A storm brewing. Winds of change? Ian McDonald skrifar 16. október 2023 08:00 Early last week, Icelanders were battening down the hatches in the face of a brutal windstorm which lasted three days and nights without cease. Meteorologists were baffled by this, until they realized that the winds were actually caused by the simultaneous gales of laughter and sighs of relief from 400,000 people who just learned that Bjarni Bendiktsson was resigning from the position of finance minister after a decade of nepotism, scandals and quite astouding corruption. For a glorious moment, it seemed that there might actually be some measure of comeuppance for a man who, until now, had seemed bulletproof from any meaningful consequences to his actions. To those of us who had spent 6 weeks last summer protesting the illegal sale of Íslandsbanki, and demanding the resignation of the finance minister, for one brief shining moment it felt like victory. Unfortunately, as the saying goes “if you don’t like the weather in Iceland, just wait 5 minutes.” This proved to be all to pertinent as the winds seemed to shift again in favor of the finance minister. Yet again Bjarni Benediktsson showed that there is no lack shame or brazenness to which he will not stoop. The bottom of the barrel in fact can be scraped through. And scrape he did. Rather than take the hint and step out of the limelight quietly, taking the winnings from sale of Íslandsbanki with him, Bjarni decided that in fact there were still corrupt mountains left to conquer, and these particular peaks were overseas. Speaking as a British national, I have lived through my fair share of corrupt and inept politicians who ride the Ferris wheel of cabinet positions, jumping around from positions of unimaginable responsibility and power without the slightest iota of relevant knowledge or experience of their field. ….I lived through Boris Johnson. Healthcare, finance, education, foreign affairs. Qualifications? Doesn’t matter. As long as you toe the party line. And if you fail, we will just have a cabinet reshuffle and put you in charge of an entirely different aspect of public life! And around and around they go….where they stop, nobody knows. I am now saddened and angry to see that pattern repeating itself in Iceland, and in such a brazen way. Without any sort of approval from the public who they are ostensibly meant to serve, we are now stuck with a foreign minister whose only relevant experience of overseas work was when he was busy setting up offshore companies to avoid paying taxes. I worry that Iceland is slipping towards (and perhaps is already there) the sort of failed state of politics that I see when I look back at my native Britain, where lobbyists and corporate interests have long since seized the levers of power from the people, and as a result, the country has been chopped up and sold to the highest bidder. I worry what a man like Bjarni Benediktsson, who has made no secret of his desire to privatize every aspect of Icelandic society he can get his hands on, will do with the freedom of access to any world leader he desires to connect with. He could very quickly turn the country I love and call home into a global-scale yard sale. Everything must go. I have long since stopped asking if it wouldn’t make more sense to perhaps have a nurse in charge of healthcare, or a teacher in charge of education. Unfortunately that is nothing but a pipe-dream. I have lowered my sights a little now. Can we not just have a politician who did not illegally sell a bank to his father? It doesn’t seem much to ask. Perhaps I will ask Santa Claus. The author is a manufacturing worker. Viltu birta grein á Vísi? Sendu okkur póst. Senda grein Mest lesið Krónan, Nettó, Hagkaup, Bónus - það er kominn tími á formlega sniðgöngu Helen Ólafsdóttir Skoðun Ef Veðurstofan spáði vitlausu veðri í 40 ár, væri það bara í lagi? Björn Ólafsson Skoðun „Finnst ykkur skrýtið að ég mæti á Austurvöll – Pabba mínum var fórnað á altari niðurskurðar“ Davíð Bergmann Skoðun Málþófið er séríslenskt Bryndís Haraldsdóttir Skoðun Það sem ekki má segja um það sem enginn vill sjá Viðar