Iran Part 2 1951/1953 (A problem called Mussadeq)

Iran Part 2

At end of part one, we left the British Labour party struggling with the dilemma caused by the nationalisation of the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company at the hands of Prime Minister Mohammed Mussadeq. Celebrations in Iran were short-lived, however, as it soon became evident that the response of the Oil Company was to go on strike. Most non Iranian staff left, the rest were fired. When the British refused to allow their tanker drivers to sign a document recognising that they were transporting Iranian oil, the oil business came to a grinding halt.

Meanwhile, the hawks in London were advocating a military response to retrieve such a valuable British asset. They predicted copycat losses occurring all over the globe if Britain failed to react. To placate these voices and buy themselves some time, the British Government sent the HMS Mauritius to evacuate all British citizens from the area. They also sent reinforcements to Iraq and Cyprus to create unease in the country.

The US was called in to support the UK but, in fact they had little sympathy with the British demands. On a visit to America, Mussadeq completely won over the Americans. While the Brits saw him as a funny little man in pyjamas, the Americans saw a charismatic believer in democracy who did not encourage the communists and was seeking freedom from the imperialistic British just as the Americans had done themselves. The fact that there was 50% of the World’s production of oil available to Iran’s supporters probably did no harm to his case at all.

To avoid what they saw as a disastrous military involvement in Iran, America sent its great negotiator of the day, Averell Harriman, to try to end the impasse. In fact Harriman and, Richard Stokes, the negotiator sent in by the Brits, both believed that the Iranians were justified in their cause. Back in London, however, a jingoistic press accompanied by the dominance of the Anglo Iranian Oil’s voice among the political elite, meant that no compromise was likely to be reached.

Up to this point, it was widely thought that Mussadeq was the only politician that could hold back the Communists in Iran. The new Conservative Government returning to power in 1951 had no such fears. Churchill, by this time, was a Prime Minister in name only and Anthony Eden, Foreign Secretary and Deputy PM, was very much in control of our foreign policy. Eden knew of the successful machinations going on behind the scenes in Iran. British intelligence had been under instructions from the Labour Government to organize the fall of Mussadeq and a coup was shaping up nicely. It also seemed likely that the Communists could easily be set up to take the blame. For the moment it was best if the British played along with American negotiators to buy a little more time.

Mussadeq did himself no favours when he failed to accept an interim agreement set up by the US. This would have allowed oil to flow while keeping the money for overseas sales in the hands of trustees. His short sightedness led to the US losing patience with him and as a result he failed to secure the loan the country needed to sustain it until its oil revenue returned.

In the resulting outcry against Mussadeq in the Majlis, old political hand, Quavam Saltanah, was quick to see a window of opportunity. He had approached Julian Amery, a Tory with very high Government connections to show his willingness to support British interests in Iran. As a result, in July 1952, he momentarily found himself appointed to the position of Prime Minister, by the Shah. Mussadeq had resigned over his claim to the right to appoint War Minister. Knowing that he could rely on his ability to move the masses, Mussadeq once again addressed his people and they turned out in their masses to call for his return to power. When the army refused to fire on demonstrators, Saltanah had to be removed.

“The popular reaction to the resignation of Mussadeq in Tehran was such that Quavam could not continue. This was a real setback. I think at the same time the military takeover in Egypt was taking place. It was a bad week.” Reported Sir Donald Logan, assistant to Anthony Eden at the Foreign Office.

 Mussadeq came back with a vengeance that frightened his opponents. He forced the Shah’s sister to leave the country; cut the royal budget; named himself War Minister; and took over some of the power from the Majlis.

The time had come for British intelligence to oust Mussadeq, once and for all. Thanks to the pro-English Rashidian brothers, Seyfollah, Qodratollah and Assadollah, their plans were well underway.

The Rashidian family were very wealthy. They kept a family suite in the Grosvenor House Hotel in London and sent their children to be educated in England. They already had in place, arrangements to bribe the Majlis; pay mob leaders to counter the spontaneous demonstrations of support enjoyed by Mussadeq;

They had helped Woodhouse of MI6 before and they were given £1.5 million pounds to use for bribery in the country now. A cache of arms had been previously buried somewhere in Iran and was now made available to the rabble rousers ready for the trouble to start.

Mussadeq knew the Rashidians were British agents but his faith in democracy meant allowing them to continue their plotting against him in freedom. When he discovered that something serious was really going on, he forced out their financers but the damage was already done. The British Voluntary Council, long a cover for intelligence operatives in Iran, were also removed from the country too late. 

