I dream that Finland would come to realize the entire identity of a small country resides in its culture. We would be nothing without the burning brilliance of Finnish writers, artists and musicians, nor would our art or science have got anywhere without the efforts of the nineteenth-century Fennoman movement in forging economic conditions for a thriving Finnish culture.

Finland will soon celebrate its centenary, and it feels as if all this is in danger of being forgotten. We simply lack any reason for striving if we don’t have our own strong culture and civic identity. For this reason I dream of a style of cultural politics that would make intelligence spit and spark. And it can be quantified: the VAT and pricing for books and printed matter should reassessed, the grants system should be overhauled, there should be a genuine will to produce culture, and the debate on values and worldviews should be one in which the diversity of culture should be as precious as food and drink. Without one the others are pointless.