Month: March 2023

The Iraq attack twenty years ago was an arrogant folly of gargantuan proportions which set in motion a cascading avalanche of ruinous effects across the Middle East and beyond. With no American plan for rebuilding after the defenestration of Saddam, the country fell prey to chaos, conflict, corruption and sectarianism. Iran was emboldened, the Islamic State’s violence moved into the vacuum and the disintegration of Syria followed. Millions were displaced and it sounded the death knell for the notion of western intervention as a force for good.

 One Iraqi said: ‘We have a saying that captures the devastation of our country: ‘Saddam has gone, but 1,000 more Saddams have replaced him.’

IS-led terror attacks fuelled the resurgence of populism and ethnonationalism in Europe, leading for example to Brexit where immigration was a central theme. Donald Trump ran for president on an anti-immigration, anti-Muslim platform.

  Putin used the same pretext of ‘pre-emption’ as GW Bush et al had done in invading a country that had no plans to attack anyone.

  Baghdad is safe and prosperous now but the state remains weak. Money laundering flourishes and Iraq remains one of the most corrupt countries in the world.

  The attack went ahead on 20 March 2003 on the basis of false intelligence with questionable legality and in the face of strong public opposition in the UK where two million marched in a stop-the-war protest a month before, which Tony Blair blithely ignored.

  The attack was launched at 5.30 am on a Saturn in Gemini opposition Pluto in Sagittarius, which is the aspect most connected to war and deprivation. Pluto was almost exactly on the midheaven at the start in Baghdad and both squared onto a Pisces Mercury Sun. There was also an Air Grand Trine of Saturn on the IC trine an 8^th house Moon trine a 12^th house Venus = emotionally cold – formed into a Kite by Saturn opposition Pluto making power-hungry and destructive Pluto the leading planet. The Air influence may also connect to the aerial bombardment. Uranus was at zero degrees Pisces. No Earth signs hints at a lack of practicality and realism.

  What struck me at the time was the difference between the US view – relocated to Washington, DC, the attack had a grandstanding ‘shock and awe’ Sun in the performing/entertaining 5^th with overtones of financial interests (and costs). Whereas set in London it suggested hard work with little appreciation from a 6^th house Saturn and powerlessness with Pluto in the 12^th – and was hardly the UK’s finest hour politically or militarily.

When it kicked off tr Neptune in Aquarius was squaring the UK’s 8^th house Mars, which suggests failure. And the UK’s Pluto, both natal and Solar Arc was being rattled.

  The previous Total Solar Eclipse of December 2002 had a Sagittarius New Moon conjunct Pluto and Neptune on the Ascendant set for Bagdad; and the following Lunar Eclipse of May 2003 was even more descriptive with Uranus on the Midheaven and Pluto on the Descendant.

  GW Bush, 6 July 1946 7.26 am New Haven, CT, had the transiting Saturn opposition Pluto sitting directly on top of his Gemini North Node conjunct Uranus with his SA Saturn square his North Node – so a destiny-changing moment for him leading to impulsive decisions. Tr Neptune was just over the devastating/confusing opposition to his 1^st house Pluto as he was struggling to cope with the fallout from 9/11.

  Tony Blair, 6 May 1953 6.10am Edinburgh, intent on striding the world stage playing with the big boys, had a friendly relationship chart with GWB with a composite Sun Venus trine Neptune, so overtones of illusion and delusion as well. But more significantly there is a Jupiter Pluto conjunction, hinting at misplaced over-confidence in the partnership leading to a rules-don’t-apply-to-us folie a deux. Transiting Neptune was moving in square to that Jupiter Pluto and midpoints across the invasion and in the disastrous aftermath.

  On Blair’s own chart tr Neptune was conjunct his 10^th house Moon undermining his political reputation; and tr Saturn was moving downhill through his less successful, banana-skin-strewn First Quadrant.

   Iraq itself has two charts, both of which work well.

