I am writing my masters’ thesis. If you can point me towards important sources, articles, research or contacts then it would be greatly appreciated. It is on the three big ratings agencies and their assessment of the Icelandic banks in the period from 2002 – 2008. 1. How did the leading credit ratings agencies rate the [...]

Someone told me that one of the most interesting things about Stefan Zweig’s story, The World Of Yesterday is how easy it was for people to move away from bad rulers before the days of border patrols and passports. The issue of surrogate mothers has been hotly debated in Iceland recently. A toddler is stuck [...]

I found this old newspaper clipping. Funny how history has a knack of repeating itself. Iceland under threat from European assimilation – Christian extremism on the rise in neighbouring lands Editorial by Styrmir Bjornsson, troll chieftain – Odin Times. Friday, June 17, 886. ———————————————————————— Iceland is under threat from a foreign invasion which might change [...]

We learn from experience that even if men let go of religious absolutism, they do not stop living and thinking in absolutisms, but transfer their emphasis from God to something else. The nation, the state, the party, the market, the asset, financial and social advancement ( get ahead and further than others) to name this [...]

From the Wikileaks documents. Interesting comments from the US Embassy on the situation in Iceland in October and November 2008. Russia, Independence Party, IMF, Icelandic politics and the  EU. The old guard of the Independence Party is working hard at discrediting these leaks stating that “foreigners know nothing about things work in Iceland”. But according [...]

Halla Tomasdottir’s assertion that Icelandic women are taking over the boys’ mess, gets a worrying ring to it when examining the popular webzine Pressan.is this morning. Compare the articles written by women and men and make up your mind yourself: “Are carbs fattening?” – Agusta Johnsen (Fitness) Roughly speaking, carbs are either complex or simple. [...]

In 2010 I made the best financial investment of my life. Its return far outperformed any property, stock or savings account I have ever owned. I put 1.000 ISK on Lengjan, a sports bet where you choose three to six sports events in any given week for a combined coefficient of 4.42. I got all [...]

I’ve been reading Frozen Assets, former Kaupthing Singer&Friedlander  boss Armann Thorvaldsson’s account of his Kaupthing days. Armann is a charismatic character who I recall claiming that his ambition when moving to London to build Kaupthing’s business there was to get himself onto the pages of the Financial Times and Hello. His New Years Eve parties [...]

David Oddson’s letter to Timothy F. Geithner from Wikileaks. October 24 Mr. Timothy F. Geithner, President Federal Reserve Bank of New York 33 Liberty Street New York, NY 10045 USA Dear Tim, Friday afternoon, October 24, 2008, the Government of Iceland announced that an agreement had been reached with the International Monetary Fund on a [...]

Sigurjon Th. Arnason, former Landsbanki CEO who was brought in by the office of the Special Prosecutor earlier this week will remain in custody until January 25. The case appears to be about market manipulation, with the bank using illegal methods to do business with its own shares to keep their price up. Another former [...]