuring Pekka Kuusisto and Jonna Tervomaa.Tapiola Hall, 19:00Kulttuuriaukio 2Tickets €10www.tapiolasinfonietta.fi

Fri 30 JanSami Saari DuoSami Saari is a legend of Finnish soul music.Villi Wäinö, 22:00Kalevankatu 4Free entrancewww.villiwaino.fi

Sat 31 Jan & Wed 4 FebThe Talking DrumThe new opera productiontakes children on a musicaljourney around the world.Finnish National OperaHelsinginkatu 58Tickets €9/7www.operafin.fi

Sun 1 FebRodney CrowellRodney Crowell is a Grammy-Award winning country musician.Old Student House, 19:00Mannerheimintie 3Tickets €49.50/45.50www.juhlaravintolat.fi

Tue 3 FebHeinavankerHeinavanker is a vocalgroup from Estonia with a focus on old church music.Kanneltalo Cultural Centre, 19:00Klaneettitie 5Tickets €10/8www.kanneltalo.fi

Wed 4 FebLucky Dragons (USA)Islaja will be supporting theexperimental music groupLucky Dragons.Semifinal, 20:00Urho Kekkosen katu 6Tickets €13www.semifinal.fi

Wed 4 FebK Trio (IS)Experimental jazz trio from Iceland.Restaurant Juttutupa, 21:00Säästöpankinranta 6Free entrancewww.myspace.com/rytmihairioklubi

Sat 31 Jan & Wed 4 FebVisible VolumesA dance work choreographedby Mikko Orpana. Koko Theatre, 19:00Unioninkatu 45Tickets €20/12www.kokoteatteri.fi

Tue 3 FebAnna KareninaThe ballet version of Tolstoy’sclassic novel.Finnish National BalletHelsinginkatu 58Tickets €14-56www.operafin.fi

Wed 4 FebFragmentsWorld-famous cult director Peter Brook's visionary interpretationof Samuel Beckett's plays.Espoo Cultural Centre, 19:00Kaupinkalliontie 10Tickets €28/25/15www.espoonteatteri.fi

Until Sun 1 FebKing Nosmo: Bon AppetitAn imaginative food related exhibition.Napa GalleryEerikinkatu 18Thu-Fri 12:00-18:00Sat-Sun 12:00-16:00Free entrancewww.napagalleria.com

Until Sun 1 FebHåkan Rehnberg: HeadingsHåkan Rehnberg’s paintings are unique, final and incontroverti-ble acts.Galerie AnhavaMannerheiminaukio 3Tue-Fri 11:00-17:00Sat-Sun 12:00-16:00Free entrancewww.anhava.com

Until Sun 1 FebSanna PeurakoskiWunderkammern:Leben vs. StillebenPhotographies and still lives.Photographic Gallery HippolyteKalevankatu 18 BTue-Fri 12:00-17:00Sat-Sun 12:00-16:00Free entrancewww.hippolyte.fi

Until Sun 1 Feb100 Years on SkatesSports Museum of FinlandMon-Fri 11:00-17:00Sat-Sun 12:00-16:00Tickets €5/3/0www.urheilumuseo.fi

Until Sun 8 FebBlack and White – Classicsof Japanese PhotographyDepictions of landscapes,urban scenes and everyday lifeconvey the traditional Japanese way of life, as well as changesin Japanese culture.Ateneum Art MuseumKaivokatu 2Tue & Fri 09:00-18:00Wed-Thu 09:00-20:00Sat-Sun 11:00-17:00Tickets €8/6.5www.ateneum.fi

Until Sun 8 FebVisiting – YoungCroatian Art SceneThe first presentation of Croatian contemporary art in Finland.

Muu GalleryLönnrotinkatu 33Tue-Fri 12:00-17:00Sat-Sun 12:00-16:00Free entrancewww.muu.fi

Until Sun 8 FebJenni HiltunenMake Your Own PaintingsThe exhibition by Jenni Hiltunenis an entity of paintings and video.Korjaamo Culture FactoryTöölönkatu 51Mon-Sun 11:00-17:00Tickets €12www.korjaamo.fi

Until Sun 15 FebMaria Wolfram: PaintingsThe main theme in Wolfram’spaintings is female identity.tm•galleryErottajankatu 9BTue-Fri 11:00-17:00Sat 11:00-16:00Sun 12:00-16:00Free entrancewww.artists.fi/painters/tmgalleria

Until Sun 1 MarThe Archives of anArchitect – Olli KivinenProfessor Olli Kivinen had aremarkable career as a teacher,researcher and land use planner.Museum of Finnish ArchitectureKasarmikatu 24Tue & Thu-Fri 10:00-16:00Wed 10:00-20:00Sat-Sun 11:00-16:00Tickets €3.5/1.7www.mfa.fi

Until Mon 2 MarMikael PohjolaWorksThe exhibition includes three large sculptures as well as paintings and drawings.Amos Anderson Art MuseumYrjönkatu 27Mon, Thu, Fri 10:00-18:00Wed 10:00-20:00Sat-Sun 11:00-17:00 Tickets €8/6/4www.amosanderson.fi

Fri 3 Feb to Sun 19 AprMarita LiuliaChoosing My ReligionMarita Liulia’s most recentmultimedia project viewsthe major religions ofthe world from multipleperspectives, particularlythe female one.Museumof Contemporary Art KiasmaMannerheiminaukio 2Tue 10:00-17:00Wed-Fri 10:00-20:30Sat-Sun 10:00-18:00Tickets €7/5/0www.kiasma.fi

Thu 29 Jan to Sun 17 MayDaughters of Sun Goddess –Japanese FeminityThe exhibition presents the lifeand image of Japanese womenSinebrychoff Art MuseumTue, Fri 10:00-18:00Wed-Thu 10:00-20:00 Sat-Sun 11:00-17:00Tickets €7.5/6/0www.sinebrychoffintaidemuseo.fi

Until Sun 24 MayTensions of SpaceMohamed Bourouissa’s, Sini

MUSIC

EXHIBITIONS

Wed 4 & Thu 5 FebZodiak, 20:30Tallberginkatu 1Tickets €20/15www.sivuaskel.fi

M O R E T I P S F R O M

www.visithelsinki.fi

Helsinki Zoo International Ice Sculpting Competition31.1.-1.2.2009 and 7.2.-8.2.2009www.artmeetsice.fi

Feminine Delight is a playful dance performance.

OTHERS

THEATRE AND DANCE

S T EIRISC HE HERBS T

Filmpremieresin Finland

Friday 30 January

Valkyrie (USA)

Director: Bryan Singer Starring: Tom Cruise, Bill Nighy, Kenneth BranaghGenre: Action/Thriller

Revolutionary Road (USA)

Director: Sam MendesStarring: Kate Winslet,Leonardo DiCaprio,Kathy BatesGenre: Drama

Doubt (USA)

Director: John Patrick ShanleyStarring: Philip Seymour Hoffman, Meryl Streep,Amy AdamsGenre: Drama

1929 JANUARY – 4 FEBRUARY 2009HELSINKI TIMES

09:30 Down to Earth11:05 News in English11:10 Peak Practice14:30 Doctors15:05 Coronation Street

Police find evidence of hit-and-run.

17:08 Peak PracticeBeth’s meeting with her former lover goes poorly.

19:00 HeartbeatFather of a still-born baby causes problems.

22:00 The StreetPart 4/18. Billy’s future in football is cut short. Will he turn to drugs?

23:50 William & Mary

06:50 Pikku KakkonenCartoons for children in Finnish.

10:35 Laurel & Hardy Laughtoons

10:55 Cross country skiing World Cup SPORTWomen’s 10 km. Commen-tary in Finnish.

12:25 Cross country skiing World Cup SPORTMen’s 15 km. Commentary in Finnish.

13:15 Derrick16:20 Mr. Bean16:35 Building the Ultimate:

Submarine DOC18:00 Cross country skiing World

Cup SPORTHighlights. Commentary in Finnish.

22:05 Law & Order: Criminal Intent

Woman gets a lethal present.

