Punch back ten times harder

Donald Trump was right — make them fear you (if your quest is a righteous one)

I thought my latest interaction with Durham County Council would amuse you. The background: Council Tax in the UK is unlawful as there is no obligation to pay anywhere in the legislation, and councils know this. It is part of a far wider scam whereby the state is harvesting all of us for taxes, and stripping us of our natural birthrights through identity fraud and hidden trusts. Lawful taxes have a place in the world, unlawful ones do not.

My council claims to have a court order against me for non-payment, but refuses to show it when asked, and won’t even acknowledge my request for due process. They have engaged in anonymous threats and keep given me the run-around when I hold them accountable. (More here, here, and here.) The people involved are doubling down on the fraud, but the public is wising up to how corrupt and unconstitutional administrative courts are just a front for organised crime — with the blessing of the crooked state.

This is an existential crisis for the councils, legal system, politics, and government. So they cannot back down, but there is also no way for them to demonstrate lawfulness either. If we void these court orders then everything has to be paid back, and the councils will be bankrupt. Together with all the other treason, corruption, and fraud… the whole system much be close to total collapse. Plus those responsible are acting ultra vires (outside of their lawful job role) so can be sued personally for your losses. This is their weakness, and hints at the thing they fear the most: loss of their safe public sector salaries and pensions.

For sure, the council delivers a lot of valued and essential services. That does not excuse criminal fraud. A few relevant legal maxims are:

• Jus et fraudem numquam cohabitant. Right and fraud never go together.

• Non faciat malum, ut inde veniat bonum. You are not to do evil that good may come of it.

• Quod alias bonum et justum est, si per vim vel fraudem petatur, malum et injustum efficitur. What is otherwise good and just, if sought by force or fraud, becomes bad and unjust.

First, the latest email from them, which is the boring bit, and you can skip over this unless you like bureaucratese:

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Dear Mr Geddes,

Thank you for your correspondence to Durham County Council dated 10 November 2022, which was addressed to a variety of officers including the Chief Executive Officer, regarding your continued dissatisfaction with the council’s Revenue Enforcement team.

Therefore, in accordance with the council’s publicised Complaints policy any correspondence issued directly to the Chief Executive or other Corporate Directors outlining a customers dissatisfaction will be logged and progressed through the corporate complaints procedure.

I am aware that within correspondence issued to you on the 27 October 2022 from the Head of Transactional and Customer Services, Mrs Readman that you were advised that:

Given the nature of your contact and the previous correspondence already entered into with you by the team, I have treated your recent correspondence and this response as a Stage 1 complaint in line with the Council’s complaints process. Further information regarding this process can be found here https://www.durham.gov.uk/complaints

If you wish to escalate this to Stage 2 of the complaints process, details of how you can do this are contained within the link to the complaints policy. Please be advised that any complaint, appeal or dispute which is ongoing, does not detract from a taxpayer’s legal obligation to pay in accordance with any bills, reminders or adjustment notices issued.

Please refer any further contact in relation to your Council Tax account directly to the Council Tax Recovery Team, copied into this e mail. I have sent a copy of this e mail to the Chief Executive for information.

I acknowledge from a review of your correspondence that this matter is extremely important to you. Therefore, I consider it appropriate to afford you a period of 7 days to provide any additional comments or information that you wished to be considered through the second stage in the council’s complaint process to feedbackteam@durham.gov.uk

If I have heard nothing further from you within this time, then I will allocate your case to a member of my team to review based solely on the contents of your correspondence dated 10 November 2022.

In the meantime, if I can be of any further assistance, please do not hesitate to contact me via feedbackteam@durham.gov.uk

Kind Regards
Mrs L Baines
Team Coach Customer Feedback Team
Durham County Council

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And here is my response:

Dear Mrs Baines,

NOTICE TO AGENT IS NOTICE TO PRINCIPAL, NOTICE TO PRINCIPAL IS NOTICE TO AGENT

This is not a civil matter about debt collection by your Revenue Enforcement team. It is a criminal matter of blackmail, fraud, perjury, and conspiracy to pervert the course of justice. I find your reiteration of a demand to pay most disturbing and inappropriate in this context, given an absolute refusal to comply with lawful due process.

Can you please confirm in writing:

- What your formal process is for dealing with criminal complaints

- Whether this particular complaints process is an approved one for a criminal matter

- Whether the Chief Executive has been informed of a criminal matter sent to him, and his personal liability for ultra vires activity

- Why you have brought together a civil matter (request for presentation of the Liability Order) with a criminal one (blackmail), since they are distinct matters of concern

In the absence of a satisfactory response to the above, I do not consent to the use of this unsuitable complaints process. Please let me know the defined escalation route should I wish to follow that path.

I would also appreciate you giving me your full name so I have the unambiguous identity of every staff member involved in potential ultra vires activity.

I note you have declined to promptly answer my questions about the identity of the staff who have engaged in unlawful correspondence with me, and the failure of your Chief Executive to personally act on credible allegations of serious criminal activity. This is very concerning, given it indicates further intent to cover up unlawful acts by Durham County Council. Please be advised that I am willing to launch a private prosecution against those who decide to put their loyalty to their salary and pension ahead of their duty to the public and responsibility under the law.

I do not wish to correspond on legal matters via email, especially when a criminal conspiracy against the public is involved. I request that any further contact be via post, with a proper wet ink signature of the person responsible on any notice.

Martin Geddes

They are trying to drag this back into an endless administrative complaints process where they can wear me out. I am not going to let them do this. Note that they don’t even acknowledge the criminal nature of the problems I raise in my letter to the Chief Executive. Sending me anonymous letters in the post demanding money with menaces is textbook blackmail. I am very tempted to file a police complaint, but I will let them dig a deeper hole for themselves first. They have no way out of this, other than for people like me to back down, which will never happen.

I am forcing them to correspond on my terms, be accountable in person for any correspondence, and to acknowledge the criminal nature of my complaint. They are wriggling hard to get out of being accountable, but it is too late. Their constant re-iteration of demands for money is just getting them into ever deeper trouble. “Just pay up and stop being so awkward” — 🤣.

It’s a war, and it turns our that I am a warrior. Wrong person to pick a public fight with.

Speaking of which… I wonder when I get my Twitter account back? It’s nice to give criminals like this lots of thoroughly deserved publicity.

Autumnal fog in my local park