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A hundred years ago, many people were conversant with Shetland’s history, but since it is no longer taught in the schools and has been comprehensively buried and distorted, it is difficult to put a finger on the problem any more. What is clear from the record is that people, once proud in their own sovereignty, were reduced to mere serfdom over generations and have hardly recovered since. Now, those who pretend power over Shetland have been exposed for the racketeers they truly are. What worries them most is the possibility that ordinary people will wake up to the knowledge that the sovereign rights of the land-owners of 1469 have been passed down to their heirs and successors – every person who owns a house or land in Shetland. That knowledge has been buried, but never taken away.

As you read this book, I would ask you to keep an open mind. It is easy to shut your eyes and go along with the presumption that nobody wants us to question, but we are entering a period of change. All sides in the political debate would like us to think that Shetland is part of Scotland and the UK, but Shetland has the opportunity to cast off those blinkers and make its own decisions about its future. Shetland does not have to ask for powers from anyone – it already has them.

It is my belief that you should not break something if you are not willing to at least try and fix it. I would like to see a society with rules its members wish to live by, fair money, fair governance and many other benefits. Shetland can build that society.

In this book I will prove that Shetlanders are the real kings and queens of Shetland. Nobody possesses power above them.

I am an Englishman and an outsider to Shetland. As I have delved into this subject my indignance at the way Shetlanders have been treated by successive crowns and governments has continued to grow. I make no apology for wanting to expose that treatment. Shetland has always been seen as a cash cow by those governments, an attitude that continues to this day.


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