22:50 Sopranos (CERT15)00:10 Sin City Law (CERT15)

18:15 Dan Cruickshank’s Adven-tures in Architecture DOCPart 2/8. Dan Cruickshank marvels at a Mayan pyramid.

20:00 Forsyte SagaPart 3/13. Soames is not pleased with Bosinney.

22:15 Nòz w wodzie (Knife in the Water) FILMCouple invite a hitchhiker to come sailing with them. Ten-sions rise on the boat. Di-rected by Roman Polanski. Starring: Leon Niemczyk, Jolanta Umecka, Zygmunt Malanowicz. Poland 1962.

23:45 Master and Margaritha

09:30 Down to Earth11:05 News in English11:10 Peak Practice14:30 Doctors15:05 Coronation Street17:08 Peak Practice

Jack’s past is revealed.22:35 In Treatment

Insurance company needs to know if Sophie is suicidal after her bicycling accident.

23:00 In TreatmentAmy is pregnant and wants an abortion. Husband Jake is opposed to the idea.

23:35 A Love Song for Bobby Long FILM Young woman encounters an odd duo in her mother’s house. Directed by Shain-ee Gabel. Starring: John Tra-volta, Scarlett Johansson, Gabriel Macht, Deborah Ka-ra Unger. USA 2004.

06:50 Pikku KakkonenCartoons for children in Finnish. 07:55 The Moomins.

10:35 Happy Days11:05 Camilla Plum – Boller af Stål11:35 Plus belle la vie12:00 Junk Brothers12:50 Derrick16:10 Schwarzwaldklinik17:00 The Secret World of Benjamin Bear18:00 Cooking the World

Fred Chesneau tours India.19:20 World Café Asia

Bobby Chin checks out what Bali has to offer.

20:10 Die Kommissarin23:55 David Nolande

Part 4/6. David’s condition worries his wife.

17:00 Around the World in 80 Treasures DOCPart 4/10. Professor Cruick-shank takes a look at a samurai sword in Japan and terracotta warriors in China.

19:00 SOAP20:30 Everest ER DOC21:55 Indigènes (Days of Glory)

FILM Critically acclaimed mov-ie about Algerian soldiers fighting in the French Army during WWII. Directed by Rachid Bouchareb. Starring: Jamel Debbouze, Samy Nac-eri. Algeria 2006.

09:35 The Young and the Restless10:20 Emmerdale10:45 Emmerdale12:15 Who’ll Age Worst12:40 David Rocco’s Dolce Vita13:05 Honey I Ruined the House13:30 The Bold and the Beautiful14:30 New Adventures of Old

Christine 15:00 Men in Trees17:00 The Bold and the Beautiful17:30 Emmerdale18:00 Emmerdale21:00 ER

Abby shows her skills in front of her new boss.

22:30 CloserBrenda is angry with Provenza and Flynn.

23:30 Ticker (CERT15) FILMPolice chase a gang of crim-inals with a penchant for blowing things up. Direct-ed by Albert Puyn. Starring: Steven Seagal, Tom Size-more, Dennis Hopper, Jaime Pressly. USA 2001.

01:15 Unit

07:00 Cartoons for ChildrenIn Finnish. 07:00 Tractor Tom, 07:10 Jim Jam andSunny, 07:35 Animaniacs.

11:25 Sturm der Liebe12:45 Holiday Showdown15:35 How I Met Your Mother16:00 Stacked16:30 E! Entertainment: Behind the Scenes17:00 E! Entertainment: Snoop Dogg’s Fatherhood18:05 Sturm der Liebe19:00 My name is Earl19:30 Will & Grace20:00 Friends20:30 Simpsons Marge writes a book and

fears her family could be of-fended.

21:00 Top Chef Contestants have to prepare

lunch for the production team of Dame Chocolate.

23:00 SupernaturalSam and Dean investigate mysterious deaths in aremote inn.

00:00 Late Night with Conan O’Brien01:00 Peep Show01:30 Peep Show02:00 Génesis

18:00 Home and Away18:30 Fresh Prince of Bel Air19:00 America’s Funniest Home

Videos19:30 America’s Funniest Home

Videos20:00 Scrubs20:30 Scrubs

J.D. flirts with a patient, whose face he can’t see. Dr. Cox tries go for 24 hours without a fatality.

21:00 Alias

09:35 The Young and the Restless10:20 Emmerdale10:45 Emmerdale12:15 Who’ll Age Worst12:40 David Rocco’s Dolce Vita13:05 Wa$ted SERIES BEGINS. How can

one person make a differ-ence in a world drowning in waste?

13:30 The Bold and the Beautiful14:30 FIS Alpine Ski World Cup

SPORTWomen’s slalom. Commen-tary in Finnish.

15:40 WRC: Ireland SPORT17:00 The Bold and the Beautiful17:30 Emmerdale18:00 Emmerdale21:00 Without a Trace

Doctor goes missing after treating an assault victim.

22:30 WRC: Ireland SPORT22:40 From Russia with Love

(CERT15) FILMBond is sent to assist when a Russian spy wants to defect. Directed by Terence Young. Starring: Sean Connery, Dan-iela Bianchi, Lotte Lenya, Pedro Armendariz. UK 1963.

00:55 WRC: Ireland SPORT01:25 Smallville

07:00 Cartoons for ChildrenIn Finnish. 07:00 Tractor Tom, 07:10 Jim Jam and Sun-ny, 07:35 Animaniacs.

11:25 Sturm der Liebe15:35 How I Met Your Mother16:00 Stacked16:30 E! Entertainment: E! News Weekend18:05 Sturm der Liebe 19:00 My Name is Earl19:30 Will & Grace20:00 Friends20:30 Simpsons22:10 Bones

Santa Claus is dead. Booth and Brennan have to find out why.

23:05 C.S.I.00:00 Late Night with Conan O’Brien01:25 Skins

SERIES BEGINS. British teenagers do everything they shouldn’t.

18:00 Home and Away18:30 Fresh Prince of Bel Air19:00 America’s Funniest Home

Videos19:30 America’s Funniest Home

Videos20:00 High Fidelity FILM

Audiophile looks back on his relationships and wonders what went wrong. Directed by Stephen Frears. Starring: John Cusack, Jack Black, Iban Hjejle. USA 2000.

22:00 The Friday Night Project22:30 Minor Accomplishments of

Jackie Woodman

07:00 Cartoons for ChildrenIn Finnish. 07:00 Disney’s the Replacements, 07:25 Tutenstein, 07:50 Walter.

08:00 10 Items or Less08:30 Birth Stories09:00 Come Dine with Me09:30 Birth Days10:00 Diva on a Dime10:30 Changing Rooms13:00 Birth Days13:30 What Women Really Want14:00 Selling Houses14:30 Come Dine with Me15:00 Dr. Phil16:05 Days of Our Lives17:00 Kyle XY

Kyle finds out he can read lips.18:00 Talent USA21:00 Lara Croft Tomb Raid-

er: The Cradle of Life (CERT15) FILMLara Croft searches for Pan-dora’s box to foil the plans of a mad scientist. Directed by Jan De Bont. Starring: Angeli-na Jolie, Gerard Butler. USA/Germany/Japan/UK/Neth-erlands 2003.

23:40 Tudors00:50 Maximum Risk (CERT15)

FILM French policeman solves the

mystery of his dead doppel-ganger. Directed by Ringo Lam. Starring: Jean-Claude van Damme, Natasha Hen-stridge. USA 1996.

15:15 Stunt Junkies15:45 Amazing Adventures of a

Nobody16:15 DIY Tools & Techniques16:40 Save My Bath17:10 Jimmy Kimmel Live!18:00 Canadian Sportsfishing18:30 Skier’s World19:00 DIY to the Rescue19:30 Carter Can Carter creates a home for

Doug and Dawn. 20:00 Police Interceptors

Interceptors chase after a stolen van.

21:00 Parole Board (CERT15) DOCLouisiana parole board han-dles the applications of a va-riety of criminals.

22:00 Miami Ink23:00 Banzuke00:00 Most Daring Rescues01:00 Jimmy Kimmel Live!

