ISSUE 21 (100) • 22–27 MAY 2009 • €3 • WWW.HELSINKITIMES.FI DOMESTIC INTERNATIONAL NEWS SPORT CULTURE EAT & DRINK Surprise Chernobyl Finland’s Playful Traditional rise kids love of design in wine in marriages in Cuba trotting races New York making page 4 page 7 page 11 page 15 page 16 Finnish population. THL special re- Finns surpass Danes as searcher Pia Mäkelä points out that half of the country’s annual alcohol LEHTIKUVA intake is consumed by a mere ten heaviest-drinking Nordics per cent of Finnish drinkers. “In addition, the harder-drink- STT Finns drink an average of more ing half of Finland’s drinking pop- MATTHEW PARRY – HT than ten litres of alcohol per person ulation accounts for around 90 annually, while other Nordic citi- per cent of all alcohol consumed in FINNS drink more alcohol than the zens fail to pass the ten litre mark. this country. That said, it’s not on- citizens of any other Nordic coun- Norwegians and Icelanders are ly these heavier drinkers whose try, new data reveals. According to the most moderate Nordic drink- health is at risk from excessive alco- a study by the National Institute for ers, consuming just over six litres hol consumption. Finns who tend to Health and Welfare (THL), Finland annually. drink rarely, but in large doses, are has surpassed Denmark in the alco- In European terms, Finns’ con- also potentially jeopardising their hol consumption stakes for the fi rst sumption levels rank slightly above health,” Mäkelä says. time. Up until now, the Danes have average. Finns tend to consume Alcohol-related health prob- held the title for highest alcohol the same amount of alcohol as the lems tend to be most serious among consumption in the Nordic region. French do, while the Czechs, the those between the ages of 50 and Irish and the Hungarians all man- 70, because many of these problems age to out-drink the Finns. only emerge after years of consist- Daily, moderate consumption of ent abuse. Mäkelä notes that there alcohol nevertheless remains a rare is a substantial gap between age phenomenon in Finland, with most groups in this regard, one that has of the country’s annual intake taking been growing since 2004. place in large measures on weekends. “Among younger age brack- Increases in alcohol consumption ets, mortality rates have remained The popular social networking site, IRC-Galleria, has over 500,000 registered users. have been particularly noted among quite low, but there have been steep LEHTIKUVA / HANNU KIVIMÄKI Finnish women and pensioners, while increases among older age brackets. consumption among Finnish youths There are also substantial differ- has declined in recent years. ences in the level of alcohol-related Three policemen now Although Finns tend to drink a illness among different socio-eco- lot in European terms, a minority nomic groups.” of especially hard drinkers can also The THL’s study was published 18 online at IRC-Galleria be distinguished from the general May. DAVID J. CORD tions each week. The three offi cers HELSINKI TIMES are also part of a programme start- fulfi lled her promise to temporarily ing in August to combat online bul- suspend maternity leave in order to IRC-GALLERIA, Finland’s most pop- lying. “Online bullying has become Controversial adoption vote in favour of the law. ular social networking site, now has more common,” explains Forss. “I The principal intention behind three police offi cers as members. try to write in my online diary at the new law is to improve the legal Marko Forss was the fi rst offi cer least once a week, and I have writ- bill passed into force and practical position of children with an online profi le at the site and ten a lot about bullying.” of parents living in registered part- he has now been joined by Mikko Forss explains how youth are in- RISTO JUSSILA – STT tian Democrat members voted nerships. According to the law on Manninen and Jutta Antikainen. teracting more and more online and MATTHEW PARRY – HT against the bill. Their rejection was internal adoption, the children of “I was in a group working on how it is important for police to be supported by 15 Centre Party mem- parents in a registered partnership domestic violence and underage able to interact with them in their SAME-SEX couples in Finland now bers, four National Coalition mem- are now to be considered the child of crimes,” explains Forss by telephone own environment. “A 16 year old girl have the right to internal adop- bers, three Social Democrats and both the parent and his or her part- from Rome where he is