President Dwight D Eisenhower came to office in November 1952 changing the American attitude towards the Iranian Prime Minister. He sympathised instead with the British desire to oust Mussadeq and take back control of the Iranian oil supplies.

Of course it is always necessary in a coup situation that the victim plays his part correctly and Mussadeq obliged. He awarded himself emergency powers to pass laws by decree and then set about reforming the country’s land laws and redistributing the oil wealth.

At the same time, Mussadeq dismissed many Civil Servants and army leaders. When the senate objected, he ordered the Majlis to close it down. When opposition found the courage to resist, Mussadeq held a referendum and won by an overwhelming majority. 
He antagonised the Islamist leaders with his modernization programme and his determination to enfranchise women. In his recent actions, he had departed from those who upheld constitutional values and, in his opposition to the colonialist agenda; he had upset those who became powerful and rich under their hand.

With the loss of his traditional supporters, Mussadeq found himself more aligned to the Communist Tudeh, the terrain of intelligent, forward thinking young Iranians, keen to be free from the shackles of imperial domination and the corruption of the Majlis. By failing to keep on side those who valued an easy life, he left himself vulnerable to his enemies.

In part 3 the story of the coup bears an uncanny resemblence to events right now in Syria.

Syria

Usually I write up my own understanding of World situations but I felt this had a lot of power coming from someone who had actually suffered at the hands of this dictatorship but who still fears Western Zionist motives in Syria
"arabrevolutions
Arab Revolutions
January 30, 2012
Why Do I Defend Syria? (As a foreigner myself I advise you to check it. It was written by an Iraqi Scholar)
Ghassan Wakeup : “This is an article that I read approximately 2 weeks ago written by an Iraqi scholar (Dr. Omar Thaher). I was very touched by this article and decided to translate it into English and did not get the chance to do this till now. Better late than never.”
—————————————————
Why Do I Defend Syria ?

It is very wrong for anyone to assume that those who are currently defending Syria are necessarily supporters of Bashar Al Assad and that they want him to be president for life and to later pass on the presidency to his son. Quite the contrary, some of those defenders could be very staunch critics of the regime but, not from the perspective of Syria’s own Ahmed Jalabi (ie Burhan Ghalyoun), but rather from the perspective of care and respect of the Syrian people and a conviction that the people deserve to have a government that gives its people their rightful place in humanity. Some of those defenders may well be some of those who have in the past had a taste of the harshness of the regime. The writer of this article is a man who ran away from Syria in 1984 three years after escaping to Syria from Iraq, and did not manage to return to Syria for 22 years and is still unable to go back to Iraq.

I cannot forget the “hospitality” of Section 279 and what I endured in 1982. It was a reminder of the previous hospitality of Security Police in Baghdad. But that was the tip of the iceberg and I often wondered that the timing of a volcanic eruption is only a question of time as the Syrian citizen, just like his Iraqi compatriot suffers daily from the atrocities of the “Defence Brigades”, the Intelligence (Mukhabarat) that are so intimidating for the visiting tourist, let alone the residing citizen.

When I returned to Syria in 2006 it was not because I missed the hospitality of section 279 but because I miss some family members that I haven’t seen for over a quarter of a century and could not reunite with them except for in Syria. How often after my return did I contemplate writing to President Bashar Al Assad warning him that Syria in 2006 is the same one into which Eli Cohen infiltrated over four decades ago and that Israel could smuggle into Syria anything including hydrogen bombs on a daily basis without having to pay more than $10 by the courier as a bribe to the customs police. Isn’t this sadly the case? Otherwise, how did this huge arsenal of weapons reach the terrorists today in a manner than allows them to wreak fear and havoc in so many areas and even challenging the army itself?

The Syrian revolution came a bit too late. This is fine. But it came unlike other popular uprisings. It is coming from Mosques and not from universities or factories. There is nothing wrong with this either, what really matters is that the masses need to rise in order to earn with their own hands what is rightfully theirs. Yes, we must emphasise the concept of earning with ones own hands what is rightfully ours. In this respect I pledged my heart, my soul and my pen and all that I possessed to support anyone who struggled against Saddam Hussein in the past.