07:00 Cartoons for ChildrenIn Finnish. 07:00 Disney’s the Replacements, 07:25 Tuten-stein, 07:50 Charlie & Mimmo.

08:00 10 Items or Less08:30 Birth Stories09:00 Come Dine with Me09:30 Newlywed, Nearly Dead10:00 10 Years Younger USA10:30 Staying Put13:00 Birth Days13:30 Diva on a Dime14:00 Changing Rooms14:30 Come Dine With Me15:00 Dr. Phil16:05 Days of Our Lives17:00 Kyle XY

Kyle, Lori and Declan go to the university, where Pro-fessor Kern lectured before he died.

18:00 Talent USA20:00 Stylista

Remaining contestants have to write an article about an up-and-coming fashion de-signer.

21:00 Criminal MindsTeam is called to Montana, where three women have been kidnapped.

22:00 Breaking BadWalt and Skyler are invited to a party at an old friend’s house.

23:30 FrasierFrasier’s agent wants to nego-tiate a new contract for him.

00:00 The OfficeMichael has to sack one em-ployee.

15:15 Stunt Junkies15:45 Amazing Adventures of a

Nobody16:25 Design Remix16:40 Trigged Out17:10 Jimmy Kimmel Live!18:00 Banzuke18:30 Amazing Adventures of a

NobodyLeon travels to Charleston.

19:00 DIY Tools & Techniques19:30 Save My Bath20:00 Perfect Weapon

Monty and Stuart try out two 15th century armours.

21:00 Digging for the Truth: The Hunley: New Revelations DOC

What happened to Confederate submarine H.L. Hunley?

22:00 Contender23:00 Jimmy Kimmel Live!23:50 Monster Truck Tech DOC00:45 Extreme Evidence (CERT15)

SELECTION OF ENGLISH PROGRAMMES ON FINNISH TELEVISIONthursday 29.1. friday 30.1.

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SUBA Love Song for Bobby Long.

TV1 at 23:35

TV1

The chill-out channel

NICK BARLOW

One of the more amusing tele-vision moments recently came during the live broadcast of last year’s municipal elections on the Swedish-language channel FST5. Part of the national broadcasting company YLE, FST5 provides programmes in Swedish, nominally for the Swedish-speaking minority in Finland. During the election night they showed none of the ridiculous pomposity of the other channels, being more interested in who won the Finnish football championship, and generally having a laugh, fluffing their lines and display-ing a level of tomfoolery never

before seen on Finnish TV. Just like coverage of an election should be, in other words.

National telly has always had a certain percentage of broadcasts shown in Swedish, or with Swedish subtitles. Since 2007, however, rather than sharing airtime with Finn-ish-language shows on YLE1 and 2, all Swedish-language shows have been broadcast on the digital channel FST5. The majority of shows still have Finnish text, although if the original language of the show is not Swedish, Swedish subtitles will be used instead. If you watch this channel, it’s actually rather interesting as a cultural phenomenon. Somehow, the shows that are actually produced by FST have a different feel to them than the ones produced by the other, main channels.

For one thing, the shows feel much more relaxed. The channel’s stand-out lifestyle programme, Strömsö, is a perfect example of this. Filmed on an island off the coast near Vaasa, the presenters not only demonstrate how to make nice stuff for your home, make yummy food and tend your garden, they do it in such a nice way, and with a soothing musi-cal background reminiscent of 1990s Ibiza chill-out, that when the show ends it’s like you’ve had a full body massage from Eyasha, Santharian God-dess of Peace and Content-ment. Even the documentaries tend to be of a high standard, unlike, for example, Nelonen’s tacky 4D collection.

Shows for children have a similar feel, in opposition to many which are produced with the idea that the little gits are only interested

in being treated like morons by screaming idiots, accompanied by god-awful music created by a tribe of hyperactive monkeys and some dustbin lids. FST’s main kiddie show, Buu-klubben, is presented by people who don’t seem to feel the need to patronise anyone, which can only be a good thing, even if we all know kids need to be taken down a peg or two once in a while. The show’s website is also surprisingly interesting, at least interesting enough for this 30-something-year-old hack to spend a good 45 minutes mess-ing around with it.

Many media organisations seem to think that they’re God’s gift to the ‘information age’, but one of the best things about FST is that what it does, it does simply, with relatively little glitter and arrogance. Plus, all that ambient music is really soothing, man.

JIM

JIM

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Carter Can.JIM at 19:30

From Russia with Love.MTV3 at 22:40

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20 29 JANUARY – 4 FEBRUARY 2009 HELSINKI TIMES

08:05 Pursuit of Excellence: Lords of Gourd DOC

13:05 Pedigree Dogs Exposed DOC

14:10 Keeping Up Appearances14:40 Los Serrano16:00 Holby City18:20 Mumbai Calling

Part 5/7. Kenny is asked to deliver a keynote speech.

19:45 MonkMillionaire with leprosy offers Monk work.

22:35 Lucky Louie (CERT15)Louie makes a confession and enjoys it.

23:00 The Thick of ItPart 3/6. High profile proposal is shot down.

23:30 MedeaSERIES ENDS. Part 6/6. Jason is elected in a land-slide victory.

07:45 Pikku KakkonenCartoons for children in Finnish. 10:00 The Moomins.

12:25 Cross country skiing World Cup SPORTSprints. Commentary in Finnish.

15:15 Nordic combined World Cup SPORTSki jumping and men’s 10 km. Commentary in Finnish.

20:00 Eurovision 2009Final. Who will represent Finland in Moscow? Contin-ued at 22:05. Commentary in Finnish.

22:20 The Life and Death of Peter Sellers FILM

Comedy about a funny co-median, who was a very dif-ficult person. Directed by Stephen Hopkins. Star-ring: Geoffrey Rush, Char-lize Theron, Emily Watson, Stephen Fry. USA 2004.

00:25 The Border01:10 Yle Live: Country Music

Awards 2008

10:50 Cidade dos Homens11:44 The 39th Symphony by

MozartPerformance by RSO con-ducted by Sakari Oramo.

15:50 Everest ER DOC17:20 Stephen Fry: The Secret Life of a Manic

Depressive DOC19:10 Prestuplenie i nakazanie

(Crime and Punishment)Part 3/8. Raskolnikov’s odd behavior raises questions. In Russian.

20:05 Dan Cruickshank’s Adven-tures in Architecture DOC

21:52 Some Like It Hot FILMTwo musicians dress as women to escape gangsters. Directed by Billy Wilder. Starring: Marilyn Monroe, Jack Lemmon, Tony Curtis. USA 1959.

23:50 The Bullshit Detectives

07:50 Cartoons for Children07:50 Dora The Explor-er, 08:15 Viva Piñata, 08:30 Powerpuff Girls, 08:55 Pokémon, 09:20 Zorro. In Finnish.

09:45 FIS Ski Jumping World Cup Races SPORT

11:00 FIS Ski Jumping World Cup Races SPORT

14:30 Star Wars Episode V – The Empire Strikes Back FILMImperial drone finds the rebels on Hoth. Directed by Irvin Kershner. Starring: Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher, Billy Dee Wil-liams. USA 1980.

16:55 Star Wars: The Clone WarsObi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker are sent to de-stroy an ioncannon.

17:55 Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares19:20 WRC: Ireland SPORT21:00 Survivor22:25 Un long dimanche de fiançailles (A Very Long

Engagement) FILMWoman searches for her fian-cé, who is missing in action. Directed by Jean-Pierre Jeu-net. Starring: Audrey Tautou, Gaspard Ulliel, Dominique Pinon, Chantal Neuwirth. France 2004.

00:55 WRC: Ireland SPORT01:25 Mystére

12:50 Mad TV13:40 Mad TV14:30 E! Entertainment: How Do I Look15:30 E! Entertainment: The Big Party Plan-Off16:30 World’s Greenest Homes17:00 Instant Star17:30 Office Monkey18:00 American Idol20:00 Real Housewives of New

York CityLuAnn goes bohemian with a friend and Ramona par-ties in a bar full of Marimek-ko prints.