23 August 1921 6am Baghdad – had the panicky-failure tr Neptune exactly opposition its Mars; tr Saturn opposition Pluto in hard aspect to its Jupiter Saturn conjunction; the SA Moon and SA South Node conjunct the Pluto – which is descriptive of the collapse. Tr Uranus at zero Pisces was also heading to hard aspect the Descendant and Midheaven for a complete re-set of direction and relationships.

14 July 1958 4am Baghdad – tr Uranus was exactly opposition the Pluto for an almighty disruption. The tr Saturn opposition Pluto was colliding with the Iraq Saturn in Sagittarius opposition Moon Venus in Gemini; and tr Neptune was moving across the Iraq Uranus Mercury during and immediately after.

  It was terrifying to watch at the time and even more chilling to reflect on the knock on effects worldwide in later years.

Move along, nothing to see here, was the finance experts view of the collapse of the Silicon Valley Bank, until another couple of banks keeled over, the US government caused consternation by going against practice to bail out SVB depositors and Switzerland had to pony up $45 billion to shore up Credit Suisse.

 Gerald Baker in The Times points to 2008 parallels with a series of isolated incidents with small hedge funds down in 2007, the run on Northern Rock, Bears Stearns’ collapse in 2008 and onto the final straw of Lehman’s implosion bringing the whole house of cards down. This time round is not the same since the banks are not overloaded with toxic assets but it just goes to show how economic predictions can swing from  Pollyanna to catastrophe in the blink of an eye.  

  Could Switzerland be bankrupted by this crisis is one of the  wilder conjectures. Seems unlikely but with last time in mind ’the unimaginable may become the inevitable very quickly.’

 The Bank of Switzerland, 20 June 1907, looks mired in consternation and panic from this May on and off until January 2025 with tr Neptune square its Gemini Sun and conjunct its Saturn. Into 2025 there will be a totally road-blocked Solar Arc Pluto square Mars – so this is not a crisis that will evaporate this year.

  The Switzerland country chart, 12 September 1848 12.55pm does look under considerable pressure for the next three years with tr Pluto trine Mars and then its financial Venus but is unlikely to go the way of Ireland after 2008.

  Credit Suisse heading for its Second Uranus Return from this August onwards might do worse than look back to 1940/41 when it had its First Uranus Return to see the likely effects. See previous post on Credit Suisse 18 January 2022.

And post below Bank collapse 11 March 2023.

ADD ON: Switzerland is preparing to use emergency measures to fast-track the takeover by UBS of Credit Suisse which they see as the only option to arrest a collapse in confidence in Credit Suisse. UBS has requested some form of indemnity or government agreement to cover future legal costs. As of May 2022, UBS is the third largest bank in Europe.

  Founded by a merger on 29 June 1998, it is facing an uncertain three years ahead. This year tr Saturn in Pisces will square its financial Venus in Gemini opposition Pluto; with the Solar Arc Sun moving to an undermining opposition to its Neptune; and tr Neptune will conjunct the Jupiter  from mid this May on and off into 2024 none of which is usually good news on the money front. It will face worse in 2024/25 with tr Pluto in a devastatingly confused conjunction to the Neptune.

  The USA First Republic bank is also in trouble despite a rescue package of $30bn from JPMorgan and 10 other banks. Its stocks has fallen more than 75 per cent after panicked investors realised it would not benefit from the special Federal Reserve funding vehicle. Founded 1 July 1985 it is a Sun Cancer like UBS. Its Solar Arc Venus is opposing Neptune this year for a flutter of uncertainty; but its greatest woes will come in 2024 when the Solar Arc Mars squares the Saturn (and it may trigger late this year) with tr Pluto squaring the Pluto also forcing through unwanted changes. Plus tr Uranus will conjunct the financial Venus to bring upsets.

