New to this whole election thing
Sark, one of the Channel Islands, has been a British crown dependency for some time.
Actually, that understates the case rather a lot. Lisa tells the story:
The Channel Island of Sark staged its first election under their newly democratic government. This is the first change of government they’ve had since Queen Elizabeth (that’s I, as in Cate Blanchett, not II as in The Queen) made Sark a feudal fiefdom, no doubt to reward some loyal retainer. Actually, before that Sark was positively crawling with monks and pirates. One particularly nasty character was the pirate Eustace the Monk. Besides straddling both camps, the brigandly and the monastic, Eustace had a nasty habit of changing sides, depending on who was offering the best deal. He was an equal opportunity pirate who was alternately on the payroll of John of England and Louis of France, but mostly served himself (as pirates will). By the time Elizabeth came around to awarding Sark to someone, she had just one request of her new Seigneur: keep Sark free of pirates. Sarkians (or Sarkesians?) seem to have fulfilled this duty well, although I don’t know if they also cleaned out the monks. Since that time 450 years ago, a few families and the Lord have ruled the Island as if it were still the Renaissance.
The Seigneur, in return, paid a handsome sum to the Crown: £1.79 per annum. In 1565, this was quite a chunk of change.
The nominal reason for dismantling the feudal system in Sark was to bring the island into closer compliance with the European Convention on Human Rights. But the real push came from a pair of twins, Sir David and Sir Frederick Barclay. The Guardian explains:
[T]he economic stability of the island was under threat after the voters delivered a slap in the face to candidates championed by the Barclay brothers, the multi-millionaire owners of the Telegraph newspaper and Ritz hotel.
Sir David and Sir Frederick Barclay live on the neighbouring island of Brecqhou and own swaths of Sark, including many of its hotels. They had threatened to “walk away” from the island if the “establishment” — those who are still aligned with the feudal lord — were voted back in.
Which, by and large, they were: the Barclayites won five of the 28 seats in the Chief Pleas.
Lisa wonders what happens next:
Part of me wants to believe feudal Sark is like one giant Renaissance Fair full of people in caps and bells and velvet outfits singing “Hey Nonny Nonny” and Morris Dancing down the streets. Or maybe it is more like the weird pagan island in The Wicker Man. What will happen in Sark under Democracy? Will Sark become just another British area watching the slow infiltration of Tescos, Boots and chain stores choking out the family butcher, the fish monger and the public green where the happy villagers can graze their livestock?
I’m betting it doesn’t change too much, if only because the population of Sark is a mere 600, which wouldn’t seem like enough of a market to interest the likes of Tescos.
A short history of Sark has been posted by the government.
Lisa paul »
14 December 2008 · 4:44 pm
You are on a much higher plane than me, my friend. I saw the Sark story as another weird example of British eccentricity (this is valuable ammo when you have a British husband). You saw it as a battleground of democracy. Well, not a battleground. Maybe a jousting field. Or a jester contest. . .
CGHill »
14 December 2008 · 5:15 pm
Actually, I’m not quite sure what I was shooting for, although I did follow my long-established principle of Value-Added Blogging™ by contributing some additional background information. (I uphold this particular standard somewhere around 49.9 percent of the time, give or take a few dozen.)
Consider this an object lesson in living without focus: I look down one path, and suddenly there are two or three others I have to check out. I have always been that way, I think.
Tatyana »
14 December 2008 · 7:47 pm
Here’s a fourth path for you: get a book “England, England!” by J. Barnes; he expands on a fantastic (the way Brits use the word) scenario that can occur only to a H. M.subject.
Splendid, captivating volume.