An election which changed the world - A Faroese viewpoint.

I've always had a personal interest in politics, whether it's domestic or foreign. So it was only obvious, that I would follow the election in the US closely. The media here in the Faroe Islands had followed the election campaign fairly close, and especially the Faroese National Radio, which even had sent a reporter over there, to report back home on a daily basis, with small reports.

There was some ruckus here, in the wake of our Minister of Foreign Affairs, officially naming his pick for president. He later stated, that he didn't say this as the Minister, but as a single person, meaning, he didn't say this on behalf of the government.

Former Minister of Foreign Affairs, Høgni Hoydal, had a few days prior to this aforementioned correction, said that it was unsuitable, for a Minister of Foreign Affairs, to publicly announce who his pick was, and then he mentioned some other issues, for example the invasion in Iraq, which the Faroe Islands protested against, because it wasn't with the backing of the UN.

I've always had this picture in the back of my head, as USA being a supreme power, and not in a negative way, but in a positive way. But i've lost this vision, i've lost that feeling, and with the election of Barack Obama, last night, I got it back.

The thing is, when you are powerful, when you are strong, you must not mis-use the power, which you have been vested, but use it... for a greater good.

I do believe, that Barack Obama, will use this power, to work for the union. I've heard the term "spread the wealth", being used alot in this campaign, and I must firmly state, that this is not a negative terminology. It's supposed to work for the greater good of a union, in which everyone will prosper.

Last night, I was misspoken, when I said the saying "When America sneezes, Europe gets a cold" - It's supposed to be "World...", instead of Europe. But this is one of the main reasons, i'm interested in who's the President of USA. Many of his decisions, will affect in the rest of the world, and I want that leader to be wise and with good intentions.

Faroese political leaders, have voiced their opinion on the election of Barack Obama. Most of them, except the Peoples Party and Centre Party, seem to be very positive, while the other two parties, tend to have a more... cautious approach, in which the leader of the Centre Party, said that he was very disappointed with Obama supporting homosexuals.

As far as I know, the Faroese Prime Minister, Kaj Leo Johannesen, hasn't sent any greetings yet, but I might be mistaken, but nothing is official.

I just want to give my 5 cents then, and officially congratulate Barack Obama.

The Faroese Minister of Foreign Affairs endorses John McCain... but I endorse Barack Obama.

Minister of Foreign Affairs, Jørgen Niclasen, has publicly voiced his personal opinion, on who he'd like to win the election in USA and why. One reason he says, is that John McCain wants to tear down walls, while Barack Obama, according to him, wants to surround the USA behind a wall. 

That might be his personal opinion. Even though it doesn't matter in the grand scheme of things, i'd like to say that I endorse Barack Obama.

Iceland salutes the Faroe Islands.

In the wake of the deep deep economic crisis, and now that the proud nation of Iceland, is trying to emerge from the ashes, they've sent many congratulatory notes to the Faroe Islands, because the Faroese government has offered Iceland a loan of approx. 50 million USD. (I had calculated this number wrong to some other people, I said 65 million USD). It might not sound much, but it's what the Faroese government sees fit at this moment, to lend our brethren in the north.

Read more about it here:

http://www.icenews.is/index.php/2008/10/28/faroe-islands-to-lend-iceland-money/

http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5grJZjERBW9I7J3I0Wnb6bCxuVZHg

2 WW2 stories.

There's really not much news at the moment, so i'll post 2 links, to stories which are related to the Faroe Islands, during World War 2.

Story 1

Story 2

Cypriotic cargo-ship hits land.

Today, a cargo-ship, registered in Limasol, Cyprus, hit land in Fuglafjørður, when the bow bulb made impact with land. Reports indicate, that the ship had to much speed. This is also combined with, that it's been rather windy and rainy, throughout the most of the Faroe Islands today.

Pictures of the ship are here.

Teitur (and others), banned in China.

Downloading music from iTunes, is now banned in China, all because of this CD. The government has found out, that "more than 40 atheletes", have downloaded songs from that CD.

Read much more about the story here.

Portugal vs. Faroe Islands: 5 - 0

I've just witnessed Portugal maul the Faroe Islands, 5 goals to nil. We had one chance at goal I think, a pretty mediocre one I might add, didn't nerve the portugese goalkeeper.

Our team was pretty new, many rookies on the field, and it was displayed in their game. I'm sorry, but I don't have many positive things to say. Maybe we saw some sparks here and there, nothing more than that though, and one wonders why Portugal didn't score on some very open opportunities.

Portugal vs. Faroe Islands

Tomorrow evening. Portugal will go head to head, against the Faroe Islands, in a friendly game, played in Portugal.

This will be the first portugese match, with Carlos Queiroz as manager.

The match will be shown, on various stations, and there will probably be some pages with live-scores. But, after the match, i'll give my thoughts on the match.

Checking the political terrain

The Prime Minister has held informal negotiations with the Unionist Party. As of now, the signal is positive. Their leader, Kaj Leo Johannesen, said it has worked well with the Social Democrats in the past, and he wouldn't rule out, working together with the Republican Party.

The political conclusion

The Republican Party has now announced, that they will continue in the coalition, but want a large party in the opposition to enter the coalition, because being one mandate ahead of the opposition, is a too small lead to have.

The Prime Minister, will initiate negotiations with other parties, as soon as possible.

Political standstill in the Faroe Islands.

