Mikko Kuisma

Well that’s that then. Curtice has spoken

I can't begin to describe to you the suffering my family in Gaza is going through right now and I am a writer. Words fail me completely, there's no description. I just gasp and hope that you don't forget my words. Keep thinking of this post even when you forget us.

Deutschlands Basketballer deklassierten ihren Halbfinal-Gegner kürzlich vor den eigenen Fans Die Bilanz ist weiterhin perfekt: Sieben Spiele, sieben Siege. Heißt: Deutschland steht im Halbfinale der Basketball-EM. Dort wartet einer der Gastgeber.

”Finnland ist kein leichter Gegner. Wir haben sie zwar in der Gruppe relativ deutlich geschlagen, aber ich erwarte da ein ganz anderes Team. Ich erwarte eine Reaktion von den Finnen.”
BRING IT ON! GO SUSIJENGI!
www.fr.de/sport/sport-...

Survey: Many immigrant women feel Finland's societal climate has deteriorated Some who said the societal climate situation had worsened blamed government policies as well as "exclusionary attitudes in the labour market".

”A survey has found that just over half of highly educated immigrant women in Finland feel that the country's societal climate has deteriorated in recent years.”
yle.fi/a/74-20182098

UK politicians must stop stoking division, says policing chief Gavin Stephens says rows over asylum seekers have raised community tensions and put pressure on officers

Applies to other countries too: “I guess what we’re saying today is that anybody in a leadership position should think about how we can reduce and defuse tensions, and not sow division.”
www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...

Uusikuu-orkesteri lavalla

Hieno keikkareissu eilen Reinin rannoille Uusikuun kanssa, vielä jonkin verran väkeä riitti sunnuntaillekin. Viulussa @drmkuisma.bsky.social

Crackdown on international students could hurt struggling UK cities, thinktank warns University sector, which is reliant on overseas students for a quarter of income, key to economic activity in cities like Leicester and Hull

“Higher education is among the top 10 sectors for exports in most cities and large towns with universities because of the fee-paying international students they attract to the local area.”
www.theguardian.com/education/20...

Bit of nostalgia for followers of British politics here...

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE NYU Faculty Take Classes Off Campus to Protest Lack of Protections for International Students NEW YORK, April 17, 2025 - More than fifty NYU faculty members have taken their classes off campus starting today, and continuing for the next week, to protest the University's lack of commitment to protect international students in the face of the Trump administration's attacks. Some faculty have moved their classes to in-person locations that have been declared sanctuary spaces, where international students are assured that building administrators will do everything in their power to refuse to cooperate with ICE agents. Other faculty have moved their classes online so that students can attend from a safe location of their choosing.

This is how you do it.

RFK Jr. is wrong about autism His lies endanger neurodivergent people — and everyone else.

"Kennedy’s disgust with and devaluation of autistic people fits neatly into a eugenic logic that views health as virtue, and sees illness, or difference, as a kind of moral lapse which should be subject to punishment or censure."

Työ | Paluumuuttaja istuu kotona työttömänä: ”Ulkomaista tutkintoa ei edes katsota” Suomessa ei arvosteta ulkomailla hankittua koulutusta ja työkokemusta, sanoo kolme entistä ulkosuomalaista. Sen vuoksi he saattavat taas lähteä.

”Moni on sanonut, ettei Suomessa edes katsota ulkomaisia tutkintoja. Eli jos ei ole suomalaista koulutusta, ei ole koulutusta ollenkaan.”
www.hs.fi/talous/art-2...

POLSIS celebrated its ruby anniversary last night in the glamorous environs of the Vault in the Exchange. Thanks to all who came! #PSA25

Kuntavaalien suurin häviäjä: persusetä.
Grafiikka: @hs.fi
#kuntavaalit

An article by @drmkuisma.bsky.social and I on the Brexit referendum campaign(s) corroborates this (www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....).

Starmer has chosen the path of political opportunism and so-called 'electoral calculus', rather than having political principles.

US District Court Halts Attempt to Defund RFE/RL Today, Judge Royce Lamberth of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia granted RFE/RL's request for a temporary restraining order in its lawsuit against the U.S. Agency for Global Media (...

