björgólfur gudmundsson

On the occasion of the opening of the Harpa concert hall

May 13, 2011

This evening will see the official opening of Harpa, Iceland’s new concert hall. The story of Harpa is the stuff of legend – somewhere during the boom years its construction was usurped by one Björgólfur Guðmundsson, former owner and Chairman of the Board of Landsbanki [also former owner of West Ham FC], who planned to [...]

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Björgólfur Thor’s PR machine kicks into gear

August 31, 2010

So, my little post yesterday evidently hit a nerve with a few people. After Eyjan and Pressan picked up on it, I was quite literally bombarded with phone calls and emails from one Ragnhildur Sverrisdóttir, Björgólfur Thor’s PR representative, who was most zealous in her denial of all the “old innuendos” made in the post. [...]

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Just don’t mention the Russians

August 30, 2010

A couple of days ago I met up with a documentary filmmaker who is looking to make a film about the Icelandic crisis. We had a very interesting chat, and during the course of our conversation he told me he’d been speaking to what he called “the Viking contingent” in London — i.e. the oligarchs [...]

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Why has no one been arrested?

January 16, 2010

Many readers have expressed their astonishment and indignation here in the comments that those responsible for aspects of Iceland’s economic collapse – particularly those who made a lot of money that seems to have mysteriously vanished – have not been arrested and/or their assets frozen. Believe me, many of us here are wondering the same [...]

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The Weather Report has a kreppa boom boom

August 17, 2009

What a crazy, chaotic day! I had a deadline on an assignment and had planned to spend the better part of the day working on that so I could get it sent off in a timely fashion. However, when I opened my email, the first message was from the BBC World Service telling me that [...]

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Here are the charred ruins of Landsbanki. Now kindly write off our ISK 3 billion debt

July 9, 2009

I think it’s safe to say that the collective Icelandic nation pretty much keeled over at the news two days ago that the two Björgólfurs had allegedly requested that Kaupthing bank write off half of a loan used for acquiring a controlling share in Landsbanki in 2003 – an ISK 3 billion debt. Quick rewind: [...]

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