The Bird Is The Word
There's a bird species famous for sticking it's head in the sand when faced with danger. So the story goes. To stick your head in the sand is used as a metaphor for people who refuse to face up to facts. There's a group of these the world over right now. Here in Iceland we have a special breed of the species. But I want to say something first.
Like the rest of the Icelandic population I have no bad feelings towards people from the UK. Some of my best friends live in the UK. I feel as much at home in London as I do in Reykjavik. So I'm really sorry about the effects of the collapse of the Icelandic banks on many people in the UK. At the same time I hope that people in the UK understand that this was hardly a plot by Icelanders in general. That we don't like the British. Quite the contrary. To quote one of my co-workers "we, the little people, in both countries, have been royally fucked over". So if you're from the UK, come visit, you'll find a sympathetic ear among the general Icelandic populations. We'll do our best to stand by our commitments.
So let me tell you about these strange people here in Iceland who still refuse to face up facts. So far I've still to hear anyone admit to making any mistakes. Unlucky is about as far as I heard anyone admit. What I find amazing is that there still are people who seem to mistakenly believe, in my view, that we retain an option to stay out of the EU. A key message from these people in the past has been our need to have an independent monetary policy. Now look how independent that has become. Ignoring warnings from a variety of experts who stated that our currency was weak and unsustainable. That the only realistic course of action was to seek EU membership and entry into the EURO zone. That otherwise our financial independence would be lost. Well guess what just happened. In my view we simply don't have any other option now. The sooner we start the application process, the sooner we have a chance at regaining a little bit of the trust that we so spectacularly lost. It would have made our negotiating position so much better if we'd done it before this fall. Now we simply don't have a choice. Sticking our heads in the sand won't change anything.
Like the rest of the Icelandic population I have no bad feelings towards people from the UK. Some of my best friends live in the UK. I feel as much at home in London as I do in Reykjavik. So I'm really sorry about the effects of the collapse of the Icelandic banks on many people in the UK. At the same time I hope that people in the UK understand that this was hardly a plot by Icelanders in general. That we don't like the British. Quite the contrary. To quote one of my co-workers "we, the little people, in both countries, have been royally fucked over". So if you're from the UK, come visit, you'll find a sympathetic ear among the general Icelandic populations. We'll do our best to stand by our commitments.
So let me tell you about these strange people here in Iceland who still refuse to face up facts. So far I've still to hear anyone admit to making any mistakes. Unlucky is about as far as I heard anyone admit. What I find amazing is that there still are people who seem to mistakenly believe, in my view, that we retain an option to stay out of the EU. A key message from these people in the past has been our need to have an independent monetary policy. Now look how independent that has become. Ignoring warnings from a variety of experts who stated that our currency was weak and unsustainable. That the only realistic course of action was to seek EU membership and entry into the EURO zone. That otherwise our financial independence would be lost. Well guess what just happened. In my view we simply don't have any other option now. The sooner we start the application process, the sooner we have a chance at regaining a little bit of the trust that we so spectacularly lost. It would have made our negotiating position so much better if we'd done it before this fall. Now we simply don't have a choice. Sticking our heads in the sand won't change anything.
Ummæli