.
search
 
 
RSS feed from icelandreview.com 
 
Subscribe to daily news email service
  
The 11th annual Night of Lights festival begins today in Reykjanesbaer municipality in southwest Iceland. Tomorrow and Saturday night, many of the country’s best bands will play in Reykjanesbaer and on Sunday local choirs will entertain guests.  more




 

Click on the picture to watch an audio slideshow of a hike to Hraunsvatn lake in Öxnadalur valley in north Iceland, which lies at a height of 490 meters, interlocked between two steep mountains and a small glacier with a view of the majestic Hraundrangar peaks.  more
Fjallabyggd (“Mountain Settlement”) is a skier’s dream. Its slopes are perfect for slaloming and there are also tracks for telemark skiing. Winter sporting enthusiasts can also go ice skating or rent snowmobiles. In summer, Fjallabyggd turns into a paradise for hikers. Read this special promotion about one of Iceland’s best hidden gems.  more


04/10/2009 | 11:00

Politically Incorrect

One thing you'll never hear me talk about is the political situation in Iceland. The main reason being that I have absolutely no idea what politicians are talking about. It's not only because of my poor knowledge of Icelandic but also because of a lack of interest on my part.

Sometimes when I'm sitting in the living room and the TV is on I can hear the fréttir (news) in the background. Just by looking on the anchors’ faces I can be sure that nothing really serious is going on. When I think about it, though... what can possibly be happening anyway?

Ok. So we had an economic meltdown, crisis or whatever you call it. Things were pretty bad for much of the world and for Iceland in particular. Local news had enough headlines for a whole year and even more.

Almost one year has passed since the crisis started and we are back to the starting point. Absolutely nothing to talk about. I won't even mention that the kreppa talks are hardly political at all anymore, if anything, economical, so to speak.

Well, thank God we have elections once every few years. Here we go: first class political stuff to talk about. We have a green party, an independent party and parties with names that I don't even know how to spell. But now with the elections already a few months behind us and four years until the next ones, there is plenty of time without a major political event. Once again we are back to the starting point.

I sometimes tell myself, what can you really expect from a small place like Iceland? The fact that I come from a place called Israel doesn't make things better.

Just to give you an idea what I'm talking about: During my first year in Iceland, not only did I personally meet the president, I also had lunch with a minister and his driver.

About half of the Altingi MPs are my Facebook friends. And my point is this; that news might be boring here, but seeing Minister of Education Katrín Jakobsdóttir in her pajamas definitely lightens things up—speaking from a political point of view, of course.

I personally think that for a place like Iceland, having an economic crisis once every few years is not such a bad idea.

Now that Iceland is negotiating for entrance into the European Union, the kreppa is a little bit less of a crisis and most of the tourists have already gone, it's time for us to be creative. Not that I'm suggesting something.

But if you (head of a foreign state, Russian oligarch or American billionaire) had any plans to invade Iceland for any reason at all, now would be the perfect time. Not only will the news become exciting again, it also wouldn't be such a bad idea to hand our economic responsibilities over to someone else. Yes, we are that desperate.

When I shared this thought with a person close to me, just before I sat down to write about it for Iceland Review, this particular person told me that it's not fair on my part to complain about the bland news reports in the Icelandic media before even taking the time to learn Icelandic properly. Not that I feel I'm missing something that hasn't already been written about in IR, but I think she has got a point.

Just before sending this column to the editor (to whom I’d like to take the opportunity to apologize to for my late submission) I heard from the same particular person that the minister of health has just renounced his office due to the unsolved problems with the Icesave deal, or something of that sort.

“You see”, she told me, “Things aren't that boring here in Iceland. Ministers come and go just like in any other normal country.”

Now, giving up on this whole column just because one minister decided to quit office was out of the question. I was on a too tight schedule and I couldn't come up with anything else to write about quickly enough.

So, I decided to leave it the way it was and tell you that, I believe you can still get my point.

Have a great weekend!

Guy Gutraiman – gutraiman@gmail.com

My blog: My Deadly Truths.


Comment



August 28 | A Wiener Melange

August 27 | A Falling Star

August 26 | The Energy Scandal



August 23 | A Turbulent Start



August 19 | EU and Ouagadougou

August 18 | Wishful Thinking



 
 
The second issue of the print edition of Iceland Review 2010 has just been published. Entitled “Under the Volcano” the magazine dedicates 20 pages, words and pictures, to the volcanic eruption in Eyjafjallajökull glacier which made headlines all over the word. New subscribers will receive the book 2010 Eruptions as a gift and all subscribers are part of a draw to win a trip to Iceland. Click here to subscribe to the magazine.  more



REVIEWS
Dadi Gudbjörnsson's art with its smiley faces, Aladdin's lamps, gleaming hearts, blue mountains and psychedelic flora of unearthly origin reminds me of the cheesy R.E.M. song “Shiny Happy People”. The sugar-sweet naivety fails to amuse me but I must admit it infects my mood with delirious joy.  more
Former President of Iceland Vigdís Finnbogadóttir turned 80 on 15 April this year and Mayor Hanna Birna Kristjánsdóttir—in making her an Honorary Citizen of Reykjavík to mark the occasion—observed that Finnbogadóttir’s life was interwoven with that of Reykjavík. In June 1980 Finnbogadóttir made history when she became the world’s first democratically elected female head of state.  more
Today, August 30, and tomorrow is your last chance to visit the exhibition “Eau De Parfum” by Andrea Maack at the Spark Design Space in Reykjavík. In the exhibition space, Maack introduces three perfumes that are the result of her collaboration with French perfumery apf aromes & parfums.  more

Click for Reykjavik, Iceland Forecast




© Copyright icelandreview.com (Heimur hf)
Iceland Review • Borgartúni 23 • 105 Reykjavik • Iceland • Tel.(354) 512 7575 • Fax.(354) 561 8646 • icelandreview@icelandreview.com