This paper writes that a decade ago a "baby-faced" 32 year-old Katainen rose from obscurity to the chair of his party. From that moment a "golden age" began for the National Coalition, according to Helsingin Sanomat. A week after he took over the leadership of the party, it was the big winner in European Parliament elections. Since then, it has won every following election - nine of them. Helsingin Sanomat says that it is no wonder that Katainen is likely to get massive applause at Friday's party congress in Lahti.
But what has the National Coalition under Katainen done with power handed to it by voters? Helsingin Sanomat points out that key issue in the 2011 election campaign was a pledge not to raise taxes. That promise was not kept.
"Turning back the rise in debt was worth sacrificing a proportionally smaller issue," Katainen told the paper.
According to Katainen, it is generally wrong to think in terms of black-and-white.
"When I was studying for the entrance exam to study political science, one of the books had the sentence, 'The task of a party to promote the interests of its supporters'. That really annoyed me."
Katainen went on to say that in his view, rather than promote interests, politics should be based on values.
"Everyone should have values that hold in good times and in bad," said the Prime Minister.
Strong support for Vapaavuori
The Kuopio-based newspaper Savon Sanomat reported the results of a poll of National Coalition Party delegates show that Jan Vapaavuori is in a strong position to take over the top spot from Jyrki Katainen.
This paper received replies from half of the delegates who will be voting on who will become the next party leader. Of those, 46% expressed backing for Vapaavuori. Alexander Stubb was the favourite candidate of 32% and Paula Risikko had the backing of 21% of those willing to express a position.
The vote for a new party leader takes place on Saturday.
No more free returns
The newspaper Kaleva, published in the northern city of Oulu, was one of several papers that reminded readers of a change in consumer legislation that came into force on Friday, according to which payment for the return of goods purchased online becomes the responsibility of the buyer.
Up until now in Finland, merchants have been required to cover the costs of returned goods.
However, Kaleva reports that many online shops have decided to voluntarily continue the practice, among them the biggest online retailers in the country, Verkkokauppa.com and NetAnttila.
Now is the time to haggle
Housing is now a buyers' market, reports the business and economic daily Taloussanomat. In the present market, the advice from experts is not to pay the asking price for flats, but to haggle.
There is a good chance that sellers will come down significantly from their asking price, but not everywhere, one professional told the paper.
"Even though we're talking of a buyers' market, it's not being seen in Helsinki. In the provinces, sales are slower and sellers have had to come down 5-7 percent from what they were asking last year," says Petri Hietala of the Re/Maxia real estate agency.
The margins that can be haggled over vary not only by region, but also by the type of housing.
Ari Pauna, CEO of the Mortgage Society of Finland, told Taloussanomat that it is now especially worthwhile looking for a deal on bigger flats.
"It is now a good market for anyone moving up from a smaller to a bigger flat, especially for couples. The present situation is best for childless couples, who are both employed and have a one or two room flat to sell off themselves," explained Pauna.
Those #$@&%* mosquitoes!
One of the few annoyances of the long-awaited Finnish summer, mosquitoes, are out again in force.
The Tampere-based Aamulehti on Friday published a list of ways, some serious and some not so serious to deal with these pesky insects.
Topping the list was a mosquito trap which it notes performed best among the devices tested by the Finnish technical publication Tekniikan Maailma.
However, drawing upon advice from experts, hints in social media, and folk wisdom, Aamulehti gives readers a number of alternatives, but not guarantees, on how to deal with the tiny blood-guzzlers. These include home-made traps made from a fan and old pantyhose, making sure there is no standing water around where they can breed, various sprays and ointments, running them off with the smell of home-brew and eating plenty of garlic.
One suggestion, that is probably not so very uncommon, is to just tough it out and let them bite.
