Reykjavík Grapevine - jan. 2019, Blaðsíða 4

What Are Icelanders
Talking About?
The latest and greatest in social
media outrage
Words: Andie Fontaine Photo: Art Bicnick
In a story that has made
international headlines,
three died in a fatal accident in
South Iceland in the last week of
December. Seven passengers were
in a Toyota Land Cruiser, which
fell from the bridge over the Núpsá
river, the cause of which has yet
not been determined at the time
of writing. Most tragic of all, this
was reportedly a family trip: two
brothers with their wives and chil-
dren were visiting Iceland from the
UK. Both of the women and a child
less than a year old died, with the
two men and two young children
left critically injured. The inci-
dent has raised concerns about the
numerou one-lane bridges around
Iceland, many of which are old and
do not meet current safety require-
ments.
The Klausturgate trial at Reykjavík
District Court has not gone well
for the four Centre Party MPs
trying to cast aspersions on Bára
Halldórsdóttir, the woman who
recorded them speaking abusively
about their female colleagues last
November. They have contended
that Bára could not have acted
alone, demanding security footage
from the bar Klaustur, where they
had their conversation, and have
moved to summon witnesses as
tangential as the minister for the
National Cathedral. The court has
pretty much dismissed all of their
requests. Maybe they should have
just cut their losses after apologis-
ing—as it is, the parliamentarians
are digging an ever-deepening hole,
and no one is taking the shovel
away from them.
It seems Reykjavík Mayor Dagur
B. Eggertsson isn’t out of the
woods yet in the so-called bunker
case, which drew attention last
October when it came to light that
the city had gone well over-budget
for the renovation of a restaurant
at Nauthólsvík. At the time, coun-
cilpersons for the majority said
the city regularly goes over-budget
on projects. An internal review of
the matter, brought to light in the
third week of December, however,
came to the conclusion that the
reason why this project went over
budget was mainly due to a lack of
supervision, violating numerous
city guidelines and possibly the
law, implicating both Dagur and
the former head of the city’s prop-
erties division, Hrólfur Jónsson.
This revelation sparked renewed
calls for Dagur’s resignation, both
within the council minority, and
amongst regular Icelanders. Dagur
has been adamant that he will not
resign, so who knows.
4The Reykjavík Grapevine
Issue 01— 2019First
Bára, the infamous recording artist
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