Things are waiting mode here at the moment in the Faroe Islands. The Prime Minister, is awaiting word from the Republican Party, whether they're a part of the coalition or not. The Party, has 8, of the 15 people(+2, they're not a direct part of the coalition. Only in a supporting role), in the coalition.

The reasons for this situation, are too complicated to get into details about, so i'll give the short version. A very important bill, concerning the future of our fishery industry (about reducing the fishing-days of most vessels, by 20%. It's also got some other technicalities), was to be voted on. A member of the Party, didn't agree with this, and he put forward a supplemental draft, which said the days should only be reduced by 10%. All of the Republican Party, except this one guy, voted for the 20%. When that supplemental draft, was voted, at made it through, and thus, there's to be a 10% reduction, instead of the 20%.

The leader of the Party, Høgni Hoydal, said before all this. That if his (Heine O. Heinesen) 10%, were voted through, the Party would no longer be a part of the coalition.

As it is now, there's been no formal announcement made, whether this holds up or not. And we're kind of in a waiting-zone.

Atlantic Petroleum has struck oil!

The Faroese based oil-company, Atlantic Petroleum, has found oil, in a field, outside Aberdeen, Scotland, called Blackbird. AP owns a 8.27% share of this field.

Read the press release here.

Faroese U21 goalkeeper in Motherwell

Faroese goalkeeper, Gunnar Nielsen, who's been with Blackburn Rovers, as a goalkeeper, trying to break into the first ranks, has now been loaned out to Scottish side, Motherwell, in a six months deal.

Read more about it here.

He's gotten many plaudits, during his stay with Blackburn Rovers, but hasn't really broken the barrier into the first team line-up.

On a personal note, I only see this as a new challenge for Gunnar. This is not a step down the ladder. He's very young still, and has got many years ahead of him.

POST 200: Kayakers rescued

The kayakers, which I told about in this article, didn't make it any way near the Faroe Islands, and thus, had to be rescued.

Read the story here.

48.678 inhabitants on the Faroe Islands

The 1 July, there lived 48.678 people here. That's 274 people more than the year prior, and 231 more than there were at the start of 2008.

Statistics Faroe Islands, also says that the population has risen at the beginning of the year, but then declined at the latter part of the year.

This has led to, that the population has only risen by 250 people, from 1 July, 2004 to 1 July 2008.

Miami Herald article about the Faroe Islands

An interesting article in the Miami Herald. It's written for Lonely Planet.

There are also some trip tips.

Summerfestival in progress...

The annual Summerfestival in Klaksvík, started last night, and the feedback so far, is mainly positive.

Pictures from the event can be found here:

Gallery 1

Gallery 2

Gallery 3

Gallery 4

Gallery 5

Kayakers enroute to the Faroe Islands

Two brave adventurers set off today in an attempt to be the first to paddle kayaks from Scotland to the Faroe Islands.

Patrick Winterton and Mick Berwick hope northerly winds will have calmed enough to allow them to set off on the 255-mile voyage from Stornoway on what has been labelled the “Mount Everest of kayak trips”...

read more...

Wonderful story - Cheeseman in the Faroes

When Manchester City was here, to play against EB/Streymur. BBC Radio sent sports broadcaster, Ian Cheeseman along, and he's got this wonderful story:

Page 1

Page 2

Page 3

Page 4

Faroese membership in WTO

The Ministry of Foreigh Affairs, here in the Faroe Islands, is working on being a full member of the WTO. This is because Denmarks WTO membership, is handled through the EU. So, in a way, does the EU represent Faroe Islands.

Memorial monument, inaugurated in Mykines

In the island of Mykines, there is this memorial monument, which was built, to remember the fallen people of the island. On the plaque, there are 37 names. 27 of these, are people, lost at sea, and 10, who are been in accidents, in the mountains of the island.

Yesterday (Aug. 3), the monument, which was built for the first time, in the 1930's, was inaugurated. This because, it's been fully restored last year, and now, the plaques have been renewed.

I helped in the restoration of this monument.

Pictures from the event are here.

Songs for Tibet - The Art of Peace ... (feat. Teitur and others)

Songs for Tibet - The Art of Peace, is this CD called. Among the list of very famous artists, we find the Faroese singer, Teitur Lassen.

I think one has taken many steps up the ladder, when one finds himself, in such company as Sting, Alanis Morisette, Suzanne Vega, Moby, and several more.

I could tell you more about this project, but it's explained very well at this link.

European swimming Champion

Tripe gold winner at the competition. The last event, was 800m Freestyle. He set a new European track-record.

As I mentioned, the US-based swimsuit-maker, TYR, has contacted Pál Joensen, and offered him, to provide him with free swim-gear. They have this super-suit, which they will provide him with. They see a large marketing potential in Pál.

Pál hasn't decided yet, whether to go by this offer or not, but he's been given a free suit though, which he used, when he won the 400m Freestyle gold. It's called Tracer Light.
--

Here is a photogallery from the event.
--

Here's a YouTube-clip from when the medals were given, in the 400m Freestyle event.
--

The Faroese Prime Minister, has sent Pál Joensen, a congratulatory letter, in which he says, that Pál Joensen has achieved the highest Faroese sporting endeavour ever. And he also thanks him, for giving Faroe Islands, international recognition.

Pál Joensen - European swimming Champion x 3

Indeed, he did it again. For the third time, he won gold in this tournament.

I will tell more about this later. For example, that he's gotten a sponsorship offer from the swimmingsuit-maker TYR.

