James Forsyth James Forsyth

Oh Darling

On October 7th, Alistair Darling called the Icelandic Finance Minister in an attempt to find out what iceland was doing to protect British savers who had money deposited in Icelandic banks. Here’s how the conversation starts:

Mathiesen: Hello.

Darling: Hello.

Mathiesen:  This is Árni Mathiesen, Minister of Finance.

Darling: Hello, we met a few months ago, weeks ago.

Mathiesen:  No, we have never met. You met the Minister of Trade.

Darling: Alright, sorry.

Mathiesen:  No problem Perhaps, not the best way to kick things off.

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