Jersey

Jersey: a tasty potato, a comfy jumper and, as we all now know, a tasty and comfy hidey hole for your never-to-be-paid income tax. In the real-life documentary that followed real life detective Bergerac about his detecting business, the policeman would regularly be dealing with all tax avoiding Brits eating potato based meals whilst wearing chunky knit jerseys. Jersey is not to be confused with Cardigan, a place in Wales, or Maris Piper but it can be confused with the Bahamas, Luxembourg, Cayman Islands etc.

Jersey is an island just off the south coast of England in France, close to St. Malo, and, along with Sark and Guernsey, could well be the Malvinas of the future. The island is a British Crown Dependency and enjoys all the benefits of being a part of the United Kingdom except that it isn’t. Likewise it enjoys all the benefits of being in the EU except that it isn’t. While participating in free trade with the EU, it is not covered by the EU’s rules and regulations for Financial Services that apply to, off the top of my head, money laundering or the movement of capital. And, it keeps all those benefits to itself with it an immigration policy similarly inconsistent with that of the EU. Of course its citizens enjoy passport free goings and goings in the Common Travel Area (The British Isles and Eire).

Jersey is particularly disposed to people with lots of money and hence it is great for celebrity spotting. In fact a very common sight on the island is a top comedian laughing all the way to a bank.