Jóhanna Sigurdardóttir

Demonstration this evening in front of Althingi

October 4, 2010

So a demonstration has been called for this evening at 7.30 in front of the parliament buildings, when PM Jóhanna delivers her keynote speech. I have a feeling it is going to be major. Yesterday on Silfur Egils I heard someone say he would like to see the government step down within ten days, and [...]

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Are we due for elections?

September 21, 2010

So parliament reconvened last week after the holidays and went right into fighting over discussing the report by the parliamentary committee that I wrote about here. There was much anticipation yesterday when PM Jóhanna took to the podium, since she had remained mum about her views on the report and everyone was eager to hear [...]

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Someone’s at home eating warmed-up soup

September 7, 2010

So it seems the leader of a certain political party in the Faroe Islands has his knickers all in a twist because our PM Jóhanna is visiting his country with her spouse. And [GASP!] Jóhanna is gay. The dude, Jenis av Rana, who leads Miðflokkurinn, apparently a right-of-centre party, has loudly declared that he will [...]

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And while we’re on the subject of the church

August 25, 2010

EPI passed on this video to me, where the amazing Stephen Fry holds forth about the Catholic church and just nails it. And while his talk is specific to that church, there are so many things that also apply to the Icelandic national church at the present time — and probably many others, as well. [...]

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Meanwhile back in Iceland we have political scandal

August 13, 2010

From my vantage point here in Bulgaria, I’ve been loosely following the news back home. Seems Minister of Economic Affairs Gylfi Magnússon is in deep doo-doo. Apparently he knew about the illegality of the FX loans more than a year ago, but chose not only to keep mum, but to lie about it to members [...]

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Iceland’s PM marries under new matrimony law

June 27, 2010

Apropos the last post, our Prime Minister Jóhanna Sigurðardóttir and her spouse Jónína Leósdóttir got married today. According to RÚV, they are among the first gay couples to legally marry under the new matrimony laws that took effect today. No formal ceremony is said to have taken place, though. I had dinner with a group [...]

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On herding cats

March 29, 2010

So, the Social Democratic Alliance held its national congress this weekend and by all accounts Prime Minister Jóhanna held a thunderous speech in which she pulled no punches. Among other things, she talked about the difficulty of “tightening the ranks” within the current government coalition and said that getting some of the Left-Green MPs to [...]

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The 1,000 words

March 8, 2010

For anyone who missed it, I cannot resist posting this fabulous photo taken by Jo of Jóhanna, Birgitta and Sigmundur Davíð on referendum night. That smug look on SD’s face just kills me – and the look on Jóhanna’s just says it all. IN OTHER NEWS I have a post up on The Grauniad’s website [...]

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93.2%

March 7, 2010

… Was the percentage of the Icelandic electorate that said NO to the Icesave bill yesterday. The NO result was a foregone conclusion – the only thing of interest, really, was how large a margin would be by which the bill would be voted down. Mind you, at noon today, not all the votes were [...]

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Referendum rundown

March 6, 2010

It’s been a rather gray and gloomy day, this day of the first national referendum since the founding of the Republic of Iceland. I got up [relatively] early and headed for the gym. It was packed and I was slightly surprised that I did not hear the word “Icesave” mentioned once. Not in the fitness [...]

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