Author: Haukur Már Helgason
![](https://i0.wp.com/grapevine.is/wp-content/uploads/P08_Loa_Drawing.jpg?quality=95&resize=294,200)
Paint An Open Gate On This Wall
In a single day at the end of August, ten thousand Icelanders, three percent of the country’s minuscule population, signed…
![](https://i0.wp.com/grapevine.is/wp-content/uploads/militarystaff.jpg?quality=95&resize=294,200)
Never Underestimate The Obvious
To answer a question posed in this column little over a month ago: yes, it seems that we did detain…
![](https://i0.wp.com/grapevine.is/wp-content/uploads/mackerel.jpg?quality=95&resize=294,200)
Hunter-Gatherers Do Stinky Geopolitics
Streamlined and fast swimming, around a foot long, Scomber scombrus, the Atlantic mackerel, travel in shoals, undertaking extensive journeys if…
![](https://i0.wp.com/grapevine.is/wp-content/uploads/logga.jpg?quality=95&resize=294,200)
Reality Bites
What do multi-level highway interchanges, cheeseburgers and donuts have in common? No, this is not about the police. Discordant harmonies…
![](https://i0.wp.com/grapevine.is/wp-content/uploads/jesus-loves-bondage-bjartari.jpeg?quality=95&resize=294,200)
It’s Alright, Martin!
“Festivities are known to have occurred at Sæból by fjord Dýrafjörður, at Flankastaðir on Reykjanes, in Reykjavík and Árnessýsla county….
![](https://i0.wp.com/grapevine.is/wp-content/uploads/P7260110_2000px.jpg?quality=95&resize=294,200)
Did We Just Detain A Man For Carrying HIV? —Debates On Monday #24
“Man under arrest, suspected of infecting women with HIV” ran Vísir’s first headline on this story, early Thursday. “Suspected of…
![](https://i0.wp.com/grapevine.is/wp-content/uploads/P3263062_2000px-copy_1200px.jpg?quality=95&resize=294,200)
Your Metabolism Surprised Us All — Debates On Monday #23
During the latest middle-ages, the era I grew up in, the library at my parents’ home included handbooks for interpretations…
![](https://i0.wp.com/grapevine.is/wp-content/uploads/4cbefb35c5be7894.jpg?quality=95&resize=294,200)
The First House From Icelandic Timber Planned In 2016
Preparations are well underway for the first house in Iceland constructed from local timber only. This was reported by RÚV….
![](https://i0.wp.com/grapevine.is/wp-content/uploads/Screenplay-1.jpeg?quality=95&resize=294,200)
Beyond Analysis: A Screenplay By The Prime Ministry
1. EXT. LÆKJARGATA. DAY. On a cloudy but windless afternoon, six men and two women stand on the pavement in…
![](https://i0.wp.com/grapevine.is/wp-content/uploads/loggan.jpg?quality=95&resize=294,200)
Met Police Statement: Did Not Acquire Hacking Team’s Solution
The Reykjavík Metropolitan Police has not done any business with Hacking Team, the Italian surveillance software provider, whose leaked email…
![](https://i0.wp.com/grapevine.is/wp-content/uploads/logreglan.jpg?quality=95&resize=294,200)
Reykjavík Police Sought Spyware From Hacking Team
Hacking Team e-mails reveal that an Icelandic detective from the Reykjavík Metropolitan Police sought their help for hacking mobile phone…
![](https://i0.wp.com/grapevine.is/wp-content/uploads/Beyonce-Jay-Z-Iceland-Lovebscott-001.jpg?quality=95&resize=294,200)
Aniconism
Please dare to see —Debates on Monday #22“To photograph strangers without their permission is strange,” acknowledges avid street photographer Eric…
![](https://i0.wp.com/grapevine.is/wp-content/uploads/tyr-in-med.jpg?quality=95&resize=294,200)
When Ulysses Comes a-Knockin