Pál Joensen - European swimming Champion x 2

He did it again! This time in the 1500m Freestyle event. He was almost 6 seconds ahead of #2.

This Saturday, he's got another chance at gold.

Pál Joensen - European swimming Champion

Today, the Faroese swimming prodigy, Pál Joensen, got gold in the 400m freestyle competition, at the European Junior Swimming Championships.

Pál was ahead all of the time, and it wasn't until the end, that he got some competion from #2.

Here are the results.

Silly mistake!

I was supposed to post pictures of the last few days on here. But, yesterday, my own camera went all crazy, and the focus-function didn't work on it. So, I asked my brother, if I could borrow his camera, so I could take pictures and such, because I was so determined to post alot of pictures on here. He agreed, and let me have the camera for a night. So, everything went fine. I took alot of pictures, and drank alot of alcohol. And somewhere in the night, i've misplaced the camera, or lost it somehow, and it's nowhere to be found. I tried calling the last known locations I was, nothing. I called the police-station, nothing.

Now i'm hoping that it'll be posted in the news-papers, under Lost/Found, that someone has found a camera, the camera i'm looking for.

I took some pictures, with my other camera, but that camera is at home, and I wont be going home until tomorrow, so i'll post some pictures from that camera.

Back soon!

As Workman is having internet issues, which are preventing him from attending his blog, fully to his wishes, i'm having mental problems these days, as in, the large consumption of food and alcohol is preventing my brain from working at full throttle.

There's one more night left of celebration.

I've taken some pictures of the celebration

Ólavsøka

As last year, i'm also going to attend our national holiday. I can't tell you anything about Ólavsøka, which others haven't told better before me, so i'm going to show you a link, where you can read more about it.

READ MORE HERE

On a more personal notice, I can tell, that I will probably drink, not alot. I will eat, probably alot. I'll wear our national costume. And I will probably take a few pictures, which I will post after the festivities have calmed down.

There may be a day or two, until next wednesday, where I wont post.

Gjáargarður - The halls of of Valhalla

I'm not going to go on an advertising spree on this blog, or anything like that. I'd like to tell you about the place called Gjáargarður, which is in the very small village called Gjógv.

Gjáargarður is a guesthouse, and you can read much more about it on the link provided above.

I hadn't been there, until a few years ago. But, I must say, and do not think it's of the same magnitude, but when I first entered, I thought, this must be how the vikings felt, when they entered the halls of Valhalla, in their afterlife.

Most of the interior and exterior is made of wood, and in my view, the place has a certain, majestic aura.

The feeling almost right away, is that no other place is like this, and being there, casts that one experience-stone more, into the water of life.

It has a very cozy surrounding and warmth.

There are pictures from the place, in the first link provided above.

The Next Country

(Here's an article, written by Elin Heinesen, the managing director of SamVit.)

The Next Country

By Elin Heinesen,

Managing Director of SamVit – Faroe Islands Enterprise

(The Trade Council and Tourist Board)

The Faroe Islands have suddenly received a lot of media attention for other things than banking and expensive tunnels. Why has this happened? Maybe it happens because this country seems to be a combination of powerful ingredients that are hitting a nerve right now.

These are really exciting times in the Faroe Islands. Never before have the Faroe Islands been as visible in the media abroad as in recent months. In October 2007 Bill Clinton was invited to give a lecture in the Faroes and

the world press turned its eyes towards us. Clinton talked very enthusiastically about the Faroe Islands – especially in terms of environmental issues – and he declared that he was now an unofficial ambassador for the Faroe Islands. Immediately after his visit National Geographic Traveler named the Faroe Islands as the most appealing island destination out of a shortlist of 111 island communities. This result was reached by a panel of 522 experts in geotourism. This has resonated in the world press and provided us with priceless publicity.

In January Faroese design duo Guðrun & Guðrun chartered an airplane, filled it with the international fashion press and flew them to the Faroe Islands where they had a arranged a fantastic fashion show in an airplane hangar at the airport. The fashion show received rave reviews. In April, Nobel laureate, former presidential candidate, and one of the world’s leading environmental activists, Al Gore, visited the Faroe Islands as the keynote speaker at the TransAtlantic Climate Conference – an event that that also drew the eyes of the world to the Faroe Islands

Shangri La of the 21’st century

The international press has started to notice the Faroe Islands. It is not unusual to hear journalists make statements like the one Eric Campbell from Australian TV-show ‘Foreign Correspondent’ made, “The Faroe Islands could very well be the world’s next country!” One of the world’s leading experts in nation branding, Simon Anholt, similarly said, “The Faroe Islands is the Shangri La of the 21’st century!” In a New York Times article in 2007 with the headline, “Into the Mystical Unreal Reality of the Faroe Islands”, the Faroe Islands were described as “the most curious place left on earth” and the journalist Stephen Metcalf described his impression such: “The Faroes are easily the most moodily beautiful place I have ever been”.

Different from the rest of the world

There is reason to believe that there perhaps is a growing demand for what we have to offer. We can see that from the increase in attention we’re getting from e.g. journalists and researchers. However, we have also ourselves been trying to generate exposure. We have the talent, we have the technology and we are putting our story forward in the right places. We still haven’t seen the big boom, because it is comparatively expensive to get to the Faroe Islands, but the number of visitors is growing every year. And there is an increasing number of people who offer to be enthusiastic ambassadors for the Faroe Islands. People seem to be looking for someone/somewhere like us because we are a little bit different from the rest of the world.

