Solveig has reminded me that if you want to buy Norwegian land you need to be prepared to live on it, and in relation to farming land, you probably have to demonstrate that you have or will acquire farming capability. If the farm is anything more than a smallholding you will have to farm it yourself.

This is because good farmland is in very short supply in Norway, and until very recently the concept of an absentee landlord in Norway simply did not exist. Even today it only tends to apply to the relatively few Yuppie flats which have become the subject of Norway's own mini sub-prime problem.

These restrictions on absentee ownership generally and by extension, on foreign ownership in particular, are one of the key reasons why Norway twice rejected EU membership, which would, I undrestand, have obliged Norway to lift them.

One of the effects has been that Norway has not seen its far-flung populations deserting rural areas for the cities.

It also suited NATO to see the far North of Norway suitably populated against the Red Threat.....

"The future is already here -- it's just not very evenly distributed" William Gibson

But that does not stop investment in Finland being worthwhile. The very low level of public debt, and a triple A national rating (real) make Finland still quite attractive. There will be increased government borrowing this year, but the fundamentals - so far - are relatively OK.

My clients in the capital intensive forestry/paper industry are shitting bricks, but the rest are more sanguine. I am hoping that an intensive support of exports will be to my benefit, because that is my core business - B2B international.

At the moment, the state R&DI investment remains at around 3.3 % GDP - i.e. relatively high.  That may change with corporate tax income dropping rapidly. But one of my clients just secured 500.000 € from Tekes "(funds innovative research and development projects in companies, universities and research institutes") for a MMO strategy game. (MMO = massively multiplayer online).

But then again the unique aspect of these funding organizations and the research and development they promote has always been at least 8 - 10 years ahead. In a quartal business environment, that has never been more valuable...

You can't be me, I'm taken

Uh... we don't produce or comsume any fuel oil, at least outside some specialised sectors where there are no or few alternatives.

Peak oil is not an energy crisis. It is a liquid fuel crisis.