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: 

Icelandic Language Day

Took place on November 16th. The celebrations sometimes felt a bit like a premature wake. Former PM Katrín Jakobsdóttir said in an interview - in English - with The Guardian, “Having this language that is spoken by so very few, I feel that we carry a huge responsibility to actually preserve that. I do not personally think we are doing enough to do that,” her co-author Ragnar Jónasson, in the same interview said “We are just a generation away from losing this language because all of these huge changes”. 

Organized Crime Doubles In A Decade

A new report released Friday on organized crime in Iceland. So Groups that engage in organized crime are now twice as many as they were ten years ago. These groups often have international connections,  they pray on immigrants, refugees and young people and engage in prostitution, human trafficking, theft, money laundering and drug trafficking.

Pets Now Legal In Apartment Buildings

Before, if you wanted to keep a pet in an apartment building, you had to ask permission from other residents. This is no longer the case after a new law was passed, leaving many an allergic person, scratching more than their respective heads.

Mosquito takeover continues

Last week it was reported that more mosquitoes had now been found in Iceland. This time in South Iceland, in a horse stables, and off a different type than those found earlier this fall in Hvalfjörður. 

Centre Party embraces “Great Replacement Theory”

Snorri Másson of The Centrist Party wrote an Op-Ed for Viðskiptablaðið stating that Icelanders were facing an imminent threat of being replaced by immigration. An article on Visir.is with a picture of Snorri holding one of his kids by at the podium of a Center Party event, then caused a stir. 

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

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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: 

Iceland Airwaves 2025
Iceland Airwaves 2025 took place last weekend with hundreds of artist performing over three day in 8 venues in downtown Reykjavík. The Reykjavík Grapevine reviewed every single show. Check out the coverage on our website. 

Time Delay
Our neighbors in Greenland are changing their clock in order for people to squeeze more sunlight out of the day. This has woken up the discussion in Iceland from a sleep of some years. Should we move the clock, or not?

SARS And Racism
Iceland’s SARS have been doing their annual fundraising rounds of selling the so called “Neyðarkall” or “Emergency man”. This year the man of emergency brown of color, in memory of one Sigurður Kristofer, who tragically suffered a fatal accident last year, while training with SARS. This has sparked some negative discussions, or at least according to the father of one 19 year old SARS volunteer. Otherwise no report of people complaining about the color of the man of emergency have been reported, but this seems to have sparked enough outrage that the man of emergency has been selling like never before.

Berm-in Out The Private Sector,
Iceland’s minister of finance, discussed the idea that perhaps the privately owned energy company HS Okra, who’s Svartsengi powerplant has been saved fro lava by very expensive efforts of building berms, paid for by the State, should share in the costs. The CEO of HS Orka has found this suggestion to be “surprising”. 

Mexican standoff between Minister of Justice and Chief of Police
We reported on questionable and costly outsourcing of the Chief of the Icelandic police last week. What has ensued is a stare down, where Minister Of Justice is hoping the Chief of Police will resign. Which then actually ended while we were recording this show, with the Chief of Police stepping down.

Listener’s questions
We also answer some of these.

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SHOW SUPPORT

Support the Grapevine's reporting by becoming a member of our High Five Club: https://steadyhq.com/en/rvkgrapevine/

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: 

Snowpocalypse, Iceland Version

Tuesday saw a record snowfall in Reykjavík, for October that is, breaking a record from 1921, with 27 centimeters of snow in one day.  The snowfall resulted in massive traffic disruptions in Reykjavík, both because of the copious amounts of snow, and because  not all drivers had managed to change to winter tires. We used to think Icelanders could drive in snow. That myth has now been shattered.

National Police Commissioner Spends 160 Million ISK On “Advice” From A Single Person

The National Police Commissioner, Sigríður Björk Guðjónsdóttir, has found herself in potentially job ending circumstances, after RÚV revelled she had been buying the services from a single company over the past 5 years, for 160 million ISK, which is roughly 2.7 million ISK a month.  The company in question, Intra, is a single person operation whose only employee is a Þórunn Óðinsdóttir. The tasks she did ranged from buying office furniture to introducing “lean management” to the police offices, to helping move the office of the Police Commissioner between locations. 

Government Announces Housing Policy Plans

As often discussed on this podcast, the Icelandic housing market is fucked. Last week the government announced their ideas to “fix” the market. These include; Building 4000 apartments in a new suburb in Reykjavík, deregulating building regulations, giving funding to non-profit, housing companies. The government also plans to tax empty building plots, decrease AirBnB availability, increased taxes on rent and sell of copious amount of state owned real estate. 

