One of the highlights of my trip to Finland was seeing how good the public services are. Elon Musk, in his opposition to a billionaires' tax, has spoken about how beyond a certain point, wealth is no longer about personal use, as an individual would struggle to spend such sums, but rather, about capital allocation. He thinks the tax would be foolish because it would take money away from an entity adept at investing it, which a billionaire by definition is, and put it in the hands of an entity that has a track record of being wasteful, which many governments do. The new Oodi library in Helsinki is the best refutation I know to his argument. It is a three-storey, €100 million public space with co-working areas, reading rooms, high speed internet, a cafe, restaurant, and cinema. There are video game booths with huge flat screen TVs, where I saw a father and child, a podcast recording studio where I met a local entrepreneur, a music studio, and a 3D printer. There is a piano and guitars on the wall. I wondered how much it would cost to rent them? Turns out they are all - the studios, the equipment, the spaces - free, you just need to book a time. The building houses 100,000 books on all sorts of topics, from academic textbooks through children's books to the latest bestsellers. Walking around, I saw a section of literature in Somali. After the onset of the Somali civil war in 1991, a number of people fled the country, some to Finland. I felt moved when I saw that rack - I imagined a child separated from his homeland coming across those books, and finding pride in them, a lost piece of himself, a connection to something greater than him. Billionaires are better at maximising profits but that is not what governments are for. Ideally they work towards creating a better, more equal society, and to deliver good living outcomes for their citizens. Libraries are a case in point: famously loss-making, but crucial in the functioning of a healthy democracy, for education, and social mobility. Oodi inspired me, because it showed me just what can be achieved when the funding and political will are there, and the system works for the good of the people. #oodi #libraries (di Oodi) https://www.instagram.com/p/CdN9g-ctQMT/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=