21:00 C.S.I. MiamiHoratio sacks a member of his team.

22:00 Most Haunted00:30 Murder (CERT15)01:25 Stargate SG102:15 X Files

18:00 Home and Away18:30 Fresh Prince of Bel Air19:00 America’s Funniest Home

Videos19:30 America’s Funniest Home

Videos21:00 Murder by Numbers FILM

College kids think they’ve committed the perfect mur-der. Detective Cassie May-weather disagrees. Directed by Barbet Schroeder. Star-ring: Sandra Bullock, Ben Chaplin. USA 2002.

12:30 Last of the Summer Wine14:50 Los Serrano17:08 Gilmore Girls

Double wedding drives Lore-lai to the edge. Rory and her grandfather bond over golf.

18:20 Ferrets: The Pursuit of Excellence DOC22:05 Nesser’s Van Veeteren

(CERT 15)22:50 Absolutely Fabulous23:20 Den sista hunden i Rwan-

da (The Last Dog in Rwan-da) (CERT15) FILM Man’s childhood interest in war takes him to Rwanda to take pictures of war. Di-rected by Jens Assur. Star-ring: Jonas Karlsson, Reine Brynolfsson. Sweden 2006.

07:45 Pikku KakkonenCartoons for children in Finnish. 10:00 The Moomins.

10:55 Little House on the Prairie11:55 Cross country skiing World

Cup SPORTMen’s 2x15 km. Commen-tary in Finnish.

13:25 Nordic combined World Cup SPORTSki jumping. Commentary in Finnish.

13:55 Cross country skiing World Cup SPORTWomen’s 2x7,5 km. Com-mentary in Finnish.

15:10 Nordic combined World Cup SPORTMen's 10 km. Commentary in Finnish.

16:00 Cooking the World19:10 Little Man Tate FILM

Single mom’s eight-year-old boy turns out to be a child prodigy. Directed by Jodie Foster. Starring: Jodie Fos-ter, Adam Hann-Byrd, Di-anne West. USA 1991.

21:00 Elisa di Rivombrosa23:35 Skithouse00:55 Sopranos (CERT15)

09:45 Prestuplenie i nakazanie (Crime and Punishment)

10:40 Cuéntame cómo pasó15:45 SOAP16:10 Forsyte Saga

Part 3/13. Bosinney’s disre-gard for financial concerns irritates Soames.

18:00 The Bank Dick FILMEgbert Sousé stops a rob-bery and lands a job as a re-sult. Directed by Edward F. Cline. Starring: W.C. Fields, Cora Witherspoon. USA 1940.

19:10 Lucerne Festival Orchestra with Brendel & Abbado21:50 Brando DOC SERIES ENDS. Part 3/3. Documentary about Marlon

Brando.23:40 Rock Album Classics

The Band: The Band 1969.

07:40 Cartoons for Children07:40 Tractor Tom, 08:05 Pokémon, 08:30 Transform-ers Animated, 08:55 Bat-man. In Finnish.

12:25 According to Jim12:55 Ski Jumping World Cup

SPORT13:55 FIS Alpine Ski World Cup

SPORTMen’s slalom. Commentary in Finnish.

15:10 Dragnet FILMFriday and Streebek get in-to trouble. Directed by Tom Mankiewicz. Starring: Dan Aykroyd, Tom Hanks, Chris-topher Plummer, Harry Mor-gan. USA 1987.

17:25 Simpsons19:20 WRC: Ireland SPORT21:00 Amazing Race

Contestants travel to Mon-golia.

22:35 In Plain SightHitman’s former assistant needs protection.

23:30 K-Ville00:20 WRC: Ireland SPORT

10:00 Cow & Chicken10:30 Futurama11:00 Family Guy11:30 King of the Hill12:00 Office Monkey12:30 Dog the Bounty Hunter13:00 Instant Star13:30 Xena: Warrior Princess14:30 Pepper Dennis15:30 Holiday Showdown16:30 Hot Properties17:00 Katie & Peter – The Baby Diaries18:00 American Idol19:00 Make Me a Supermodel

SERIES BEGINS. Twelve contestants who all want to be supermodels. Only one can make it. Hosted by Rachel Hunter.

20:00 Peep Show20:35 Peep Show22:05 Entourage22:40 Sperm Wars DOC

Documentary about sperm quality and production.

00:30 Two Pints of Lager and a Packet of Crisps

01:05 Supernatural

18:00 Home and Away18:30 Fresh Prince of Bel Air19:00 Spy Kids 2: Island of Lost

Dreams FILMCortez kids are after the Transmooker. Directed by Robert Rodriguez. Starring: Alexa Vega, Daryl Sabara, Antonio Banderas, Carla Gugino. USA 2002.

21:00 FarscapeCrew of Moya gets a very strange distress call.

22:00 Paranormal StateCarol Anne tapes the sounds made by spirits.

22:30 The Friday Night Project

08:45 Jamie at Home09:15 Colin & Justin’s Home Heist10:15 Jeff Corwin Experience12:30 Dr. Phil13:30 Frasier

Four episodes of Frasier.15:30 Whistler16:25 Wildfire

Wildfire is put on sale. Kris has reservations about the buyer.

17:20 Brainiac: Science AbuseHow many helium balls does it take to get one person air-borne? What is the best way to relieve stress?

18:15 My Dad is Better than Your Dad23:20 Lost (CERT15)

Body is washed up on shore and Ben’s enemies attack Locke’s crew.

10:00 24 Hour Design11:00 Hooked on Fishing11:25 House Hunters International11:50 Amazing Adventures of a

Nobody12:20 Amazing Adventures of a

Nobody12:45 Corkscrewed13:10 Mighty Movers14:05 Flip This House14:45 A Bikeography15:20 Wheeler Dealers15:45 Gumball Rally16:10 Kings of Construction17:00 Digging for the Truth: The Hunley: New Revelations DOC18:00 Bizarre Foods with Andrew

ZimmernAndrew has Bombay duck made out of fish.

19:00 Cooked19:30 My Country, My Kitchen20:00 Destination Truth

Josh searches for the myth-ical Pendek-man – an oran-gutang-like primate living in the jungles of Sumatra.

21:00 Biography: Joe Biden DOCA look at the new vice pres-ident.

21:30 Biography: Sarah Palin DOC22:00 Crime Investigation Australia

The kidnappings of Grae-me Thorne in 1960 and Dan-iel Morcombe in 2003 were both media events in Aus-tralia.

23:30 Contender00:30 Parole Board (CERT15)

11:30 Volvo Ocean Race13:00 3 lbs17:00 JYP-Jokerit SPORT

Ice hockey. Commentary in Finnish.

20:00 American Gladiators21:00 Legends of the Fall

(CERT15) FILMThe lives of three broth-ers are turned upside down, when one of them gets mar-ried. Directed by Edward Zwick. Starring: Brad Pitt, Julia Ormond. USA 1994.

00:00 Las Vegas01:00 Den Tredje Vågen (The

Third Wave) (CERT15) FILMStock broker has to flee for her life, when she stumbles onto her employers criminal activities. Directed by An-ders Nilsson. Starring: Jakob Eklund, Irina Björklund. UK/Sweden 2003.

11:05 Hooked on Fishing11:30 House Hunters Interna-

tional11:55 Amazing Adventures of a

Nobody12:20 Amazing Adventures of a

Nobody12:45 Good Eats13:10 Stuntdawgs13:40 Human Weapon – Marine Corps Martial Arts

Program DOC14:30 Dangerous Encounters15:25 America: The Wright Way16:20 Canadian Sportfishing16:45 Skier’s World17:10 DIY to the Rescue17:35 Carter Can18:00 Hidden Potential18:30 Ace of Cakes19:00 Rip + Renew19:30 Dream Builders20:00 Border Security

Couple’s honeymoon is at risk, when something very strange is found from their luggage.

20:30 Crime Museum: John Robinson

John Robinson committed a murder in London in 1927. A used match led the po-lice to him.

