Friday paper review: Social reform collapse, growing markets may save paper makers, and cooking courses all the rage
A glance at what’s being written about in today’s papers. Reactions and reflections on the government’s stalled efforts to reform the country’s social and health care services; how China and developing markets in the East may boost the Finnish forestry and paper industry by using more toilet paper, tissues and paper towels; and people are increasingly eager to try their hand at new adventures in the kitchen.
All of Friday’s papers devoted many column inches to reports about government’s stalled efforts to reform the country’s social and health care services. The bold plan, which has been haggled over for the past four years, unraveled yesterday afternoon when Parliament’s Constitutional Law Committee deemed it unconstitutional and recommended its deferral.
Finland’s biggest Swedish-language dailyHufudstadsbladet’s front page read “2020 new date for reforms.”
Aamulehti andTurun Sanomat’s headlines read similar variations of: “Social reform solutions to be made in elections”
The reform programme aimed to strengthen basic health and social welfare services by providing services efficiently and cost-effectively. Essentially, it also targeted significantly reducing the current 200 different municipal bodies responsible for providing these services down to five care regions.
Read our coverage about the reform collapse:here andhere.
China may well help to save the Finnish paper industry
Helsingin Sanomat featured a front page article about how emerging markets in the East are helping Finland’s shaky paper and forestry industry stay afloat. While sales of printing papers continue to decline worldwide, countries like China and other developing countries are increasingly using toilet and kitchen paper.
These emerging markets for soft pulp paper products are a boon for Finnish companies like Metsä Group, Stora Enso and UPM, the newspaper wrote. The paper also included an illustrated graph comparing the use of tissue by the richest countries.
The United States is number one in soft-paper consumption (tissue, toilet and kitchen papers) at 25 kg per person annually. The Swedes use 16.5 kg per person, and Finns use 15 kg per year. At the bottom of the list were Russia and Ukraine who reportedly annually use 3.5 and 2.2 kg, respectively, the paper reported.
Food, glorious food
Helsingin Sanomat’s weekly cultural supplementNyt Liite devoted a two-page spread to the growth in popularity of cooking courses in the capital region - with sushi and Eastern foods being big favourites.
The paper surveyed the different courses available, as organised by restaurants, schools and educational centres. This month you can take a one-day course and learn to roll your own sushi at restaurantsTokyo 55’s sushi academy, or atTokyokan, the paper wrote. Learn to make Thai food atRyan Thai or try your hand at trendy raw food with the home economics groupThe Martha Organization, or atGreenstreet on Helsinginkatu in Helsinki.