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The Reykjavík Grapevine's Iceland Roundup brings you the top news with a healthy dash of local views. In this episode, Grapevine publisher Jón Trausti Sigurðarson is joined by Heimildin journalist Aðalsteinn Kjartansson, and Grapevine friend and contributor Sindri Eldon to roundup the stories making headlines in recent weeks. On the docket this week are:

Terrible Air Quality in Reykjavík

The last few days, with cold and still weather, saw air quality in Reykjavík plummet.

ADHD And Driving In Iceland

An Icelandic attorney wanted to bring it to the attention of the public that every so often people in Iceland loose their driver’s license because they are taking ADHD medication. The reason, they don’t have a prescription.

Horse And Tooth

A person that bought a 13 year old horse wanted to return the horse because it had an extra tooth. The case was taken to consumer court, where the buyer lost. The court pointed out that the horse seems to have lived with the extra tooth for at least a decade without issue, and therefore the extra tooth was not enough ground for returning the horse.

Progressive Party Votes New Chairman

Over the weekend the Progressive Party, on of Iceland’s oldest political parties, voted for a new chairman. The winner was Lilja Alfreðsdóttir, a former MP and minister.

Man. United Owner Says UK “Colonized by Immigrants”

Jim Ratcliffe, billionaire owner of Manchester United, said publicly that the UK had been “colonized by immigrants”. The comment received a lot of pushback in the UK, for various reasons. One of which is that Ratcliffe doesn’t even live or pay tax in the UK, but in Monaco. The comments were thought to be quite ironic to Icelanders because Ratcliffe is the single biggest landowner in Iceland, after the state, municipalities and the church, having thus, in his own way, been “colonizing” Iceland.

The Last Week In Healthcare

The past weeks have been rough for the good name of the Icelandic Health Care system and Icelandic health in general. The emergency room in Reykjavík is so full that it pretty much doesn’t function. On top of that it turns out Icelanders are way too fat, and the minister is pondering to propose a tax on sugar. Lastly, a poll revealed that 83% of Icelanders want to put ban energy drinks,

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This is a Reykjavík Grapevine podcast.
The Reykjavík Grapevine is a free alternative magazine in English published 18 times per year, biweekly during the spring and summer, and monthly during the autumn and winter.

The magazine covers everything Iceland-related, with a special focus culture, music, food and travel. The Reykjavík Grapevine’s goal is to serve as a trustworthy and reliable source of information for those living in Iceland, visiting Iceland or interested in Iceland. Thanks to our dedicated readership and excellent distribution network, the Reykjavík Grapevine is Iceland’s most read English-language publication.

You may not agree with what we write or publish, but at least it’s not sponsored content.
www.grapevine.is

Are you enjoying this? Are you not? Tell us what to do more of, and what you'd like to hear less of.

The Reykjavík Grapevine's Iceland Roundup brings you the top news with a healthy dash of local views. In this episode, Grapevine publisher Jón Trausti Sigurðarson is joined by Heimildin journalist Aðalsteinn Kjartansson, and Grapevine friend and contributor Sindri Eldon to roundup the stories making headlines in recent weeks. On the docket this week are:

Preschool Problems In Reykjavík

On Thursday it was reported that child in a preschool in Reykjavík suburb Breiðholt was left on the grounds alone, for its parent to find it there, when all of the staff had already left the premises. This story overlaps with all of the headmasters of Reykjavík’s 63 preschools telling the city that it has until the end of the month to solve the city’s preschool problems.

Emergency Room Still Full At Reykjavík’s Main Hospital

The chairman of the Medical Doctor’s association, told the news this past week that the situation in the hospital’s emergency rooms had never been worse, and currently a 100 patients are waiting in the overcrowded hospital for space in a nursing home. This comes after reports that seven health care employees got TB from a patient that died from that in January.

Interest Rates Stay The Same, Inflation Roars

The Central Bank announced last week that they would not raise interest rates, even though inflation has now been measured above 5,2%. If this trend continues, the collective bargaining agreements now in place might become void. .

Epstein Files and Arctic Circle

The release of the Epstein files has brought back a 2020 story on the fact that Ghislaine Maxwell spoke at the annual Arctic Circle Council in 2013 and 2014, and that there she met, and subsequently married the council’s co-founder Scott Borgerson.

