iceland

Nordic dream or nightmare?: The Mark, by Frida Isberg, reviewed

7 September 2024 9:00 am

A test has been developed in Iceland to assess a citizen’s sensitivity and potential for anti-social behaviour. Will the looming referendum make it compulsory?

Iceland’s scenery takes your breath away – but so do the prices

6 August 2022 9:00 am

I’m writing this on the plane back from Iceland, a fact that fills me with relief. Not because I didn’t…

My Icelandic holiday with Kevin and Perry

30 July 2022 9:00 am

I’m currently on holiday in Iceland. I say ‘holiday’, but I’m with my three teenage sons so it’s more like…

I failed my country at COP

4 November 2021 1:10 am

I’m on my way to Glasgow for COP26. It’s the first time I have been abroad since before Covid. Conveniently…

Ghosts in a landscape: farming life through the eyes of Thomas Hennell

6 March 2021 9:00 am

Thomas Hennell is one of that generation of painters born in 1903 whose collective achievements are such an adornment of…

I have never cared more about the price of milk in Iceland: The County reviewed

23 May 2020 9:00 am

You may be asking yourself: have I reached that point in lockdown where I’m watching Icelandic dramas about the price…

Iceland’s melting glaciers are nothing to panic about

23 November 2019 9:00 am

Is Iceland on the global warming front line? You’d be forgiven for thinking so. We’ve all seen the documentaries where…

Why Britain, like Iceland, will thrive outside the EU

24 August 2019 9:00 am

I have no doubt that Britain will thrive after leaving the EU, whether or not it leaves with a deal.…

For any politician spoiling for a fight over Ireland’s border, Under the Tree is required viewing

11 August 2018 9:00 am

Every so often there’s a news story in which neighbours quarrel over rampaging leylandii. The police are summoned, the case…

Iceland’s national composer returns from oblivion

7 April 2018 9:00 am

The lur is a horn, modelled in bronze after a number of 3,000-year-old instruments discovered at various archaeological sites across…

Radio 3 offers a refreshing antidote to the current conversations about Europe

16 December 2017 9:00 am

The season of Advent, for most children, means anticipation, gleeful waiting, the counting down of days. But after a certain…

Diary

14 September 2017 1:00 pm

I never expected to visit Iceland, let alone play cricket there. But the Iceland national team was off to play…

How does anyone keep up with all the good stuff out there on TV?

19 March 2016 9:00 am

‘We have a problem. Yes. At the wind farm.’ Any conspiracy thriller with lines like that has definitely got my…

Scandi noir reduces you to an exquisitely suicidal state

5 March 2016 9:00 am

Some things I have learned about Iceland after watching six episodes of Trapped (BBC4, Saturdays). 1. They seem to feel…

Liars, stalkers and snipers populate in the latest crime novels

30 January 2016 9:00 am

We fully expect con artists to be caught in a sting themselves, but even with that thought constantly in mind…

What Brexit would look like for Britain

23 January 2016 9:00 am

Life outside the EU would be good for Britain

Euroscepticism is growing all over Europe

3 October 2015 9:00 am

Europhiles have warned us for years of the dangers of Britain leaving the EU. But all the while a different…

Paganism is alive and well – but you won’t find it at a Goddess Temple

14 February 2015 9:00 am

The rise of modern paganism – and the persistence of the real thing

Portrait of the week

30 August 2014 9:00 am

Home Theresa May, the Home Secretary, said that Britons who went to Syria or Iraq to fight could be stripped…

Radek Sikorski's diary: Show Putin what you think of him – eat a Polish apple

16 August 2014 9:00 am

I made a welcome escape from sweltering Warsaw to the cloudy cool of Bodø, halfway up the coast of Norway,…

Why are Scandinavians so happy when they should be so sad? 

25 January 2014 9:00 am

As I sit here in my Sarah Lund Fair Isle sweater, polishing my boxed sets of Borgen and nibbling on…