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: 

✨ Does it make sense to wear shorts in Iceland - or take cold baths, or hike naked- given the weather and everything?
✨ We mention but hardly discuss “Operation Mongoose”, a naval  exercise taking place in Iceland + what types join the Icelandic Coast Guard
✨The population of Iceland’s two most loved spring birds, Lóa (Eurasian golden plover) and Spói (Eurasian whimbrel) are in stark decline in Iceland. 30% of all whimbrels in the world lay eggs in Iceland and so do  50-60% of all golden plovers. We discuss why.
✨ Fisheries Iceland, the organisation that lobbies on the behalf of the Icelandic fishing companies, has been critiqued for being somewhat tone def in the advertising they’ve commissioned to oppose plans to raise taxes on the industry. We discuss.
✨In 2024, 5546 people got married in Iceland. Which is a new record. Also, 2023 marked the first year when more people were married in Iceland by a state magistrate than the state church. We discuss.

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SHOW SUPPORT
Support The Reykjavík Grapevine's reporting by becoming a subscriber at https://www.grapevine.is/subscribe - We are also a printed magazine. You can subscribe to that too.

You can also support The Reykjavík Grapevine by shopping in our online store: https://shop.grapevine.is
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WHO ARE WE?
The Reykjavík Grapevine is an alternative monthly magazine published in Iceland since 2003. We bringing you the news and views on Icelandic culture and society, sprinkled with music coverage, travel content, restaurant reviews and more. More on https://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: 

✨ We discuss the annual debate on the quality of idioms found in Icelandic Easter eggs, the quality of Icelandic chocolate and the risk of overeating liquorice.
✨ Pope Francis died on Monday, and the President of Iceland got into trouble for a Facebook post she wrote on his passing, while glazing potatoes. We also compare the Icelandic foreign minister, Þorgerður Katrín Gunnarsdóttir to JFK.
✨ We discuss Icelandic names for cities and rivers in Europe, along with Icelandic names for various dinosaurs. 
✨ An Icelandic weather man predicts a good summer in Iceland. We question his ability to predict the weather from Spain, where he resides, and point out his failure to predict last year's terrible summer.
✨We briefly discuss the increase in international flights to Iceland's second "city" Akureyri.
✨ Reykjavík Energy proposes building 30 windmills between Reykjavík and Þingvellir and the meaning of "green" energy in Iceland. 

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SHOW SUPPORT
Support The Reykjavík Grapevine's reporting by becoming a subscriber at https://www.grapevine.is/subscribe - We are also a printed magazine. You can subscribe to that too.

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

WHO ARE WE?
The Reykjavík Grapevine is an alternative monthly magazine published in Iceland since 2003. We bringing you the news and views on Icelandic culture and society, sprinkled with music coverage, travel content, restaurant reviews and more. More on https://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’s (more or less) only whaling company Hvalur hf. (Whale ltd.) will not be doing any whaling this year, even though they were recently issued permits to do so. According to the companies CEO, Kristján Loftsson, the “price development of our products in our main market, Japan, has been unfavourable lately and is getting worse, which makes the price of our products so low that it is not justifiable to continue fishing,” Mr. Loftsson also pointed to the market uncertainty brought about by the USA’s tariffs. We discuss.

✨ Last Friday, Iceland formally opened discussions with the EU on defence and security cooperation when Foreign Minister Þorgerður Katrín Gunnarsdóttir, met with the EU’s Andrius Kubilisu and Kaja Kallas. We discuss that, and questions about whether the USA might simply “veto” such cooperation.

✨ A car owner in Kópavogur reported his car stolen on Thursday night. The car had not been stolen, the owner had simply forgotten where it was parked.

✨ On Tuesday, an unidentified male tried to blow up an ATM in Hafnarfjörður. This failed. In December a couple of masked perpetrators on a stolen car tried to steal that same ATM by attaching it to the car and pulling it out of the building. That also failed. 

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SHOW SUPPORT
Support The Reykjavík Grapevine's reporting by becoming a subscriber at https://www.grapevine.is/subscribe - We are also a printed magazine. You can subscribe to that too.

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

WHO ARE WE?
The Reykjavík Grapevine is an alternative monthly magazine published in Iceland since 2003. We bringing you the news and views on Icelandic culture and society, sprinkled with music coverage, travel content, restaurant reviews and more. More on https://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 perspective. In this episode, Grapevine publisher Jón Trausti Sigurðarson is joined by Heimildin journalist Aðalsteinn Kjartansson and Grapevine friend and contributor Sindri Eldon to discuss the stories making headlines in recent weeks. On the docket this week:

✨ A recent program by the Icelandic National Broadcasting Service sheds light on the capture and export of orcas in the 1970s and 1980s. The profits from this trade helped finance the only aquarium ever operated in Iceland—and yes, this is how Keiko (of Free Willy fame) was captured.