US District court halts the destruction of Radio Free Europe
about.rferl.org/article/us-d...

Dear Media:

you don’t need to give the far right a platform (eg interview or op-Ed) to inform your listeners/readers/viewers about their views.

Wow — Mike Waltz on Fox News suggests Jeffrey Goldberg somehow schemed his way into the Signal group instead of just being invited by accident

Former Canadian PM Jean Chrétien, aged 91, to Trump:

"From one old guy to another, stop this nonsense. Canada will never join the US... My mother taught us good manners. She would have been ashamed of me if I had treated anyone the way the president has treated my PM and the President of Ukraine."

Nothing to see, just the #farright #AfD's co-leader, once considered a/too 'moderate' within her party, adopting the notion of "remigration", i.e. a plan for expelling immigrant-origin citizens.

Ghosts of the landscape: how folklore and songs are key to rewilding Finland’s reindeer For ecologists restoring the vast bogs of remote Karelia, wild reindeer are not just part of the environment but entwined with the ancient culture of the boreal forests

Ghosts of the landscape: how folklore and songs are key to rewilding Finland’s reindeer.
#suomimainittu

www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Farage, Musk and Candy say ‘cheese’ – now British democracy’s toast | Stewart Lee Last week’s photo op with the Reform leader and X owner was further evidence of the UK’s inevitable march towards the far right. Merry Christmas!

“The Washington Post’s slogan, irrelevant since Jeff Bezos bought the paper, was: “Democracy dies in darkness.” Well, democracy is dying here in plain sight. Merry Christmas your arse, I pray God it’s our last.”

www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Essee | Suomessa on jälleen sotahulluuden aika – Samalla Lammioita on koko ajan enemmän Tuntemattoman sotilaan hahmoista Suomessa ihaillaan sukupolvesta toiseen Rokkaa, Hietasta ja Koskelaa, mutta samalla Lammioita on koko ajan enemmän, kirjoittaa Janne Saarikivi.

Kulttuurista leikkaaminen on poliittinen valinta!
”Purra sanoo, että nykyoloissa ei ole varaa suomalaisen kulttuurin kaltaiselle ”luksukselle”. Että valtiolla on 170 miljardia velkaa ja siksi pitää säästää teattereilta, museoista ja taiteilija-apurahoista 18 miljoonaa.”
www.hs.fi/mielipide/ar...

Last day of teaching in 2024 and so close of the holidays 20/21 of my qualitative research methods class for the MPPSC degree course was in attendance (and the last one had sent in apologies for a legitimate absence). Feeling very proud of our fantastically dedicated students! Now breathe…

Kiitos, @saskasaarikoski.bsky.social - annoit ajattelemisen aihetta!

Kolumni | Kristittyjä on lempeitä, mutta myös kovin armottomia Kun hukkuva huutaa apua, se on Jeesus, joka huutaa, sanotaan Raamatussa.

”Raamattu on ihan selkosuomea: Kun hukkuva huutaa apua, se on Jeesus, joka huutaa. Kun lapsi pyytää leipää, se on Jeesus, joka pyytää.
Miten tämä asia voi olla selvä minun kaltaiselleni ei-uskovalle ihmiselle, mutta niin vaikea monelle, joka itseään kristityksi kutsuu?”
www.hs.fi/mielipide/ar...

Secret Oxfordshire - Don’t rain on my parade theory - BBC Sounds Why are these two streets the ‘wrong way round’?

In my old home town Oxford there’s South Parade to the North of North Parade and the actual reason is less exciting than the rather widespread Civil War based parade theory… myth well and truly busted!
www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/...
@bbcoxford.bsky.social

Tänä vuonna Lucia toi valon niin, että hän toi näkyviin suomalaisen rasismin laajuuden koko karmeudessaan ja vallanpitäjiemme hampaattomuuden ja osin välinpitämättömyyden sen torjumisessa.

#AcademicWriting 101

Sad!

BREAKING: In an unprecedented move, more than 75 Nobel Prize winners have signed a letter urging senators not to confirm Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as head of the Department of Health and Human Services.

It's the first time in history that Nobel laureates have come together to oppose a Cabinet choice.