I did this because for years on end my friends and I dreamt of an Iraq without Saddam, only to spend many years later lamenting in pain because in hindsight we did not know back then that every word we said and every letter we wrote against Saddam and every drop of blood we shed to get rid of him was only enriching the argument of the enemies of Iraq, beginning with Israel and America and not forgetting the Sheikhs and the Kings of the Gulf, not forgetting Ahmed Chalabi, Iyad Allawi, Nouri Al Maliki, Tarek Al Hashemi and their cohorts. Saddam has gone but what dawn has risen on us? Or should we say what night has fallen upon us? Saddam was bad? But Iraq used to be beautiful and great, secure and advanced and a country with a powerful State and stature and an army; but we did not see this. We did not know back then that despite everything, we had a country and that rulers can come and go but the country is here to stay. And of course we did not know that opposition groups were betraying their people and their country; even our communist leaders repeated the slogan “free country and happy people” until it came out of our ears whilst they were salivating under the CIA payroll. They betrayed the country and sold out their people and blessed the occupation, and eventually worked under the auspices of Bremer. We wanted Saddam to go, but they wanted Iraq to go, and it did. We wanted a popular revolution to topple Saddam or at least a military coup to get rid of him, but they were preparing for a destructive occupation, sectarianism and dreadful deaths. Is history not repeating itself in Syria today? I say this whilst I insist that Bashar Al Assad is not a bad person even though he did not have the right to inherit his position and/or to pass it on to his children.

Our national assets were taken away from the hands of the Saddam regime, but in whose hands are they now? Definitely not in ours. It will take only a fool to repeat the Iraqi experience elsewhere, and a fool is the Syrian citizen who spends a single moment of his life and an ounce of his energy in fighting Bashar Al Assad for as long as he doesn’t know that if he removes Al Assad, God forbid, nothing will be achieved other than turning Syria into a furnace, devouring its people and an open slather for crime and … do I need to say what Iraq has been transformed to? Perhaps we were excused because we were taken by surprise because events were changing overnight, turning Iraq into the target of the assault rather than Saddam. But the Syrian citizen of today has no excuse at all because he can clearly see that the finances and the weapons that are supporting his “revolution” are coming from the rotten Gulf rulers, and hence this revolution can only be for their own benefit and how can what benefits them be of any good for Syria?

It is only a total moron and a fool who puts the assets of Syria in the hands of the rulers of the Gulf, the same hands that carry the blood of the children of Iraq and of Libya. We say there is corruption in Syria and a million unemployed. This is a tragedy indeed but whoever cannot find work today may find work tomorrow after those beasts return to their altars. A million unemployed is far better than a million dead and a million widows and four million orphans and six million homeless and scattered all over the world, and a million cancer victims and a million deformed new born, deformed by the illegal weapons used by the Americans and paid for by the Saudi rulers. Yes, my Syrian brother, this is what the servant of the Americans and Israelis want for you, and this is what the master of regression and backwardness in Qatar is promising you.

And since when my dear Syrian Citizens were the mentally retarded King of Saudi Arabia and the Prince of Qatar so caring about your freedom or the freedom of others? Those people have no conscience and no integrity. We turned Iraq for eight long years into an eastern gate, protecting the nation from Iran and we paid for this with the blood of hundreds of thousands of our young men and we spent every Dinar in our Treasury to protect those apes from Iran. And what would have been our reward had we won? They stole our oil and they flooded the international market with cheap oil to destroy the Iraqi economy, then they allowed half a million American and Israeli soldiers to land on the sacred land of Prophets and they financed two wars against Iraq to return it to the Stone Age. And they danced on the corpses of our fallen ones, the Dance of the Swords just like predecessors did on the day of Ohod; the day they danced and ate the livers of the fallen ones. And why? Because their hearts and minds still rot with ignorance “jahaliyyeh”. And why would you think that what they want for Syria is different to what they wanted for Iraq? They, my dear Syrian citizens want nothing for you except war and destruction.

Despite its corruption and corrupt ones, Syria is beautiful, gracious, great, civilized, proud, independent, united, free and it enjoys the dignity of the lion (Assad). And if you want to know the beauty of Syria you have to read the writings of Oussama Fawzi because he covers more about Syria than other contemporary writers and portrays how wonderful Syria is. You say corruption? You are right. But, who is going to salvage you from this corruption? The old man of Hijaz who is so rotten to the core that it has penetrated into his bone marrow? These people do not have in store for you any freedom or dignity or privileges. All they have in store for you is nothing but traps, blood, sectarianism, destruction, poverty and humiliation. They believe that they can humiliate people with their dirty money and they have indeed bought the traitors of Syria. Those primitive Bedouins have the love of killing and bloodshed running in their veins and they are envious of any Arab country that has true civilization and culture, that has art and literature and intellectuals and this is why they do all they can to destroy Syria and deliver it into the hands of ruthless tyrants.
I defend Syria because I do not want to see the assets of the Syrian people going out of its hands and into the hands of rotten scoundrels who have a grudge against Syria and/or some gangs under the pay of Sarkozy.

