Clear News | Thursday 5.3.2026
Social services. Party support. Ice sauna. Weather forecast.
Social services
First, news about politics.
Yesterday, Parliament discussed social and health services, or SOTE services.
A major change was made to social services 3 years ago. At that time, they were transferred from municipalities to welfare areas.
Prime Minister Petteri Orpo says that the government has strengthened social services and increased social services funding by 4 billion euros.
Opposition parties were surprised by Orpo’s speech.
The chairwoman of the Left Alliance parliamentary group, Aino-Kaisa Pekonen, said that the government has only cut funding.
“Prime Minister, what you have achieved is massive cuts to funding for social and health services, which you forgot to mention in your speech.”
Parliament has discussed social services.
Prime Minister Petteri Orpo invites all parties to a working group that will develop social and health services.
Party support
Now another news about politics.
Yle has again asked Finns which party they support.
The most popular party is still the Social Democratic Party (SDP), supported by 25 percent of Finns.
The SDP is an opposition party, meaning it is not in the government.
The second most popular party is still the Coalition Party. The Coalition Party is supported by around 18 percent of Finns. Support for the Coalition Party has fallen since February.
The Coalition Party is in the government and Prime Minister Petteri Orpo is also from the Coalition Party.
Yle has again asked Finns which party they support.
The third most popular party is the governing Finns Party.
And the fourth most popular party is the opposition party Center.
Ice saunas
Finally, we will explore the ice sauna.
Two large ice saunas have been built in Northern Ostrobothnia.
One ice sauna is in Oulu and the other is in Oulainen.
The walls of the saunas are built of large ice bricks.
Both saunas have good steam baths.
Samuli Keisu from Oulu says that their sauna can accommodate up to 40 people.
Two large ice saunas have been built in Northern Ostrobothnia. Both saunas were completed last week.
Ice saunas are rare. When summer comes, the ice sauna melts away.
Friday weather
Still a weather forecast.
On Friday, there will be snowfall and rain in Lapland.
In the south it is breezy and generally sunny.