The island of Sark in the Channel Islands has had a fuedal government for the last 600 years.
Sark is the last feudal administration in Europe and is ruled by 40 unelected “feifs” and 12 deputies chosen by the islanders. The head of the government is the Seigneur and the head of the judiciary is the Senseschal.
This way of government has worked perfectly well for the last 600 years but a recent referendum came out in favour of a more “democratic” approach and so plans have been drawn up for a 28 member elected assembly to govern the island, retaining the Seigneur and Senechal.
The referendum on the change of government was instigated because the British government has come under increasing pressure to reform the island’s governance from Federal Europe because it breaches EU Human Rights legislation.
I’m glad that the people of Sark have had the chance to determine the form of government best suited to them – it’s a right that the British government refuses for England – but I have to express some concern over the motivation for all this.
Sark is not part of the UK, nor is it a member of the EU. The Channel Islands are a Crown possession, they belong to the Queen. It is the Privy Council, not the British Parliament, that governs the islands on behalf of the Crown. Unless Sark chooses to sign up to EU legislation on human rights it isn’t bound by it and it is not appropriate for the EU to apply pressure on the British government to change the government of Sark.
The Privy Council has approved the proposed changes but the Barclay brothers, owners of the Daily Telegraph, are opposing the changes because they don’t want the Seignour or Senechal to remain part of the government. They say that this is because the unelected posts are undemocratic but there’s more to it than that. The Barclay brothers own Becqhou Island which is about 30 yards off the coast of Sark. It is one of the “tenemants” of Sark and David Barclay is the “tenant” and so gets a seat in the Chief Pleas, the equivalent of a parliament for Sark. But the Barclay brothers have been disputing Sark’s authority over the island and want political independence for Brecquhou, effectively making them the owners of their own country, albeit under the nominal jurisdiction of the Privy Council. The chances are, the Barclay outsiders aren’t going to get elected to the Chief Pleas and will have no influence over the Sark government’s stance on their island. They already break Sark law by driving cars and flying a helicopter and are basically a law unto themselves.
Who’d have thought an island with a population of 600 would produce political intrigue on this scale?
Technorati Tags: Sark, Channel Islands, Feudalism, Federal Europe
But as I pointed out in a previous post relating to the Coronation Oath, the fact that the Channel Islands are a Crown Possession matters sod all. Under the not-a-constitution, the next monarch will be an EU subject like the rest of us poor sods. ‘Sovereign rights’; don’t make me laugh. We can look forward to life in a country (sorry, obsolete term)carved up into Brussels-defined regions, run by non-elected Quangos; I’m just surprised that the Chief Exec of the quango doesn’t have the title of ‘Gauleiter’, that’s all.
Gauleiter Braun, does have a ring to it……
The EU project is grander than anything the Nazis could conceive. I think we should look back to Roman conceptions of subjugated kingship for parallels. Rex, Regulus and sub Regulus. I think the Tartan McReich’s Führer would be ranked as a Regulus, with regional quangocrats ranked as sub Regulus. Rex would be that rank that Merkel is expected to steal from the Snivelling Little Rat. If Nazified I think Brown would be described as an Unter-Reich’s Führer, within an EU context.
One day he may find himself a shivering diarist in a gulag: Iheff Deneidalott perhaps?
The “twins” are evil, greedy, asset-stripping bastards. Good luck Sark. Get rid of that filth.
Sark will need more than luck, they will return to the middle ages but if that is what the prople want…..