Lessons from Iceland (land of ice and fire)
Iceland is possibly the greenest country on earth. A peaceful place, it has no army, Air Force or navy. It supplies all households with green energy and hot water, and has hardly any air pollution or agriculture run-off.
It’s true that being set on tectonic plates means it’s easier to get geothermal energy. But Iceland aims to be completely free from fossil fuels by 2050.
Iceland also has few chain stores, and there are no McDonalds or Starbucks branches, and no casinos (so no gambling issues). Instead, people sit around and chat, go for walks to view Arctic foxes and Icelandic horses, or write (a tenth of the population has written a book!)
On Christmas Eve, this literary nation give each other so many novels, that it’s called the Jólabókaflóð (Christmas Book Flood).
Until the mid 1980s, TV was banned on Thursday (and the whole of July) as the government wished to encourage people to do something else!
Most Icelandic people believe in elves!
If you’re a bit kooky and believe in elves, you’re in good Icelandic company. Most people believe in Huldufólk. So much so that sometimes construction projects are altered, to avoid disturbing their alleged habitats!
Icelandic people have no surnames
They just use a patronymic or matronmymic system, taking son or dóttir name of their parents So Björk Guðmundsdóttir had a father called Guðmundur. And Magnus Magnusson’s father was obviously called Magnus!
All about Bjork
Björk released her first album in Iceland age just 12, and found fame abroad in the band The Sugarcubes (she was even nominated for an Oscar for a song she wrote for the film Dancer in the Dark, which she also starred in).
Back home in Iceland, she is a huge campaigner for environmental issues, including being against fish farming (like factory-farmed fish which is cruel and causes disease). Unbelievably, she is now 60 and recently was in the news, telling Greenland to fight for independence against Trump.
All about Magnus
We all loved Magnus Magnusson, when he presented BBC’s Mastermind. He likely would be appalled that a recent question on the dumbed-down version was (seriously) ‘ What animal goes woof-woof?’
Magnus’ iconic catchphrase ‘I’ve started so I’ll finish’ was just something he once did randomly, and was never planned. The series creator based the tense atmosphere on his own experienced, being interrogated as a prisoner of war (dark room, spotlight, black chair). Though he was a ‘wonderfully warm man’
Magnus was born in Iceland, but moved to Scotland at age just 9 months, though he always carried an Icelandic passport and never took British citizenship. He translated several Icelandic sagas and was a scholar on Old Norse (his daughter Sally now writes Norse myth novels, set on the islands of Orkney).
He was also a lover of birds, being president of the RSPB for five years, and once won a medal (age 14) for an essay on the mating habits of blackbirds!
No Guns for the police
Local police in Iceland are one of the few places in Europe (apart from the UK) where the police don’t carry guns.
English police don’t carry guns. So they say ‘Stop! Or I’ll stay stop again! Robin Williams
