You have to love this guy:
“HIS plan to declare independence from the UK and create his own state on a tiny island off Shetland may sound like the plot of a quaint Ealing comedy.But Stuart Hill’s quest to turn the windswept crag of Forewick Holm into the autonomous Crown Dependency of Forvik has been dealt serious blows by two timeless adversaries: mother nature and the taxman.”
And he’s determined, too. His makeshift shelter on the island has been blown down, and now HM Revenue and Customs want him to pay VAT that he owes. However, he has (semi-)plausible basis for his non-payment:
“His case rests on a deal struck in 1469 when King Charles of Denmark effectively pawned Shetland to Scotland’s King James III to raise money for his daughter’s dowry. According to Hill, as the loan was never repaid and no other legal agreement was signed, Shetland was never officially part of Scotland and therefore is not subject to UK jurisdiction.”
Superb. I guess nobody has told him that Denmark’s VAT rate is 25%.