From the monthly archives:

February 2010

Winter pays us a visit

February 28, 2010

We’ve had a blast of winter up here in the last few days, after a very long spell where it was both dry and very cold. We got loads of snow, which was refreshing and also very pretty. I had to take my car to have the tires looked at and grabbed my camera as [...]

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The Financial Times has its say

February 27, 2010

The FT slams UK/Holland over their handling of the Icesave affair today: The British and Dutch governments’ incessant bullying of Iceland over Landsbanki’s Icesave acounts seems motivated by the bully’s usual reason – there is little to fear from picking on those sufficiently smaller than oneself. That premise is about to be tested now that [...]

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“This is where Iceland could be very useful”

February 26, 2010

An article that appeared on The Guardian website yesterday has a pretty astute take on the Iceland-EU situation. Surely of interest to anyone who wonders what on earth the EU could possibly want with Iceland. Despite the banking dispute, many leaders across Europe are keen to see Iceland in the union because of its strategic [...]

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Iceland’s Icesave demands leaked

February 26, 2010

… on Wikileaks, where else? Key points: loan paid in full over six years, no interest from 2009-2011, 2.5-3.5 interest above LIBOR after that [they are around 1 percent today]. Evidently this is what Iceland was demanding before the talks broke down yesterday.

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Icesave talks break down and UK/Holland leak a document

February 25, 2010

So, Icesave talks between Iceland and the UK/Holland broke down this evening. The Brits accuse the Icelanders of walking out, as per this report from Channel 4 in the UK, which quotes a Treasury spokesman: The UK and Dutch Governments are disappointed that despite their best efforts over the past year and a half that [...]

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Of confirming and conforming

February 25, 2010

I have to confess that I felt a pang of sympathy when I read a post on Eyjan this morning about how many people are currently in trouble as a result of their children’s upcoming confirmations. A few years back I wrote a post about the preparation for AAH’s confirmation. As I explained there, confirmations [...]

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Gleefully biting the hand that feeds you

February 25, 2010

According to a report on pressan.is, there is “very little joy” up at Morgunblather about the appointment of their former editor-in-chief Ólafur Stephensen to arch-rival Fréttablaðið. Apparently, Ólafur’s termination agreement is still in full effect, he’s still collecting a full salary from MBL and is receiving various benefits, including the use of a company vehicle. [...]

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Of the EU, Special Prosecutor, and musical chairs in the media

February 24, 2010

Fairly meaty news day today. EUROPEAN UNION First, the EU has declared that Iceland is fit to join their club provided we tweak our policies and administrative structure a bit. If we do, they will kindly allow us to discuss potential accession. They have a few, um, criticisms about how things are done here. [I'm [...]

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Speaking of turf houses

February 23, 2010

In 1906, my great-grandfather Stefán drowned. In those years, widows and their children automatically became wards of the district council. My great-grandmother Þórdís was sent away to work on a farm in the vicinity and one of her children – her daughter Guðrún – went there with her. The other three children were all sent [...]

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Icesave counter-offer rejected as turf houses appear on the horizon

February 23, 2010

In my self-appointed role as tracker of THE BLOB for the World at Large [that's you], I herewith present the latest on the Icesave monster: The Icelandic delegation went to London and Den Haag last week for renewed talks in an effort to avoid the Icesave referendum scheduled for 6 March. They talked and talked, [...]

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