speaking at a who has been raped may not have tion under the terms of a new law one of the two True Finns members ner. Because internal adoption was conference on online safety. “Many of the courage to come to a police sta- passed by parliament on 15 May. present during the session. not legal under the old regime, the the crimes with youngsters were in- tion,” says Forss. “But it is easier The act specifi es that the same-sex Although 61 absent members child of one parent in a registered ternet-related and I thought it was a to talk on the internet. I get a lot of partner of a parent is able to regis- were registered in the vote, some of partnership was not legally consid- good idea to have a visible police pro- very personal questions.” ter as the legal guardian of his or her these members were in fact present ered a relative of that parent’s part- fi le.” Last September police authori- Forss believes that it is impor- partner’s child. With one abstention at the time. The National Coalition’s ner. Consequently, the old law did ties gave their blessing to Forss’ idea. tant to take advantage of the new and 61 absent members, the govern- Eero Akaan-Penttilä, Petri Salo not consider such children the legal “Of course we are very happy social media. He says that a police ment-sponsored bill was passed in- and Minister of Defence Jyri Häkä- inheritors of the parent’s partner’s with them there,” says Juhani Las- offi cer may only interact with 10 to law on the strength of a vote of mies, the Centre Party’s Minister estate. sila of Sulake, which owns IRC-Gal- or 15 young people on each trip out 108–29. of Agriculture and Forestry Sirk- The number of families in which leria. “We feel that police should be of the station but online the offi cer With members required to vote ka-Liisa Anttila, the Left Alliance’s the parent is in a registered part- visible where people are, and today could reach thousands. “When I talk on conscience rather than along par- Matti Kangas, as well as the True nership has consistently grown in young people are online.” about this I always like to mention ty lines, Finland’s Christian Dem- Finns’ Pertti Virtanen, all chose recent years. In 2002, there were The three answer questions from a Chinese proverb,” sums up For- ocrats were the only party whose not to vote. As a rule, however, the 32 of them, but by 2007 the number young people and explain the law. ss. “When the winds of change are members provided party-wide op- True Finns were against the law. The had risen to 146. The current fi gure Forss says that he gets thousands blowing it is better to be a windmill position to the change. All six Chris- Green League’s Johanna Sumuvuori is estimated to be at least 200. of visitors and hundreds of ques- than a stone wall.” 2 22 – 27 MAY 2009 EDITORIAL HELSINKI TIMES ALEXIS KOUROS EDITOR-IN-CHIEF We said it one hundred times! THIS is the 100th issue of Hel- one reason for people coming tion that we have received so the internet becomes more ent reporters faced a high good. The positive aspects of sinki Times. You may be read- to Finland has been for love. far, fi rst with SixDegrees and mundane, printed books probability of being killed. this revolutionary tool out- ing it on a Finnair fl ight high The number of intercultural now with the Helsinki Times, and newspapers will co-ex- The term embedded could weigh its faults and dangers in the sky or in the comfort marriages has been growing have come from immigrants ist with it and continue to well be widened to cover a signifi cantly. Like any tool, of your home somewhere in constantly. According to Sta- themselves – not, as you thrive. The pleasure of read- lot of other situations where it can be used properly or Finland. You may be read- tistics Finland, in 2007 eve- would have assumed, from ing a paper on your sofa or unbiased journalism is com- abused in the wrong hands. ing it because of the English ry forth marriage in Helsinki the xenophobic or racial- on a train while not having to promised by commercial or Like a forest or a metrop- language or to get the infor- included at least one foreign ly prejudiced. It seems that worry about radiation from political “protection”. olis, it can hide dangerous mation you can’t get in other citizen and this share grew the frustration caused by the the monitor or battery life is creatures and offer healing media – these are the main last year. Once again, contra- slow integration process and so simple and obvious that it THERE has been an absurd plants at the same time.