Which Nordic Noir character would you like to be?

I've got a bit of a girl crush on many of the female characters in Nordic Noir fiction, TV and film.

It all started with Lisbet Salander, the feisty female sleuth in Stieg Larsson's Millennium trilogy. Who wouldn't want to battle misogyny on the streets of Stockholm? I might not have been able to do all the techie stuff, nor am I very good in physical combat, but boy, would I, like Ms Salander, love to spend my time fighting for the cause of feminism!

Noomi Rapace as Lisbeth Salander 

My more recent fictional heroines are from TV: The jumper-wearing Sarah Lund from The Killing, who sacrifices her personal life for the good cause of crime fighting, and the socially awkward Swedish detective, Saga Noren, from the Danish/Swedish TV series, The Bridge. Her brain is as big as a house, she wears tight leather pants, drives a vintage Saab and asks a man to move into her flat because, 'I like having sex with him.' That a girl!

Sofie Gråbol as Sarah Lund

Sofia Herlin as Saga Noren

But, my all time hero, and someone who I secretly would really like to morph into, is Birgitte Nyborg, the head-strong Prime Minister in another Danish TV series, Borgen. This might have something to do with the fact that The Englishman has been totally in love with her since Series One, but for me, being in charge of a whole country is also incredibly sexy. I've always been interested in Politics, I studied the subject at uni, and even once upon a time dreamed of being an MP in the UK.

Alas, my career has taken a totally different direction and I cannot really imagine that I would ever be able to carry such a heavy responsibility.  I would, however, be quite at home telling several good-looking, powerful men around me what to do...

Sidse Babett as Premier Nyborg

'Dream on', says The Englishman.

Which Scandi character would you like to be?

A visit to the Houses of Parliament

Watching the British MPs debate a proposed military action into Syria in the House of Commons last night, I was reminded of a visit Daughter and I took to the Houses of Parliament a few weeks ago. I've always wanted to go, mainly because of my first degree.

When I first moved to the UK, I was in the process of writing a thesis on the British Political system, particularly the birth of a new party called the SDP.  The exodus of a 'Gang of Four' of politicians from the Labour Party was one of the biggest political news in Britain in the 1980's.

During my research into the thesis, I tried to get to the public gallery at The House of Commons, but never got to go for some reason or other. But something quite amazing did happen to me in those early days in London. While walking just outside the Houses of Parliament on a sunny autumn day in 1984, I literally bumped into David Owen, the then SDP leader, and one of the original founders of the party. I was stunned; here was the very object of my study!

'I'm sorry', said David, smiled and hurried on.

The Gang of Four, David Owen is 2nd from the left. Photo: Guardian

I watched his back, thinking I should run after him. But what should I ask him? My mind had gone completely blank. I saw him greet the policeman at the entrance to the House of Commons and disappear inside. To this day, I regret that I didn't run after him and ask him something - anything. An interview (however brief) with the then leader of the SDP would have made my thesis! (I'm glad to say that my thesis won a prize nevertheless - wait for it - for being entertaining. This is when I realised I was much more suited to fiction than to academic study.)

At least a few weeks ago, finally, I fulfilled another desire, that of visiting the British Houses of Parliament. I'd spotted a post by Time Out on Facebook that the Houses are open every day during the summer recess (and now on Saturdays all year around), so I immediately booked two tickets and took Daughter with me.

It was a similarly sunny day as it had been on that fateful day when I'd bumped to David Owen, and I could see Daughter was getting quite fed up with me talking about it.

The lovely Daughter.

But as soon as we entered Westminster Hall, we were both silenced by the awesome beauty and grandeur of the place. A huge stained glass window at the far end was letting in light into the otherwise gloomy, vast hall. We were led into a queue and soon our tour guide began speaking to us.

The guided tour of the Houses of Parliament, conducted by a Blue Badge Guide, lasts just over an hour. As well as getting to see both of the Houses, you get a brilliant history lesson on not only the building, but on the Kings and Queens of England and their role in the establishment and current running of the British parliament.

