Author: Lesley Riddoch
New – The Nordic Horizons Explainer Podcast
It’s twelve years since Dan Wynn and Lesley Riddoch set up a think tank to focus on the policy successes of Scotland’s Nordic neighbours. Since then, Nordic Horizons has organised almost 70 meetings – most of them in person until the pandemic lockdown in 2020. Now Nordic Horizons meets online – less disruption and travel for speakers and more access for Scots living outside...Read More
3: Heating homes without gas – the Nordic way
None of Scotland's Nordic neighbours depends on gas for heating - but 85% of homes in Scotland do. Why the big difference? How did Nordic nations jump the green heating hurdle & should Scotland fix its energy crisis by installing district heating like Sw
Heating homes without gas – the Nordic way
None of Scotland’s Nordic neighbours depends on gas for heating – but 85% of homes in Scotland do. Why the big difference? How did Nordic nations jump the green heating hurdle & should Scotland fix its energy crisis by installing district heating like Sweden and Denmark – or go electric like Norway? These were some of the big climate questions tackled by Nordic Horizons speak...Read More
2: Pint-sized Nordic democracy
Scotland has the largest units of 'local' government in the developed world with just 32 councils for 5.3 million folk. Norway has almost 400 councils for roughly the same population. The Faroes - with a smaller population than Falkirk - has 29 local cou
1: NATO, Nordics and Russian Aggression
Three Nordic experts discuss Russian aggression in Ukraine and the way it is unravelling 70 years of neutrality and non-alignment in Scandinavia. It deals with opinion polls suggesting most Swedes and Finns want to join NATO, but questions American commit
PODCAST: NATO membership for Finland & Sweden – the end of Baltic neutrality??
This podcast was produced after a fascinating online Nordic Horizons meeting in March 2022, eight weeks before the Swedish and Finnish premiers announced their intention to join NATO. It explores their fears about Russian intervention during the accession process when both states might be vulnerable to attack, their reasons for not originally joining NATO along with neighbours Denmark and Norway i...Read More
NEW PODCAST Powerful pint-sized Nordic democracy
Scotland has the largest units of ‘local’ government in the developed world with just 32 councils for 5.3 million folk. Norway has almost 400 councils for roughly the same population. The Faroes – with fewer folk than Falkirk – has 29 local councils. What difference does that make to dynamism and democracy? Don’t small councils run the risk of nepotism, inefficiency a...Read More
It’s all change at Nordic Horizons
Lily Greenan is stepping down after a decade of organising many of the 60 in-person events we’ve held in the Scottish Parliament and other Edinburgh venues since 2010.
The Great Green Danes have become UN climate champions 2021
People often wonder what happens to Nordic Horizons speakers – in the case of Samsø and Søren Hermansen – they just keep going from strength to strength. The tiny Danish island has just been made UN climate leader award winner for 2021 for; ‘completely transforming its energy system from fossil fuels to renewable energy to become the world’s first renewable energy island. Key res...Read More
Electric Dreams
Electric cars in Norway have risen to a record 54% market share, making this Nordic country the first in the world where the sale of electric cars has outstripped any other type for a full year. It’s quite a milestone for January 2021 and was forecast in a Nordic Horizons event just over two years ago. There’s nothing mystical about Norway’s electric car success – using tax...Read More