This is the British Isles, but not as most British people know it. They make their own rules here, and have done for a long time. Their parliament, the Tynwald, is the world’s oldest continuous ruling body. It has governed the island since the arrival of the Vikings in the late eighth century. Tynwald means ‘assembly field’ in Old Norse and for over a thousand years the inhabitants of the Isle of Man have gathered in the same spot, at the summer solstice, to hear the laws of their land proclaimed and to air their grievances. Nowadays, the parliament convenes all year round inside a whitewashed building they call ‘the wedding cake’, but once a year they like to get outdoors and feel the sun on their faces, to connect with their roots.

They are ancient roots. Before the Norsemen, the island was inhabited by Celts, who left their language, Manx, a sister tongue of Irish and Scots Gaelic. The Vikings ruled the island for nearly five centuries before control passed briefly to the King of Scotland in 1266 and then permanently to the English Crown. The two crowns are now one and the same, and the British monarch is head of state. But being outside the United Kingdom, the island has long set its own taxes. In centuries past, this spawned an interest in smuggling, helped by its geographical position roughly midway between Scotland, England, Wales and Ireland. Today the low taxes support a thriving global financial services industry.

But the island’s democratic credentials are second to none. It chalked up a world first in 1881, giving (propertied) women the vote in parliamentary elections. In 2006, it was the first Western European nation to lower its voting age to sixteen. Not bad for a country that doesn’t exist.