Fewer Sheep Than Humans In Iceland, For First Time Ever

The Icelandic sheep population has dropped by a 100.000 in the past 10 years, meaning that there are now “only” 350.000 sheep in Iceland. This also means that there are fewer sheep than people in Iceland, which has never ever happened before in the history of Iceland.

Former Prince Andrew And Naming Royals In Icelandic

Iceland has the somewhat idiosyncratic policy of giving foreign royals Icelandic names. This means that King Charles III is Karl III in Icelandic

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SHOW SUPPORT

Support the Grapevine's reporting by becoming a member of our High Five Club: https://steadyhq.com/en/rvkgrapevine/

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:

Snow And Ice Expected All Over Iceland
Consider this a weather warning. We’re expecting a lot of snow in Iceland in the next 24-48 hours, with snowfall up to 20-30 centimeters, in the south and east of Iceland, including Reykjavik

Stuck In The Highlands (With Your Mom)
A mother and son, who arrived in decent weather at Landmannalaugar in the Icelandic highlands this Saturday, woke up yesterday in deep snow, rendering them stuck, far from civilization. They had to be towed from there by SARS.
 
The Last Criminal Case Following the 2008 Economic Collapse, Resolved.
The last Icelandic criminal case in relations to the 2008 banking collapse was resolved in 2021. However, one case in Luxembourg remained and that case was finally finalized with a settlement in a Luxembourg court last week. The case in question, called the Lindsor case, had been under investigation for 15 years and had to do with the bank Kaupthing buying up bonds from Kaupthing’s employees, just days before the bank collapsed in October 2008.

The Icelandic Housing Market Freezes Over
Following a recent Supreme Court ruling on inflation indexed housing loans, all the major Icelandic banks stopped issuing such loans. The result is, at least temporarily, that very few Icelanders can actually take out a hosing loan.

Police raids the wrong address, Twice. 
Twice this year, the police entered the wrong house to perform a search.

00:34:30 Question Time
We respond to some listeners questions.


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WHO ARE WE?
The Reykjavík Grapevine is an alternative monthly magazine, bringing you all the news and views on Icelandic society, music, travel, culture and more. Grapevine.is #rvkgrapevine

J

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SHOW SUPPORT

Support the Grapevine's reporting by becoming a member of our High Five Club: https://steadyhq.com/en/rvkgrapevine/

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: 

00:00:55 Overview Of This Weeks Stories

00:04:00 Strange Place Names In Icelandic
We discuss a random assortment of strange names of places in Iceland

00:11:00 A Drunk Man Arrested For Taking A Nap On A Coast Guard Ship
The police arrested a man who had “taken up residence” in the the Icelandic coast guard ship Thor (Þór) this weekend. No further details were given about the incident.

00:16:50 Iceland And Germany Sign A Defense Agreement
On Sunday, Þorgerður Katrín Gunnarsdóttir, Iceland’s Minister for Foreign Affairs, and Boris Pistorius, Germany’s Minister of Defense,  signed a bilateral declaration of intent on defense matters in connection with Pistorius’ visit to Iceland. According to the declaration Iceland will build up infrastructure to accommodate military submarines and aircraft as a part of Iceland’s membership in NATO. 

00:21:40 Julian Assange Visits Iceland
Julian Assange, the founder of Wikileaks, visited Iceland this weekend and was spotted at Vitabar, having a burger and fries. Assange, who was more or less in detention for 15 years was set free a year ago and now lives in Australia. 

00:24:30 Drugs On A Ferry
The only ferry to sale to Iceland on schedule, Norræna, which harbors in Seyðisfjörður, east Iceland, has been in the news recently for drugs. At the beginning of September, 7 kilos of cocaine were apprehended in a car on the ferry and two men arrested. Later in September, 15 kilos of Ketamine and 5 kilos of MDMA war found in another car on the ferry. Three people were arrested in the latter case.

00:29:00 52% Think Church And State Should Be Separated
A poll conducted recently tells us that 52% of Icelanders think that church and state should be separated. 27% are neither for nor against the motion, and 21% are opposed to separation. 

00:39:40 Women’s Strike 50th Anniversary
This Friday, October 24th the famous 1975 Women’s Strike turns 50. Tens of thousands are expected to celebrate this with a strike, and gather in downtown Reykjavík. 