I defend Syria because I love Syria and its people and I do not want to see another Iraq getting amputated and having its people getting killed right, left and centre in the streets, mosques or churches.

I defend Syria because I do not want to see American or French tanks in the streets of Damascus with Israeli journalists covering the news freely, reporting scenes of falling statues of Assad with the intention of having them replaced with statues of apes. This did happen in Iraq.

I defend Syria because I do not want to hear that Jewish extremists have come to swim in Barada River, claiming that they have been promised to do so as they are doing now at the River Tigris.

I defend Syria because I see in it the Grenada of today, the last Arabic bastion of dignity. If it falls, God forbid, that will be the end of Arabs.
Syrian brothers, do not allow Netanyahu to enter Damascus disguised with Saudi head dress and a Qatari sandal.

Source in Arabic:

لماذا أدافع عن سوريا؟- بقلم د. عمر ظاهر
Author: Iraqi Scholar Dr. Omar Thaher
Translated by: Ghassan and Intibah Wakeup (Kadi)

Our History With Iran part one

Iran Part One

To understand why Western Governments are covertly carrying out war against Iran and Syria, people need to understand something of the history and geography of the area.

For thousands of years the Persian Empire sat undefeated by the various war mongers of the time. For centuries it could boast the largest, best administered, city in the World in Persepolis.
Iran’s isolation ended in the 18th Century when Britain and Russia began bribing and propping up Shahs to promote business interests in the area. The two external powers were happy for the most part to carve up the country’s goodies; Russia to the North and Britain in the South. For example, Britain had sole rights in 1869 to issue and control Iranian currency.
The Iranian people rose up to try to break away from this at the beginning of the twentieth century when the dividing up of Iran’s oil between the Russians and Brits led to a civil war. Although on paper the revolutionaries won, within a year the Shah was back in control having ample funds to bribe the new Parliament. Persian governors were merely British agents while Russia and Britain actually dictated who would be elected. Just as in the war against terrorism today, ‘democracy’ was a metaphor that really meant imperial control.
In 1914, when it became clear that Iran was extremely wealthy in oil, Britain recognized the strategic importance of the kingdom. The precious oil was crucial to winning the war and had to be guarded at all costs. The Indian regiment, the South Persian Rifles held the area against Turkey for the British.
In 1917, revolution in Russia provided an opportunity for Britain to take over the whole country and with the great imperialist Winston Churchill in power that is exactly what happened. Success was short-lived though as the Russians recovered far faster than anticipated. Russia was back and an error of judgement in 1921 saw the West backing Reza Khan, believing him to be a good little puppet Shah. He was antagonistic towards Islam, therefore unpopular in his country and he was affronted by the Anglo Persian Oil Company which basically decided how rich or poor Iran was each year. He became a brutal despot as years went on and in the approach to WW11 he was a strong sympathiser of the Fascist regimes of Hitler and Mussolini. It was this Shah who insisted that the name of his country was Iran not Persia which was a term familiar in the British controlled, southern Fars area.
In the Second World War, the Shah did not resist German businessmen making moves on Russian and British interests. In fact, due to this neutral position, the first meeting of the war leaders took place in Tehran.
The British administration eventually deposed this Shah and replaced him with his son in 1941. At the same time Mussadeq had risen to a place of great power in the country. He was very popular, anti imperial power, and especially outraged by their monopoly of the oil. By this time Iran had the biggest oil refinery in the World.
When a Russian supported coup by the communist party almost succeeded in deposing the Shah, Britain supported an armed rebellion in the South and Russia was at last removed from the area in 1946. The Shah, however, was sufficiently alarmed, to seek arms support from the US. The Gulf remained a British Lake in a very strategic area of the World at least for the moment.
Europe struggled economically post WW11 and this resulted in lowered dividends from oil sales. The Shah, who was completely dependent on this revenue for any modernisation programs planned for Iran, faced fierce political competition from Mussadeq, who had, by now, become political leader in the country.
He was a bizarre character, meeting World leaders in his bed dressed in what was seen in the West as his pyjamas. He was nevertheless, a character of great charisma and integrity. A true believer in democracy and justice; the last person the British needed for their business interests in the country.
A battle for control of the oil fields had begun by 1951 when Mussadeq declared the nationalization of the oil industry. Although the Labour government was nationalizing at home, it could not afford the loss of revenue involved in allowing this to happen in Persia. to be continued

