Finland has made a new world record. Mrs. Margit Tall, a daredevil lady of 95 is thought to be the world’s oldest woman to bungee jump. She made an old wish come through, after ignoring the organiser’s warning that the leap could kill her. She just went to the jumping site at Kaivopuisto in Helsinki, and asked whether there was an age limit. “We thought she was joking”, one of the organizers said. She insisted, arguing that she has a pair of good, big feet and strong ankles, and that she was afraid of nothing, having done crazy and risky things all her life. Finally she got the permission for a tandem jump, in the arms of a young and muscular male. This brave lady, who walks with a stick, did not even scream during the 150 m plunge. “I would have preferred to jump alone, but I admit it was kind of nice to sway in the arms of a young man”, she said after making the leap. Afterwards she said the jump was nothing compared to what she had been going through during the Finnish Winter War in 1939 as a tram driver, driving through the streets of Helsinki during bombing raids.
Today the world is also going through a lot of turmoil. Events in Ukraine have escalated, causing stress and anxiety in many countries, especially the neighbouring states including Finland. Fighting between government forces and pro-Russian separatists has continued despite domestic and international efforts to de-escalate the crisis. Now, cease-fire in Eastern Ukraine seems to be holding a week after rebel leaders agreed to a temporary truce with authorities in Kiev. In spite of that, Western states have ratcheted up sanctions against Russia over its actions in Ukraine, provoking the Kremlin into answering with sanctions of its own. Let’s hope for a peaceful solution, but the odds do not look good.
The government of Finland shocked part of the Western world by backing the Finnish-Russian company Fennovoima’s (owned to 34% by Russian Rosatom) plan to build a new nuclear plant in Northern Finland. The result of the move was that Finland’s five-party government was reduced to a quartet when the Greens decided to leave the government. The word Finlandisation has gained popularity again.
In Sweden, general elections were held on 14 September. The centre-right Alliance for Sweden coalition representing the Moderate Party, Liberal People’s Party , Centre Party and Christian Democrats sought a third term in government, but the three largest left-wing parties (the Social Democrats, Green Party and Left Party) outpolled the Alliance with 158 against 142 seats. As a consequence, Fredrik Reinfeldt, the incumbent prime minister, has announced his decision to resign. A shocking fact was that the populist Sweden Democrats was the biggest winner, doubling their support, getting the remaining 49 seats. It will be interesting to see if Sweden can continue ignoring the Sweden Democrats. According to recent news, they are said to claim a speaker’s post in Parliament.
On September 18th, Scotland voted no in the referendum on independence from Britain. The overall result was a win for the “no” side, with 55,3 % voting against. According to Reuters, Britain has avoided a traumatic break-up that would have caused political shock and fanned English nationalism. On the other hand, the referendum was a result of a well organised two-year campaign, and the outcome, although negative, can be seen as a tribute to Scotland and democracy. Greater autonomy, greater financial authority and better health care services for Scotland are foreseen.
Mr. Rajoy is said to be relieved by the Scottish no to independence. He is perhaps seeing possibilities with regard to the Catalans and Basques. But he claims a Catalan referendum would be illegal. Let’s see how it goes.
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