Tradition and modernity side by side

We may be perceived as a little bit odd, because many people consider us to be remote – but we are actually in a great strategic position in the shipping lane between the two wealthiest continents in the world and are only a couple of hours’ flight from the big cities in Northern Europe. There is still something to be said about our remoteness, because our relative isolation from the outside world for centuries has meant that we have been able to preserve ancient traditions. You could say that the ‘backwardness’ of the Faroe Islands mixed with the modernisation and globalisation of society has placed the Faroe Islands in a unique position compared to other countries – we are both extremely old-fashioned and extremely modern at the same time. We are in the middle of the modern world with our feet firmly planted in tradition – and we are using this to our advantage.

This contrast gives us a very strong identity that some envy us; people who visit to experience this, can see this in everything we do. There are probably not that many places in the world where young people think it is cool to wear their national dress on national holidays, but in the Faroe Islands they do while living a life that is just as globalised as the rest of the modern world, messaging on their mobile phones, Skype and gaming on the Internet and iPods.

Always risk in development

We are aware of the danger of losing our special national identity, like so many other peoples, when globalisation really starts affecting our life. There are many Faroese people who do not value the Faroese traditions and wish to distance themselves from the ‘old’ and would like all of society to become fully globalised and hyper-modern as soon as possible. But there are also many who would like to hang on to the things that make us special or unique, since they consider those things the main reason why we have survived on these islands for so long. I think it is possible to combine things – to be modern and traditional at the same time.

We are in the middle of forming a new identity. I see it as an advantage that we are lagging a bit behind other countries in some areas, because that means that we can learn from others and perhaps avoid making mistakes that others have made. There will always be risk associated with all development, but we cannot isolate ourselves only to preserve a strong identity.

Finding the balance

We would like to make society more open and accessible, but in a way that will enable us to preserve the values that we have. We feel that this is possible by e.g. creating long-term strategies for tourism that will emphasise creating services and offers for the visitors that are based on what is here already rather than killing our traditions and change society to achieve some international modern norm – in a mistaken assumption of what we ‘think’ the modern tourist expects and demands. We must not go so far in modernising that we ruin the very things that make us different and interesting in the eyes of others. I do think that we can strike that balance.

A lot to offer to visitors

We are privileged to have the opportunity to welcome tourists with modern conveniences with three and four star hotels, gourmet restaurants and café-life in Tórshavn, but we can also offer them to go to the small villages and islands in the immediate vicinity of Tórshavn where they can participate in traditional Faroese farming life, which to them would be a different and interesting experience – to herd the sheep, building boats or rappelling from ropes on the cliff face. In this way the tourist can even be involved in reviving traditions that are threatened and inject life in the outlying islands where the population is dwindling – dwindling because the traditional village life and work is no longer profitable. It may now become profitable again through tourism.

The strengths of the Faroese people

The Faroe Islands is a bubbling cauldron of creativity. The concentration of artists and creative people is remarkable considering the number of inhabitants. I think it has something to do with the cocktail of a wild, raw, achingly beautiful nature and strong traditions mixed with globalisation which all creates a synergy that boosts creativity – especially among young people who are more global in their way of thinking than the older generations and therefore have a better understanding of how people think outside the Faroe Islands. They can use this to their advantage. The Faroe Islands is a combination of many powerful ingredients that are hitting a nerve right now.

Get More Information here:

www.faroeislands.com

www.visit-faroeislands.com

www.samvit.fo

Almost shortest summer-vacation.

Research, conducted by Eurydice, shows that the pupils in Primary school and lower secondary, in the Faroe Islands, are the ones with almost the shortest summer-vacation. Alongside Denmark, the pupils here, have 7 weeks off, whilst Germany, United Kingdom and a few others are at the bottom. Iceland has 12-13 weeks off, but don't have the same other vacations, during the school-year, as we have.. Here in the Faroe Islands, we have a week off in the Fall and during the Spring, and other shorter 1-2 days vacations inbetween.

Boys in a Band 24 hour gig explained

The online magazine, NME, has an article, in which they speak with the lead singer of the Faroese punk/rock/folk/(Insert genre here).. band, Boys in a Band.

24 hours straight, on 24 locations, all over the Faroese Islands. By helicopter, bus, rollerskating, etc etc.. they sped around the islands.

Faroese referee at the Olympics!

In 2 weeks, Schandorff Vang, will be at the Olympics, where he will be a referee in the archery discipline.

Schandorff has been an international referee since 1996, and has for example been refereeing at the Paraolympics, Indoor World Cup, World Cup and other events in the discipline.

Schandorff is a very able archer himself, as well as his wife and daughter. This trio have won several medals.

Here you can see the schedule for the archery discipline at the Olympics.

Comments on article in The Sun

I had heard things about this english tabloid, called The Sun.

Now, in wake of the EB/Streymur vs. Manchester City, they have this article in their paper today, in which it for example says:

...City manager Mark Hughes met the fans before the game and hailed them as “magnificent”.

He added: “We heard about their predicament and it’s great that they’re here. What great lads.”

But the pre-match meal proved hard to swallow. Whale penis, known as dork, has a bitter, leathery taste...

I can assure you people, that, although we sometimes eat whale here in the Faroe Islands (Very rarely though), we do not eat the private parts of a whale. Saying a thing like that, really is to stupify the people of the Faroe Islands.

The article also says:

...Atlantic boss Magni Arge, a part-time commentator on Faroese TV, said last night: “The Faroese are football-mad and have a lot of respect for English teams...

