According to Google, there is only one known reference that the real Queen Anne actually had a spy. It seems that one John Ker admitted in his published memoirs in 1727 that he was the Queen’s official spy during the Jacobite risings. The crown had apparently provided him with a document stating that he could associate with those disloyal to the Queen. He seems to have been very good at it.
During Queen Anne’s time, it helped to have a spy. A number of countries were eager to gain more power in Britain and dispose the moderate Queen. And while there are no national armies to defeat in defense Queen Anne’s County, a considerable number of players, from conservationists to land developers, are increasingly interested in imposing political agendas at a time when local news hard to find. We think the Queen Anne’s Spy can help fill that gap.
We have known for sometime that Queen Anne’s County is ground zero for the highly polarizing pressures of land protection and land development, reasonable local taxes and aspirations for public education, or affordable housing and the harmful effects of sprawl.
How this particular Spy could be helpful to the community was one that has taken some time to evolve. Could a hyper-local e-newspaper create enough trust and creditability with all sides of an issue to be useful? Would it be looked upon a safe forum for comment and the exchange of ideas?
We clearly have come to the conclusion the Queen Anne’s Spy can play that role in Queen Anne’s. As we have learned from the Chestertown Spy and more recently the Talbot Spy, the ability to use the full range of tools the web offers to tell a story or get information to the public can dramatically improve the hard decisions local communities need to make about their future.
But we also learned that going beyond the latest headline and providing space for the community to remember what’s special about Queen Anne’s and what’s important to protect in the future.