Reykjavík Grapevine - jan 2020, Qupperneq 4

What Are Icelanders
Talkin! About?
The headlines explodin# the
comments sections
Words: Andie Fontaine Photos: Grapevine Art Dept.
One of the weirdest
attempts at igniting a
social media shitstorm in 2020
came in late December, when
news broke that Reykjavík would
be doing away with downtown’s
green UFO-looking public toilets in
2020. The coin-operated capsules,
seven in all, have cost the City of
Reykjavík about 40 million ISK per
year to maintain via the contractor
who operates them, and long story
short, the city simply chose not
to renew the contract. Nonethe-
less, there were numerous earnest
attempts at tacking this affront on
to the growing list of grievances
people have against the City Coun-
cil majority, with lurid forecasts
of the streets running yellow with
effluence. Much could be criticised
about the City Council majority; the
decommissioning of seven public
toilets was a weird hill to die on.
Birgir "órarinsson, an MP for the
Centre Party, has managed to cause
a small sensation, as his party is
often wont to do. In a New Year’s
Day speech at a local church, which
was then forwarded to the media, he
proposed that Iceland should only
accept refugees if they’re Chris-
tian, and that Christianity should
be taught in primary schools again.
Birgir’s great concern for the pres-
ervation of Christian values appar-
ently does not apply to members of
his own party, who were amongst
those recorded speaking abusively
about their female colleagues in
the Klausturgate scandal. Perhaps
Birgir should open his Bible to
Matthew 7:3 before sounding off
on the subject again.
The annual debate about fire-
works got rolling again last month.
Environmentalists were diligent
in pointing out the tremendous
amount of air pollution that fire-
works generate, in the form of
particulate matter and various
heavy metals, including lead and
chromium. Others pointed out
how fireworks terrify animals.
While polling showed an increase
in approval for a ban on fireworks,
this was not reflected in sales,
which stayed pretty much the same
as last year.
The honeymoon might be over
when it comes to Iceland as a hot
tourist destination, and The Inde-
pendent has joined the fray of
international media outlets advis-
ing people not to visit Iceland on
account of their being too many
tourists here already, and because
the country is expensive. This is a
refrain we’ve been hearing for years
now, though, yet many people still
come to the country each day. That
said, hotel bookings have been on
the decline, as have Airbnb listings,
so where all these people are stay-
ing is anyone’s guess.
4The Reykjavík Grapevine
Issue 01— 2020First
NEWS
Birgir "órarinsson, pictured with some libs he just triggered
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Scene from Reykjavík ToiletCo Boardroom, yesterday
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