He's not been a commentator, for the last... 10 years or so.

The Sun article is here.

EB/Streymur vs. Manchester City - Match picture gallery

Here you can find an extensive gallery from the match itself:

GALLERY

EB/Streymur vs. Manchester City - FINAL RESULT 0 - 2

30 minutes until the match starts, and here is the line-up. Starting with goalkeeper:

EB/Streymur: René Tórgarð – Bárður Olsen, Marni Djurhuus, Egil á Bø, Leif Niclasen – Arnbjørn Hansen, Fróði Clementsen, Levi Hanssen, Anders Post Jacobsen, Hans Pauli Samuelsen – Peter Foldgast.

Manchester City: Joe Hart, Chinedum Onnoha, Micah Richards, Richard Dunne, Michael Ball, Stephen Ireland, Dietmar Haman, Michael Johnson, Martin Petrov, Darius Vassel, Silva Jo.

Kick off!

Match somewhat even, with a slight advantage to EB/Streymur at first. (Keep updating throughout the match)

5 minutes:

EB/Streymur keep pressing more, been more attacking. City though, showing more confidence.

City just had an enormous chance! Good goal-keeping.

8 minutes:

EB/Streymur more on the defensive now, under alot of pressure. I fear a goal is looming.

9 minutes:

GOAL! Martin Petrov latches onto a cannonball from distance.

10 minutes: Huge chance for Darius Vassell.

13 minutes: Besides the goal, a rather uninteresting match.

16: Vassell is strolling around with the ball, so easy for City. Jo just kicked the ball way above.

18 minutes: EB/Streymur are at war, have settled themselves down in the trenches, and are under furious fire.

26 minutes: This is a total nightmare... EB/Streymur are under constant fire... and when they sometimes are on the attack, it soon dissolves.

28 minutes: GOAL! Dietmar Hamann has a go at it, just outside the area, and it curls slowly into the net.

34 minutes: The most interesting thing on the pitch at the moment, is the female referee

36 minutes: EB/Streymur have taken most of the pace out of this match... there are some instances of spark, bur mostly... kicking the ball around the pitch.

41: Maybe City should have been more effective. They've had too many chances, for the score to be nil - two.

42 minutes: Petrov the best player so far.

44 minutes: EB/Streymur have had 2 chances in the last minutes. A bit more visible on the pitch, but nothing alarming yet.

45 minutes: 1 minute of added time.

HALF TIME

2 goals, otherwise nothing to write home about.

During the half-time, the news are on, and they had a small segment, about Man. City fans, 'invading' the capital city, Tórshavn, and going around in the town, being happy and joyful, and drinking some beer.

(Great, picture just got frozen... I think it's production failure)

Listening to the radio...

4 minutes: Same result... Sounds like EB/Streymur are a bit more confident.

6 minutes: A bit more offensive play from EB/Streymur.

(I think time screwed up a bit, they've played 11 minutes now)

11 minutes: City on the defensive. EB/Streymur way more confident.

16 minutes: Picture is back on. Same as first half play... although... City keep defending. A bit more confidence from EB/S, then maybe they would have fared better.

(Will be switching the timer now)

63 minutes: Zzzzz...

65 minutes: City have played their way back into the game, and are starting to act as in the first half... attacking, without maybe being as effective as they should.

67 minutes: Players are starting to warm up, outside the pitch.

69 minutes: City players have much better condition than EB/Streymur... it clearly shows.

71 minutes: Petrov again with a chance, outside the area... just above.

74 minutes: City substitution on the way. Jo Silva out, Ched Evans in. Dietmar Hamann out, Gelson Fernandes in.

76 minutes: EB/Streymur substition: Anders P. Jacobsen, out. Brian (don't remember last name), in. Hans Pauli Samuelsen, out. Hanus Eliasen, in.

79 minutes: Manchester City don't seem as hungry in this half, as the first. Very good chance for EB/Streymur.

83 minutes: I predict this result not to change, but I might be wrong.

84 minutes: Substitution: Peter Foldgast, out. Dánjal Davidsen, in.

87 minutes: EB/Streymur attacking in a minor way. Doesn't seem to disrupt the City players... and it shouldn't.

89 minutes: There's a clear lack of quality in the EB/Streymur play. They shine inbetween, but nowhere near enough.

93 minutes: FINAL WHISTLE. Result 0 - 2. Winner, Manchester City.

Thank you! A very mediocre match, but I wasn't exactly expecting an action-packed match.

EB/S. vs Man. City news: Peaceful fans

The night before the match was peaceful. No rioting of any kind whatsoever.

Manchester City fans, thank Atlantic Airways.

From, the Scotsman. About the Manchester City fans, who wanted to travel to the match, with a trawler, and they got stuck with bad weather in Shetland, and couldn't proceed.

The Scotsman writes:

..."Everybody knew that the weather was unpredictable and that the boat might not be able to leave the harbour.

"We were willing to take any form of transport to get us there."

But as their dream faded and the party members resigned themselves to having to make their way back home without seeing their side take on EB/Streymur, a more conventional form of transport came to the rescue when a Faroes-based airline agreed to pick them up.

The Atlantic Airways flight was chartered for the group free of charge.

Magni Arge, the airline's president, said: "We've agreed to help these Manchester City supporters because this is a great event in the Faroes having Manchester City here.

"This is a great opportunity for us to show there is an airline based in the Faroes which can serve both Shetland and the Faroe Islands, and we've got some sponsors to help us make this feasible."