Ofcom revokes Press TV license

Another example of the lack of freedom of speech in this supposedly free democratic country has occurred today. Ofcom has fulfilled the wishes of our tory governors and revoked the license of the excellent Iranian channel 'Press TV'. Ofcom has shown its true colours in this disgusting behaviour. There are many channels you could take issues with. Fox News certainly springs to mind with its badly investigated partisan news which swings between rank propoganda and outright misinformation.
Press TV, on the other hand, has great reporting on World events; Consistently had experts from every side on their excellent programmes; Unlike other mainstream progs, the experts were given equal opportunity to air their views and covered the really important World issues thoroughly and fairly, something no other channel could be accused of doing these days.
Ofcom, join the gallery of shame with every other puppet of this corruption we call Government in the West.

War with Iran. What are our Governments up to?

Did anyone notice that Mark Urban, while being interviewed on BBC flagship news programme Newsnight, told us that the USA plan on attacking Iran after the US elections?
He went on to say that, given the current state of affairs, it was likely to happen well before then.
I was shocked but the interviewer completely took this devastating news in his stride and ended the article in around 3 minutes.
Obviously something world shattering had occurred to eclipse this dramatic turn of events. Well no, not exactly. The item to follow was about funding movies. Important to actors and those who enjoy the genre, no doubt. But surely being dragged into another terrible war in the Middle East by our bullyboy brother the US has got to take precedence.
It has been obvious for a long time now that Iran was next on the agenda for these corrupt Governments to attack. During the Blair interviews last year to discover his guilt in starting an illegal war on Iraq, He told us many times over that Iran was next on his agenda.
Iran has not committed any aggressive acts towards another country in centuries and has no intention of instigating such attacks in the near future that I can discern.
Its crime would appear to be that it openly criticizes the Israeli regime's behaviour in Palestine and the immoral actions of Nato in the Gulf.
The Iranian Government is a thorn in the side of the Western elite as it refuses to fall in line with US monetary manipulation of the World economy or allow the West to pilfer its oil treasures.
As a result, Western governments have used every excuse to place unjust sanctions on Iran for years now and this campaign has just been ramped up.
Now the US thinks it has the right to dictate that no one is allowed to do business with Iran. They have signed into law a dictate that says that if you do business with Iran, you cannot do business with USA. Personally, that is enough to make me immediately take all my business to Iran and wave cheerfully bye bye to US business.
This is blatant bullying of the type we are trying to cut out of every schoolyard. The bully and his cohorts demands that the individual does what he says or he will beat you up.
Iran has one very important ace to play. Access to the Straits of Hormuz through which some 40% of the World's oil must pass. The West's current rhetoric, sanctions and assinations in Iran are already acts of war. If Iran takes the major step to act in the Straits of Hormuz, the West will, no doubt, take this as an excuse for open military action. The news channels will be full of rhetoric naming Iran as the aggressor. The truth is quite the opposite. The West and Israel are blatantly doing everything in their power to create conflict and Iran is behaving with incredible dignity in response.
Have ever wondered what would you have done if you were living in Nazi Germany? Would you have been one of the silent majority, happy to get on with your life in blissful ignorance of your Governments attrocities? or would you have taken a stand regardless of your own personal safety and the welfare of your families?
Well here it is again, only this time our governments are the bad guys and we do not face death if we fight against them. Yet.
We have to make our choices now and stand up to these bullies on behalf of Iran, Syria and everywhere in the World that they see as rich pickings.
Let me know if you feel the same.
Helen

What Changes Will Create a Beautiful Human World?

