There is no doubting that it is big. At 130,596 square miles, Finland is the sixth largest country in western Europe (behind France, Spain, Sweden, Norway and Germany). And it is certainly northern – only Iceland, in the shape of Reykjavik, has a capital city which sits further up the torso of the planet than the Finnish kingpin Helsinki. But beyond these basic nuggets of geography, how much do you know about the easternmost segment of the Scandinavian landmass? Let us entertain you with these random slices of raw fact…

1,cheap wholesale jordans. It used to be Russian


Finland has a complex history, and a lot of it has involved belligerent men from other areas telling it how to run its business, moustaches a-bristling. Between 1809 and 1917,jordans for cheap, for example, it was the “Grand Duchy of Finland” – an “autonomous” entity within the Russian Empire. So “autonomous”, in fact,http://users.atw.hu/as-esport/index.php?site=forum_topic&topic=17278cheapjordanshoesfreeshipping.com/bolg, that its head of state was the Tsar. This epoch ended on December 6 1917 – 99 years ago today – when, as a rising tide of nationalism broke, the Finnish parliament declared independence, taking advantage of the power vacuum which had emerged over the border in the wake of the October Revolution. The new Bolshevik Russia took its time, then recognised Finnish freedom on January 4 1918.


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2. And it used to be Swedish as well


If it wasn’t the jokers to the right, it was the clowns to the left, so to speak. Finland spent much of the Middle Ages under the thumb of the Swedish crown – perhaps from as early a moment as 1150, and certainly from 1249 onwards, when Sweden began a crusade of conquest, before hanging around for almost six centuries (until the Russian takeover in 1809). Remnants of this era are visible in Turku – which is probably Finland’s oldest city, and is home to a castle that was constructed by the incoming neighbours in around 1280. It is still a swarthy, imposing fortification, and it’s open for visits (turku.fi/en/turkucastle).











Turku Castle was built by the Swedish

Credit: AP/KIM TAKALA,KIM TAKALA






3. It had one of the shortest-lived monarchies ever


Leaving aside its centuries under the steely gaze of the King of Sweden and the Tsar of Russia, the history of the Finnish monarchy amounts to less than three months. The newly formed nation toyed with employing a bloke on a throne as it found its feet in 1918 – and even went as far as to elect a German prince to said top job. Frederick-Charles of Hesse was “appointed” on October 9 1918, and a new dawn beckoned. But then Germany lost the First World War, abandoned its own monarchy, and posh German chaps in robes were no longer en vogue. Frederick-Charles stepped down on December 14 1918 after a glorious 67-day reign – a timespan so short that he was never crowned. Nor was a crown made for him. Which makes the fact that you can go to a museum and see “the crown of the King of Finland” – a “replica” of something that never existed, created as a museum exhibit – all the more odd. It is displayed at the Gemstone Gallery in the town of Kemi, way up north in Finnish Lapland (visitkemi.fi/en/gemstone-gallery). Form a polite queue.

4. It’s still really close to Russia


Those friends in the east are very much still there. The border between Finland and Russia is one of Europe’s longest – 833 miles in total, cutting north-to-south through a lot of uninhabited forest. It also creates a chasm – splitting the traditional region of Karelia into two (as it has since 1940, when the “Winter War” between Finland and the Soviet Union saw Moscow seize a sizeable chunk of what had been Finnish territory. Does this sound familiar?) For all this, Finnish Karelia is decidedly accessible (you fly to the city of Joensuu), and is an intriguing alternative to Lapland if you want unfettered winter beauty and swathes of ice. Koli National Park (koli.fi/en),cheap air jordans, where you can go show-shoeing on the edge of the frozen Lake Pielinen, is just one frosty example of the region’s prettiness.









Koli National Park is a wonder in summer or winter

Credit: AP






5. Father Christmas does not have to be big business


If you are reading this as a child under the age of, let’s say, eight, then congratulations on your choice of website – but you may wish to look away now, and avoid the dreadful truth that there are hundreds of versions of Santa Claus in Finland. A whole industry’s worth. The shiniest editions are arguably found in Rovaniemi, which has made an artform of jovial gents in red playsuits – not least via Santa Claus Village,http://users.atw.hu/promotionscorp/index.php?site=forum_topic&topic=16676cheapjordanshoesfreeshipping.com/bolg, an enormous theme park which has been in operation since 1985, and takes its job so seriously that it sits on the very line of the Arctic Circle at 66oN (santaclausvillage.info). But there is much to be said for a less razzle-dazzle take on the Father Christmas legend. One such option is the at-home-with-St-Nick experience available in the village of Vuotunki, 10 miles from the Russian border in the Northern Ostrobothnia region. Here, children can spend four hours “meeting” the great man at his rustic cottage, and bake cookies with Mrs Claus. Sessions are held on Saturday mornings (from 930am) between early December and late March – ?70 a head with Best of Arctic (bestofarctic.fi). It adds up to a thoroughly authentic and plausible take on the idea of an immortal old chap who creates toys for the whole world out of the goodness of his own heart, lives with reindeers, and isn’t in the least bit weird.