✨ Icelanders often pronounce “V” and “W” the same way.

✨ A tragic rockfall accident occurred last week in south Iceland, near Eyjafjallajökull.

✨ We talk about the former Minister of Infrastructure’s fingers—for no particular reason.

✨ A man was arrested in the small town of Raufarhöfn for stealing a car and driving it while drunk and high. We also discuss a custom 1970s Cadillac that can be found in the same town.

✨ Nude tourists in Icelandic hot springs. Occasionally a thing.

✨ An American transgender woman was denied asylum in Iceland this week. We explore the hypocrisy of the decision, especially given that Iceland has issued travel warnings for transgender individuals traveling to the U.S.

✨ In that context, we discuss how, under the Patriot Act, it has been legal since 2014 for U.S. authorities to detain American citizens on American soil—without due process—if suspected of aiding “the enemy” in the war on terror. We cover recent detentions of foreign travelers and Green Card holders.

✨ And finally, Iceland faces the same U.S. tariff rates as... penguins. 

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SHOW SUPPORT
Support The Reykjavík Grapevine's reporting by becoming a subscriber at https://www.grapevine.is/subscribe - We are also a printed magazine. You can subscribe to that too.

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

WHO ARE WE?
The Reykjavík Grapevine is an alternative monthly magazine published in Iceland since 2003. We bringing you the news and views on Icelandic culture and society, sprinkled with music coverage, travel content, restaurant reviews and more. More on https://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: 

✨ April 1st saw yet another eruption in the vicinity of Grindavík. All but over now, we discuss the eruption, if magma can change your state of being, and mention the resident of Grindavík who allegedly pulled a shotgun on two members of the local SARS when they asked him to leave the town due to the eruption.
✨ Does Icelandic liquorice have health benefits, we doubt it.
✨ Can one see Greenland from Iceland? We dive into that age old question.
✨Is Mt. Esja Iceland's most overrated mountain? 
✨ Life expectancy in Iceland increases and this leads to discussion about Val Kilmer (RIP).
✨ 30 people rescued from Eyjafjallajökull glacier. 
✨ We discuss difficult sounds in Icelandic along with a few strange Icelandic words, such as "rannsaka" or ransack and being "horsedrunk".
✨ Finally we discuss taxation of the fishing industry in Iceland.

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SHOW SUPPORT
Support The Reykjavík Grapevine's reporting by becoming a subscriber at https://www.grapevine.is/subscribe - We are also a printed magazine. You can subscribe to that too.

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

WHO ARE WE?
The Reykjavík Grapevine is an alternative monthly magazine published in Iceland since 2003. We bringing you the news and views on Icelandic culture and society, sprinkled with music coverage, travel content, restaurant reviews and more. More on https://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 update on a tourist rescued by SARS almost two weeks ago near Seyðisfjörður in East Iceland. We tell you who it was, and what we can learn from his "adventure".

✨The minister of Education & Children, Ásthildur Lóa Þórsdóttir resigned Thursday after a story broke about her having had a child with a 16 year old boy in 1990. 

✨Carbfix, an Icelandic company founded in 2007 that has developed an approach to permanently store CO2 by dissolving it in water and injecting it into basalt rocks pulls out of its plan to set up operations in the town of Hafnarfjöður due to protest by the locals.

✨ The landowners at Sólheimasandur in South Iceland have recently bough and old Douglas Dakota DC-3 WW2 era airplane. Why? Because an old wreck of such a plane in the area has in recent years become a tourist attraction, but due to wear and tear needs, in the opinion of the landowners, to be replaced. 

✨ We also talk about a tiny protest outside Iceland's only Tesla dealership over the weekend and arrests made due to violent crime in downtown Reykjavík, which seems to be related to organised crime.

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SHOW SUPPORT
Support The Reykjavík Grapevine's reporting by becoming a subscriber at https://www.grapevine.is/subscribe - We are also a printed magazine. You can subscribe to that too.

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

WHO ARE WE?
The Reykjavík Grapevine is an alternative monthly magazine published in Iceland since 2003. We bringing you the news and views on Icelandic culture and society, sprinkled with music coverage, travel content, restaurant reviews and more. More on https://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: 

