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:

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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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:
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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

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 ad man Örn Elvar Arnarson to roundup the stories making headlines in recent weeks. On the docket this week are:

Trump Confuses Iceland And Greenland In Davos Speech
In a long rambling speech in Davos on Wednesday, Trump repeated is demands for territorial sovereignty over Greenland and repeatedly confused Iceland and Greenland.

America Tearing Itself Apart
The news over the weekend from Minneapolis, where ICE killed the second US citizen in 3 weeks, keeps up the trend of the US descending into chaos, further questioning how countries such as Iceland should tackler their relationship with a country that in the style of a South-American dictatorship in the last century, uses paramilitary forces to kill its own citizens.

“A Famous Man With No Experience”
The Social Democrats held primaries for upcoming municipality elections in Reykjavík this weekend. The primaries saw current mayor Heiða Björg Hilmisdóttir, loose her bid to front the Social Democrats to former Independence Party member Pétur Marteinsson.

Two Restaurants In Skeifan Argue Over Parking
Two restaurants in Skeifan in Reykjavík, Istanbul Market and BK Kjúklingur, or actually, the owners of said restaurants, are feuding and threatening legal action because the owner of BK Kjúklingur tends to park his car, across the street, in front of Istanbul Market

900 People Legally Reside In Grindavík
The town of Grindavík, formerly the home of 3.700 people, currently has 900 legal residents, but only 400 people actually residing in the town, demonstrating the effects repeated eruptions in the area have had on habitation in the town, whose future still remains somewhat uncertain, with another eruption predicted in the coming months.

A Man Stabbed At Home By Black-clad Intruder, Who Turned Out To Be His Son In Law
A man, sleeping naked in his bed, was woken by a black-clad individual who stabbed him. After having fought the intruder off, and thrown him out of his house, he described the man to the police, who picked the black-clad individual up soon after. The black-clad man turned out have

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

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:

US Ambassador Makes An Impression

US ambassadorial nominee Billy Long, made another joke, endearing him to the Icelandic nation prior to his arrival as ambassador. Last time he made the joke that he had wanted to manage ICE, but had been misheard by Trump and instead appointed ambassador to Iceland. Last week in congress, Billy was overheard joking that he was going to become Iceland’s first governor, instead of ambassador, as Iceland became the USA’s 52nd state. This did not vote well with the Icelandic public, presuming that Greenland would become the 51st state.

Attempt At Soliciting Prostitutions Leads MP To Resign

Guðbrandur Einarsson, an MP for Viðreisn (the Reform Party), has resigned from Parliament due to an attempted purchase of prostitution in 2012. He was questioned by police at the time but says he was never charged. He decided to step down after local news outlet Vísir planned to report on the case.

Greenland Drama Continues

In an effort to put pressure on fellow NATO allies in his continued effort of gobbling up Greenland, President Trump put tariffs on all the Scandinavian countries, Germany, France and the Netherlands, but not Iceland. Promoting suggestions that Trump simply forgot Iceland.

Foreign citizens 20% of Iceland’s population

Foreign citizens living in Iceland are now 83.950, or just above 20% of the total population. Five years ago, they were 15%. The proportion of foreign nationals living in some municipalities reaches almost 70%, that is 67,4% in Vík í Myrdal, 46% in Skaftárhreppur, and 39% in Bláskógabyggð. All these municipalities are in the South of Iceland, all are popular tourist destinations. According to Statistics Iceland, at least 44% of the people working in the tourism sector, are foreign nationals.

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 Heimildin journalist Aðalsteinn Kjartansson, Grapevine Editor-in-Chief Bart Cameron, and Grapevine friend and contributor Sindri Eldon to roundup the stories making headlines in recent weeks. On the docket this week are:

Prime Minister Says She Can Work With Icelandic Populist Party
In an interview with Heimildin this weekend, PM Kristrún Frostadóttir discussed many issues, but the attention grabbing issue was her statement that she could work with Miðflokkurinn (Center Party) on immigration issues.

Greenland Discussion Continues
Iceland’s Prime Minister, US. President and almost everybody else has done little but talk about Greenland during the past week. We try to catch up on that.

Icelanders Are The Fattest Of The Nordics
In a survey conducted for 2024 and released last December, it turns out that Icelanders are the most overweight of all the Nordics. And out of the 80.000 Icelanders categorized as obese with a BMI over 30, more than 20.000, or 25% are taking GLP-1 drugs, such as Ozempic and Wegovy. We weigh in on the discussion.

The US sizes a Tanker In Iceland’s Exclusive Economic Zone
Last Wednesday, the US Navy apprehended an oil tanker, presumably on its way to Russia, within Iceland’s Exlusive Economic Zone, but not within its territorial waters.

Icelanders Won’t Be Required To Undergo Medical Exam To Renew Drivers License Until They Turn 75
A new law has been proposed by the People’s Party to move a required medical exam for renewing Icelandic driver licenses from 70 years old to 75 years old.

The Icelandic Word Of The Year Is Paid Parking (i. Gjaldskylda)
We discuss the annual choice of “word of the year” in Iceland, which this time around was the word Gjaldskylda, or paid parking, which has led to numerous misunderstandings on social media.

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

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:

The Icelandic Annual End-Of-Year Skit Show

The last joint cultural event all of Iceland collectively enjoy, to various degrees, takes place on New Years’s Eve. We try to explain what it is.

Greenland and Venezuela

Last night Iceland’s PM Kristrún Frostadóttir wrote on her Facebook “Greenland is a part of the Kingdom of Denmark. Nothing about Greenland without Greenland. Iceland stands in full solidarity behind our friends.”

This morning, Iceland’s Foreign Minister, Þorgerður Katrín Gunnarsdóttir, wrote an Op-Ed on visir.is saying, opening with “It is clear that the international system we have lived with since the end of the Second World War is shaking at its foundations. At work are what can rightly be called the threatening forces of history, generating uncertainty far beyond what we have been accustomed to and creating dangers that would have seemed implausible only a few years ago.”

Both of these statements are responses the USA’s seizure of Venezuela’s president, and Trump’s subsequent comments about taking over Greenland.

Gas Prices Drop By A Third

The price of gas dropped by a third on the first day of the year, subsequent to changes in how the Icelandic state collects tax from automobiles.

An Icelander Dies On The Front Lines In Ukraine

A 51 year old Icelander, Kjartan Sævar Óttarsson, died on the front lines in Ukraine in and around the 20th of December, according to the man’s brother. Kjartan had travelled to Ukraine on December 7th from Gothenburg Sweden, and neither what he was tasked with on the front lines, nor what lead to his death, has been reported on as of yet.

What’s Coming Up In 2026?

The show’s host ponder what this new year will bring us.

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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 Heimildin journalist Aðalsteinn Kjartansson, and Grapevine friend and contributor Sindri Eldon to roundup the stories making headlines in Iceland. In this episode we ponder the main stories of the year so far, answer reader's questions and explain some of the Yule Lads.

Top Stories Of 2025

We discuss 2025 top political scandal, top political event, top ecological and geological events, top cultural event, we nominate the "Mess of the Year", the bankruptcy of the year, the rise of right wing politics in Iceland and our favorite tourism related stories of the year.

Audience Questions

We answer questions from our audience on subjects such as Christmas gifts, the Icelandic language, traditional Christmas dinners, hikes and forestry.

Yule Lads Explained

We try our best to explain how having 13 Yule lads works in practice, and how there are actually records of a total of 80 different yule lads and ladies from various parts of Iceland. Then we discuss our favorite Yule lad names.

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

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