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The Channel Islands of Sark are a curious quirk of British rule. Until this month there was a feudal leader – the Seigneur – who paid a nominal amount to the Queen in return for rule of the island of 474 inhabitants. But lately he has had the might of identical twin billionaire newspaper magnates to contend with and the village politics has got rather complicated.

When the brothers’ application for a helipad was turned down, they decided that the refusal was an irrational result of outdated feudal politics and began a campaign for democracy on the tiny Isle. However, the results are just in and it appears that the view of the planning committee really did reflect the general feeling of the islanders – the 90% turnout putting most of the Western worlds’ democracies to shame.

Beauregard in Sark

So now the Barclay brothers are making good on their threat to withdraw the money which they had started to plough into the supposed modernisation of Sark. Over a hundred local jobs are expected to go unless a last minute reconciliation can be made.

Unfortunately, relations between the local politicians and the Barclays has been somewhat poisoned by a newsletter circulated by the brothers referring to opposition leaders as “taliban” and “socialist” – a somewhat contradictory way of criticising them.

It seems strange that this fascinating little skirmish which throws so much light on the anachronism of a British territory should go unremarked upon in the frontpage UK press until you learn that the Barclay brothers own the Daily Telegraph. Read all about it here…

Facts about Sark:

• There are two Islands comprising Sark which are connected by a 9ft wide narrow strip of land with a 300ft drop on either side. Railings were only put up recently and children used to have to crawl across on their hands and knees to avoid being blown off.
• In 1990 an unemployed French nuclear physicist tried to take over the island with a semi-automatic weapon but was arrested by the part-time constable.
• The Seigneur used to be the only island inhabitant entitled to own an unspayed female dog.
• Sark is a car-free zone and visitors must travel by horse-drawn cart, electric buggy or tractor.