Turun Sanomat says that the effects that would follow a decision by British voters to pull out of the European Union are hard to predict. Even so, this is not stopping governments and other institutions across the EU from making contingency plans in the case of a Brexit.
According to the paper's sources, these evaluations are being kept as closely-guarded secrets in order not to fan uncertainty before the vote.
Turun Sanomat examined the key areas Britain's withdraw would affect and speculated on some of the impacts on Finland.
The first area includes legal and political affairs. If Britain announces an exit, it would immediately be shut out EU meetings. The process of a full withdrawal could easily take a couple of years and the Union would have to set tight limits on concessions in order not to encourage other members who may be considering an exit.
For Finland, a Brexit would mark the loss of an important ally within the EU. The UK has pushed a number of issues of importance to Finland such as well-functioning internal markets and less regulation.
According to Turun Sanomat, the direct economic effects of a Brexit would likely be minor, but the uncertainty aroused would have a detrimental impact on Finnish companies. Companies here would have to again deal with customs duties when buying British goods and so the price of British products would rise. Finland imports mainly industrial products from the UK, but also consumer goods such as clothing and shoes.
Overall, a British exit would make the EU weaker in terms of foreign and security policy, as well, points out Turun Sanomat.
Flex offices and telecommuting
Helsingin Sanomat carries a report today about some of the fast changes being seen in the workplace, as many companies move to flex offices and encourage more telecommuting.
The item features the developments and experiences at the telecom company Elisa which has implemented these new-style working arrangements itself and enables other companies to do the same. It says more flexibility in the workplace has increased its revenues by around ten percent.
According to Elisa CEO Veli-Matti Mattila, the biggest change flexibility has brought is that employees manage themselves more and more.
"One has to take responsibility for the pace of one's own working day. The readiness to do this has to come from the individual. Supervision only spoils this scenario," says Mattila.
Elisa's own approach to telecommuting changed radically in 2012 when the company decided that all of its employees have the right to telecommute.
Before this, any employee who wanted to work from outside company premises had to justify it with a reason why. Since then, managers have had to justify why an employee’s physical presence is required during the working day. The effects have been dramatic. During the period of 2012-1014, company employees, including sales personnel in shops, did an annual average of 75 hours of telecommuting. This year, that is expected to rise to 80 hours.
Arson in Helsinki
The newsstand tabloid Iltalehti reports on series of fires in the Myllypuro district of Helsinki that destroyed six cars.
Firefighters responding to a call in the early hours of Monday found three cars ablaze and three more with their tyres set alight. The fires were all brought under control before they could spread to any buildings. Just before this call, units were on a nearby scene where an attempt was made to set fire to an earthmoving machine.
This was the second series of apparent arson over the weekend. During the early hours of Saturday, Helsinki firefighters put out several fires in the Pukinmäki district of the city that hit small buildings including a sauna and a carport.
Watch the sky, but carefully
Several papers, including the Kuopio-based Savon Sanomat reminded readers that today the planet Mercury will make a transit across the sun, and provided advice on how to safely observe this rarely-seen phenomenon.
Watching the progress of Mercury across the face of the sun requires a telescope or binoculars, and a special solar filter. As pointed out by the astronomy association Ursa, under no circumstances should you look into the sun through a telescope or binoculars without a strong filter to prevent eye damage.
If a solar filter is not available, the transit of Mercury can still be indirectly observed by projecting the image onto a piece of white cardboard, for example.
The transit will be visible in Finland starting just after 2 PM local time and continue until the sun sets, and as late as 9:41 PM in the far north of the country.