And then of course there's the art. As a recent (with Honours!) graduate of History of Art, Daughter often nodded knowledgeably (oh, how proud she makes me!) to the words of the guide. To me, the gilded thrones, Italian mosaics, the hand-painted wallpaper and the stained glass windows all seemed too embellished to be real, but worth seeing all the same.

I was more interested to see the debating chambers. Luckily during the tour we had the chance to stand (but alas, not sit), between the benches of both the House of Commons and the Lords. Seeing the green benches of the Commons at close quarters was an emotional experience. I felt as if I'd entered a church. I remembered that for a while in my thirties I dreamt of being a politician, but knowing my uncanny talent of always saying the wrong thing, and not really (at the time) wanting to change my nationality, all those thoughts faded into mere day dreams.

Back in the real world, while I stood between the benches where MPs have conducted their heated arguments for hundreds of years, and trying very hard to resist the urge to sit down (and I'm sure be escorted out of the House and even prosecuted for some kind of violation of the code of conduct, and hence scuppering my current efforts to gain British citizenship), our friendly guide told us an interesting fact, which reflected my mood. Apparently the reason the benches are opposite each other, with the speaking sitting at the far end, is because the original parliament was set in a church, St Stephen's Chapel. This is also the reason why the Members of Parliament on entering the Chamber, bow their heads towards the Speaker's chair in a mark of respect, in a similar manner you'd honour an altar. So I wasn't so daft after all, thinking I'd entered a church!

The tour was full of little intriguing snippets of information like this. We were also told that, before playing Maggie Thatcher in the film Iron Lady, Meryl Streep, donning dark glasses and a scarf, spent two months coming to the public gallery to watch the MP's. Apparently, once the fact became known, the presence of the Hollywood star began to affect the performances below and some of the MPs became quite flamboyant in their oratory.

Our guide also seemed to be quite taken with our current Queen, and her habits. So if, like me, you are also fascinated by the Royals, as well as British politics and history, this is a satisfying way to spend an hour or so. Plus there were no queues; no waiting. We were booked to go for 3m on a Friday, and even though we turned up half an hour early, we were just shown to the next available tour, which happened every ten minutes or so.

The badges we all had to wear during the tour.

You can also book an afternoon tea after the tour at the Pugin Room, which overlooks the Thames.
The cost of the tour of the Houses of Parliament, as well as the tea (unlike the one at The Ritz) is quite reasonable:

• Adults: £16.50
• Concessions (students, over 60s and members of the armed forces): £14
• Children (5-15 years): One child free with each paying adult, but will require a ticket for admission. £7 for each additional child
• Children (under 5): Free, but will require a ticket for admission
• Disabled visitors: Standard prices as listed above (carers have free admission, but will require a ticket for admission)

• Afternoon tea in the Pugin Room: £25.00 (in addition to the guided tour ticket)

Please note that tours are not recommended for young children as there is a lot of walking.    

Voting in Finnish general elections

I've written before here about my slight obsession with democracy and elections and the importance of using your right to vote. Hence, I was excited like a little girl, when a few weeks ago, the voting slip for this year's Finnish general elections popped through my letterbox.

Finland has been an independent country with universal suffrage since 1917 - this is only a couple of generations ago, and in my view should never be taken for granted. I won't give you another history lesson (I can hear you nodding off already); all I'll say is that a country situated next to a large superpower values its independence - and being able to freely vote for a government is part of this.

My problem is that since I don't live in Finland, I'm not as up to date with the politics there as I should. When I go 'home', I spend most of my time in Åland, a self-governing part of Finland which has its own elections, or in Sweden, and often don't visit Finland at all. (My Finnish heart aches).

So this morning I've spent an hour looking through the candidate listings. I know which party I want to vote for, and I still vote in the constituency I lived in when I left the country some 25 (ish) years ago, so the list has only about forty or so names. The first thing I look for is anyone I know (this is possible in a country of only 5 million people), next for any women, because I feel the need to carry out some positive discrimination. This may not be necessary: Finland currently has a female President as well as a female Prime Minister, but I need to make my list of possible candidates shorter, so this is as good a way as any. Then I take away all teachers - I don't know why, just because - and I have a manageable list to choose from.