Since Governments are the truly big players in creating the World as it is, reforming Government has to be a major step in creating a fair and just World for all her inhabitants.
I have great hopes for many of the uprisings in the Middle East because they are fueled by the recognition of the people themselves that they can change how they are ruled. That is a phenomenon, not seen too often around the globe. My dream is that, over the next 10 years, these people will whittle away the corrupt from their seats of power and create for themselves Governments that reflect high ideals for fair and just societies.
Of course we cannot expect the corrupt Governments around them to be happy with this as it will undoubtedly spread to their own nations. The front runners in the revolution will need to be prepared to defend themselves from every attack. This will be spearheaded by the media who will lie about every facet of this new form of Government. Why? Because the media is owned by the very same people who benefit the most from corrupt unjust systems of government.
Unfortunately, the attacks will not be limited to verbal media accusations and lies. The same people who control the media also control most of the military around the World. They decide which country is in the wrong, ie not falling in line with the World domination they have set up. They set their media puppets to work to create monsters where there are none. Then it is a very simple task to have their puppet Governments take military action against innocent countries who refuse to tow the line.
The faith shown by the Egyptian people in their military may well be the key to their being able to stand up for themselves when this happens. There is no doubt in my mind that it will take great courage to do so. The might of NATO makes even strong nations look puny by comparison so I am not at all confident that the emerging people's democracies will be able to grow unless we in the West can reclaim our own Governments at the same time. Given the complacency of the majority of the UK and US people, I am not optimistic on that front but given current economic issues and the tendency of recent UK Governments to erode our civil rights, this may change more quickly than I envisage.
If the uprisings spreading around Middle East and Africa can defeat despots along the way and, at the same time, do their best to ensure religious and racial differences are not excuses for victimization on any level, we could, in the next 50 years, see a united African League that would be strong enough to stand up to any rogue challengers. At last precious resources would be owned by the people of the country. Any exploitation would be done with care and awareness of the longterm needs of the population and of the earth from which it comes. Again my skin is pricked by the realization that the current beneficiaries of the wealth of these nations will not relinquish their booty without a fight. Self-defense will need to be a priority for these nations from the very start. The wealthy will take everything they can before abandoning their victims when they have nothing of perceivable value left.
If, given all these pitfalls, a United African States comes into being with Governments that shine a light for the rest of the World, the West will surely wake up to claim their independence from their current wealthy despotic rulers. For one thing they won't be quite so wealthy once the pillage of other countries is denied them and their own population has already been stripped to the bone. As they have no ideals to offer, their wealth gone, I think their control will die either a natural death or by the uprising of a population with nothing left to lose.
China is an unknown factor in all this. The sleeping giant for centuries is currently tasting the wealth that the West has enjoyed since the war of 1939 to 1945. The population of China is docile and is kept that way by fear, indoctrination and the media's influence. Can the people's uprisings happen there? They have happened before so it is possible. However the population will remain very easy to manipulate especially given the military force that leaders of the government have at their command. I think China will most likely stay as it is for a very long time unless it should be suckered in to a global war on the side of the elitist run countries.
In conclusion, My hopes for the World lie in a strongly people-led democracy sweeping Africa and the Middle east leading them to Unite in defense of their natural wealth and freedom from oppression. In two or three decades, I believe the European and American people will also take back the reins of power from the corrupt elite that is currently in charge. This will happen as a matter of course as a new philosophy of democracy emerges and as the elite lose the power held through their incredible wealth.
Eventually,left to their own devices, China itself will come to accept that despotism is no longer acceptable and will recreate democracy in time for the World to be a truly fair and just place to live.

Has the Job Centre a Quota to Fill?

I was shocked last week when my job seekers allowance was unceremoniously stopped without any notice or warning. I had done nothing wrong that I knew of and had jumped through every hoop since I lost my job in January after breaking my arm.
On investigation, it seems that these stops of payments known as sanctions have increased dramatically this year and there is a whistle blower on Youtube who claims that there are secret quotas given to our govt employees to encourage them to sanction unsuspecting clients for very dubious reasons.
http://tinyurl.com/3n7o7ht

I have been very lucky, I had citizen advice behind me and I have a good education. I was able to sort it all out after only 10 days. But can you imagine 10 days on no cash when you have nothing else to fall back on; many have learning difficulties or are battling depression, dependency or other problems.
Some claimants are forced to depend on food parcels or loans to tide them over. That one is always good for a laugh. Who needs more loans when they have nothing to start with?

Like myself, taking away the money we need to live on also takes away our ability to find work. I would certainly have had to give up my car if this wasn't sorted out and in turn that would have led to me losing the job I am waiting to start.
Most people who suddenly find themselves unemployed are keeping up all sorts of debt repayments and weekly and monthly bills. Given the best of intentions, £65 doesn't cut it. To take that small income away without reason is criminal in my view. It is deliberately harming other human beings through taking food out of their mouths and causing considerable anxiety.

If this is the way the powers that be are behaving, you can bet that a wave of criminality will follow in its wake. The anger many feel would be enough to push some to this without further hardship and real need adding to the mix.

Talking of crime, did you all know that in order to take a holiday and keep your payments you have to tell the Centre exactly where you are going and give them a telephone number at your holiday destination.
I thought only criminals under the jurisdiction of a court order had to be treated this way for the good of society. Now it seems as if you are to be treated as a criminal just because you lost your job.