Left-turn for Labour (Dagsavisen/Saturday)

Labour Party chairman Thorbjørn Jagland has announced his party’s intention to move to the left and work for greater redistribution of wealth and better conditions for Norway’s regions. According to Mr Jagland society is severely unbalanced in several areas, a situation which must be rectified. If a future coalition partnership with the Socialist Left Party and the Centre Party is to be possible, these parties must change their foreign policy stance. "It is incomprehensible that the Socialist Left Party has distanced itself from the fight against terrorism and that the Centre Party wants to rescind the EEA Agreement," said Mr Jagland.

Yes to Jagland (Dagsavisen)

Kristin Halvorsen, chairman of the Socialist Left Party, and Odd Roger Enoksen, leader of the Centre Party, are both happy with Thorbjørn Jagland’s announcement that the Labour Party is moving to the left. "Now we can build a political alternative in the years up to the next general election," said Ms Halvorsen. However, she added that Mr Jagland would have to stop calling the policies of his potential allies "incomprehensible" if any cooperation was to be possible. Despite this autumn’s events Centre Party chairman Odd Roger Enoksen has not given up hope of participating in a government alongside the Christian Democrats. Getting the Christian Democrats on board is a precondition for joining a coalition with the Labour Party.

Norwegian schoolchildren worst behaved in Europe (Aftenposten)

Norway ranks at the bottom of the list when it comes to discipline in the classroom, according to a survey. Of the 36 European countries which participated in the survey only Greece has more disruptive pupils and greater discipline problems than Norway. 4,000 Norwegian pupils from 180 schools were questioned in the survey. "There is no doubt that we have discipline problems in Norwegian schools," says the Norwegian Union of Teachers. Their solution is for parents to demand greater respect for teachers at the same time as the teachers themselves act with greater authority and provide clearer leadership in the classroom.

Labour makes substantial gains (Aftenposten/Saturday)

The price the coalition partners are paying for being in government is a drop in support from the voters. The Conservatives have the backing of 22.1 per cent of the electorate, which represents a drop of 3.5 percentage points since the previous poll but is still higher than their general election result. The Christian Democrats slide 1 percentage point to 10.4 per cent. Labour has surged forward by 4.2 percentage points, the first rise in support for the party since the fall of the Stoltenberg government.

Foreigners take over Norwegian offshore industry (Aftenposten)

Fewer and fewer of the companies supplying the offshore industry are Norwegian-owned. All the catering and supply companies servicing offshore installations are now in foreign hands. When Aker Maritime and Kværner merge the resulting company will be the only Norwegian-owned offshore construction yard left. Many people within the oil industry are concerned about the level of foreign ownership, while others believe having foreign owners can be an advantage.

A thousand must go at Gardermoen (Aftenposten)

A downturn in air travel means that over 1,000 of the 10,000 people currently employed at Oslo’s Gardermoen Airport will probably have to find themselves a new job. 300-400 of these are thought to be employed by SAS, while 200-250 work for Braathens, according to well placed sources. The airport authority is also considering the closure of one of the runways in an effort to reduce costs.

Worth Noting

• Nobel Peace Prize laureate Kofi Annan is preoccupied by the Middle East conflict – and he is worried. "We have been trying to put an end to the conflict for over a year, but we have still not got anywhere," said Mr Annan yesterday. He is now asking for international pressure to be brought to bear. (Aftenposten)
• It is ten years since she won the Nobel Peace Prize, but she has never been able to travel to Oslo to receive it herself. Yesterday fellow Peace Prize winners paid tribute to Burma’s Aung San Suu Kyi. (Dagsavisen/Sunday)
• 60 per cent of bosses act in a destructive manner for shorter or longer periods, according to four psychologists who are currently investigating Norway’s managers. (Dagsavisen/Saturday)
• Kjell Inge Røkke was welcomed with open arms yesterday by the management and staff of the Kværner Philadelphia construction yard. But fine words alone will not resolve the problems which have so far turned the Philadelphia yard into a major financial headache for Kværner. (Verdens Gang/Saturday)
• So far this year over 60 foreigners have travelled north to set up home in Longyearbyen on Svalbard. The town’s population has been increased by over 40 people from Thailand alone. Serbs, Philippinos, Iranians and Czechs have also chosen to settle in the barren island group. (Aftenposten/Sunday)
• Telenor’s chief executive, Tormod Hermansen, had hoped to borrow NOK 2.5 billion, but raised no more than NOK 700 million. (Dagens Næringsliv)
• IT consultants have hit lean times. Last year you would have had to pay NOK 1,200 per hour for an IT consultant, now the price has dropped to as low as NOK 400. (Dagens Næringsliv)
• Norway’s biggest ever coin purchase has been agreed. All that remains is to work out the exact price before 13,000 British gold coins are transferred into Norwegian hands. The price could reach at least NOK 20 million for the coins, which are more than 120 years old. (Aftenposten)

Today’s comment from Vårt Land

The Progress Party is planning to propose that the new national opera house to be built at Bjørvika in Oslo be shelved. This time the move is prompted by fears of cost overruns. The party ‘believes’ the project’s budget has been calculated on the basis of incorrect assumptions. This is just the latest in a long line of stratagems in which the Progress Party has stopped at practically nothing in its efforts to halt the construction of the new opera house. It is possible that the opera house will be more expensive than calculated. But if there should be minor cost overruns, it is something we can live with. There will always be a certain risk linked to projects of this size, but that is still not a good enough reason to halt them. The Progress Party has pointed to the costs associated with sorting out the traffic chaos at Bjørvika and to the fact that opera is only for the few. But both the opera house and the tunnel under Bjørvika will be warmly welcomed by a great many people. The Progress Party is generous in its use of Norway’s oil revenues, but miserly when the word ‘culture’ is mentioned.