Due to the wonders of the interweb I can now Google my shortlist and hey presto, I have my own little election campaign on screen - most candidates even have a video clip succinctly stating their policies.

After some careful consideration, I have my candidate, and can say I chose her with some kind of an academic approach as opposed to just sticking a pin blindly on a list (which has happened, sadly, in the past).

I cannot tell you how excited I now am about the prospect of casting my vote later. What's more the Finnish Embassy will today - to celebrate the first day of voting - throw it's doors open and have guided tours of the Embassy building in Knightsbridge. I cannot wait to see the sauna in the basement - will it still be there, I wonder?  There will reputedly be coffee and cinnamon buns on offer too.

Afterwards to celebrate the whole wonderful free election process, and being multicultural, I will take Daughter for royal tea - as recommended by my blogging heroine, LLG. I can't wait.

Claret and Chips

Today the news reporters keep reminding us what a historical event this new UK coalition between the Conservatives and the Liberals is. I agree, it would have seemed far more natural for Labour to join forces with the Liberals, but the numbers after the election in the Hung Parliament just didn't add up to that union. Whether there were any other factors that made this new coalition possible, I don't know. I'm sure the personalities and policies did matter, but in any case, I'm glad we finally have a government and a new Prime Minister. And I wish the new Government well.


Some 25 years ago, as a young student of political science, I wrote my thesis on the SDP and its relationship with the Labour Party. The emergence of a new party was then a remarkable development in British Party politics, one which threatened the existence of the UK's two-party 1st past the post system. Just like now, when a Hung Parliament has given rise to questions about the electoral system, in 1981, four high-profile politicians, Roy Jenkins, David Owen, Shirley Williams and William Rodgers defected from the Labour Party and set up the SDP. After a massive media campaign the party, established to 'reconcile the nation' and 'heal divisions between classes', hoped, together with the Liberals, to win a majority of seats in the general election of 1983. The Gang of Four, as the defectors came to be called,  claimed the Labour Party had become too left-wing and had 'been infiltrated by Trotskyist elements' under the leadership of Michael Foot. On the other hand, the SDP accused Margaret Thatcher (who'd come into power in 1979) of dividing the country in half - North versus South.  In my thesis I discussed whether the SDP would divide and surpass the Labour Party in the same way as Labour in itself split up the Liberals in the 1920's. My conclusion that this would not happen were born out in 1988 when the SDP joined the Liberals forming the present Liberal Democratic Party. No changes to the electoral system were made, and the two-party politics carried on as normal. Until this election.

Watching the reporters skulk outside the Liberal Club, or the Labour Party HQ, or the Houses of Parliament reminded me of the summer of 1985 when I visited those places to attend interviews with very junior political minions who'd agreed to see 'a girl from Finland writing some kind of a paper'. Being afraid of getting lost in the Tube system (which I had done too many times by then) I walked everywhere in London. I even once bumped into David Owen, who stopped to apologise. I was so stunned to come face to face with one of the characters in my play (as it were) that I couldn't get a word out. One of the many missed opportunities in life I now so profusely regret. Even though in the end I won a prize for my thesis (I'm still puzzled about this one), an interview with Owen would have lifted my thesis onto a different level. I could even imagine my lovely Professor's smile when he'd read the text.


But more than having regrets, the historic news in the recent days has reminded me that occasionally even in Britain, a new party, or a new way of doing things emerges. As we've seen here in the last week or so, it doesn't often take place as a result of violent demonstrations, climbing onto the barricades, or burning cars. Often it happens in smoke-filled rooms with claret being drunk as the Gang of Four did in the Eighties, or in a very Noughties fashion, during meetings between suited women and men, running from one office in Whitehall to another. It might also have something to do with economics, of course. After the oil crisis of 1979, the world did change. And now after we've stopped the banks from collapsing, countries are falling over. 


Perhaps this is the reason why there are changes afoot. Perhaps the electorate just didn't know which way to turn. And perhaps the best outcome has been achieved. A very European solution, Son says. I think this is actually a very British solution. It's fair, it's sensible, it's partly Conservative. Let's hope the new Coalition Government succeeds in defeating the recession in a fair and sensible manner too.