Ireland and Iceland UNITE against Britain

TheGod

World War 3?

THE PRESIDENT of Iceland Olafur Ragnar Grimsson has said that a joke linking his country’s economic difficulties with those of Ireland, which circulated in financial circles in London at the height of the banking crisis, was “just a recent example” of the “arrogance of the British”.
The joke – “What’s the difference between Iceland and Ireland? One letter and six months” – implied that Ireland was facing an economic collapse as severe as the Icelandic crash.
Iceland’s economy collapsed in 2008 after the failure of its three biggest banks, and was the largest suffered by any developed country, relative to the size of its economy.
Speaking to The Irish Times at the Davos summit, Mr Grimsson said Ireland and Iceland had many things in common through history. “We have both in our histories experienced the arrogance of the British – it [the joke] is just a recent example of that,” he said. “People in London should worry more about the future of London as a financial centre and the economy in Britain, and how that will fare in the future and their own problems, than playing jokes about Iceland and Ireland.”
Mr Grimsson described as “a financial terrorist act against Iceland” the UK’s decision in 2008 to use anti-terrorism legislation to seize deposits in Britain owned by one of the Icelandic banks. “They put the government of Iceland and our entire economic system formally on the published list on the treasury website together with al-Qaeda and the Taliban. It was more a political or cultural insult than a financial act of aggression. For centuries Gordon Brown will be remembered in Iceland long after he is forgotten in Britain.”
Mr Grimsson said there was widespread anger among Icelandic people over Britain’s move. This contributed to opposition to the Icelandic government’s decision to repay €3.8 billion owed to the UK and the Netherlands for deposits lost in the collapse of one of the country’s three major banks, he said.
He refused to sign an amendment approving the payment, fearing its long-term impact on the economy. He said it is right to put the deal to a referendum due on March 6th, given the costs already faced by the Icelandic people. The money will eventually be paid, he said, but the terms of the deal may have to be renegotiated.
“There is a limit to how much you can ask taxpayers to pay due to irresponsible, greedy and risky operations by bankers in a foreign country,” he said. Western democracies had through years of “extraordinary economic growth somehow fundamentally forgotten that premise of our democratic system – that we have to be guided by the will of the people”, he said. “We have not been chosen to be masters of the financial universe. Presidents, ministers, governments are there to serve the people, not the financial markets.”

liked this comment in partiucular
Speaking to The Irish Times at the Davos summit, Mr Grimsson said Ireland and Iceland had many things in common through history. “We have both in our histories experienced the arrogance of the British


You tell them Olafur :cool:

justaday

iceland and ireland should forum a country.

PirateShampoo

Yeah good luck with that,

Who's gonna fund this because between us we dont have a Pot to Piss in.

Dudess

It was a joke - I've no doubt the Irish media would crack a joke about Britain if it was in a similar situation.

brummytom

Fuckin Brits

TheGod

Dudess wrote: »

It was a joke - I've no doubt the Irish media would crack a joke about Britain if it was in a similar situation.

You don't mess with Ireland AND Iceland.

Thats just asking for trouble, everybody knows that.

My name is URL

Anyone else hear this on Newstalk today? wtf was with David Norris' voice..! I thought he was taking the piss at first but he just kept speaking like a twat

TheGod

My name is URL wrote: »

Anyone else hear this on Newstalk today? wtf was with David Norris' voice..! I thought he was taking the piss at first but he just kept speaking like a twat

He has the voice of an angel.

TheZohanS

brummytom wrote: »

Fuckin Brits

Banned, duration: 800 years.

Armin_Tamzarian

brummytom wrote: »

Fuckin Brits

Aye, shower of cnunts comin over here taking over our forums...

My name is URL

TheGod wrote: »

He has the voice of an angel.

Ah now..

I like Norris, but the campometer was off the scales today.. thought I was at a panto :pac:

minidazzler

In fairness, that is a funny joke!

lugha

Armin_Tamzarian wrote: »

Aye, shower of cnunts comin over here taking over our forums...

Might as well let them off. If we were left to ourselves we wouldn't be long putting Fianna Fail and the Catholic church in charge of everything.

ashleey

Could you please direct your anger to where it belongs: Gordon Brown invoked the terrorist legislation to freeze Icelandic assets and he is Scottish. Everyone knows that it is the Scottish banks that are fcuked.
Let's face it the English are innocent and have never done anything wrong.

TheGod

minidazzler wrote: »

In fairness, that is a funny joke!

They'll pay for their wit. I hope it was worth it.

minidazzler

TheGod wrote: »

They'll pay for their wit. I hope it was worth it.

No, actually they won't pay for it at all, it was entirely at our expense.....badum dum tish.

lugha

ashleey wrote: »

Could you please direct your anger to where it belongs: Gordon Brown invoked the terrorist legislation to freeze Icelandic assets and he is Scottish. Everyone knows that it is the Scottish banks that are fcuked.
Let's face it the English are innocent and have never done anything wrong.

