The Icelandic Saga 2008

A friend and I were talking recently about the highlights of our year. The moments that really stand out for me, were all in Iceland. I was there in the summer on a Leonardo funded project to a project in remote East Iceland which combines eco-tourism and wildlife management – what an eye-opener! It was snowing at midsummer, roads had been swept away by glacial snowmelt but life, transport, work and hilarious chat went on regardless. In July the kroner had already started to tumble. But it wasn’t till November that the banking collapse kibboshed this plucky little nation of 310,000 people – and talk about non-payment of British Icesave customers by one Icelandic banker prompted Alistair Darling and Gordon Brown to list Iceland with the Taleban and Al Quaeda and declare the country bankrupt. I travelled there on the last flight before Icelandair mothballed their Glasgow service till Spring and was astonished and inspired by the straight talking, unselfpitying and purposeful talk I found there.

The result has been three recordings which have formed the basis of Scotsman newspaper columns and broadcasts on BBC Radio Scotland and Women’s Hour on Radio 4. So, to see 2008 out with a bang, we’ve gathered them here in an easy-to-download Snow Queen hour- in three parts – have a listen and tell me you haven’t become an Iceland convert too!

1. SKALANES –

I recorded this half hour programme from Skalanes in East Iceland in June. This is where activists opposed hydro electric dams and lost – but realized the enormous dam-building drill could also force a tunnel through the mountains and connect their isolated communities. In other words, inspiring conservationists and very quick thinkers! For some context before you listen check out Scotsman Column I emailed over from Skalanes and below are some photos in slideshow.

Listen to Lesley at Skalanes

2. THE DEMONSTRATION MIX

Punters at a demonstration outside the Icelandic parliament followed by Gudni Johannesson who  is a historian at Reykjavik University, Eygló Svala Arnarsdóttir, a writer with Iceland Review and Alda Sigmundsdottir, the woman behind the cult website www.icelandweatherreport.com

There is a slideshow to accompany both this recording and the interview with Halla Tomasdottir. It's below.

Listen to Lesley and the Icelandic Banks

3. HALLA TOMASDOTTIR

Halla is  the executive director and co-founder of Audur capital - the only financial company left in Iceland currently recruiting staff. They set up in 2007, recruiting women, and committed to invest only in products they could understand. As a result, their clients are almost the only people in Iceland with savings intact. This is the full interview part of which was played on Women’s Hour in November. Here is the Scotsman column that made me decide to head north and see for myself how Iceland was responding to economic meltdown and here is the column that followed this visit.

Listen to Lesley and Halla