  The financial pundits are still holding onto a ‘bullish assessment’ but admit it is pro tem being ‘trumped by bearish nerves.’ While they insist this crisis is different from 2008 since banks are not loaded down by toxic assets, there are different problems. This time round central banks need to calm inflation by raising rates and that adds pressure to banks used to easy money over recent years.

Pluto’s entry into Aquarius will keep the upset running.

France is in uproar as Emmanuel Macron pushed through his plan to raise the retirement age by two years to 64 bypassing a vote in the National Assembly. That he was elected twice on a  reformist agenda, the past time with a central pledge to raise the retirement age in order to keep the country’s generous social welfare model afloat, appears not to be deemed relevant. Opposition leaders are now pushing for a no confidence vote which if won would force the resignation of his government.

  France has the lowest pension age in Europe but high taxation rates and a stubborn, often violent, resistance amongst the proletariat for any change to their way of life.

   Recently there were murmurs of Macron, bored with being stuck in a quagmire in the Elysee Palace, would resign which may explain him going nuclear which was guaranteed to attract a furore in response.

  Born 21 December 1977 10.40am Amiens, France, he has a late Capricorn Ascendant with not only tr Pluto conjunct his Ascendant at the moment, putting pressure on his image, potentially damaging it. And even more pointedly he also has tr Saturn about to enter the nadir of his First Quadrant – this is an unsuccessful phase of several years when ego-trippers slide on banana skins, make misjudgments and generally foul up. He is on a Saturn Half Return and tr Neptune is heading into an undermining square to his Sagittarius Sun and Mercury from mid 2024 onwards. His Solar Arc Saturn is exactly conjunct his Pluto now with his Solar Arc Midheaven (birth time being accurate) heading to square both Pluto and Solar Arc Saturn by 2024. So this may well be the end – politically speaking. It could come this year if his birth time is marginally out.

  He’ll have a run of career setbacks with tr Pluto in Aquarius opposition his Jupiter/Saturn midpoint late March to mid June (again in 2024); and it also hits his Uranus/Pluto midpoint for considerable disruption. More disasters from elsewhere from this June.

  His Second Term chart, 7 May 2022 and his relationship chart with France both flag up now till early April as flash points for upsets.  His Second Term chart always looked controlling evoking a mutinous public response with a Pluto opposition Moon; reformist and divisive with Sun Uranus; and over-hopeful and unstable with Jupiter Neptune.

  France itself looks on the brink of mass confusion and great uncertainty with tr Pluto continuing the square of Neptune from 2022 right through 2023; and tr Pluto square the 3^rd house Saturn now till June and again in 2024 – which could cause transport and communication problems, as well as a depressed mood.

  Tr Uranus is also about to stir up the French revolutionary spirit as it squares the Uranus opposition Pluto from the middle of this June onwards and into 2024 opposes the Mars in Scorpio.  Plus, of course, tr Neptune opposing the France Virgo Sun in 2024/25. The next two/three years always did look as if they would be hugely unsettled for France, more so even than for most countries.

Chaos in Pakistan as police tried to arrest former PM Imran Khan on corruption charges which he denies. He claimed there was a plot to “abduct and assassinate him” and his supporters fought a pitched battle with security forces to prevent him being taken. The legal proceedings against Khan began after he was ousted from office in a parliamentary vote early last year. Since then, he has held protest rallies across the country demanding a snap election, during one of which he was shot and wounded. Some commentators blame Khan for stirring up  “anarchy and chaos.” Others blame the government.

  Plus ca change. ‘Political infighting is common in Pakistan, where no prime minister has yet fulfilled a full term and where the military has ruled for nearly half of the country’s history.’

  Khan, 5 October 1952, is a Sun, Saturn, Mercury, Neptune in Libra with a pushily-confident Pluto square Jupiter in a can-be-ruthless trine to Mars. [If Putin’s 1952 birth date is accurate then he was born two days later.]