21:00 The Final Report: The Bat-tle for Fallujah DOC

22:00 Crime Scene Academy (CERT15)

23:00 Banzuke00:00 Most Shocking (CERT15)01:00 Speeders01:30 Fifth Gear02:00 Jimmy Kimmel Live!

SELECTION OF ENGLISH PROGRAMMES ON FINNISH TELEVISIONsaturday 31.1. sunday 1.2.TV1

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Spy Kids 2: Island of Lost DreamsSpy Kids 2 is strictly a fam-ily film written, directed and produced by Robert Rodriguez, better known for action films such as Desperado, Once Upon a Time in Mexico and Sin City. Carmen (Alexa Vega) and Juni Cortez (Daryl Sabara) areOSS agents searching for adevice known only as the “Transmooker”. They are,however, not the only ones,as Donnagon Giggles, the head of OSS, is also after the device – which can be used to shut off everything remotely electronic. Giggles wants to use theTransmooker to take over the world and the Cortez kids have to stop him. In their quest they end up on an island inhabited by a mad scientist (Steve Bus-cemi) and a large quantity of monsters.

TV Viisi at 19:00 Sun

Lucerne Festival Orchestra with Brendel & Abbado.YLE Teema at 19:10

LIVE SPORT

Saturday 31.1.14:40 Stoke-Manchester City, Premierleague (C+S1)16:25 Hannover 96-Schalke 04, Bundesliga (U)16:55 Jyp-Jokerit, SM-liiga (Nelonen)16:55 Arsenal-West Ham, Premierleague (C+S1)19:25 Manchester United-Everton, Premierleague (C+S2)19:25 Linköping-MODO, Elitserien (C+S1)19:55 Boston-NY Rangers, NHL (C+S1)19:55 PSG-Caen, Ligue 1 (U+)21:25 Juventus-Cagliari, Serie A (C+S2)23:00 Numancia-Real Madrid, La Liga (U+)

Sunday 1.2.15:25 Newcastle-Sunderland, Premierleague (C+S1)15:55 Inter-Torino, Premierleague (C+S2)17:55 Liverpool-Chelsea, Premierleague (C+S1)17:55 Bordeaux-Lille, Ligue 1 (U)20:55 Montreal-Boston, NHL (C+S1)21:25 Lazio-Milan, Serie A (C+S2)21:55 Sporting-Sevilla, La Liga (U)00:55 Super Bowl XLIII Arizona Cardinals-Pittsburgh Steelers, NFL (Via)

C+S1/2/E=Canal+ Sport1/2/Extra, U(+) = Urheilukanava(+), Via = Viasat Sport1

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2129 JANUARY – 4 FEBRUARY 2009HELSINKI TIMES

09:30 Down to Earth11:05 YLE News11:10 Peak Practice14:30 Doctors15:05 Coronation Street

Sean tries to bond with this father. Steve attempts to make amends, but will he be forgiven?

17:08 Peak PracticeWill and Sarah’s marriage appears irreparable. Beth’s friend’s backache threatens her career.

23:45 Heading For a Food Supply Crash DOC

How bad will the food crisis get?

06:50 Pikku KakkonenCartoons for children in Finnish.

10:20 Plus belle la vie11:35 Eurovision 2009

Who will go on to represent Finland in the Eurovision 2009 song contest? Com-mentary in Finnish.

14:30 Elisa di Rivombrosa16:10 McLeod’s Daughters

Jodi hears strange nois-es and everything points to Emma McLeod. Alex is furi-ous with Marcus.

18:03 Schwarzwaldklinik19:20 Vroom Vroom

Emma Parker Bowles meets Dougie Lampkin.

22:05 The Border Known contract killer sur-

faces in Toronto. Her target is thought to be a cartoonist, who has offended the mus-lim community.

22:50 Third WatchDoherty stumbles onto a massive pile-up. Sully finds out Tatjana is being fol-lowed.

19:00 Cuéntame cómo pasó22:00 Yin shi nan nu (Eat Drink

Man Woman) FILMRenowned director Ang Lee’s breakthrough mov-ie about an aging father and his three unmarried daugh-ters, who meet every Sunday over dinner. Directed by Ang Lee. Starring: Sylvia Chang, Sihung Lung, Yu-wen Wang, Chien-lien Wu. USA/Tai-wan 1994.

09:35 The Young and the Restless10:20 Emmerdale10:45 Emmerdale12:15 Space for Living12:40 David Rocco’s Dolce Vita13:05 Wa$ted13:30 The Bold and the Beautiful14:30 Two and a Half Men15:00 L.A. Law17:00 The Bold and the Beautiful17:30 Emmerdale18:00 Emmerdale

Ledbetter’s behavior has given Eric the edge.

21:00 LifeWoman dressed as an angel falls nine stories and lands on a car.

22:30 FringeVoltage spike causes an el-evator cart to crash to the bottom of the shaft. Conse-quences are devastating.

23:35 Psych Shawn and Gus interrogate

a cat, which irritates Lassiter.00:30 Survivor

07:00 Cartoons for ChildrenIn Finnish. 07:00 Tractor Tom, 07:10 George of the Jungle, 07:35 Animaniacs.

11:25 Sturm der Liebe15:35 How I Met Your Mother16:00 Stacked16:30 E! Entertainment: Whose

Wedding Is It Anyway?SERIES CONTINUES. Courtney and Richard want to get married in the Car-ibbean.

18:05 Sturm der Liebe19:00 My Name Is Earl19:30 Will & Grace20:00 Friends20:30 Simpsons Milhouse goes away.21:00 Bourne Supremacy FILM

Jason Bourne’s peaceful re-tirement in Goa is cut short and he has to go on the of-fensive again. Directed by Paul Greengrass. Starring: Matt Damon, Franka Po-tente, Brian Cox, Julia Stiles. USA 2004.

23:20 E! Entertainment: Pam: Girl on the Loose23:45 Sperm Wars DOC00:40 Late Night with Conan O’Brien01:30 E-Ring

18:00 Home and Away18:30 Fresh Prince of Bel Air19:00 America’s Funniest Home

Videos19:30 America’s Funniest Home

Videos20:00 Airline

EasyJet staff dress up to raise money for an orphan-age.

20:30 Big Spender21:00 Intervention22:00 Secret Lives of Women

09:30 Down to Earth11:05 YLE News11:10 Peak Practice14:05 Travels to the Edge with

Art Wolfe DOC14:30 Doctors15:05 Coronation Street

Jamie is upset with Sean’s naiveté. Leanne tries to be a peacemaker.

17:08 Peak PracticeWill’s friend is diagnosed with HIV.

19:00 Last of the Summer WineSomebody takes Truly’s flirt-ing too seriously.

19:30 Travels to the Edge with Art Wolfe DOCArt Wolfe takes beautiful pictures in Patagonia.

21:00 Sense and SensibilityPart 2/3. Elinor’s patience is rewarded.

21:55 In TreatmentPaul turns to his former counsellor after a ten-year break.

22:23 In TreatmentLaura tells her therapist she loves him.

22:55 The StreetPart 4/18. Billy’s career in football is cut short. Will he turn to drugs?

06:50 Pikku KakkonenCartoons for children in Finnish.

10:35 Happy Days11:00 Kylie Kwong: My China11:30 Animal Hospital12:00 Vroom Vroom13:50 FIS Alpine Ski World Cup

SPORTWomen’s super-G. Commen-tary in Finnish.

16:10 McLeod’s Daughters18:00 FIS Alpine Ski World Cup

SPORTHighlights. Commentary in Finnish.

22:05 The Eagle Has Landed (CERT15) FILMGerman soldiers are sent to England to kidnap Church-ill. Directed by John Sturg-es. Starring: Michael Caine, Robert Duvall. UK 1977.

00:45 Skithouse

19:00 Cidade dos Homens19:35 Little Mosque on the Prairie

09:35 The Young and the Restless10:20 Emmerdale10:45 Emmerdale12:15 Space for Living12:40 David Rocco’s Dolce Vita13:05 Wa$ted13:30 The Bold and the Beautiful14:30 Alf15:00 Windfall17:00 The Bold and the Beautiful17:30 Emmerdale18:00 Emmerdale

Val’s former employees sup-port her.