In truth Olafur is preparing the ground for then the Icelanders (?) say no, you can't have your money back, sod off! He'll have to find something more oppressive than a joke.

brummytom

TheGod wrote: »

They'll pay for their wit. I hope it was worth it.

/runs to warn fellow countryman

Sure what are Iceland gonna do, get Kerry Katona on us?

ejmaztec

Extra cold cod flavoured Guinness that makes you Bjork?

Ah sure! There's only a consonant different between them.

starbelgrade

Iceland have just advertised in their national newspapers for a new President - the ad reads;

"Lonely, bankrupt country with many attractions seeks new Presidential Candidate, M/F, 18+ only, must have G.S.O.H. Replies with photo, to Box 495"

Rented Mule

I would be very interested to know how fat are the member of Iceland's government ?

mike65

He refused to sign an amendment approving the payment, fearing its long-term impact on the economy. He said it is right to put the deal to a referendum due on March 6th, given the costs already faced by the Icelandic people. The money will eventually be paid, he said, but the terms of the deal may have to be renegotiated.
“There is a limit to how much you can ask taxpayers to pay due to irresponsible, greedy and risky operations by bankers in a foreign country

Is he talking about Ireland?

starbelgrade

Rented Mule wrote: »

I would be very interested to know how fat are the member of Iceland's government ?

Why? Are you researching for the Icelandic "Operation Transformation"?

mike65

They can't be as well fed as the lot down here...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FP2vwhEt4bs

InTheTrees

Poor Iceland, they're desperate for a country to like them. And i supose we're fair game seeing as we only have one letter difference.

Wasnt there a time during their arrogant fake boomtime that they claimed they werent even in Europe?

Ridley

brummytom wrote: »

/runs to warn fellow countryman

Sure what are Iceland gonna do, get Kerry Katona on us?

For centuries Gordon Brown will be remembered in Iceland long after he is forgotten in Britain.

That doing anything for ya?

ddef

...Brown

ddef

ddef wrote: »

...Brown

Donn!

digme

At one point in time 1/3 of people in iceland were of Irish origin.Fair play to the president,he has a backbone,unlike our taoiseach.

Mahatma coat

“There is a limit to how much you can ask taxpayers to pay due to irresponsible, greedy and risky operations by bankers in a foreign country,” he said. Western democracies had through years of “extraordinary economic growth somehow fundamentally forgotten that premise of our democratic system – that we have to be guided by the will of the people”, he said. “We have not been chosen to be masters of the financial universe. Presidents, ministers, governments are there to serve the people, not the financial markets.”

This outlines a Massive dsifference between Iceland And Ireland.


do you think any of the Irish politicians would say something like that, do you even think they could wrap their heads round such an alien concept?

digme

mike65 wrote: »

They can't be as well fed as the lot down here...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FP2vwhEt4bs

Difference is they have balls, we don't.They want their tax money to be used on things that matter,not banks that are too big to fail....

Tchaikovsky

In fairness, the president in Iceland has as much power there as our's does here.
I thought Iceland was a bit like Ireland in the 1950s when I worked there, but fair play to them for hoisting their government when the banks collapsed there and challenging these unfair banking bailouts (even if it'll ultimately **** them over even further)

JONJO THE MISER

Aww poor olde Iceland, never been but someday.

njals_saga

Tchaikovsky wrote: »

In fairness, the president in Iceland has as much power there as our's does here.
I thought Iceland was a bit like Ireland in the 1950s when I worked there, but fair play to them for hoisting their government when the banks collapsed there and challenging these unfair banking bailouts (even if it'll ultimately **** them over even further)

In what way?
It can't be the infrastructure, superior to modern day ireland, the size of families, the role of the church, the poverty, the comparative lack of bureaucracy.
I would compare modern day ireland to mid nineties Iceland in relation to these characteristics.

m@cc@

THE PRESIDENT of Iceland Olafur Ragnar Grimsson has said that a joke linking his country’s economic difficulties with those of Ireland, which circulated in financial circles in London at the height of the banking crisis, was “just a recent example” of the “arrogance of the British”.

The 'arrogance of the British' can be put into context against the arrogance of the Icelandics and Irish which saw both economies nearly blown to the Dark Ages. It's good to see the Icelandics focussing on what's important.

digme wrote: »

At one point in time 1/3 of people in iceland were of Irish origin.Fair play to the president,he has a backbone,unlike our taoiseach.

I assume you mean Celtic origin.

Son Of A Vidic

At least in Iceland the government gave the people a referendum and a say in Debt repayment. No chance of the Pr1cks in the Dail displaying such consideration for the people here. But then again, we are enslaved by EU dictates, Iceland is not.

njals_saga

I'm not even sure that this joke originated in Britain. I heard this from Irish people. I wouldn't go praising Iceland's President for anything though, especially not the referendum. When it is rejected the government will likely fall and the conservatives who caused the collapse will be back in power. He's a daft twat out to save his 'legacy'.

biko

No unification, the Irish would destroy the pure Icelandic gene pool with gingivitis and gingervitis.

hooradiation

we can team up just as soon as someone teaches Iceland that you cannot make a Molotov cocktail with yogurt.