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

SHOW SUPPORT

Support the Grapevine's reporting by becoming a member of our High Five Club: https://steadyhq.com/en/rvkgrapevine/

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: 

00:03:50 Overview Of This Week's Stories

00:04:50 Man Drinking Alcohol At City Library Kicked Out
A man was evicted from a library in Reykjavík for drinking alcohol in the library’s bathroom on Friday. The police said that drinking in the library was not good “library etiquette”.

00:10:45 Laxness On His Way Out Of Icelandic College Curriculum
Novels by Halldór Laxness, the only Icelander ever to win a Nobel prize, will soon no longer be taught in Icelandic schools 

00:26:20 Icelanders Can Now Be Named Mohammed
The Icelandic Naming Committee decided on five new names that Icelanders can use this past week. The names in question were Tenchi, Ivy, Ýri, Meryem and Múhameð, which is the Icelandic spelling of Mohammed.

00:33:40 Former Icelandic Popstar And Activist Arrested On The High Seas By Israel
Margrét Kristín Blöndal, arrived in Amsterdam this past weekend after having been released from custody by the State of Israel. Margrét, or Magga was arrested last Wednesday along other members of the so called Freedom Fleet, trying to get aid to Gaza by way of the sea. A ceasefire has been declared in Gaza. Also, the foreign minister of Palestine, Dr. Varsen Aghabekian, happened to be in Iceland when the ceasefire was announced.

00:39:30 Two Thirds Of Icelanders Think Iceland Should Not Participate In Eurovision, If Israel Is Allow To Participate
A recent poll, conducted this September, 67% of participants said Iceland should rather stay out of Eurovision next year if Israel participates. Younger people were less likely to want Iceland to withdraw in that scenario, while people from outside Reykjavík were likelier than the inhabitants of Reykjavík, to want Iceland to boycott the competition.

00:41:00 The Murder Case That Never Rests
In 1974, two men disappeared within 10 months of each other. These men were named Guðmundur and Geirfinnur. The case led to numerous arrests, and finally long time prison sentences. Much doubt has been cast on whether those charged and sentenced were actually guilty. 

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

SHOW SUPPORT

Support the Grapevine's reporting by becoming a member of our High Five Club: https://steadyhq.com/en/rvkgrapevine/

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: 

00:00:01 Fly Play Bankrupt

Fly Play went bankrupt on Monday September 29 leaving thousands stranded, including one of this shows host. We discuss the tumultuous history of Icelandic low fare airlines since 2002, including Iceland Express and WOW Air, and discuss the Icelandic habit of moving businesses between different holding companies, leaving the debts, but keeping the assets. 

00:30:00 Paid Parking Strikes Again

We cover the story of a woman who parked in a free parking space near local swimming pool Sundhöllin, yet got fined by a privately owned parking business. The woman managed to get the fine revoked, but has in turn sent the parking business a bill for the time it took her to deal with the fine.

00:34:00 The Return Of The Business Tycoon

We discuss Jón Ásgeir Jóhannesson’s return to prominence in the Icelandic business environment. Jón Ásgeir, whose persona was well known during the boom and bust of the 2008 economic collapse is again very much at large, probably acquiring shares in the same bank that he lost during the collapse. We also mention that the economic collapse is exactly 17 years old today.

00:44:00 Human Trafficking In Iceland

A couple of weeks ago, the authorities raided numerous beauty salons and found out that some of them had been engaging in human trafficking. We discuss the first such story that broke a few years back in Iceland and how the legal environment makes human trafficking  easier in Iceland than it should be. 

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SHOW SUPPORT

Support the Grapevine's reporting by becoming a member of our High Five Club: https://steadyhq.com/en/rvkgrapevine/

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: 

✨ Three AI robots have started “working” for the Icelandic container company. Their job is to sort garbage. 
✨ Morgunblaðið has been  going nuts about the profitability of drilling for oil on the ocean floor north east of Iceland, in an area generally referred to as “Drekasvæðið” or the Dragon Zone. What do you guys think is driving this discussion, and does it really make sense to drill for oil — underwater — at this point in history?
✨ Four out of ten Icelanders say they have faith. Down from just over half of the population 10 years ago. 25% claim to be atheist, compared to about 15% in 2014. We see the trend of young men being more religious that women, with a third of men saying they have faith, while only a fifth of women report the same. 
✨ A Reykjavík city council member of Viðreisn, suggested during a city council meeting last week, that the school summer recess would be shortened. The minister of education announced he’d be willing to discuss the proposition. 
✨ On Friday, Estonia announced they were putting article 4 of the NATO charter into effect, initiating a consultation among the member states. This happened after Russian airplanes entered Estonian airspace.
✨ Political parties meet over the weekend. Viðreisn, one of the three political parties of the majority coalition government was re-elected chairman of that party over the weekend. The Pirate party also met over, decided to take up the status of chair and co-chairman as a part of their party’s hierarchy, but nobody really seemed interested in becoming chairman of the party.








