Did you know that a huge nuclear fallout shelter is currently being built in the centre of Helsinki? It is buried deep below the capital's granite and one of the chambers is large enough to hold a five-storey apartment building and that one is only an antechamber. It takes half an hour to reach the first chamber by walking along a tunnel big enough for a heavy-duty digger to happily carry rubble from recent blasting.

My first reaction when I overheard these snippets of information was, "Why is Finland investing so much money on a project that clearly shows it is preparing for a nuclear war?" Is this why some Finnish politicians are eager to sign up to NATO? Would joining this military club excuse the monumental cost involved in building and stocking a bunker that should have no place in today's world?

I shudder to even guess at how many millions are being pumped below the streets of Helsinki, especially after hearing that some wealthy Israelis are investing in underground nuclear shelters in the gardens of their luxury homes and the bargain-basement versions cost €89,000. Israel's citizens are facing a real nuclear threat from Iran, but which country has Finland marked as a target?

If a nuclear warhead was to hit Finland it would probably be a malfunctioning Russian one aimed at the USA, UK or France, one of the nations that are known to have a stockpile. The building of this nuclear shelter must be a military wet dream or the 'fast car' equivalent for a general's waning sexual prowess because I am sure we could all name three institutions in every country that could easily benefit from redirected military spending…health, education and employment.

Putting the obscene waste of taxpayer's money aside, why is Finland preparing for the worst-case scenario instead of investing in peace? What do the politicians know that we don't? Maybe we are on the brink of the Third World War, although we have been there since the Cold War. Is that the reason? I can't believe that despite all the gentle reminders and subtle nudges, the Finnish government are still living in a James Bond film consisting of spies in overcoats, codes, secret handshakes and the smuggling of microfilm across borders.

Finland is nearing the end of its term as EU President, but I sense irony. This is a country that was charged with negotiating a truce between Israel and Hezbollah, plus decided to solve the Turkey/Cyprus conflict, but was actually building its own nuclear bunker throughout the whole process. To me that screams hypocrisy, while I am also wondering if the sale of their six-percent share in metals giant Outokumpu wasn't prompted by the need to stock their bunker's wine cellar.

This is the 21st century and the demand for nuclear shelters among EU countries should be over, especially countries that don't even have nuclear weapons. Finland does have four operational nuclear power plants and is currently building a fifth, so perhaps there is a potential use for this multi-million euro bunker deep beneath Helsinki. I suggest that they use it to store the waste from their fifth nuclear power plant…nobody will ever know.