Today is the first day of the Advent* here in Iceland, meaning we have now entered the season of Kitty and the Yule Lads. This is definitely one of the most magical times of year here, fully qualified to rival the season of the midnight sun. It’s the time when coloured lights decorate just about […] Read more
November 2009
Latest post on the THINK platform: As I alluded to in a previous post, climate change feels like a non-issue in Iceland at the moment. So much time and space is given over to the effects of our recent economic implosion and the myriad difficulties resulting from it, that climate change on a broader scale […] Read more
This just in from the Baggalútur news service: The world-famous Ukrainian investor Boris Molotov is currently in Iceland with plans to invest “like a motherf*cker”. In Boris’s view, the main business opportunities are in the following: The manuscripts, Bæjarins Beztu hot dogs, and Megas. He intends to purchase a controlling share in those three in […] Read more
My latest post on the THINK platform: As I wrote in an earlier post, the global aluminium industry has a strong presence in Iceland due to the country’s plentiful and relatively inexpensive green energy. Indeed, a few years ago, Icelandic authorities ventured forth into the world waving a brochure titled “Lowest Energy Prices!!” in an […] Read more
Big news everybody: iPhones have officially landed in Iceland, meaning we can now actually buy them here AND use them without having to hack them first. Apparently iPhones are this year’s Christmas present, or so the phone companies would have us believe. Incidentally, two of the three major telecommunications companies on the Icelandic market are […] Read more
I’ve just finished reading The White Book by Einar Már Guðmundsson …yes, it’s taken me awhile, but only because I was subjected to the literary equivalent of being clobbered over the head and dragged off this book [affiliate link alert!] – pretty much as I am currently devouring this one [or as the bookstore clerk […] Read more
So YT has been under a fair bit of fire here lately, mostly to do with my alleged inability to take criticism, and also the moderation of comments on this site, which really seems to get up some people’s noses. First of all to the accusation that I’m unable to take criticism. It seems to […] Read more
Yesterday, a rather embarrassing video popped up on various blogs here in Niceland. It was from the so-called “Baugur Day” in 2007, when Baugur Group threw the staff party of a lifetime down in Monaco, and it looks to be a promotional video for the company before all went tits-up [and you can pretty much […] Read more
So the guvn’ment has been bizzy bizzy these past couple of days introducing us to all the various new taxes and tax brackets we’ll be subjected to in the near future. It seems they’ve found a way to tax everything, from heavy industry to biscuits, and anything in between. Predictably the media is all-abuzz with […] Read more
So the International Monetary Fund has started sending me mail. Press releases, that sort of thing. Entirely unsolicited. In fact, the first time they did, the email landed in my spam folder with the warning: THIS PERSON MAY NOT BE WHO THEY CLAIM TO BE – since, let’s face it, why would the IMF be […] Read more
