LET'S be honest. Finland has to increase its retirement age. There are some other options, such as drastically increasing taxes or slashing benefits to pensioners, but these are neither politically nor economically viable. That leaves us with having people work longer.

TO her credit, the head of the Social Democratic Party Jutta Urpilainen is talking honestly about the matter. She admitted last week that the SDP will not be part of a government that increases the retirement age. Polls suggest her party won't be in the next government, so it was refreshing to see a frank admission of the political reality her party faces.

I shop for groceries in an area that has several competing stores side-by-side. If I walk into one shop and the lines are too long, I simply leave and go to the next one. Since the customer service is not up to a minimum required standard, that store is in essence blacklisted for a time. I’d rather pay more for better service.

THIS mortifies a friend of mine, who believes that the only standard for choosing a grocery store is price. To save a euro, she believes that the proper time to wait in line is forever and the proper amount of customer service to expect is none.

THE average length of time that an investor holds a stock can be counted in weeks, not years. As most investors become more and more myopic, those who take a longer view have an opportunity to profit from their fellows’ disability. The key to a longer holding period is finding a company with a durable competitive advantage.

WARREN BUFFETT says that a company which has a sustainable competitive advantage possesses an “economic moat” which protects it. This can include a brand advantage: to some extent fishermen will buy Rapala lures because they are Rapalas. Shoppers will buy Marimekko designs simply because they are Marimekko designs.

MOST of Europe’s policy makers have been more concerned with relaxing on beaches instead of legislation recently, but that is about to change. One of the main topics under consideration is increasing regulation for derivative contracts.

DERIVATIVES, or financial instruments that have values derived from something else, have been the target of a vast amount of criticism. They are hard to value. They misstate earnings. They may have covenants that kick-in at an inopportune time, such as requiring the posting of collateral if a party’s credit risk is downgraded. Then there is the risk of contagion: the collapse of one party may cause the collapse of many.

Retail is a tough business. Margins are miniscule, competition is savage and customers are picky. Information Technology is a tough business. Capital expenditures are high and returns are delayed. Putting retail and IT together in the form of internet shopping is notoriously difficult.

Some of the most spectacular business failures of all time were in retail e-commerce. Just this summer, online grocer Ocada went public at head-scratching valuations. Many in the investment community publicly wondered who would be silly enough to pay so much for so little, but people are still willing to pay a lot for an internet company. (Call it Dotcom Bubble Redux.)

On my last trip to Buenos Aires I was astonished by the realisation that most of the Porteños I met seemed to be consulting a psychotherapist. Studying the lifestyle of the city’s inhabitants, I stumbled on the fact that the country’s capital outnumbers even New York in psychotherapeutic demand and supply. To understand this oddity better one might try to approach it in the context of Latin American history.

July may be one of the biggest months for tourism, but tourism is still relatively unimportant to the Finnish economy. Our weather is too terrible for the sun-worshippers and our taxes are too high for the shoppers. Most of our visitors are simply day-trippers from cruise ships. While this may be nice for those selling wooden reindeer figures at the harbour market, it doesn’t do much for the rest of the economy.

We need Finland to be a destination, not simply a stop in-between more interesting Baltic ports. We need something to promote to tourists, something they can not find elsewhere. We need to promote our Saimaa Lake Monster.

Doubtless most readers are currently scratching their heads, wondering why they have never heard of this beast. But if you think carefully, you will remember that you always knew about the monster. Right? Don’t make me nudge and wink.

For a Brit, being in the US on 4th of July is always a fun experience. You have to put up with the inevitable jests about how they “kicked our butts” 234 years ago to form their “more perfect union”. You must listen to how this country is devoted to “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness” and then, just before the fireworks, you hear about the number of times they have “saved the world’s butts”. It is all done with good humour, goodwill and good hospitality.

The ongoing woes of Nokia are well-known. Practically every day there is an article somewhere in the Finnish press about Nokia’s problems. That specific horse is very dead, as the saying goes, and I don’t feel like beating it. Instead, what does the decline of Nokia mean for Finland?

I actuality, Nokia has been slowly disengaging from Finland for many years. Only a small percentage of Nokia’s workers, suppliers, customers or shareholders are in Finland. This did not happen overnight. It is a long-term, ongoing process.

Nokia has increased its number of employees by over 22% the past two years...we

DO you know if your bank is safe? Actually, you probably can’t be sure. You can check the Tier 1 ratios, loan loss provisions, ratings agency statements and every expert opinion you can find, but the truth is that there is a lot of uncertainty.

SINCE investors and the public are a bit leery about the safety of European banks at present, there is an idea to release some more information about them. For a few banks, that is. Maybe. In some countries. Sometime.