Will Corke's digital gallimaufry

Sark, the movie

When I heard a report about Sark’s first democratic election on BBC Radio 3 news yesterday morning (the move away from feudalism, a single ballot box serving the entire island etc.), the story sounded to me like the scenario for an Ealing comedy, or at least one of those locally based dramas that seem such a integral part of British cinema culture (Local Hero, Whisky Galore!, Calendar Girls etc. etc.).

In dramatic terms, it’s got the lot.  The quaint old-fashioned local lingo - elected representative are called ‘Conseillers of the Chief Pleas’, dramatic scenery (of course) and to top it off a pair of business tycoon brothers (twins, media barons but reclusive, it gets better and better) who have been riding roughshod over local opinion (allegedly)…

Now today the drama is moving into the final reel as the Barclays withdraw their business interests on Sark, putting 140 people out of work; a almost unreal number for a community of 600.  The brothers B had warned they would do this if they lost out in the election, an un-democratic approach surely calculated to infuriate the voter.  A BBC TWO report is here (video). which includes an interview with the Barclays’ candidate and representative on the island.

Back in November, when BBC News reported on the upcoming election, an academic political analyst from Plymouth University, Adrian Lee, commented “Moving away from a previously essentially feudal structure to a fully democratically elected Chief Pleas, there’s bound to be a great deal of interest.  In particular I suspect that [any potential] questions about undue influence, lack of fairness or lack of transparency, will get a very significant public airing.”

Sounds like he knew what was coming.

No doubt there will be many more twists and turns in this story, but for now at least, it seems that as far as the Barclay brothers are concerned it’s a case of goodbye and good luck.