December 2008

I can’t believe I wrote the whole thing

December 16, 2008

This, ladies and gentlemen, is post number 1,000 on this site. ONE THOUSAND freaking posts. Gawd. That is almost scary. How many hours of my life have gone into this? What if I had spent them doing something meaningful, like writing my memoirs or plotting ways in which to make a million dollars before the [...]

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Musical chairs and the return of Sullenberger*

December 15, 2008

Here is a wee subjective collection of this morning’s headlines [15.12.08]: Increased likelihood of reshuffle – Fréttablaðið Media is reporting that a cabinet reshuffle will happen before the end of the year; RÚV claimed on its evening news last night that it had information to that effect. We see it as a lame effort to [...]

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An exceptional article from Times Online

December 14, 2008

A reader emailed me a link to an article on Times Online this morning. Iceland: Frozen Assets, by A.A. Gill. Lots of links get left in the comments to this site – and I welcome them – but I rarely post a link on the front page of this blog unless I feel it is [...]

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Because a whisper can be as loud as a shout

December 13, 2008

Today’s demonstration was a silent one. People were summoned to Austurvöllur square at 3 pm to stand in front of the parliament building in silence for 17 minutes – representing one minute for each year that the Independence Party has been in power. Then every sixty seconds, the organizer of the demonstration would read out [...]

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Headlines 13.12.08

December 13, 2008

Ingibjörg Sólrún Gísladóttir, Minister for Foreign Affairs and leader of the Social Democratic Alliance, which makes up the government coalition along with the Independence Party, says that the coalition will be terminated if the IP kills all notions of entering into talks with the European Union at its annual general meeting in January. The IP, [...]

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In anticipation of D-day

December 12, 2008

So tomorrow is Saturday weekly demonstration day. After a series of heated protests in November, things seem to be cooling down. Last Saturday a mere 1,500 people showed up to demonstrate [according to police - 2,500 according to the protest organizers], down from 6-7,000 the week before [say police, 11-12,000 according to the organizers]. Fréttablaðið [...]

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Headlines 12.12.08

December 12, 2008

Landsbanki executive who transferred ISK 107 million from bank subsidiary into own account in early October claims he did so to “rescue deposits”. What a swell guy! Mbl. reports. Vilhjálmur Bjarnason, head of Association of Icelandic Investors and one of the investors in Glitnir bank, has initiated legal proceedings against Old Glitnir over severance deal [...]

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We now interrupt our regular programming to bring you a public service announcement

December 11, 2008

I’ve been in a bit of a quandary about the headlines in my sidebar lately. A little while back I asked if people were still reading them, and a number of you responded that you were. That’s also been evident from some of the comments in relation to the different news blurbs that I’ve posted, [...]

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Our very own Alcatraz

December 10, 2008

OK, so the price hikes are starting to hit home now. Yesterday I went to Hagkaup to pick up a few things and noticed a stack of that sacred harbinger of Christmas by the door: cases of clementines. I was about to grab a case to stick in my trolley when I was stopped short [...]

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Proving that notoriety comes from outside. And that the Central Bank cares.

December 8, 2008

Today I had a fascinating conversation with someone at the Central Bank*. It all started with a contact form submitted through this website last Thursday. It read, verbatim, in Nicelandic: I urgently need to get in touch with you. Could you e-mail me, or call. [name] [cellphone] Being an obedient little soldier, I replied with [...]

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