Hreinsson Skoðun Hvers vegna skipta hagsmunir verslanakeðja meira máli en öryggi barna í Ásahverfi Reykjanesbæ? Ólafur Ívar Jónsson Skoðun Af hverju er verðbólga ennþá svona há? Ólafur Margeirsson Skoðun Hægri sósíalismi Jón Ingi Hákonarson Skoðun Þingmenn auðvaldsins Karl Héðinn Kristjánsson Skoðun 80.000 manna klóakrennsli í Dýrafjörð í boði Arctic Fish Jón Kaldal Skoðun Skoðun Skoðun Til varnar jafnlaunavottun Magnea Marinósdóttir skrifar Skoðun Heimaþjónusta og velferðartækni: Lykillinn að sjálfbæru heilbrigðiskerfi Auður Guðmundsdóttir skrifar Skoðun Barnaræninginn Pútín Gunnar Hólmsteinn Ársælsson skrifar Skoðun Um þjóð og ríki Gauti Kristmannsson skrifar Skoðun Málfrelsi og mörk þess á vettvangi lýðræðisins Helga Vala Helgadóttir skrifar Skoðun Sjókvíaeldi á Íslandi fjarstýrt með gervigreind frá Noregi Ingólfur Ásgeirsson skrifar Skoðun „Finnst ykkur skrýtið að ég mæti á Austurvöll – Pabba mínum var fórnað á altari niðurskurðar“ Davíð Bergmann skrifar Skoðun Hvers vegna skipta hagsmunir verslanakeðja meira máli en öryggi barna í Ásahverfi Reykjanesbæ? Ólafur Ívar Jónsson skrifar Skoðun Kjarnorkuákvæðið: Neyðarhemill en ekki léttvægt leikfang popúlista Kristinn Karl Brynjarsson skrifar Skoðun Stjórnarandstaðan er vannýtt auðlind Jón Daníelsson skrifar Skoðun Ef Veðurstofan spáði vitlausu veðri í 40 ár, væri það bara í lagi? Björn Ólafsson skrifar Skoðun Hægri sósíalismi Jón Ingi Hákonarson skrifar Skoðun 5 ára vegferð að skóla framtíðarinnar – eða ekki! Björgmundur Örn Guðmundsson skrifar Skoðun Ójafnvægi í jöfnunarkerfinu Anna Sigríður Guðnadóttir,Halla Karen Kristjánsdóttir,Lovísa Jónsdóttir skrifar Skoðun Það sem ekki má segja um það sem enginn vill sjá Viðar Hreinsson skrifar Skoðun Krónan, Nettó, Hagkaup, Bónus - það er kominn tími á formlega sniðgöngu Helen Ólafsdóttir skrifar Skoðun Löggæslumál og aðstöðuleysi í Búðardal – ákall um viðbragð og aðgerðir Björn Bjarki Þorsteinsson skrifar Skoðun Listin að verða fullkomlega ósammála sjálfri sér á mettíma Þórður Snær Júlíusson skrifar Skoðun Þingmenn auðvaldsins Karl Héðinn Kristjánsson skrifar Skoðun Arðgreiðslur í sjávarútvegi: Staðreyndir gegn fullyrðingum Elliði Vignisson skrifar Skoðun Verðugur bandamaður? Steinar Harðarson skrifar Skoðun Við þurfum nýja sýn á stjórnmál okkar - Mamdani-sýn Hlynur Már Vilhjálmsson skrifar Skoðun Sósíalistaflokkurinn heimilislaus - hvað næst? Trausti Breiðfjörð Magnússon skrifar Skoðun Rán um hábjartan dag Guðbergur Egill Eyjólfsson skrifar Skoðun Af hverju er verðbólga ennþá svona há? Ólafur Margeirsson skrifar Skoðun Sól, sumar og símafriður: 10 ráð varðandi skjánotkun í sumarfríinu Anna Laufey Stefánsdóttir,Kristín Ólöf Grétarsdóttir,Skúli Bragi Geirdal skrifar Skoðun Uppbygging hjúkrunarheimila Jónína Björk Óskarsdóttir skrifar Skoðun Jafnrétti grundvallarforsenda friðar og öryggis í heiminum Þorgerður Katrín Gunnarsdóttir skrifar Skoðun Með skynsemina að vopni Anton Guðmundsson skrifar Skoðun Af hverju er ekki 100 klst. málþóf á Alþingi um alvarlega stöðu barna? Grímur Atlason skrifar Sjá meira
Early last week, Icelanders were battening down the hatches in the face of a brutal windstorm which lasted three days and nights without cease. Meteorologists were baffled by this, until they realized that the winds were actually caused by the simultaneous gales of laughter and sighs of relief from 400,000 people who just learned that Bjarni Bendiktsson was resigning from the position of finance minister after a decade of nepotism, scandals and quite astouding corruption. For a glorious moment, it seemed that there might actually be some measure of comeuppance for a man who, until now, had seemed bulletproof from any meaningful consequences to his actions. To those of us who had spent 6 weeks last summer protesting the illegal sale of Íslandsbanki, and demanding the resignation of the finance minister, for one brief shining moment it felt like victory. Unfortunately, as the saying goes “if you don’t like the weather in Iceland, just wait 5 minutes.” This proved to be all to pertinent as the winds seemed to shift again in favor of the finance minister. Yet again Bjarni