I recently saw a program on the BBC with Mark Mardell, who was in Finland. It was interesting to see how outsiders viewed Finland as "one big, happy family" and "too good to be true".

Here are some excerpts from the BBC website:

-"TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE?
It is one of the last bright, sunny, crisp autumn days in Finland before the snows arrive.
The children at the school we are filming at are almost too good to be true, blonde hair in neat plaits, full of energy but not too boisterous, amazingly well-behaved. Sometimes it seems the whole of Finland is like that - just too goody-goody to be believable. "

-"RIGHTS AND RESPONSIBILITIES
In fact, I expect to see Messrs Brown and Blair pop up heavily disguised in blond wigs and snow shoes.
The mantra of these politicians is spoken quite naturally by every citizen here. They will tell you how it is important for the state to "invest" in children and how the high skills, hi-tech road is the only one to follow, and unfortunately that means high taxes.
I've lost count of the number of pamphlets I've read by New Labour politicians trying to recapture some lost spirit of Owenite socialism when people cared for each other and realised they had "rights as well as responsibilities".
Such stuff is again on the lips of ordinary Finns who do claim to see each other as part of a big family who have a duty to look after each other and give something back. "

-"Just how different Finland is comes to me after interviewing the prime minister in his rather lovely offices in a main square overlooked by a beautiful, white domed Lutheran cathedral.
I have a few "pieces to camera" to do, so put my bag containing files, personal organiser, keys and camera down by the steps into the PM's office. Foolishly I leave it there.
When I rush back in a panic three-quarters of an hour later, it's still there. Not only un-nicked but there's no cordon thrown around it, no police about to blow it up.
Last time I left my bag in Downing Street it not surprisingly caused a panic even though it had been through the full security system. Now that's what I call a different social model. "

Of course we in Finland have our differences and our problems, but it is quite striking to see the way in which we are seen from the outside, I did not expect a Brit to be so surprised.

However, after the general good feeling of having my nationalist ego stroked passed, I sank into some deeper thoughts that were aroused by the article. Basically my thoughts revolved around what makes us different, why we are different and so on. The kind of mentality described by Mardell is something which is, or at least until recently was, common in all of the Nordic countries. Has this changed, I thought, as some of us, such as Sweden, have become increasingly multicultural with a fading value consensus and increasing racial and religious tension and immigrant-related problems in general?

In todays edition of Helsingin Sanomat I found an article concerning the fact, that the immigrant gangs of Stocholm have stolen hundreds of millions of Swedish kronors this year alone. Also, not so long ago, following a riot between immigrant youth (mostly Syrian) and Swedish police in Södertälje, a police station was peppered with automatic rifle fire. This does not sound anything like the utopia described by Mardell, but it looks and sounds like an American tv-series. This just doesn't happen here in the Nordic countries, or so I thought. So what has changed in Sweden or what makes Finland different from Sweden? For starters, Finland has an immigrant population of about 2%, while in Sweden that number is five-fold. Yet, integration problems are also quite evident in Finland, and we can see what is going on in Sweden.

Finns have invested in their children, because they are the future. However, lately, there is the trend of investing in immigrants and refugees and counting on them to take us forward. I just don't see the same kind of dividends paying off from this investment. The Nordic society I grew up in, where there was a great sense of rights, but also responsibilities, is quickly eroding. I can only hope Finland would see Sweden as an example and learn from her mistakes. I can only hope that we will continue to invest in our children instead of investing in the children of others and that we will remain what we strived for so long to become. Sweden has sent us a clear message: multicultural society is not a happy one, or a united one. Integration and assimilation to a great extent is necessary, but Sweden is now faced with the dilemma of integrating hundreds of thousands of culturally (as well as ethnically) distant people, hostile to Swedish culture and society. Although I am not a big fan or any organized religion, I wish the victims of a failed utopian experiment to rest in peace.