Each supporter had paid £285 for the boat and the journey to Tórshavn on the Faroes.

http://news.scotsman.com/uk/Faroes-to-rescue-after-fans39.4296422.jp

Here's a BBC video-coverage of the situation:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/7510650.stm

Here's an article from The Sun, and there we see, that this was a cooperative rescue:

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/article1433502.ece


--

On a personal note, I must say, that i'm proud of Atlantic Airways, about them doing such a good job.

LIVE UPDATE! - EB/Streymur vs. Manchester City

Tomorrow night, I intend on giving live updates here, throughout the match. Not like, minute by minute, but with maybe 5-10 minutes interval. And ofcourse, if a goal comes, it should be here almost right afterwards.

So, LIVE UPDATE/SCORE tomorrow night! The match starts at 19:00 GMT.

Good swimming result.

A very... unimaginative headline I must say.

What I want to say is, that the FINA JUNIOR YOUTH SWIMING CHAMPIONSHIPS, were held in Monterrey, Mexico, from July 8-13.

The winner in 800 m. free relay, was Herman Heerden, he did it in 8.01.77.

Recently there was a swimming competition in Denmark. The Faroese swimmer, Pál Joensen, did it in 7.58.97, at that event.

Faroese player, signs new contract.

The Faroese football (soccer) player, Símun Samuelsen, has just signed a new 3-year contract, with the Icelandic club, Keflavík.

Until now, he's played 44 games with them, and scored 12 goals.

2 years ago, he won the Icelandic cup-final with them.

Tróndur í Gøtu statue unveiled

Gøta, my fathers birthplace, today unveiled a statue of Tróndur í Gøtu. He is an essential part of Faroese history and folklore. He was said to be very wise, a political tactician. It is also believed, that he had powers of a magician.

There is a huge gallery here.

The reason I pointed to that picture, as the place to look first, is because, that the man in the middle, is Hans Pauli Olsen, the sculptor of the statue. The one on the left, is Jógvan Fríðriksson, our Bishop. And on the left, is our Prime Minister, Jóannes Eidesgaard.

The statue is ofcourse of Tróndur, standing in an almost horizontal position, on the Faroe Islands, more directly, in Gøtu.

Westward Ho in the Tall Ships Race

The Faroese vessel, Westward Ho, will compete for the first time, in the Tall Ships Races.

The “Westward Ho” was built in Grimsby 1884, and sold to the Faroes in 1895.

With a crew of 20, she fished from the waters of the North Atlantic all the way to Greenland until she was laid up in 1964.

During the Second World War, she transported fish to Britain from the Faroes and Iceland.

After changes in ownership, the “Westward Ho” was restored in 1968 and again in 2005, and today the she has regained her original appearance above deck.

First link is at this place. It doesn't work linking directly to the page I want, so.

http://www.sailtraininginternational.org/ -> Races & Festivals (from the drop-down menu) -> The Tall Ships' Races 2008 -> Race Entry List -> Then after 2 pages, you'll see Westward Ho at the bottom of the page.

More pictures...

A day, with a drought in the news-area, brings new pictures...

Comments on a Man. City article!

Thomas Cook Sport have confirmed that they will be operating a very limited number of travel packages for supporters who qualify for a match ticket to watch Manchester City’s UEFA Cup tie in the Faroe Islands.

The Faroes are a unique destination as far as travel is concerned with severe restrictions on the types of aircraft that can land at Vagar airport and only limited connections via air and sea.

The runway at Vagar airport is shorter than London City airport and as such can only accommodate planes with less than 87 seats. This unfortunately rules out the use of Thomas Cook's usual fleet of aircraft.

Adding to this, pilots have to receive specific training on how to land at Vagar and have to have previously landed there, which further complicates matters.

Due to these factors charter airline availability has proved to be very challenging, so the only packages available will be on a scheduled service from Manchester via Copenhagen, departing Manchester on Wednesday July 16 and returning on Friday July 18.

Article taken from here.
-------------
Reading that article, people may get a negative feeling, about traveling by air, to the Faroe Islands. It's true that the runway is shorter than many other runways. But the BAe-146, which Atlantic Airways uses, is very suitable for the runway. The runway and airport itself, was built by UK soldiers, during the WW2. Ofcourse, certain areas have been updated since, but the mainstructure is built by soldiers from the UK.

Old findings in Vestmanna

Faroese archaeologists, have found 4-5 houses in Vestmanna. They date from the middle-ages and the Viking-age. They will be used as a tourist attractions.

Several other items are also found.

Netverk.fo - Social Network.

SamVit (Faroe Islands Enterprise) and Vinnuvitan (a Faroese business-related newspaper) will launch a webpage later this year, where Faroese people abroad, and friends of the Faroes (meaning, those who are interested in our islands), can sign up. When the page is up and running for real, it'll be possible to submit your work-experience, your interests, and other things.

People can sign up now, although, only with contact info, and then they will get an e-mail, when the page is up and running. The form is in Faroese, but i've taken the liberty of translating it.


* Kravt = Required

Fornavn = First name

Eftirnavn = Surname

Bústaður = Here they want the streetname & number.

Postboks = PO Box

Postnummar = Postnumber

Bygd/býur = City

Land = Country

Føðingardagur = Date of birth

Teldurpostur = E-mail adress

Telefonnummar = Phone-number

http://netverk.fo/default.asp?a=reg1

Man. City contenders' loosing streak.

