Will the UK warm to Finland's naked, sauna diplomacy?

Finnish diplomats person utilized saunas arsenic a relaxed venue for discussing planetary policies and solving problems for years. Now determination is 1 successful the UK. But what's the appeal? The BBC's James Landale joined the caller sauna nine wrong Finland's embassy successful London to find retired however it works.

Diplomacy tin travel successful galore forms; planetary summits, precocious level negotiations, and astute receptions wherever radical sip champagne and devour fancy chocolates. But diplomats from Finland person what they accidental is simply a concealed weapon, a unsocial mode of engaging with radical - conscionable truthful agelong arsenic they are acceptable to instrumentality their apparel off.

For years, determination has been a diplomatic sauna nine successful Finnish embassy successful Washington DC, arsenic good arsenic others astir the world. And present determination is besides 1 successful the basement of the embassy successful London, aft it opened past year.

The format for "sauna diplomacy" is simple. Finnish diplomats invitation their contacts to the UK embassy. Introductions are made, a portion is had, and past it's clip to gets changed. The women caput disconnected to the sauna by themselves. When they are done, the men person their turn. At the end, everyone gathers for different portion and a tiny wound to eat.

Call it bare networking. And seemingly it works.

"Sauna is an aged Finnish tradition, an integral portion of Finnish mode of life," says Heli Suominen, property counsellor astatine UK's Finnish embassy. Sauna diplomacy, she says, is each astir gathering spot and forging friendships.

"It creates a bully ambience for having frank discussions. The information that you're not afloat dressed helps due to the fact that everyone is equal, it's easier to hide your roles and titles. So you tin really spell to the bottommost of things." Which is 1 mode of putting it.

The thought is that getting blistery and sweaty relaxes each sides, builds spot and reduces tensions, making it easier to physique relationships. And that is precisely however it was erstwhile I took portion successful an evening of sauna diplomacy successful London.

There are wide rules. You ablution first, you deterioration swimwear oregon a towel, and men sweat with men, women with women. As you enter, you get what is called a "bum towel" to beryllium connected for extortion against the heat. The thermometer successful my sauna said the somesthesia was astir 80C. And truthful you past sweat and chat. Very rapidly barriers are breached down.

Sauna diplomacy does not enactment successful each countries - immoderate cultures are little accustomed to near-nudity successful nationalist - and determination is thing precise intimate astir being squeezed into a small, dimly lit abstraction with 5 different men. But erstwhile I asked if anyone felt uncomfortable, no-one said yes.

Federico Bianchi, a diplomat presently moving for the European Union successful London, says helium enjoyed it due to the fact that it was truthful antithetic - engaging successful diplomacy without the accustomed tools of his trade: a crisp suit and a mobile phone.

"It is rather peculiar not to beryllium clothed and not to beryllium capable to trust besides connected your look and the cognition that you deliberation your counterpart tin person of you," Bianchi offers. "You conscionable person to trust connected the bare words, and what you say."

There person been times erstwhile Finnish leaders utilized the sauna for much nonstop diplomacy. In the 1960s, Finland's Cold War person - Urho Kekkonen - took the past President of the Soviet Union Nikita Khrushchev into an all-night sauna and persuaded him to let Finland to integrate with the West. In 2005, erstwhile Vladimir Putin visited Helsinki, helium had a sauna with the hubby of the Finnish president, Tarja Halonen, and described it arsenic "a fantastic experience".

But these days sauna diplomacy is much astir taste engagement. Sanna Kangasharju, a Finnish diplomat presently moving for the European Parliament, utilized to tally the sauna nine successful Washington DC.

"It was hugely popular," she says. "It became a benignant of underground happening and everybody wanted to person the summons to the sauna society. Every state has an embassy successful Washington - we were each warring for the attraction of the reporters, [and] radical moving successful Congress. And erstwhile you created thing wherever it was a small spot hard to get - we could invitation lone 25 radical erstwhile a period connected a Friday evening - you wanted to person that ticket."

Sanna feels she would not person developed specified a beardown web successful the US superior without the sauna. "They privation a peculiar experience," she says. "When you spell to a reception and you conscionable different people, you tin say: 'Oh, I didn't recognise you with your apparel on'. You privation to beryllium a portion of that club."

The elephant successful the sauna for galore will, of course, beryllium sex. In immoderate cultures, the 2 are linked. But not, says Heli, successful Finland.

"Finnish sauna is precise decidedly a non-sexual space, adjacent much than different places wherever you conscionable people," she explains. "It's astir ineffable to america that it's a harmless abstraction for everyone. The constituent of sauna is that everyone feels comfy and respected."

Some diplomacy tin impact eating and drinking excessively much. It tin besides impact agelong hours of work. But aft an evening of sauna diplomacy we felt good, the strains of the time sweated into the night.

We near with a certificate declaring our rank of the Diplomatic Sauna Society. Its motto: "All radical are created equal, but obscurity much truthful than successful a sauna."