There is nothing to fear except the persistent refusal to find out the truth, the persistent refusal to analyze the causes of happenings. – Dorothy Thompson In the past few months I’ve talked to two persons who are facing a dilemma that they did not expect to face a year ago. They both have detailed [...]

Iceland has an alcoholic psyche. The shared Icelandic alcoholism presents itself in co-dependence, denial and massive self-delusion. The self-delusion lead us to think that we had it all figured out, that we could drink more than everyone before us in history without suffering the hangovers. Co-dependence tied us strongly together in masking the problems, shushing [...]

“I am famous in Iceland’s community of 300,000, and two or three months ago I used to have two or three guards with me,” he says, sipping coffee in his lounge. “Now, though, I go where I like. When this was first going on people would cry hostility towards me, but today I get a [...]

Going to the movies tonight I expected to be moved but I did not think I would be horrified.  The mood after Andri Snaer Magnason’s Dreamland was funeral-like. No surprise, the movie recites the relationship between Iceland and the aluminum giants of the world. On the way to the theater I told my sister that [...]

But while Baugur set its sights on the Faroe Islands with the acquisition of 50% of the six-strong SMS supermarket chain, Bravo International was headed for more turbulent waters. The move into brewing was bold. The Russian economy was in crisis and foreign investment drying up. Yet the Icelanders were not only ploughing money into [...]

Today DV.is quotes Gunnar Birgisson, Independence Party major of Kopavogur, Iceland’s second biggest town after Reykjavik as saying “even though she is my daughter she should not be punished for it”. The reason is that the Social Democrats in the town council have requested explanations for the accusations that keep coming up about Gunnar’s daughter’s [...]

After accepting over 70 million ISK in the last campaign year from Landsbankinn and the controlling owners of Glitnir (FL Group) when it was considered normal to accept donations of 300.000-500.000 ISK, how on earth was the government of the Independence Party and Social Democrats supposed to rein in the banks on the way to [...]

The significance of the relevation behind the Independence Party’s acceptance of 55 million ISK from FL Group and Landsbankinn should not be underestimated. It is one of the biggest newsstories in Icelandic history. Here is why: FL Group was a company listed on the Icelandic Stock Exchange where Jon Asgeir Johannesson of Baugur Group and [...]