While Britain struggles with sky-high bills, and private water, electricity and oil companies make record profits, Finland relies on a unique system of economic shock absorbers. Cooperatives deliver everything from water and electricity to hotel breaks and ferries. They started in the late 1800s and today there are more cooperative memberships than Finns. How does it work? Lesley visited Finland this summer to find out.
Show Notes
Finland has a 1300 km long land border with Russia, fought two wars in the 1940s to defend then reclaim territory, and is now applying to join NATO.
There, most knowledge of the country ends.
Which is a shame.
Because a staple of Finnish life could offer a permanent solution to supply crises in Britain – using cooperatives not corporations to deliver.
During a cycle on the Finnish-owned Aland Islands Lesley used cooperatively-owned ferries. This year, during a summer trip to the Sibelius Festival in the Finnish city of Lahti, she visited the cooperatively run Housing Fair, the Metsalitto Forest cooperative (which has 100 thousand members), stayed at the cooperatively owned Solo Sokos Hotel in Lahti - part of the huge S-Group cooperative with more than 3 million members and passed cooperatively owned shops, businesses and banks at every stage of her journey.
How does it all work?
Lesley Riddoch went to Finland's seventh largest city to find out.
With thanks to Risto Turanen, Kari Huhtala, VisitFinland, Finnair and Sokos Hotels.
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What is The Lesley Riddoch Podcast?
Scottish politics dissected from a left, pro-independence stance. Each week, award-winning broadcaster and journalist, Lesley Riddoch chews over the week’s news with co-host Fraser Thompson. If you like intelligent, quirky chat about Scottish society and culture, and Scottish, UK and international politics analysed from a Scottish perspective; this podcast is for you.