News In Brief: Early November Edition

Our top story today is undoubtedly the results of the parliamentary elections and the ongoing coalition talks. Two new parties, the People’s Party and the Centre Party, got in, while Bright Future was wiped out. No one won enough seats to form a two-party coalition, and none of the three-party coalition possibilities look very promising. The Left-Greens tried to form a four-party left-to-centre coalition, but the Progressives inevitably brought an end to that. So now we have no idea where things will go from here. Maybe the Independence Party will lead the country again. Maybe we should just hold a lottery or something.

In more celebratory news, Björk has a new album coming out at the end of November, entitled ‘Utopia.’ She has already put samples up on her website, and has allowed for pre-orders through a number of sources. If you’re the kind of person who eschews using mainstream money, Björk will let you buy her album using cryptocurrency, too. Always on the cutting edge, that one.

Two American enterprises that planted their flags in Iceland have disappointed us in different ways. First, Dunkin’ Donuts on Laugavegur has closed only about two years into operations, because apparently even a fried pastry giant has a hard time paying the rent on real estate of such value. We presume the tourist shop likely to replace them will not have this problem. Second, prices on average went up at Costco, effectively pulling the rug out from under the notion that they would provide real competition for Icelandic retailers. Was it a deliberate bait-and-switch? We sure hope not. We like buying 64-roll packs of toilet paper for pocket change.

Tragedy struck the tiny north Iceland island of Hrísey, when a car with a Polish couple on board plunged into the fjord, resulting in their deaths. They both lived in Iceland. Exacerbating the grief is the fact that no one exactly knows why the car missed the ferry they were clearly heading for and fell into the water. Whatever the reasons, we cannot imagine the pain their surviving family members are going through, and they have our deepest sympathies.

photo by Art Bicnick

Do you live in the suburbs, like partying in downtown Reykjavík, but hate waiting in long lines for a taxi at the end of the night? Then 2018 is going to be a banner year for you, as municipal bus company Strætó announced that next year buses out of the city will run late into the night on weekends, and will run later in general on workdays. We sincerely hope this reduces the taxi lines for those of us who live in the city, and are too drunk or too tired to walk all the way home.