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SHOW SUPPORT

Support the Grapevine's reporting by becoming a member of our High Five Club: https://steadyhq.com/en/rvkgrapevine/

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

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

WHO ARE WE?
The Reykjavík Grapevine is an alternative monthly magazine, bringing you all the news and views on Ice

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

SHOW SUPPORT

Support the Grapevine's reporting by becoming a member of our High Five Club: https://steadyhq.com/en/rvkgrapevine/

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: 

✨ Migratory criminal birds

On Saturday night, the police and their special forces arrested three persons at a Hells Angels party in Kópavogur. A Hells Angel was first spotted in Iceland in 2009 and the police worry that this special kind of criminal migratory bird, might start taking up wintering grounds in Iceland, or god forbid; breeding grounds.

✨No football for air traffic controllers on shift 

Isavia, a public company responsible for managing and servicing Icelandic airports, has changed their rules to make sure air traffic controllers can not watch football games while on the job. Subsequent to an air traffic incident in February 2024, when two airplanes almost collided near Reykjavík airport – it came to light that the air traffic controllers on shift during the incident were busy watching a Premier League game between Liverpool and Chelsea. The changed rules state that air traffic controllers are prohibited from using "an electronic device through which material intended for entertainment is transmitted” while on shift.

✨ Douglas Dakota revisited

Man who crash-landed the most famous airplane hulk in Iceland, revisits site of crash. Gregh Fletcher, who crash-landed a Douglas Dakota DC-3 C-47 on Sólheimasandur back in 1973, came back to visit the site of the crash. The landing, which was skillfully conducted by Fletcher, saving himself and his crew of 6. Greg also got to meet the President of Iceland.

✨ Alþingi is back from vacation!

Alþingi convened again after summer on Tuesday. President of Iceland, Halla Tómasdóttir, addressed the parliament during the opening ceremony. 

✨ And more stuff

Where we also discuss the identity crisis of the Independence Party, the fact that the chairman of the Center Party is the only Icelandic political figure to bring up Charlie Kirk publicly. We discuss the history of political assassinations in Iceland (the last one was in 1550) and how so many trends on show up in Iceland, years or decades after they do in the rest of the world.

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SHOW SUPPORT

Support the Grapevine's reporting by becoming a member of our High Five Club: https://steadyhq.com/en/rvkgrapevine/

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: 

✨ An Italian academic, Roberto Luigi Pagani who has taught Icelandic, and how to read old Icelandic manuscripts at the University of Iceland and lived here since 2014, was refused citizenship because he hasn’t passed a test in Icelandic.

✨The minister of finance, Daði Mar Kristófersson, is introducing next year’s budget this morning. The plan is to run a 15 billion ISK deficit next year, but the plan is to end the deficit in 2027.

✨Morgunblaðið reported this morning that the 40% increase in applications of foreign students who also need a residence permit, may be linked to numerous TikTok videos, promoting the fact that it is free to attend university in Iceland, and furthermore that students can bring their families with them while attending studies in Iceland. The Grapevine has received numerous emails from students who applied to study at the University of Iceland this semester, but whose residence permit was not processed in time for them to attend. ✨On Monday last week, RÚV decided it was time to platform MP and former podcast bro, Snorri Másson, who’s been maintaining in interviews that there is no freedom of speech with regards to discussing trans-rights and policies in Iceland. RÚV brought him on to debate Þorbjörg Þorvaldsdóttir, the spokesperson for Iceland’s National Queer Organizations. What followed were 20 minutes of Snorri playing victim, while making no solid points in the debate and constantly interrupting Þorbjörg. The following day it was reported that the Police’s special forces had kept a watch on Snorri’s house that night, for security reasons, and Snorri then issued a statement that the whole thing “proved” his point that no freedom of speech existed regarding the discussion of trans issues in Iceland.

Totally unrelated, RÚV premiered a new documentary series called Hate. Which is about “the rise of hate speech in Iceland and the backlash that has occurred in the struggles of various minority groups in recent years.”

✨Saturday saw a protest against “genocide” take place all over Iceland; in Reykjavík, Ísafjörður, Egilsstaðir, Akureyri, Stykkishólmur, Húsavík and Hólmavík. About 185 different organizations were behind the

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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