The Channel Island of Sark, with a tourist-dependent economy, just had its first election after many centuries of Europe's last surviving feudal system. The vote results displeased the Barclay Brothers (bankers and power-brokers) who took their revenge by closing down the hotels and shops they own on the island, and refusing to sell them, leaving the economy a hollow shell. The story was in today's Guardian, and is available on-line (search for Sark) from www.Guardian.co.uk.

Oddly enough, I had been riding in the London underground (Saturday night, everyone tipsy and rambunctuous) and finding myself in the middle of an impromptu kick-boxing exhibition somehow led to a conversation (with a young gentleman named Chris Perry - maybe you'll remember him) about Jamaica, which led to a discussion of your movement. I'm originally from a typical resort village myself (Westhampton Beach, Long Island, NY USA) and for years have harbored a fantasy of local residents controlling the tourist trade. Very few local folks can afford to stay there; the whole Main Street is dominated by boutiques owned by absentee landlords and leased by newcomers or franchises, and most of the residential property is slipping away too. My fantasy had evolved to thoughts of an international alliance of locally-controlled resort towns — and tonight was the first time I'd ever heard of anyone, anywhere actually making this idea happen.

Anyway, it's way too late for my home town, unless we pull off a revolution (unlikely, given the passive, laid-back, fatalistic mindset), but Sark sounds like it desperately needs the benefit of your experience and advice right now. I don't have any contact details (and don't know any Sarkians), but will get back to you if (or when) I find out anything further.

Congratulations on your campaign, and let's hope the idea spreads quickly around the world (before climate change washes away all seaside resorts).