20:00 Private Practice21:00 Lipstick Jungle

Nico assures her boss that the allegations of sexual harassment are unfounded.

22:30 C.S.I. New York23:30 C.S.I. New York00:30 Man Stroke Woman

07:00 Cartoons for ChildrenIn Finnish. 07:00 Tractor Tom, 07:10 George of the Jungle, 07:35 Animaniacs.

11:25 Sturm der Liebe12:45 World’s Greenest Homes15:35 How I Met Your Mother16:00 Stacked16:30 E! Entertainment: Denise Richards17:00 E! Entertainment: Battle

of the Hollywood Hotties18:05 Sturm der Liebe19:00 My Name Is Earl19:30 Will & Grace Jennifer Lopez makes an ap-

pearance.20:00 Friends20:30 Simpsons21:00 O.C.

Oliver plans to make a move for Marissa, which doesn’t please Ryan.

22:00 Pushing DaisiesNed has to face the conse-quences of his earlier de-cision.

23:00 Génesis00:00 Late Night with Conan O’Brien

18:00 Home and Away18:30 Fresh Prince of Bel Air Will tries to coast through

college.19:00 America’s Funniest Home

Videos19:30 America’s Funniest Home

Videos20:00 X-Weighted Paul Plakas pushes over-

weight people to turn their lives around.

22:00 Minor accomplishments of Jackie WoodmanTara meets Brad, who seems like a nice guy. Unfortunate-ly he spreads bad luck eve-rywhere he goes.

22:30 Friday Night Project23:00 Moonlighting

Wealthy businessman hires David and Maddie to find him a wife.

07:00 Cartoons for ChildrenIn Finnish. 07:00 Disney’s the Replacements, 07:25 Tutenstein, 07:50 Walter.

08:00 The Game08:30 Birth Stories09:00 Come Dine with Me09:30 Baby Squad10:00 10 Years Younger USA10:30 Open House13:00 Newlywed, Nearly Dead13:30 10 Years Younger USA14:00 Open House14:30 Come Dine with Me15:00 Dr. Phil16:05 Days of Our Lives17:00 Kyle XY

Kyle finally receives infor-mation about himself from Adam Baylin.

18:00 Talent USA20:00 Extreme Makeover: Home Edition

Ty and the team help a nice family.

21:00 Navy NCISWhile performing an autop-sy, Ducky discovers the pa-tient is still alive.

22:00 Primordial Dwarf DOCAlex Connerty has MOPD II, a rare and dangerous medi-cal condition.

23:20 Frasier00:20 Jericho

15:20 Stunt Junkies15:50 Amazing Adventures of a

Nobody16:20 Cool Tools16:45 Hidden Potential17:15 Jimmy Kimmel Live!18:00 Banzuke18:30 Amazing Adventures of a

NobodyLeon pushes on to Chicago.

19:00 Over Your Head19:30 Dream Builders

SERIES ENDS. Beautiful 1950s house gets renovated in Virginia.

20:00 Re-Inventors20:30 How It’s Made21:00 Big Business DOC

Obesity is a growing prob-lem in the US, but it is also a great business opportunity. Everything from oversized caskets to superbig ham-burgers is available to the overweight consumer.

22:00 Build It Bigger23:00 Jimmy Kimmel Live!23:50 Single Subject: My Husband's Secret

(CERT15) DOC00:50 Extreme Evidence (CERT15)

07:00 Cartoons for ChildrenIn Finnish. 07:00 Disney’s the Replacements, 07:25 Tutenstein, 07:50 Walter.

08:00 The GameSERIES BEGINS. Melanie Barnett moves to San Diego with her boyfriend Derwin, who is a professional foot-ball player. How will Mela-nie adjust to being a football-ers wife?

08:30 Birth Stories09:00 Come Dine With Me09:30 Birth Days10:00 What Women Really Want10:30 Selling Houses13:00 Baby Squad13:30 10 Years Younger USA14:00 Open House14:30 Come Dine With Me15:00 Dr. Phil16:05 Days of Our Lives17:00 Kyle XY

Kyle is unsure who his real parents are.

18:00 Talent USA20:00 Ugly Betty21:00 Desperate Housewives22:00 Californication (CERT15)22:35 Weeds (CERT15)

Nancy has to get a day job and Silas gets connected while do-ing community service.

23:30 Frasier00:00 Day Break

Hopper discovers Rita has a secret.

15:15 Stunt Junkies15:45 Bizarre Foods with Andrew

Zimmern16:35 Ultimate Gambler17:05 Cooked17:35 My Country, My Kitchen18:00 Banzuke18:30 Amazing Adventures of a

NobodyLeon has to go from Char-leston to Indianapolis on a budget of five dollars.

19:00 Cool Tools19:30 Hidden Potential20:00 Most Daring Rescues21:00 Single Subject: My Husband’s Secret

(CERT15) DOCWhat happens when your husband turns out to be gay?

22:30 Speeders23:00 Jimmy Kimmel Live!23:50 Biography: Joe Biden DOC00:20 Biography: Sarah Palin DOC00:50 Extreme Evidence

(CERT15)

SELECTION OF ENGLISH PROGRAMMES ON FINNISH TELEVISIONmonday 2.2. tuesday 3.2.TV1

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NELONEN TV1

TV2

MTV3 NELONEN

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SUB

SUB

Heading for a Food Supply Crash Everybody has noticed the rise in food prices, and some in more visceral ways than others. But last year’s events may just be a prelude to something much more serious. A global system whereby people eat more than what the farmers produce is inevitably unsustainable; lead-ing to an outcome that can be either controlled or apocalyptic. Destructive migrations in the his-tory of the world have frequently been started by famines, and many experts feel that we will soon witness one. Making sure that no one goes hungry and the construction of a global system where the amount of food produced by farmers does not exceed the amount that people need are massive challenges, and the way in which they are tackled will define the 21st century.

TV1 at 23:45 Mon

The Eagle Has LandedA German commando team led by Colonel Kurt Steiner (Michael Caine) is sent to England at the height of the Second World War with orders to capture Prime Minister Winston Churchill and transport him back to Germany. The unit, aided by an Irish terrorist and a South African spy, dress as Polish soldiers and infiltrate the small village of Studley Constable, where Churchill is staying. The Eagle Has Landed is based on the novel by Jack Higgins, which was in turn inspired by the Gran Sasso Raid, in which German paratroop-ers saved the deposed Italian dictator Benito Mussolini from his captors in the Autumn of 1943. As the tagline promises, this is a movie about 16 German paratroopers who nearly won the war in three days.

TV2 at 22:05 Tue

JIM

JIM

TV VIISI

TV VIISI

Day Break.Nelonen at 00:00

Sense and Sensibility.TV1 at 21:00

Will & Grace.Sub at 19:30

Walter.Nelonen at 07:50

22 29 JANUARY – 4 FEBRUARY 2009 HELSINKI TIMES

09:35 The Young and the Restless10:20 Emmerdale10:45 Emmerdale12:15 Space for Living12:40 David Rocco’s Dolce Vita13:05 Wa$ted13:30 The Bold and the Beautiful14:30 How I Met Your Mother15:00 Northern Exposure17:00 The Bold and the Beautiful17:30 Emmerdale18:00 Emmerdale

Alan’s visit to Adam For-sythe’s reception ends unex-pectedly.

21:00 C.S.I.Trial of a feared Las Vegas gang runs into trouble, when several key witnesses are murdered.

22:30 Ice Road TruckersTodd is caught speeding and punished.

23:30 Mythbusters00:35 3rd Rock From the Sun

07:00 Cartoons for ChildrenIn Finnish. 07:00 Tractor Tom, 07:10 George of the Jungle, 07:35 Animaniacs.

