Rosa Parks Day

Cicero has just come off the phone and in a very exasperated, highly agitated and deeply frustrated mindset. And sometimes this is not a suitable mindset to be in when musings have to be written.

In essence Cicero is being advised to accept the way things are and deal with the world as it is, not the way he would like it to be. In other words Cicero has been asked to put up with shoddy service, a poor customer experience, a take it or leave it attitude.

‘This is just the way it is’, Cicero has been advised, ‘and you and I are not going to change it’.

Those of you fortunate to have Cicero’s acquaintance will know that comments like this are akin to a red rag to a bull.

This appeasement attitude does not go down well. And one would have thought that given the history of appeasement in this country, and it does have a wee bit of a bad reputation, there would be more people willing to stand up for what is right and to be the change the world they want to see rather than bow down in front of might.

And what was Cicero’s response.

It was challenging, forthright and obstinate. Would you have expected any less? And no doubt at this point your sympathies are switching from Cicero to the person at the other end of the telephony instrument.

Let us put this way-the person with whom Cicero was conversing had simply called to tell him the date and time of an Apparatchik meeting, a meeting which Cicero was expecting sooner not later. They were not expecting to get a lecture on Rosa Parks.

Hopefully if you are reading this you will know who Rosa Parks was. But in the rare event that there is someone who out there who doesn’t, Rosa was a black lady in the south of the United States who sat on a seat she was not entitled to because she was the wrong colour. And as a consequence helped to bring about the end of de-segregation.

And for this act of disobedience, this act of rebellion when right stood up, or in this case sat down, against might, she earned the title ‘The First Lady of Civil Rights’ and her very own day in the calendar.

She did not accept that she could not bring about change.

She did not accept that the status quo was immutable.

She did not accept things as they were.

We can all be Rosa Parks and sit on the wrong seat on the bus just because it is the right thing to do. We can all stick our head, even on the smallest of issues, above the parapet and say ‘hey hold on a bit here, but this is wrong’. We all have the right to stand up for what is right against might.

It might not make for an easy life but because unreasonable people adapt the world to themselves, and not the other way round, all change and all progress depend on people being unreasonable.

Cicero will tell you now that Apparatchiks and others in positions of power and influence won’t like it one jot if we sit on the wrong seats. But as Rosa Parks proved the wrong seat is usually the right seat in the end.

And so today’s challenge, be Rosa Parks.

Sis felix. Et sis fortunatus. Semper.

Taxed enough already

The more astute among you may have noticed that Cicero is not a big fan of Big Government.

Big Government usually means that a lot of people have to find ways to keep themselves employed so they dream up more and more ways to intrude and to take over our lives, depriving of us all responsibility for looking after ourselves and each other.

And Big Government means high taxes which means we lose the right to spend our hard earned bawbees as we would like to spend them. Instead people like the Two Caesars, their Acolytes and an army of Apparatchiks think they know better than us how our bawbees should be spent.

And so Cicero hates Big Government with a passion.

And too often our political leaders, when looking to score cheap points from the Plebian Mob, and here Little Ed and those left over from the Last Lot are especially good at this, seem to think it ok to bash publicly and seek to tax more those of us fortunate enough to have some bawbees in the bank for a rainy day.

This is so wrong.

For when it comes to tax it needs to be recognised by us all that not only are we all in this together but those with the bawbees are in it far deeper than most.

It is now calculated that the top 1% of all earners in this country pay a whopping 30% of the total income tax take. No your eyes are not deceiving you, 30% of the income tax we all pay comes from 1% of us. Indeed the top 10% now pay 55% of total income tax receipts and half of us contribute 90% of everything that is received.

Hopefully eye watering numbers like that show that we are all truly in it together. It is however doubtful whether Little Ed and his sidekick Little Ed 2 will see the justice, or maybe the injustice,  in these numbers. No doubt their friends at Unite think such numbers can be ‘improved’.

But before anyone seriously advocates this, consider this.

In 1979 when the top rate of income tax was 83% the top 1% only contributed 11%. In other words a fair for all but regressive tax system means that tax yield from the wealthy increases. Cicero bets Mr McCluskey and the Little Eds never thought of that in their determination to fight class war.

Maybe we should have a flat rate tax system and see what happens.

Cicero has long argued that it is not the rate of tax people pay that we should all focus on but the yield. By doing this there might be less heat and noise when tax rates for the rich are reduced; less hypocrisy from Nick Nick and his promise breaking party; and more tax paid. And surely that is what we all want.

Though maybe too it would be nice if Big Government became a mite smaller with fewer job creating taxpayer-funded Apparatchiks feathering and protecting their own nests and gold plated pensions. That would be a real win-win.

And one final thought-why is it that no one out there wants to pass comment on Cicero’s musings? We know these words are being read but you can’t all be shy. Go on, say something-you know you want to. It’s easy and so long as it’s not rude it will be published. Comment here or via Twitter @cicerospeaks. Cicero looks forward to hearing from you.

Sis felix. Et sis fortunatus. Semper. 

Whose data is it anyway?

Now it is a well-known fact that Cicero, although getting on a bit now, has the brain the size of a planet, which is good and bad. Good because his insights are always worth listening to. Bad because he doesn’t always suffer fools gladly. 

It is important to know this because he sometimes wonders whether the Apparatchiks who run and deliver many of the services that our hard earned taxes pay for, deliberately recruit from the intellectually challenged parts of society.

Not everyone, of course.

Cicero does recognise that there are some ferociously bright Apparatchiks. It is just that they tend not to be public facing and as a consequence when it is our misfortune to have to deal with these people, let us just say that their intellectual capabilities can be stretched to the limit.

Here is one example. There are however many to choose from.

For reasons that are too boring to explain, Cicero is currently enduring a relationship with a Local Apparatchik. To this person Cicero has entrusted a wealth of personal data and information without fuss, security checks and other bureaucratic niceties and nonsenses that Apparatchiks normally insist on. This bit is like a breath of fresh air.

Now this is where it gets interesting.

Cicero then decided to request a copy of the information that the Apparatchik and his cohorts held about him to ensure accuracy and veracity. This, he and the rest of the citizenry, are fully entitled by law to do.

But at this point the informality that characterized the gathering and collecting in of his personal data disappeared. To be replaced by a ruthless Kafka-ism that only Apparatchiks are capable of.

For in order to get back the data that Cicero had already supplied, Cicero was now required  to produce his passport or other photographic proof of identity and 2 bills with address details on.

Naturally Cicero queried such bureaucratic nonsense.

‘Data protection, mate’, was the response. A lazy excuse for Apparatchik thinking if ever there was one.

So let us get this right.

Cicero was required to provide photographic proof of identity to an Apparatchik he had never met or was ever likely to meet. And to provide proof of address to prove he lived at an address that he had provided.

And the really sad bit about this tale-the Apparatchiks with whom Cicero was trying to converse with this through this over-engineered bureaucracy failed to see the logic of his argument. And they wonder why we challenge their right to a taxpayer-subsidised over-stuffed pension pot.

In their defence increasingly many people in many industries are resorting to hiding behind nonsenses like security, health and safety and data protection to justify inaction, poor customer service and sloth.

These excuses justify nothing.

And to expose such sloppy thinking just ask which data protection principle or health and safety condition they are referring to when they quote and resort to Nanny Legislation such as these. Their defences will melt like butter when challenged in this way.

Cicero has taken issue in this way with the Apparatchiks with whom is he dealing and is currently challenging the Head Apparatchik. Maybe he is the brightest of bright sparks and can see the folly of his people. Or perhaps not. Time will tell.

Sis felix. Et sis fortunatus. Semper.