I am a lucky man. Those last four letters in my name, leod, are Old Norse. It has something to do with a word like "ljot" and refers to culturally and contextually appropriate berserkerism. Very odd, you might say. Very handy, says I. Example: roasting chickens Norwegian style a few weeks ago. For further instance, last night it gave me license to grill and consume the meat of three separate mammals: cow, sheep and pig. It was tasty and good for me. I know the value of goodness of root vegetables. It also allows me, twice in my life so far, to offer beer to Swedes in our common tongue. "Ol? Ja, Ol!" is the entire conversation but it works for we of the northern ice and grey oceans. If you ever want to try it yourself, remember to say "earl" in English as if you have six marbles in your mouth which you are trying not to swallow. Whammo - you are sounding Norse.

But that does not mean all is well in the great arc of the pan-Viking world. Apparently Iceland has got itself into a bit of a mess and is now unhappy with how the Angles, Saxons and Picts are dealing with the situation:

“This really was the last straw. A lot of Icelanders are asking, ‘Excuse me: who’s the terrorist here?’ The bank’s collapse had repercussions beyond Iceland and Britain. More than 8,000 depositors, individuals and businesses, hold Kaupthing Singer and Friedlander accounts worth about $1.34 billion on the Isle of Man, money they cannot get their hands on now — and may never.

See, my take is that Iceland forgot that it was not an island. [Ed.: RIMSHOT!!] And if it is going to go around messing with the Manx, it has to remember that the Isle of Man is/was M(a)cLeod as we are all in spirit at least - these things are not clear and we haven't even mentioned the Faerie folk - the grandchildren of Olaf the Black. See, the Icelandic government has declared it will guarantee the bank deposits - but not those held thought branches elsewhere. Boo, says I, as did Gordon Brown, Scot, who was not amused and froze Icelandic deposits in return to much shock and personal upset given Brown used a terrorism statute to make it so. But we know how these things work out on the maternal more Scots Largs side of the family. We have been at odds before and known less pleasant - even icy - relations with the northern neighbours. Perhaps Brown was remembering such things.

So, if not terrorists perhaps something else? Some between careless and thoughtlessly viking-esque? Perhaps.