At last weekend’s memorial concert, the rather difficult task of following the unscheduled appearance of Bruce Springsteen was handed to Lillebjørn Nilsen. There was no better person for it. An Oslo Folk Hero Not widely known outside Scandinavia, Lillebjørn released his first album way back in 1971. His music is a shining example of what [...]
One Year On – Oslo Remembers
This morning, I travelled down the hill into Oslo to watch events at the Cathedral. A memorial service was held for the 77 victims of last year’s attacks on Oslo and Utøya. When I arrived there was a queue forming to attend the service. I could have joined the queue and entered the service, but [...]
One Year On – Time To Remember Oslo & Utøya
I can’t quite believe a year has passed since the twin terror attacks on Oslo and Utøya. Oslo, Norway, and the world will come together on Sunday to remember the 77 lives taken on 22nd July 2011. The buildings will take more time to rebuild, the trial is finished but not yet resolved – these [...]
Nine Months On: The Breivik Trial Begins
The trial of Anders Behring Breivik finally gets underway on Monday. It’s hard to believe almost nine months have passed since the Oslo terrorist attacks. Life in the capital has long since returned to normal, although the government quarter which bore the brunt of the explosion is still out of bounds. I live a few [...]
Valg 2011 – Norway Goes To The Polls
Today and tomorrow Norway votes in local and regional elections. With my political background it’s been an interesting experience to be in another country during an election campaign. It is of course the first election here since the July attacks and Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg’s Labour party are expected to do well, they’ve seen a [...]
Moving On
One week ago, Norwegian life was turned upside down by the actions of one man. It’s not an exaggeration to say the last seven days have been some of the most traumatic and emotional of my life, and I’ve only been living in Oslo for three months. What it must be like for everyone else [...]
Oslo Bomb & Shooting – The Day After
This morning, Oslo awoke to a new reality. I can’t be the only one who was awoken at 4am by a massive thunderstorm, thinking another bomb had gone off. When I eventually gave up getting back to sleep at 6am, the full horror of yesterday’s events became clear. The death toll on Utøya had rocketed [...]
Oslo Bomb & Shooting – The Day That Will Change Norway Forever
It’s taken me hours to gather my thoughts enough to be able to put them into words and I’m still shaken now, so forgive me if this is all a little “raw”. I can’t get my head around the events of today. I was in the supermarket at the bottom of my apartment block when [...]
Oslo Bomb – Stunned and Shaken
I can’t put into words how I feel right now – I live just a few minutes walk from where the blast was. I’ll write more when I feel more up to it – but for now I wanted to let people know I am okay.