Benediktsson showed that there is no lack shame or brazenness to which he will not stoop. The bottom of the barrel in fact can be scraped through. And scrape he did. Rather than take the hint and step out of the limelight quietly, taking the winnings from sale of Íslandsbanki with him, Bjarni decided that in fact there were still corrupt mountains left to conquer, and these particular peaks were overseas. Speaking as a British national, I have lived through my fair share of corrupt and inept politicians who ride the Ferris wheel of cabinet positions, jumping around from positions of unimaginable responsibility and power without the slightest iota of relevant knowledge or experience of their field. ….I lived through Boris Johnson. Healthcare, finance, education, foreign affairs. Qualifications? Doesn’t matter. As long as you toe the party line. And if you fail, we will just have a cabinet reshuffle and put you in charge of an entirely different aspect of public life! And around and around they go….where they stop, nobody knows. I am now saddened and angry to see that pattern repeating itself in Iceland, and in such a brazen way. Without any sort of approval from the public who they are ostensibly meant to serve, we are now stuck with a foreign minister whose only relevant experience of overseas work was when he was busy setting up offshore companies to avoid paying taxes. I worry that Iceland is slipping towards (and perhaps is already there) the sort of failed state of politics that I see when I look back at my native Britain, where lobbyists and corporate interests have long since seized the levers of power from the people, and as a result, the country has been chopped up and sold to the highest bidder. I worry what a man like Bjarni Benediktsson, who has made no secret of his desire to privatize every aspect of Icelandic society he can get his hands on, will do with the freedom of access to any world leader he desires to connect with. He could very quickly turn the country I love and call home into a global-scale yard sale. Everything must go. I have long since stopped asking if it wouldn’t make more sense to perhaps have a nurse in charge of healthcare, or a teacher in charge of education. Unfortunately that is nothing but a pipe-dream. I have lowered my sights a little now. Can we not just have a politician who did not illegally sell a bank to his father? It doesn’t seem much to ask. Perhaps I will ask Santa Claus. The author is a manufacturing worker.
„Finnst ykkur skrýtið að ég mæti á Austurvöll – Pabba mínum var fórnað á altari niðurskurðar“ Davíð Bergmann Skoðun
Hvers vegna skipta hagsmunir verslanakeðja meira máli en öryggi barna í Ásahverfi Reykjanesbæ? Ólafur Ívar Jónsson Skoðun
Skoðun Heimaþjónusta og velferðartækni: Lykillinn að sjálfbæru heilbrigðiskerfi Auður Guðmundsdóttir skrifar
Skoðun „Finnst ykkur skrýtið að ég mæti á Austurvöll – Pabba mínum var fórnað á altari niðurskurðar“ Davíð Bergmann skrifar
Skoðun Hvers vegna skipta hagsmunir verslanakeðja meira máli en öryggi barna í Ásahverfi Reykjanesbæ? Ólafur Ívar Jónsson skrifar
Skoðun Kjarnorkuákvæðið: Neyðarhemill en ekki léttvægt leikfang popúlista Kristinn Karl Brynjarsson skrifar
Skoðun Ójafnvægi í jöfnunarkerfinu Anna Sigríður Guðnadóttir,Halla Karen Kristjánsdóttir,Lovísa Jónsdóttir skrifar
Skoðun Krónan, Nettó, Hagkaup, Bónus - það er kominn tími á formlega sniðgöngu Helen Ólafsdóttir skrifar
Skoðun Löggæslumál og aðstöðuleysi í Búðardal – ákall um viðbragð og aðgerðir Björn Bjarki Þorsteinsson skrifar
Skoðun Sól, sumar og símafriður: 10 ráð varðandi skjánotkun í sumarfríinu Anna Laufey Stefánsdóttir,Kristín Ólöf Grétarsdóttir,Skúli Bragi Geirdal skrifar
Skoðun Jafnrétti grundvallarforsenda friðar og öryggis í heiminum Þorgerður Katrín Gunnarsdóttir skrifar
Skoðun Af hverju er ekki 100 klst. málþóf á Alþingi um alvarlega stöðu barna? Grímur Atlason skrifar
„Finnst ykkur skrýtið að ég mæti á Austurvöll – Pabba mínum var fórnað á altari niðurskurðar“ Davíð Bergmann Skoðun
Hvers vegna skipta hagsmunir verslanakeðja meira máli en öryggi barna í Ásahverfi Reykjanesbæ? Ólafur Ívar Jónsson Skoðun