✨ Bobby Fischer thought The Reykjavík Grapevine was funded by the CIA. Or was it USAID? We discuss a recent update on the multiple conspiracy theories about The Reykjavík Grapevine's funding. 
✨Iceland just got bigger. Or so to say. The UN Continental Shelf Commission has decided that Iceland holds sovereignty over the continental shelf of the Reykjanes Ridge. We "celebrate" this as far as we understand what it means. Mostly we just fear that this will make Trump notice us, something we're happy not to happen.
✨A tourist was rescued Thursday by SARS after being lost for five days. The tourist had walked, alone, without any equipment or food to a remote uninhabited fjord in East Iceland and survived by eating grass and old berries. Again we ask: Why?
✨ Paul Watson of Sea Shepherd fame was quoted in Japan Today as saying "Our ongoing campaign is to stop illegal whaling activities this summer. We will be intervening against Icelandic whaling. That'll start in June". We discuss Mr. Watson's previous adventures in Iceland, some dating back to 1986.
✨ Icelandic Minister of Educations talks shit about our justice system after having lost a court case. We discuss both how this is not cool, yet far from unusual.
✨ A man was murdered on Tuesday. At least 6 people have been arrested, some of them detained. Details are sparse. We discuss this tragedy.
✨ Those still interested in the Reykjanes Eruptions are waiting for the next eruption to start. We aren't really waiting, but thought we'd mention it.

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SHOW SUPPORT
Support The Reykjavík Grapevine's reporting by becoming a subscriber at https://www.grapevine.is/subscribe - We are also a printed magazine. You can subscribe to that too.

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

WHO ARE WE?
The Reykjavík Grapevine is an alternative monthly magazine published in Iceland since 2003. We bringing you the news and views on Icelandic culture and society, sprinkled with music coverage, travel content, restaurant reviews and more. More on https://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 fatal traffic accidents in just four days in Borgarfjörður, Berufjörður and Flúðir. We discuss road conditions and the state of the road system in general.
✨A tourist was rescued by helicopter after having been stuck in a storm for three days in his tent in the middle of the Icelandic highlands. In March. In Iceland. We ask: Why?
✨ The new Mayor of Reykjavík was harshly criticized by union leaders because of an extra $6000 she gets monthly for chairing the Icelandic Association of Local Authorities, which meets about twice a month. We discuss whether or not the Icelandic political class is collectively engaging in grifting.
✨ The new coalition government asked the public how they thought the Icelandic state could cut costs and increase efficiency. So, kinda like an Icelandic version of DOGE just without the whiff of the extra constitutional. The tangible results from the public input were released on Friday and unsurprisingly those on the receiving end of proposed cuts were not happy. We discuss the most vocally unhappy person so far, our Chief Justice.

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SHOW SUPPORT
Support The Reykjavík Grapevine's reporting by becoming a subscriber at https://www.grapevine.is/subscribe - We are also a printed magazine. You can subscribe to that too.

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

WHO ARE WE?
The Reykjavík Grapevine is an alternative monthly magazine published in Iceland since 2003. We bringing you the news and views on Icelandic culture and society, sprinkled with music coverage, travel content, restaurant reviews and more. More on https://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: 

✨ Bad weather during last weekend. Roofs blown off, Reykjavík seaside hit with big waves.
✨ The Independence Party  elects a new chairman; Guðrún Hafsteinsdóttir. What does this mean for the future of the party?
✨ A Samovar gifted to then mayor of Reykjavík Davíð Oddsson by Mikhail Gorbachev during the 1986 summit meeting in Reykjavík finds its way to an auction, raising questions  about its ownership.
✨The fallout of the Trump Zelenskyy meeting on Friday reaches Iceland.
✨ And yes, the teacher's strike is over.

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SHOW SUPPORT
Support The Reykjavík Grapevine's reporting by becoming a subscriber at https://www.grapevine.is/subscribe - We are also a printed magazine. You can subscribe to that too.

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

WHO ARE WE?
The Reykjavík Grapevine is an alternative monthly magazine published in Iceland since 2003. We bringing you the news and views on Icelandic culture and society, sprinkled with music coverage, travel content, restaurant reviews and more. More on https://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: 

✨ Teacher’s strike; negotiations in turmoil, municipalities discussing coming the separate deals with Teacher’s Union. What’s next?
✨ A local football team’s bus vandalized. Perpetrators unknown.  
✨ Iceland’s PM in Kyiv while Iceland’s Minister of Foreign Affairs is in Geneva on Monday, marking the 3rd year since Russia’s invasion began. Announced that aid the Ukraine will be doubled and that aid money will be used to buy arms.
✨Tourism still booming, but the Icelandic airlines can’t seem to make money flying people to Iceland. Who’s paying for their huge losses?
✨ Iceland’s glaciers have melted fast in the past decade but are melting slower than during the previous decade. Is this good news? 

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

SHOW SUPPORT
Support The Reykjavík Grapevine's reporting by becoming a subscriber at https://www.grapevine.is/subscribe - We are also a printed magazine. You can subscribe to that too.

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

WHO ARE WE?
The Reykjavík Grapevine is an alternative monthly magazine published in Iceland since 2003. We bringing you the news and views on Icelandic culture and society, sprinkled with music coverage, travel content, restaurant reviews and more. More on https://www.grapevine.is
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