EB/Streymur, which will face Manchester City, later this month, lost the second time in a row, in the domestic league. 2 goals to nil on both occasions. This was against teams in the middle and bottom of the table.

Couple of pictures!

just took these few photos today. You've probably seen the scenery before on here, but, anyways, here it goes:












I

Faroese politician, freed of all charges.

The Faroese member of parliament, and leader of the Centre Party, Jenis av Rana, was told in court this morning, that he was free of all charges put against him.

His other work, besides being an MP, is working as a doctor. He was charged with, not telling the child protection services, about an incident, when a 16 year old girl told him, that her father had sexually abusive towards her.

More Teitur reviews.

The overall of the reviews coming in today, say that Teitur was maybe the wrong person to start with on Orange Scene. That he should have played on a smaller and more intimate stage.

The reviews don't complain about the mans abilites as a singer. Because he's a very able singer.

Today it's more 3 out 6 stars.

Teitur opened the Orange Scene!

Today, Teitur opened the Orange Scene, on the famous Roskilde Festival. This is the grandest stage, on the festival itself, and it's considered a great honour, just playing on that stage.

The first reviews are in, and they are all very positive. 4-5-6 stars out of six. They usually start that stage, with something... energizing and pumped up. But Teitur isn't about speed and energy, it's about music and intimacy, and it worked to perfection.

Man arrested in Faroese customs.

A man was arrested yesterday, on the airport here in the Faroe Islands. He had hidden a couple 100 grams of hash in his stomach, and up his rectum.

The man was known to the authorites, prior to this. The K9 dog, also found another 50 grams, hidden under a safety-vest, on the plane.

Manchester City equals bookings!

The Faroese flight-company, Atlantic Airways, have been bombarded with enquiries, about getting to the Faroe Islands, now that Manchester City are coming here to play in a forthnight.

Manchester isn't a part of their destinations, so they have told the people which have called, about other ways to get to the Faroe Islands, besides directly from Manchester.

But, they are also planning on a couple of take-offs from Manchester, prior to the match, now that the demand is so huge.

Manchester bafoonery

In this article, The Mirror, is trying to keep it light, breezy and sarcastic.

EB/Streymur vs. Manchester City

EB/Streymur, will face Manchester City, in the UEFA Cup championship.

The EB/Streymur manager, Sigfríður Clementsen, said in the Faroese national radio, prior to the draw, that he would rather that the team faced a high-profile team, rather than a 'easier' (not his words) team. The EB/Streymur team, has many talented players, when it comes to Faroese standards.

You can read more about it here.

Smoking ban, put into effect tomorrow!

Tomorrow, the 1'st of July, there will be a smoking ban, put into effect here on the Faroe Islands. No smoking will be allowed in public or private workplaces.

The purpose of this ban, is to inhibit marketing and sale of tobacco as a whole.

National obligation.

Recently, we were headlining a survey, made by National Geographic Traveler. In the wake of this, I think that we, here in the Faroe Islands, have a certain obligation, to maintain this esteemed position, by keeping it tidy here.

The newspaper, Sosialurin, started a series earlier this week, about how we mistreat our nature here in the Faroes, and that we need to... clean up.

Here you can see, really how messy this place is sometimes. I hope this piece by Sosialurin, will make people get their act together, and start tidying.

Picture gallery 1

Picture gallery 2

Picture gallery 3

Picture gallery 4

Faroese person detained in Danish customs.

A person from the Faroe Islands, was detained in Danish airport customs, because he was carrying 1.7 kilos of whale-blubber. According to the Washington-convention, this is not allowed.

The person didn't get a fine or anything, and was let go right afterwards.

ILVA closing down in Britain.

ILVA, which is owned by Jákup á Dul Jacobsen (Faroese businessman, living in Iceland), are closing down the stores, which they have in Britain. They are located in London, Manchester and Newcastle.

Late last year, they had a deficit of roughly 110-120 million USD.

ILVA, also has stores in Sweden and Denmark. They will now emphasize on managing those stores.

Jákup á Dul Jacobsen, is also the major shareholder, of the company Pier 1.

Amnesty International-report download link.

Here's the report which I referred to last night.

Amnesty-report, doesn't shake Danish government.

Even though an Amnesty International report, says that CIA planes, have flown more than a 100 times, through Danish airspace, and landed 45 times on Danish soil, it doesn't effect the Danish Prime Minister in any way.

He says the report isn't proof in any way, and says that the government can't make any decision, based on hearsays. He will now wait for information, from the USA government.

"This is something, that the government is unaware of, but in light of the information, which have emerged, we will look into this matter, besides getting all the information from USA we're asking for, and we've no reason to think otherwise, than we're getting the correct information from the US."

Huge project revealed in Tórshavn.

Today, a huge project was revealed in Tórshavn. The aim of this project, is to totally expand the centre of the capital city.

The main focus, is from the bay area and outwards.

They're aiming for: 350 apartments, 2200 offices, 12000 squaremetres for a shopping area, hotel with 250 rooms, concert and conference-halls, which will seat 4000 people and 2100 parkingspaces.

Pictures of the project, can be found here

BAe-146 not getting rave reviews.

Our national airplane company, Atlantic Airways, have used the BAe-146, which British Aerospace manufactures, for approx the last 20 years. This make has gotten alot of bad publicity lately.

Since my english is not really up to par, you can check this article out:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/Archive/Article/0,4273,4025496,00.html

It's an old article, but it covers the problem I was talking about.

