Iceland

Iceland is definitely at a crossroads. Financially it’s a greedy time – a bit like what happened in Britain in the 1980s. The entrepreneurs and politicians want the industrial revolution we missed out on because we were a colony for 600 years, but I think it’s too late.

My generation and other people younger than me are hoping we can go straight to the green revolution instead, but the 70-year-olds who run the country think its utopian euphoria, hippy stuff. The sad thing is that they’ve already built a dam that’s as controversial as the [Three Gorges] dam in China, and they have plans for four or five more. It’s crazy.

Is the demographic of the country changing in the light of the economic changes ?

It is, I think. For the first time we’re getting a lot of illegal immigrant workers. I don’t have a problem with it, and I think they should let more people in. The problem is how they are treated when they get there. At the moment you’ve got 10 people living in one room. My father is a union leader, and he’s fighting to get Icelandic companies to pay immigrant workers from Poland the same as they pay Icelandic people.

independent.co.uk - 11.04.2008