Sark was 'going nowhere'!

This somewhat ridiculous statement has been made in defence of the Twin Barclay Brother's attack on democracy last week.

Anyone who knows Sark loves it precisely because it was 'going nowhere', it's not really the place for anyone wanting a career in the fast lane! No cars, very few businesses and a peaceful lifestyle shared by a few hundred inhabitants.

Yet the local press is now ruminating about how Sark will revert to it's former dismal state without the Barclay's Billions. This despite assurances from those who have actually run the island for many years that money so far invested has done little to benefit the island.

It was not so very long ago there was no ostentatious Castle dominating Breqhou and Sark was considered a haven in the modern world. People went to live there to escape the modern world, hiding away behind the high hedges of their country homes until the 1000+ day trippers returned to Guernsey and Jersey each day. Somehow it managed without Michelin Star Restaurants and posh hotels. Even the old island hall/bar managed to maintain an atmosphere somehow missing from the concrete sports hall donated by the Barclays, well 'sort of donated' (they didn't get their way with that either!)

Now progress and change is apparently the order of the day. Or is this more to do with the fear in the local media that to fight these wealthy tycoons would be too dangerous for their own publications? If this story had been about a third world democracy fighting for it's independence, I suspect most of the press would have piled in to condemn the fat cats, but this is a little too close to home and it might be unwise to take on these two heavy weight media magnets.

Better to keep them onside, after all it's only Sark, it's only democracy, and the Sarkees shouldn't have bitten the hands that feed them.

Bob