This subject has risen again, because of a book, written by this woman. The book i'm talking about, is the book you see right as you enter the page.

APPG on the Faroe Islands.

The Parliament of the United Kingdom, has put together an All-Party Parliamentary Group, where the Faroe Islands, are the base of this group.

The aim is to emphasize on working closely together with the Faroe Islands, on subjects such as, tourism, enviroment, fishery and power supply.

This group is very important, and will serve us greatly in the connection with the UK.

Faroese history in the making.

One of the biggest music festivals in Europe, if not the biggest, the Roskilde Festival, has a stage called the "Orange stage", which is the biggest one, and where all the major names are headlining. This year, the Faroese artist, Teitur, will be opening that stage. The only name, playing that same night, on the Orange stage, is Radiohead.

"Faroe Islands in figures"

"Faroe Islands in figures 2008" is a mini-size pocket booklet in English containing the most relevant statistics about our society. It contains key information about the Faroe Islands - geography, climate, population, labour market, culture, education, industry, trade - and much more.

Download it here

It's Statistics Faroe Islands, which releases this booklet.

The export of fish, has severely decreased.

Our export, is swiftly decreasing. In the first 4 months, it's been around half of what it was the same time last year. In value, it's taken a 26% dive, which is about 370 million Kronas, or around 77 million USD.

Stock-prices dipping.

The 2 main banks here in the Faroe Islands. Eik Bank and Føroya Banki, went on the stock-market last year.

The value of the Eik stock, has lowered 60%, while the other one, has lowered a little bit less.

Historically low amount of cod and haddock.

Research, conducted by the Faroese Fisheries Laboratory, shows that there is an historically low amount of cod and haddock in the Faroese waters.

The Fisheries Laboratory, therefore suggests, that the fishing boats, should be allowed to catch a much lower amount next year, than this.

The research, which FFL has conducted, somewhat matches the researches which ICES has made.

Faroese embassy, in New York.

The ministry of foreign affairs, in the Faroes, is planning on opening a Faroes embassy, in New York, sometime next year. Foreign affairs isn't a a part of our area at the moment. That subject, is still controlled by Denmark, so the employees at the embassy in New York, will be affiliated with the Danish embassy in New York. But we'll have our own location, and the Faroese flag will be waving on the building.

The gathering of Chiefs!

The prime minister of Denmark, Faroe Islands and Greenland, will meet later this month, here in the Faroe Islands. This meeting is not formal, but they will be talking about the major issues, in the 3 countries, at the moment.

Crisis looming...?

As it is, all around the world. The price of oil is very high, and this affects our main income, the hunt for fish. At the moment, the trawl and hunt for fish, doesn't pay off, because of the oil price, and thus, many ships are at land. One fish-factory has closed down already.

I hope the coalition walks carefully in the next months, to ensure us, that this 'crisis', will be as painless as possible.

Hacked...

The webpage of the faroese clothing designers, Guðrun&Guðrun - was hacked earlier this week, by a turkish hacker, calling himself... well.. Turkish hacker... genius.

Instead of their usual content, he had placed a picture of the dutch film-maker Geert Wilders there. He's the man, who made the movie Fitna - a movie which deals with islam.

Guðrun Rógvadóttir, called this act, loosely translated, "very rude".

The page is allright now, but if you look for Guðrun og Guðrun on Google, you can see someone has been messing with their page.

One assumption is, that maybe this move was made, because they are using jordanian workforce, for the making of their clothes. And the talk about Islam, is very... hot right there at the moment.

Tension...

The Danish government, is a part of the IWC (International Whaling Commision), because the Faroe Islands and Greenland, to a very certain degree, hunt for whales.

The common thing has been in the past, that whenever a ruling was to be made in the IWC, the danes asked the Faroe Islands and Greenland, what stand they had on the matter, and voted accordingly.

Now the Danes, want to vote in matter of banning whale-hunt in the southern Atlantic oceean, and not abiding the Faroese stand on this matter.

The Faroese government has made it clear to the Danish government, that they are not
happy about Denmarks position in this matter.

News news news...

Sex and the City craze, has also reached our islands, and during the weekend, there was this SATC-themed night in Tórshavn.

Photos are viewable here

Something to do with fashion, and I think Cosmopolitans were served (I think that's what one of those girls in the series, likes to drink).

--

I was at a Bryan Adams concert in Tórshavn, last wednesday. It was really fun, the weather was great. And someone even told me, that he'd been in a studio. Either he did some recordings there or wanted to. He stayed here a day and a half, after the concert itself.

He's an avid photographer, so maybe he took some photos.

--

Boys In A Band, will be going on a 24 hour tour here in the Faroe Islands, when they release their first album. They will be playing in 24 of our largest towns/villages, in a period of 24 hours.

--

In April, we had the TransAtlantic Climate Conference - And one really interesting thing they talked about, was the TransAtlantic Climate Institute.

--

In 2009, ENI and Chevron, will drill 2 wells in Faroese area. Tests have shown really positive results outside our area, and that's why they are starting on this side next year.

--

That's it for today, slow start... i know... more tomorrow... see ya.

After months of waiting, there is light, at the end of the tunnel...

I'd like to thank ABC-News, for kind of forcing me back on this blog, by quoting this blog, in one of their stories.

Many things have happened, since you last were on here. To many things to recap, so I suggest you read Workmans blog. He has a birds eye view on, what's happening here.

In about 30 minutes... i'll post some updated news...