6. Helsinki has one of the world’s loveliest cathedrals…


The Tuomiokirkko (helsinkicathedral.fi) – a neoclassical wonder in white,cheap jordans, capped with domes of green, which sits at the heart of the Finnish capital. It was built between 1830 and 1852 in forelock-tugging tribute to Tsar Nicholas I, but lacks much of the pomp and circumstance which can characterise Russian churches,http://users.atw.hu/phake-mgaming/index.php?site=forum_topic&topic=15115cheapjordanshoesfreeshipping.com/bolg, trading instead on a quiet architectural grace. It looks colossal from the outside, rearing above Senaatintori (Senate) Square, but feels rather smaller within – even though it can seat some 1300 worshippers.









The Tuomiokirkko is a graceful construction

Credit: AP/KIM TAKALA,KIM TAKALA






7. …and surprisingly good beaches


Not in the very centre, admittedly, where Helsinki is still very much a port – cruise ships gliding to dock, ferries from Stockholm and St Petersburg inching their way into harbour. But look around, and there are plenty of strips of sand nuzzled by the Baltic. One is found 10 miles to the east in Aurinkolahti. That the name of this outer suburb – which translates as “Sunny Bay” – was recently changed from “Mustalahti” (“Black Bay”), in a marketing exercise designed to pull in potential residents, does not detract from the broadness of its main beach. It lives up to its moniker too – at least in July and August, when Helsinki lifts itself to a temperature of 21oC, and the sea warms to a just about toe-dippable 16oC.


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8. It is home to western Europe’s second biggest lake




Not the biggest. That’s Lake Vanern in Sweden, of course. But at 1,700 square miles in surface area, Lake Saimaa is still remarkably big – certainly the largest of the 188,000 lakes which dot the Finnish landscape. It is home to the Saimaa Ringed Seal – although you will be lucky to spot one of these endangered freshwater beasts. They number a mere 320 in total, and are only found in the lake. Still, you can take a pair of binoculars and try. The waterside is most easily reached via the small city of Lappeenranta – 140 miles north-east of Helsinki.









Lappeenranta adorns the edge of Lake Saimaa

Credit: AP






9. There's a city that still likes Lenin


There aren’t too many places left where you can find dewy-eyed tributes to 1917’s poster boy for bearded revolutionaries – but Finland’s third biggest city is one of them. Tampere offers the Lenin Museo (lenin.fi) – a dissection of the life and works of Vladimir Lenin, housed in Puistotorni,cheap real jordans, a former workers’ hall. Why? Well, it was here that Lenin met Stalin for the first time, at a Bolshevik conference, in December 1905 – and one of the seeds of the fall of the Tsar,cheap jordans free shipping, the rise of the Soviet Union,cheap authentic jordans, the outbreak of the Cold War and all that jazz was sown. The museum has moderated its tone a little since the collapse of the Eastern Bloc,cheap jordans online, and is now a little more critical of Vlad and his revolution-rousing ways – but it still holds a candle for a man who lived in the city between 1905 and 1907.









The Lenin Museum is a Tampere curiosity

Credit: AFP/TIMO JAAKONAHO






10. You can time travel


No, really. The border between Finland and Sweden is also a time-zone marker. Finland is two hours ahead of Greenwich Mean Time, Sweden just one hour. This means that if you hop the frontier from east to west, you “regain” a full 60 minutes of your life – good fun on December 3...ing in the new year twice. One possible location for such back-to-the-future machinations is Karesuvanto, a village in Finnish Lapland which perches on the bank of the River Munio, directly across from its Swedish counterpart Karesuando. Walk over the bridge between the two and, hey presto, you’re Marty McFly.





Britain’s builders are facing a recession as commercial property demand slumps and few new infrastructure projects are commissioned.


Housebuilding is the only area of growth and even that slowed down last month, according to a survey of the industry published by IHS Markit.


Activity in the sector fell with the purchasing managers’ index (PMI) score dropping to 48.1 in September, below the 50 level that indicates growth.


That is the lowest level since July 2016 when builders feared that the Brexit vote would trash their order books.


Businesses are commissioning fewer new commercial developments with builders reporting a sharp decline in work in the market.


“This reading is significantly worse than expected and shows that economic uncertainty continues to have a serious impact on the construction industry. Construction is an economic bellwether, so the concern will spread well beyond the sector,” said Richard Threlfall, head of infrastructure, building and construction at KPMG.


“There is a clear downturn in commercial construction, which is likely to continue. This is because new orders are dropping off, hitting pipelines.”


Civil engineering work fell at its fastest pace in more than four years as completed projects are not replaced with new jobs.









Eye-catching infrastructure projects such as the Hinkley Point nuclear plant have been given the goahead, but overall the limited number of new projects is hitting the construction sector

Credit: EDF Energy







Both the commercial and civil indices fell to 45.7 in September, while housing slowed to 53.1, its lowest level in six months.


“The construction sector is entering its own recession, as Brexit risk dampens demand for commercial buildings and as housing demand cools,” said Samuel Tombs at Pantheon Macroeconomics.




Official figures showed the construction sector contracted by 0.5pc in the second quarter of the year and Mr Tombs expects another decline in the third quarter, putting the industry into official recession territory.


Construction accounts for only a small proportion of GDP, however, at around 6pc.


The manufacturing industry and the dominant services sector are still growing so economists expect a moderate expansion overall in the third quarter of the year.


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