Debates on Monday #21 It is quiet, isn’t it? I mean Iceland. It’s suspiciously quiet. There’s this saying that if…
![](https://i0.wp.com/grapevine.is/wp-content/uploads/View_from_Hallgrimskirkja_8137388772.jpg?quality=95&resize=294,200)
Hallgrímskirkja Will Not Tolerate “Love Locks”
Love padlocks will not be tolerated in the church tower of Hallgrímskirkja. On Saturday, Mbl.is reported that the first “love…
![](https://i0.wp.com/grapevine.is/wp-content/uploads/ethics.jpg?quality=95&resize=294,200)
Prime Minister Will Abolish Ethics Board
And assign its role to the Prime Ministry itself Prime Minister Sigmundur Davíð Gunnlaugsson has announced his intention to abolish…
![](https://i0.wp.com/grapevine.is/wp-content/uploads/restaurantsfoodco.jpg?quality=95&resize=294,200)
Aktu Taktu Fired Worker After She Reported Harrassment
— Eldsmiðjan fired worker for demanding union representative and overtime paidFróði Frímann Kristjánsson was discharged from his job at the…
![](https://i0.wp.com/grapevine.is/wp-content/uploads/pasaporte.jpg?quality=95&resize=294,200)
Immigration Appeals Board Finally In Place
Asylum applicants left unnotified while no board existed to process their appealsOn Monday, January 26, the Minister of the Interior…
![](https://i0.wp.com/grapevine.is/wp-content/uploads/breidholt.jpg?quality=95&resize=294,200)
Man Awaiting Asylum Decision Wounded Himself
A refugee from Syria, who recently arrived in Iceland, wounded himself with a knife on Tuesday. When police arrived at…
![](https://i0.wp.com/grapevine.is/wp-content/uploads/efta2.jpg?quality=95&resize=294,200)
Court Ruling: Iceland Failed To Implement Five EU Directives
Include equal access of genders to products and services and eco-design of energy productsOn Wednesday, the EFTA court ruled against…
![](https://i0.wp.com/grapevine.is/wp-content/uploads/kormakur.jpg?quality=95&resize=294,200)
Young Entrepreneurs Start Business For Acid Attack Survivors In India
CEOs Kormákur Arthúrsson says that he and Sigurbjörn B. Eðvarðsson they established the company KrummiSpice to ameliorate the situation of…
![](https://i0.wp.com/grapevine.is/wp-content/uploads/sigureurorn.jpg?quality=95&resize=294,200)
Alþingi Members’ Wages Too Low, Warns Vice Member
On Tuesday, Sigurður Örn Ágústsson, vice member of Alþingi on behalf of the Independence Party, said that work conditions and…
![](https://i0.wp.com/grapevine.is/wp-content/uploads/jon-olafsson.jpg?quality=95&resize=294,200)
Most Serious Case Of Political Corruption Ever, Says Professor
Jón Ólafsson, professor of philosophy at the University of Iceland, says that the interference of former Interior Minister Hanna Birna…
![](https://i0.wp.com/grapevine.is/wp-content/uploads/172b685f8a3cd281.jpg?quality=95&resize=294,200)
Google Handed Journalists’ Private Emails To The FBI
As recently disclosed and widely reported, journalist and Wikileaks spokesperson Kristinn Hrafnsson is one of the three staff members at…
![](https://i0.wp.com/grapevine.is/wp-content/uploads/smathingi5.jpg?quality=95&resize=294,200)
Happy Syriza, Greece!
Happy Davíð II, Iceland! Debates on Monday #20Syriza won! Meanwhile, in Iceland, nothing worth mentioning seems currently up for debates….
![](https://i0.wp.com/grapevine.is/wp-content/uploads/creditinfoafrika.jpg?quality=95&resize=294,200)
Icelandic Firm To Gather Credit Info In Eight West African States
The Icelandic credit bureau CreditInfo has won a contract with the Central Bank of West African States (BCEAO) to manage…