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Freezing temperatures and snow falling in the middle of March. Two hour commutes to the office and, to add insult to brutal injury, you can’t even enjoy a friendly pint after 11 o’ clock at night…it’s not hard to see why record numbers of those who once called Britain their home are fleeing for more welcoming shores.
So, what’s the alternative? A rustic finca in the Spanish hills where the local bar serves ice cold cerveza all day every day and it’s your job, almost duty, to while away as much time there as humanly possible. How about a grand villa on the Romanian Riviera; four bedrooms, two bathrooms, Jacuzzi, sauna and 12 acres of unspoilt splendour, all yours for the price of a Soho cocktail? Or maybe you’re more adventurous and the idea of a Caribbean hideaway looking over golden sands and turquoise waters floats your boat.
In the end though, aren’t they all the same? Sure, the weather and views might be better, but you’re still bound to find a jumped up official ready to tell you what you can and can’t do, where you’re allowed to build and just how much of your hard-earned brass they’re going to remove from you.
There is another way though, a way to avoid the bureaucracy and control your own destiny, oh yes, establish your own country and make yourself absolute monarch.
In the early 70s, an American millionaire, Michael Oliver, set up his own South Pacific island nation by building up the Minerva Reefs which lay outside the territorial waters of all nearby states, until they stood above the waterline. In January 1972, he proclaimed the new ‘Republic of Minerva.’ Merely a few acres of arid, bleak land, it did at least boast its own flag and coinage.
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