Pittens

The 'arrogance of the British' can be put into context against the arrogance of the Icelandics and Irish which saw both economies nearly blown to the Dark Ages. It's good to see the Icelandics focussing on what's important.

There is an awful lot of w*nk talked about this. The English economy depends on Finance. It has little else. The problems in Ireland, and Iceland were exacerbated by the hedge funds shenanigans pursued in Britain, and Britain also funded it's banks. RBS. Northern Rock.

Before Ireland, in fact.

Britain's house prices - which have risen almost as much as Ireland in a decade - have not fallen signalling they are still in a boom ( interest rates being zero for now), or that there are structural reasons why the UK will never have cheap housing again. I would prefer the former were I them.

The thing that has saved the UK so far is simple - the massive dip in it's currency. Thats is it. That is all. With a 30% competitive advantage they get a 0.1% growth in a quarter. When interest rates increase the UK will go into its deferred real recession.

In the long term its reliance on Finance, and Oil will see it doomed. Iceland and Ireland will get over their short term problems and grow significantly in the medium term. the UK is continuing it's relative slump.

m@cc@

Pittens wrote: »

In the long term its reliance on Finance, and Oil will see it doomed. Iceland and Ireland will get over their short term problems and grow significantly in the medium term. the UK is continuing it's relative slump.

If the decline of the UK is to be believed, only a fool would believe that this would happen in isolation of it's nearest English-speaking neighbour.

Pittens

If this is true, it will affect Ireland tenfold.

Um, no it wont. A relative slump is a slump in your relative position in the world - per capita. You can stil grow a bit.

Secondly Ireland is far less dependent on the UK than ever before. The percentage of exports is < 30%. A booming Germany and a declining Britain would be better for Ireland than the opposite.

m@cc@

Pittens wrote: »

A booming Germany and a declining Britain would be better for Ireland than the opposite.

Explain this. Logistically, how can the decline of our closest trading partner be considered a favourable option?

Pittens

Explain this. Logistically, how can the decline of our closest trading partner be considered a favourable option?

We export less than ever to the UK. ( It is probably way less than 30% actually). The EU as a whole takes more. A booming Germany would cover for the loss of exports to the UK where our export dependancy is continuing to fall. A booming Germany would mean that the Euro zone would boom.

So the idea that we would be "10 times" worse off by a trading partner like the UK doing badly, continuing relative decline, is nonsense.

EDIT:

Hard to find actual statistics on this but according to this State Dept. report

Irish exports to the United States represent approximately 20% of all Irish exports, and have roughly the same value as Irish exports to the U.K. (inclusive of Northern Ireland).

60% goes elsewhere. Fairly diverse.

UK not very important. Also the UK's percentage take of our exports has declined year on year since joining the EEC, the recent fall in sterling has probably accelerated that.

m@cc@

Pittens wrote: »

We export less than ever to the UK. ( It is probably way less than 30% actually). The EU as a whole takes more. A booming Germany would cover for the loss of exports to the UK where our export dependancy is continuing to fall. A booming Germany would mean that the Euro zone would boom.

So the idea that we would be "10 times" worse off by a trading partner like the UK doing badly, continuing relative decline, is nonsense.

Imports from the UK account for close to 40% of total imports. It's all very well to talk about covering loss of exports but if we're having to import from the US or continental Europe as opposed to across the Irish Sea, than that in itself is going to have a knock-on effect on our competitiveness.

You seem to assume that Ireland is an more attractive place for Germany to do business as opposed to Holland, France and the UK itself.

Pittens wrote: »

UK not very important. Also the UK's percentage take of our exports has declined year on year since joining the EEC, the recent fall in sterling has probably accelerated that.

It's still easily our biggest trading partner. To call it 'not very important', well it's rubbish. Think I'll leave it at that.

mike65

One fifth of the Irish export economy is not important?

me_right_one

m@cc@ wrote: »

I assume you mean Celtic origin.

Correction, Gaelic origin

opinion guy

justaday wrote: »

iceland and ireland should forum a country.

Icerland ?

ejmaztec

Too much manufacturing has been sent east by a whole bunch of greedy bastard corporations. The Chinese in particular are taking us all to the cleaners. I think they and India are amongs a small handful of countries that aren't having a recession, with 6 or 7% growth rates.

The short-sighted quick buck corporations have succeeded in screwing the West and shooting us in the feet.

There can be only a certain number of people involved in service industries and knowledge economies, and I can't imagine what this continent's going to be like in 30 years.

m@cc@

me_right_one wrote: »

Correction, Gaelic origin

No, I meant Celtic.