Posts tagged as:

Davíd Oddsson

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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Machinations of the shadow elite

October 14, 2010

A new article in the Huffington Post by economist Robert Wade from the LSE and Sigurbjörg [Silla] Sigurgeirsdóttir from the U of Iceland is a chilling read. It gives a pretty concise account of the machinations of the Independence Party and their cronies in the lead-up to the meltdown, and proves how a handful of [...]

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The natives are getting restless

October 2, 2010

So for those of you who haven’t heard, there were around 3,000 people protesting in Austurvöllur square yesterday [Friday]. By comparison, there were around 5,000 in the Kitchenware Revolution that brought down the government almost two years ago. Parliament was being officially set for the winter, and there’s a tradition where the MPs and president [...]

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Bread and circuses

September 28, 2010

Monumental day today: for the first time in Iceland’s history, parliament voted to indict a former prime minister for negligence and misconduct in the line of duty. I am, of course, referring to Geir H. Haarde and his involvement in the Icelandic economic meltdown. Three others were up for indictment with him [I wrote about [...]

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Support for EU talks goes up

September 28, 2010

Apparently support for EU negotiations has gone up again and is now around 64%, according to a survey conducted for Fréttablaðið. The results are published in the paper today and on visir.is. Clearly Davíð Oddsson and his cronies need to up the ante a little bit — spew some more anti-EU propaganda out among the [...]

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Parliamentary committee recommends indictments for ex-PM and others

September 12, 2010

Some pretty big news yesterday. A parliamentary committee, appointed to recommend whether or not any public officials should be indicted as a result of their involvement in the economic collapse in 2008, delivered its findings yesterday afternoon. There had been a fair bit of tension beforehand, particularly as it was known that the committee — [...]

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The new mayor opens a diary and other fun stuff

June 20, 2010

So, as most people reading this will know, we have a new mayor here in Iceland in the form of comedian Jón Gnarr, of the Best Party. The Best Party essentially stormed out of nowhere last spring and stole the Reykjavík local elections from the [corruption-ridden] Independence Party [who despite their corruption-riddedness still have loads [...]

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Sons of Jesus 10, cameo by Doddsson

June 4, 2010

Think what you will of old Davíð Oddsson, you’ve got to admit he knows how to throw a surprise. Just when you thought he’d retreated into the darkest backroom of Morgunblather headquarters to do what he does best, he turns up in a cameo role in a video with a bunch of dudes from the [...]

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Two excellent interviews on Silfur Egils

May 3, 2010

Yesterday’s Silfur Egils* was excellent. The two most notable interviews in my opinion were those with Þorvaldur Gylfason, a professor of economics at the University of Iceland, and with William K. Black, an American lawyer and former bank regulator who is an expert in white-collar crime. Þorvaldur Gylfason is a man of strong opinions with [...]

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First resignation on Morgunblaðið over Doddson’s editorial policy

April 30, 2010

Gunnhildur Arna Gunnarsdóttir, one of the news editors of Morgunblaðið, has resigned from the paper as she disagreed with the paper’s handling of the information published in the Black Report. In particular she found fault with the screaming headline on the front page of the paper the day following the publication of the report, and [...]

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