Chris Smith

Scotland’s Missing Wood Cabins
The full session which was hosted by the Festival of Politics in the Scottish Parliament is available below as an audio podcast. Introduced by the Chair of the Scottish Finnish […]

Here is some information about distinctly ‘Nordic’ performers appearing here in Edinburgh over the festival period.Leif Ove Andsnes (Norwegian)Norwegian pianist Leif Ove Andsnes is returning to the Edinburgh […]

The Rest & Be Thankful road is closed for the 5th time in 5 yrs. I reckon about 40k people in Argyll and Bute are facing a detour of 100 mile plus. In peak tourist season vital business may just go elsewhere – a […]

Small is Beautiful – Digital Notes
Nordic local government works in much smaller units than Scotland or England. Their municipalities gather taxes and run education, health and housing. The average Norwegian […]

The Writing of the new Icelandic Constitution
This was a great meeting on March 29th 2012 in Parliament with Professor Thorvaldur Gylfason who won the highest number of votes in elections for the Commission to […]

McKommunes – People-sized local government? – Digital Notes
The success of the Nordic nations seems tied to their systems of small and powerful municipal government. Join our round-table discussion on whether […]

The Revolution will be Nordic – Event Details
As Scotland tries to find its way in a global economy that is in crisis we ask whether the Nordic Model offers a way forward to a more stable and just society. Join […]

Russia’s first floating nuclear power plant has left Murmansk for its 4700 kms trip to a remote Siberian port – according to Arctic Today. News agencies suggest China is building another 20 floating nuclear r […]

Tapio Lappi-Seppälä, Director, National Research Institute of Legal Policy, Finland.
MAY 2012 

The open prison on the island of Suomenlimma near Helsinki is an astonishing place. The 100 prisoners li […]

Norway, independence, social democracy and Scotland’s referendum – Event Details
Norway, independence, social democracy and Scotland’s referendum” organised by Nordic Horizons and the Public Policy Network […]

As promised, Dr Tapio Lappi-Seppälä has sent on a full copy of his slides which he used at the recent meeting of Nordic Horizons. They are full and comprehensive and  and available here as “the Scotland 2012 Fin […]

 Humza Yousaf MSP, the host introduced  Dr Tapio Lappi-Seppälä, Director, National Research Institute of Legal Policy, Finland. 
Finland had one of the highest prison populations in western Europe until the 1970s […]

Pasi Sahlberg has kindly let us have a copy of his slides from his presentation. It’s a big file ( 3+ mb ) and you can download it here. Download Pasi Sahlberg Presentation in the Scotland Parliament 2012

Nordic Horizons event, Scottish Parliament, 29th March 2012
From Collapse to Constitution: The Case of Iceland
 Lesley Riddoch; Welcomes and intros.
 Professor Thorvalder Gylfason, economist, from Reykjavik ( […]

We are grateful to to the Public Policy Network Citizens Participation Group  for a copy of the notes from a meeting with Professor Thorvaldur Gylfason.  You can download the document – ‘Iceland’s Pots and Pans R […]

Great meeting on March 29th in Parliament with Professor Thorvaldur Gylfason who won the highest number of votes in elections for the Commission to write Iceland’s “crowd sourced” constitution. The ICC had no […]

Over seventy people crammed into Committee Room One of the Scottish Parliament last Friday to listen to two experts in different elements of the Norwegian outdoor experience talk about their own approaches to […]

Lesley Riddoch, acclaimed Scottish journalist and commentator, visited the University of Oslo on 28 February to give a lecture on Scottish independence and Nordic linkages. The event was co-hosted by British […]

Iceland has made a steady recovery from the banking crash of 2008 which saw the country placed on the UK Terrorism Register. Slowly but surely this Nordic nation of just 300,000 people has been making sure such a […]

“The process of centralisation of governance has gone further in Scotland than in other countries. Highland Council, to take the most striking example, covers an area the size of Belgium with a population the size […]