11:25 Sturm der Liebe16:00 How I Met Your Mother16:30 E! Entertainment: Style Star17:00 E! Entertainment: Keeping

Up with the Kardashians18:05 Sturm der Liebe19:00 My Name Is Earl19:30 Will & Grace20:00 Friends20:30 Simpsons21:00 Chungking Express FILM

Noodle bar brings people together in the hustle and bustle of a big city. Direct-ed by Wong Kar-Wai. Star-ring: Brigitte Lin, Take-shi Kaneshiro, Tony Leung, Faye Wong. Hong Kong 1994.

23:00 HeroesClaire sneaks off to meet her biological mother. Hiro’s father and sister don’t be-lieve it is his destiny to save the world.

00:00 Late Night with Conan O’Brien00:55 Wire

18:00 Home and Away18:30 Fresh Prince of Bel Air Will needs Nicky.19:00 America’s Funniest Home

Videos19:30 America’s Funniest Home

Videos21:00 Outback Jack SERIES BEGINS. Twelve

women have come to Aus-tralia to win Jack over. Who will he choose?

22:00 Scrubs22:30 Scrubs Carla and Kelso bond, but

Cox still doesn’t like Turk.23:00 Dark Justice

07:00 Cartoons for ChildrenIn Finnish. 07:00 Disney’s the Replacements, 07:25 Tutenstein, 07:50 Walter.

08:00 The Game08:30 Birth Stories 09:00 Come Dine with Me09:30 Newlywed, Nearly Dead10:00 10 Years Younger USA10:30 Open House13:00 Newlywed, Nearly Dead13:30 10 Years Younger USA14:00 Staying Put14:30 Come Dine with Me15:00 Dr. Phil16:05 Days of Our Lives

Kate gets caught red-handed.17:00 Everybody loves Raymond

Ray’s parents annoy eve-rybody.

17:30 Talent USA20:00 The Bachelor

Women tell all in this spe-cial episode, where Brad an-swers some tough questions from the ladies.

21:00 Grey’s AnatomyWebber gives Bailey more power and more respon-sibilities. Erica starts cry-ing after sex and Callie is spooked.

22:00 Mad MenPete’s in-laws pressure him to start a family.

23:20 FrasierLilith asks Frasier for help and Niles is tasked with making sure they don’t end up in bed together.

23:50 Lincoln Heights SERIES BEGINS. Police de-

partment encourages officers to move to the areas they pa-trol and Eddie Sutton moves to Lincoln Heights, which is a high-crime neighborhood.

00:50 Dirt Don gets into trouble.

15:20 Stunt Junkies15:50 Amazing Adventures of a

Nobody16:20 Over Your Head16:45 Dream Builders17:10 Jimmy Kimmel Live!18:00 Banzuke18:30 Amazing Adventures of a

Nobody19:00 Design Remix

Kelly and Todd want to turn their kitchen into an area, where the whole family can hang out.

19:30 Trigged Out20:30 Fifth Gear21:00 Inside: Super Carrier DOC

USS Dwight D. Eisenhow-er is back from the drydock but needs a set of sea trials to determine if she’s ready for action.

22:05 American Hot RodSERIES BEGINS. Building hot rods is just as difficult as it seems.

23:05 Jimmy Kimmel Live!23:55 Big Business DOC00:55 Extreme Evidence

(CERT15)

TV GUIDE

Thursday 1/29

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0

09:30 Down to Earth11:05 YLE News11:10 Peak Practice14:30 Doctors

Marc tries to help Faith with her problems.

15:05 Coronation StreetSean is overcome with hap-piness.

17:08 Peak PracticeJack helps a young girl with a drug problem. Beth does her best to help Will get over his divorce.

19:00 Keeping Up AppearancesDaisy and Onslow’s unmar-ried daughter has had a ba-by and the baptism is to be held at church.

00:25 Inside the Actors Studio

06:50 Pikku KakkonenCartoons for children in Finnish.

10:35 Happy Days11:00 Mat med Niklas11:50 FIS Alpine Ski World Cup

SPORTMen’s super-G. Commen-tary in Finnish.

13:30 Globetrekkers16:00 Nordic combined SPORT

Finnish championships. Commentary in Finnish.

17:00 The Secret World of Benjamin Bear 18:00 Ski jumping SPORT

Finnish Championships. Continued at 19:05. Com-mentary in Finnish.

16:30 Sleep Clinic DOCSleep walking, snoring and sleep apnea are all disor-ders, which are studied at the Sleep Clinic.

20:40 Le jeune homme et la mort (The Young Man and Death)Roland Petit’s choreography performed at the Paris Op-era in 2006. Featuring Niholas Le Riche and Marie-Agnès Gillot.

22:10 Little Mosque on the PrairieAmaar’s Qur’an lessons get interesting, when one of the teenage girls develops a crush on the imam. What will the teacher do? Fatima needs advice desperately.

23:20 Yle Live: Magnum

wednesday 4.2.TV1

TV2

MTV3

YLE TEEMA

NELONEN

SUB

Outback JackTwelve beautiful women, all accustomed to the high life in sunny and civilised Los Angeles and all somehow enticed to take part in a dating show, are parachuted to the Australian outback to meet Jack, a hand-some bachelor, who likes to rough it in the wilderness. The girls are forced to sleep out-doors, catch their own food and handle crocodiles as they fight for Jack’s affections. If you like dating shows, hit the couch an hour early and check out The Bachelor as well. It takes place in a mansion and the guy is American, but the basic idea is the same – several women fight over one man and the last girl standing is the winner.

TV Viisi at 21:00 Wed

The Bachelor

Nelonen at 20:00 Wed

JIM

Lincoln Heights.Nelonen at 23:50

TV VIISI

2329 JANUARY – 4 FEBRUARY 2009HELSINKI TIMES CLASSIFIEDS & SERVICES 23HELSINKI TIMES

tel. 726 2266 Emergency duty 24 h

OpenMon - Fri 8-20Sat 9 -15

OUR SPECIAL PRICESTooth-coloured filling from.............................€52

Painless tooth removal from.........................€52

Dental whitening..........................................€150

Removal of dental calculus and stains, fluoridation and cleaning from.......................€52

Dental care centreEurohammas Hämeentie 60 Uushammas tel. 146 1460

IN THIS MONTH:THE FULL PROSTHESIS OF UPPER OR LOWER JAW......€360THE FULL PROSTHESIS OF UPPER AND LOWER JAW....€590THE FULL PROSTHETIC LINING................................ ........€65IN CASE OF EMERGENCY THE PROSTHESISCAN BE MADE IN 12 HOURS.

Lining and fixing while waiting.No discount of the special prices

We offer you kind and professional service. Our dentist: Mikko Larjomaa.

24 h

The prices of the special dental technicianProsthesis as if the teeth were your own (made with the best materials)

Other services: Dental Implants Surgery Tooth Jewels Open: Mon – Fri 8 – 20. Right by the buses, trams and the metro.On the street level, easy access with the wheelchair.

DENTAL CARE

Finland info29 January – 4 February 2009

To get earnings-linked benefits in case of unemployment in Finland, you need to be a member of an unemployment fund. Get your independent unemployment security now for only 67 €/ year. Join us: www.ytk.fi

Working in Finland?

population and you may be-gin to understand why I fi nd the quiet very unnerving at times, and why I fi nd going to India for the holidays equally unnerving now!

We live in a house in Es-poo, which is a big change for us after having lived in apart-ments in India, Singapore and Hong Kong. Although it's nice to have a backyard, I re-ally miss having friends and people living all around us. Of course shovelling snow in the winter and raking leaves in the autumn is not so great either.

The people are so quiet and softly spoken that mum is forever telling us to speak softly. Even the dogs are qui-et here. There is a saying that the people here are “silent in two languages”. That is be-cause most people speak

both Finnish and Swedish – and even English actually. Nonetheless they tend not to use any language if they can help it. I wonder if that’s why Nokia came up with its slo-gan of “connecting people”.

Another thing I like, and which our family follows, is the concept of the “sum-mer cottage”. A house for the summer – a place to get close to nature. We live close to the sea and there is a forest a few metres from our house. I can’t imagine getting any closer to nature than that. Dad initial-ly found us a summer cot-tage without electricity and plumbing – fortunately mum put her foot down and we in-stead found a cottage with a dishwasher and washing machine.

