DON'T MESS WITH ICELANDERS!
Thousands
of angry voters congregated outside the Icelandic Parliament on Reykjavik’s
Austurvöllur Square tonight (Monday) to demand the government’s resignation in the wake of
yesterday’s Panama Papers revelations. In the meantime the BBC go on about Putin and #thearchers is trending.
Update: The prime Minster of Iceland has said he will not resign. Opposition leaders say they will call a vote of confidence in parliament.
You've got to love the Icelanders.
ReplyDeleteI really do. What sensible people. What a great democracy.
DeleteAh well you see it's because their telly is shite (copyright Ken McIntosh)so they've nothing better to do with their time. Joking aside good on them but you know if folk tried the same at Westminster the army would be called in. BoJo has ordered water cannon for London and I remember there was talk about the use of tear gas on the mainland (it's been used in Norn Ireland).
ReplyDeleteMust be great to live in a country that the people hold the government to account.
Mind we do have to ask, upon what was Mr McIntosh basing his criticism of Icelandic tv?
DeleteI mean to know whether it is on average good or bad you'd need to
(a) be there for a while (One night doesn't equal all tv)
(b) be pretty fluent in Icelandic. (After all anything is shite if you don't understand a word of it).
My guess is he can claim neither of these things. In other words he was havering though a hole in his... well somewhere.
You're right. If the English were doing that in London they would be removed by the police. You aren't allowed to protest outside their parliament.
Yes, I remember that Tessy stopped Bojo using his water canon. When Bojo is queen Tessy will be writing her memoires.
It's the class thing. They are all in it together; all equal.
We are not. And we can't have the upper middle and aristocracy bothered by oinks that think they have some say in what's going on.
One of the few things I have watched on the BBC in the last few years is Wallander with Krister Henriksson. A well made and acted drama with lovely scenery. (OK it's Swedish but bear with me) so GIUY Ken!
ReplyDeleteOne of the things that appealed to me about Independence was Alex Salmond's wish to make us more like a Scandinavian nation. When we leave the UK perhaps they'll let us join?
We have to admire the Icelanders, they're giving us another lesson in democracy.
I think perhaps that one of the problems with the closer union of the EU is that quite honestly there is so little similarity between the peoples of Greece and Serbia and those of Sweden and Finland.
DeleteOf course they have many things in common. I have a great friendship with a Hungarian guy. We have so much in common. But in general terms trying to find laws that match the needs of Romania and Northern Finland is always going to be difficult.
I know there are people who will disagree with me, but I think we have a lot in common with the people of the 'Norden' countries. More than we do with the English.
Maybe what we need is a whole continent with some powers, and that broken up into "nation blocks", where there are great similarities of political philosophy, mood, climate, inclination.
I'd rather be in a block with Iceland, Norway, Denmark, Faroes, Finland, Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia, Greenland, Sweden, Eire... than with England, France, Belgium, Luxembourg.
Not that I have anything against them. Not at all. France, for example is one of my favourite countries and I lived happily in England for 12 years as a child and teenager.
I'm truly not sure where England would fit in... Certainly not with France. Germany, Holland, Belgium, Luxembourg? Not really.
Maybe it would just be on its own... or part of America.
I think the beauty of a small country is that your voice can be heard far more easily.
BTW the Wallander stories are brilliant. Like most Nordic Noir. And yes, the scenery is fantastic. There are some brilliant Icelandic crime novels on Amazon too.
I really like the "nation block" idea. The examples you give are a block I wouldn't mind Scotland being a part of!
ReplyDeleteWell, that's two of us Provost.
DeleteThe the blocks with tighter integration, could be part of a looser Union across the continent. Of course , it's not thought out but it is an idea that might be fleshed out!
Don't panic Tris.
ReplyDeleteNo seriously there is no need for you to panic.
Porky has everything under control. He is holding a summit on tax avoidance ... NEXT MONTH! LOL
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3522876/David-Cameron-faces-embarrassment-Panama-tax-haven-files-leak-threatens-overshadow-international-summit-tax-avoidance-taking-place-MONTH.html
The only problem I have is the article talks about tax AVOIDANCE which is NOT illegal I believe. However what IS illegal is tax EVASION!
Thank heaven the weird one is on it, Arbroath.
DeleteDoubtless he will be paying back all the money his dad left him, when he gets round to his summit... and maybe his mother will stop telling everyone to dress in suits that cost more than 3 months' wages, and to sing GSTQ.. for long enough to pay back her ill-gotten gains?
Question is... if you take your money to a company in Panama and ask expensive solicitors there to invest it for you in some British territory overseas, is that avoidance or evasion?
I think this is the $64 Million question Tris.
DeleteI have been having a wee thought about all this tax haven stuff and come up with a wee idea.
1) Perhaps everyone in full or part time employment should register themselves as self employed.
2) Register themselves as a self employed company in a wee tax haven like I.O.M for example.
3) ensure all their gross pay is paid into their I.O.M. bank account.
I wonder how long that would last before Porky got his finger out and really did something about tax havens. I very much suspect you wouldn't see him for dust on this.
The Icelanders were a democracy when we were still serfs so we could learn a thing or too. On my travels through the Baltic,I remember the guide in Copenhagen saying if they were unhappy with the behaviour of the Government, the stood outside the Parliament and made it plain. Ah the beauty of small countries. On the same trip we Scots were well received in both Stockholm and Gothenburg, that we had in the past set up industry contributed to the fabric of society with education and built a church. So UK got the feeling that they liked us
ReplyDeleteHelena
Yes, small countries can do this sort of thing.
DeleteApparently the protest there yesterday was the biggest proportion of a population ever to protest against government. The population of the whole country is about that of Edinburgh, and of Reykjavik, it is about the population of Dundee.
Given that it is unlikely that many people could have travelled to Reykjavik at such short notice, the bulk of the protesters came from the capital. That is a phenomenal turn out.
Bravo Iceland and other small countries where democracy actually works.
Predictive text,hate it,UK should be you.
ReplyDeleteI know, I know! :)
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