Reynisfjara Beach No Longer A “Beach”

Heavy ocean currents, with easterly winds have all but swept the beach element of the famous tourist destination Reynisfjara beach, away. The famous basalt columns, one of the most photographed places in Iceland, are now directly exposed to the waves, with all the sand in front of them gone.

The USA Has Access To All Icelandic Government Data

Last summer, an Icelandic hosting service provider, Mörður Áslaugarson, pointed out in a Op-Ed on visir.is, that co

Support the show

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SHOW SUPPORT

Support the Grapevine's reporting by becoming a member of our High Five Club: https://grapevine.is/high-five-club/

Or donate to the Grapevine here:
https://support.grapevine.is

You can also support the Grapevine by shopping in our online store:
https://shop.grapevine.is

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

This is a Reykjavík Grapevine podcast.
The Reykjavík Grapevine is a free alternative magazine in English published 18 times per year, biweekly during the spring and summer, and monthly during the autumn and winter.

The magazine covers everything Iceland-related, with a special focus culture, music, food and travel. The Reykjavík Grapevine’s goal is to serve as a trustworthy and reliable source of information for those living in Iceland, visiting Iceland or interested in Iceland. Thanks to our dedicated readership and excellent distribution network, the Reykjavík Grapevine is Iceland’s most read English-language publication.

You may not agree with what we write or publish, but at least it’s not sponsored content.
www.grapevine.is

Are you enjoying this? Are you not? Tell us what to do more of, and what you'd like to hear less of.

The Reykjavík Grapevine's Iceland Roundup brings you the top news with a healthy dash of local views. In this episode, Grapevine publisher Jón Trausti Sigurðarson is joined by guest host Ólafur Jóhann Sigurðsson, and Grapevine friend and contributor Sindri Eldon to roundup the stories making headlines in recent weeks. On the docket this week are:

Handball, Handball, Handball

The European Men's Handball Championship took place during the last two weeks of January in Norway, Sweden and Denmark, with the final matches being played in Herning, Denmark. The whole of Iceland seems to have been watching, with local media publishing pictures of empty Reykjavík streets during televised broadcasts of the Icelandic team playing. Iceland came 4th overall, loosing to Croatia in a match for the third place.

Icelanders In The Epstein Flies

The latest batch of Epstein files released by the US Justice Department, led to some newsprint being spent on the few Icelanders that appeared there, such as former First Lady Dorrit Moussaieff, her husband former president Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson, former CEO of DeCode Genetics, Kári Stefánsson, and cab driver Kristján Jón Karlsson. As far as we know, non of these Icelanders had any real ties with Epstein.

Iceland’s Laufey Wins A Grammy

Laufey Lín Jónsdóttir, the Icelandic musician and singer, took home her second Grammy for her latest LP A Matter of Time. The also received an Emmy for her 2024 album Bewitched.

Gas Prices & Inflation

Inflation in Iceland is now at 5,2%, which is “too damn high”. This may have the result of nullifying recent collective bargaining agreements, which in turn might tip the generally fragile Icelandic economy into turmoil.

Iceland’s New Defense Policy.

Icelands new defense policy was published last week, being immediately criticized for not taking into account the ongoing changes to the global world order. And what is the defense policy you may ask? It’s the same as the old defense policy, basically non-existent.

Tesla’s Fail To Pass Inspections

The 2021 model of Tesla’s are now due for their first law stipulated inspections, which they’ve been failing, specifically the Y model, of which 30% didn’t pass inspection in Iceland, whereas in Denmark 45% of that type of Teslas didn’t pass.

Support the show

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

SHOW SUPPORT

Support the Grapevine's reporting by becoming a member of our High Five Club: https://grapevine.is/high-five-club/

Or donate to the Grapevine here:
https://support.grapevine.is

You can also support the Grapevine by shopping in our online store:
https://shop.grapevine.is

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

This is a Reykjavík Grapevine podcast.
The Reykjavík Grapevine is a free alternative magazine in English published 18 times per year, biweekly during the spring and summer, and monthly during the autumn and winter.

The magazine covers everything Iceland-related, with a special focus culture, music, food and travel. The Reykjavík Grapevine’s goal is to serve as a trustworthy and reliable source of information for those living in Iceland, visiting Iceland or interested in Iceland. Thanks to our dedicated readership and excellent distribution network, the Reykjavík Grapevine is Iceland’s most read English-language publication.

You may not agree with what we write or publish, but at least it’s not sponsored content.
www.grapevine.is