We have become quite Finnish in some ways – now we know that Sundays are tru-

ly rest days – not days to go shopping, because most of the stores are closed anyway. Our front door step resembles a shoe-shop and we use the sau-na quite often (at a comfort-able temperature of 50 to 60 degrees). We eat a lot of tradi-tional Finnish food like Kare-lian pasties and ruis bread, and tell everyone how good the tap water is here. But I still do not like salmiakki, a sort of licorice – and cannot bear the idea of salmiakki ice cream!

Overall I am happy with life in Finland – not surpris-ing, since Finland was rated the best country to live in, by Readers Digest in the October 2007 issue. And this one is es-pecially for my school friends and teachers – International School of Helsinki is defi nite-ly the best school to be in!

Thank you – or KIITOS, as they say in Finnish!

EXPAT VIEW

In this series expatriates tell about their lives in Finland.

Living in FinlandI HAVE lived in Finland for al-most three years now. I still do not know my neighbours any better, but I do under-stand a lot more about the people and life here. Previ-ously, the only things that I knew about Finland were No-kia, Santa Claus and the fact that it was a long long way from Hong Kong, where we had been living.

We came to Finland in the middle of winter – I loved the snow, the quiet and the calm – until I found that it was so quiet that I could not sleep at night. Suddenly, I missed the noise and hustle bustle of Hong Kong. The quiet in Finland is not surprising, be-cause there are only about fi ve million people and a cou-ple of hundred thousand rein-deer. Moreover, compare that with India’s one billion-plus

Ishita Chatterjee is an 11 year-old girl in Grade 6 at the International School

of Helsinki. She wrote the essay on Living in Finland as part of her entry in the

Original Oratory section of the CEESA (Central and Eastern European Schools

Association) Speech and Debate Competition, in Budapest in 2008.

Alko. Alko is the only store to sell any alcohol above the strength of beer. Alkos are open Mon-Fri 9-20, Sat 9-18 and closed on Sundays. More information is available at www.alko.fi. For store locations, please call: +358 20 711 712.

Banks and Money Exchange. Banks are usually open Mon-Fri 10-16:30. The money exchange office, Forex, at the Helsinki Railway Station is open Mon-Sun 8-21. See www.forex.fi for more information.Department stores are open Mon-Fri 9-21, Sat 9-18 and are closed on Sundays.

Emergency Number. Dial the number 112.

Grocery stores. Most grocery stores are open Mon-Fri 7-21,Sat 7-18 and Sun 12-21.

Health. Helsinki City medical centres are open Mon-Fri 8-16.In case of children in need of urgent medical treatment, contact tel. +358 9 10023 or Lastenklinikka’s emergency department,tel. +358 09 471 72783 or +358 09 471 72751.

Emergency rooms at the Malmi and Maria Hospital offer treat-ment at night and during weekends. Malmi tel. 09 10023 or +358 9 3106611. Maria tel. 09 10023 or +358 9 471 63466.

Libraries. Public libraries in Helsinki are usually openMon-Thu 10-20 and Fri-Sat 10-16. Kirjasto 10 (Library 10) in thecentre of Helsinki (in Postitalo, Elielinaukio 2 G) offers internet access and good information services in English. It’s open Mon-Thu 10-22, Fri 10-18 and Sat-Sun 12-18.

Market halls. Fresh vegetables, fish, meat, bakery items and dairy products are sold at the traditional market halls. Wanha Kauppahal-li (Old Market Hall) in Kauppatori (Market Square) and Hakaniemen Kauppahalli (Hakaniemi Market Place) are the most popular.Both are open Mon–Fri 8–18, Sat 8–16 and are closed on Sundays.

Museums are closed on Mondays. The National Museum of Finland is located in Helsinki (Mannerheimintie 34, next to the Parliament building) and is open Tue-Wed 11-20, Thu-Sun 11-18. For more information, see www.nba.fi or tel. +358 9 40 50 95 44. Should you wish to book a guided tour, call +358 9 40 50 95 52 Tue-Fri 9-12. Bear in mind that bookings should be made at least one week in advance. More information about museums is available at www.a5.fi/lehdet/museoesite.

Post. Post offices are usually open Mon–Fri 10–18. See www.posti.fi.

runs a column series Expat views with rotating expat column writers and we are interested in your experiences.

Share your funny, memorable, frustrating or great experiences of Finland with our readers. Please send us a brief email to

heidi@helsinkitimes.fi with a piece of information about yourself and what kind of experiences you would like to write about and we will give

you more information on how to proceed with your story.

Helsinki Times Oy Vilhonvuorenkatu 11 B 00500 Helsinki www.helsinkitimes.fi

035535-0805

ISSUE 5 (85) 29 JANUARY – 4 FEBRUARY 2009 • ISSN 1796-8321. Price €3 (sis ALV)

Editor-in-chief Alexis Kouros Editor Laura Seppälä Subeditor Heidi Lehtonen Proofreading Jesse Karjalainen, James O'Connor Editorial team Nick Barlow, David Cord, Kati Hurme, Mari Kaislaniemi, Miissa Rantanen, Egan Richardson, Ville Ukkola Layout and graphic design Andrei Kuzmin Trainee in layout design Saira Jaferi Webmaster Mahmoud Assiabi, Jere Kokko Translations Michael Nagler, Matthew Parry Sales Aiman Kaddoura, Bob Graham, Kati Hurme, Stephen O'Brien Print house I-print, Vaasa

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Yuko Kawaguchi and Alexander Smirnov of Russia performs at the Exhibition Gala of the ISU European Figure Skating Champi-onships in Helsinki, Finland on 25 January.

the week in pictures

L EH T IK U VA / REU T ER S / SH A NNON S TA P L E TON

A tame golden eagle swoops down on a hare during a tradition-al hunting contest near the town of Karkaralinsk in central Ka-zakhstan 23 January. Kazakhstan’s national sport of Sayat - or hunting with golden eagles - is popular in the Central Asian state. Berkutchi, or golden eagle hunters, from all over the coun-try arrived for the annual competition.

A woman fights a fire in her house in La Nucia near Alicante southeastern Spain on 24 January. High winds lashed Spain and France, killing at least eleven since Friday in Spain and knocking out power to over a million homes in southwest France, as well as disrupting air and rail traffic

A Palestinian looks up while repairing a smuggling tunnel in Ra-fah near Gaza’s border with Egypt 22 January. Hundreds of Pal-estinians came to the Gaza Strip’s border with Egypt on Thurs-day to try to repair smuggling tunnels bombed by Israel during a 22-day offensive and restore a commercial lifeline to the Hamas-ruled territory.

A mock intruder, tangled in a net that was launched by the re-mote-controlled security robot T-34, lies on the floor while pos-ing beside the robot during a photo opportunity in Tokyo 21 Jan-uary. T-34 users can see live images from the robot’s camera and control the robot using a mobile phone. The robot, which has sensors that react to body heat and sound, can launch a net against an intruder by remote-control during its surveillance.

A man holds a sign along 14th Street as preparations continue for the inauguration of US President-Elect Barack Obama at the US Capitol in Washington 19 January.

L EH T IK U VA / REU T ER S / K I M K Y UNG-HOON

L EH T IK U VA / REU T ER S / SH A MIL Z HUM ATOV

L EH T IK U VA / REU T ER S / IBR A HEE M A BU MUS TA FA

L EH T IK U VA / S A RI GUS TA F SSON

L EH T IK U VA / A F P P HOTO / JEF F PAC HOUD

L EH T IK U VA / A F P P HOTO / M A NUEL LOREN ZO

SUNDAYSATURDAY

WEDNESDAYMONDAY THURSDAY

TUESDAY

FRIDAY

This picture taken on 20 January shows a newly born Madagascar lemur, Propithecus coronatus, an endangered specie named Tahina, at Besancon Zoo, eastern France. There are only 17 Propithecus coronatus living in captivity worldwide. Tahina, meaning in malgache “Needs to be protected”, was born on December 27.