   Tr Uranus hitting his assertive Jupiter square Pluto between this May and early 2024 will find him in a go-ahead though not necessarily realistic mood. Tr Neptune square his Mars from the middle of this month and repeating on and off into early 2024 suggests failed plans and panic. Tr Uranus opposition his Sun/Mars late April into early May, and opposition his Mars/Saturn from mid this June on and off into early 2024 suggest calamities, setbacks and risk.

  The Eclipses in October 2024 will hit his Neptune and Moon which won’t be positive.

  His relationship chart with Pakistan is set for a battle of wills from April onwards; but looks liable to disappointment and losses from April this year into 2024.

   Pakistan, like everywhere else on the globe, is limping and lurching along though with a blip maybe upwards or maybe in an unrealistic direction late April as tr Uranus opposes its Jupiter. Then tr Uranus squares the Pakistan Sun from June onwards which will bring jolting changes. Overall the country is in a nerve-wracked and undermining phase as tr Neptune squares first the Pakistan Uranus this year, then the Midheaven in 2024 and most worrisome of all tr Neptune and Saturn square the Pakistan Mars in 2025. So it is along slide of confusion and setbacks.

  Imran Khan did look like a destabilising influence on Pakistan which makes sense of his reforming zeal. But with his Mars opposition the Pak Uranus, his Uranus conjunct the Pak Moon, his Pluto conjunct the Pak Sun and his Sun conjunct the Pak Neptune it was always going to be a bumpy ride with sinkholes, explosions and swamps along the way.

Paula Yates, a celebrity from the past in her heyday second only to Princess Diana in the top tier, whose name conjures up an image of debauchery, wild drink and drug taking, family scandals and self-destructive suicide, is presented in a documentary as a victim of the 1980s/90s anarchic and misogynistic media. A loyal best friend said that Yates was actually a teetotal home-loving mother, a “cross between Marilyn Monroe and Mary Poppins”.

  She rose from being a rock journalist to a television star, became ‘Saint’ Bob Geldof’s wife, bore three children; then left him for INXS frontman Michael Hutchence with a nasty custody battling ensuing. Hutchence hung himself in late 1997, accidentally or otherwise, when their baby was a year old.  Two weeks after that, she learned religious TV presenter Jess Yates was not her real father and TV star Hughie Green, whom she loathed, was. She died from an accidental heroin overdose in 2000, found by her four year old daughter Tiger.  Peaches, one of her daughters with Geldof, also died from an accidental drug overdose, aged 25.

  Paul Yates was born 24 April 1959 12.10 am Colwyn Bay, Wales, the daughter of a former showgirl and author of erotic novels who was often absent during her childhood. Paula had a tactile and indulgent Taurus Sun on the cusp of her fun-loving and performing 5^th house opposition Neptune in Scorpio and widely opposition an intense Scorpio Moon, and square a rebellious Uranus. This was in a Mystic Rectangle to a hard-edged Saturn in Capricorn opposition Mars in Cancer in her 8^th house which also squared onto Mercury. She would be driven by demons from her ancestral legacy and highly strung with such a high-wire Mercury. Her Mercury was further emphasised being on the focal point of a yod inconjunct Neptune sextile Pluto.

  And she had a confident Pluto square Jupiter widely tied into a Mutable T Square to Venus in social butterfly Gemini.

  What an extraordinarily complicated chart and human being – addictive prone from Neptune was well as creative, super-confident and self-doubting, frivolous and profound.

  Her relationship to Geldof was equally complicated with positive crossovers from his Sagittarius Moon to her Venus for superficial domestic harmony; and communication boosting from his Jupiter conjunct her Mercury which also softened her Saturn opposition Mars. His Venus was conjunct her Pluto for passion and his Sun was conjunct her North Node for a karmic connection. But his Mars was also conjunct her Pluto for a power struggle; his Uranus was in her 8^th conjunct her Mars, hinting at subterranean unrest and his Neptune was conjunct her Midheaven for confusion about direction. Geldof 5 October 1951 2.20 pm Dublin.

  Michael Hutchence, 22 January 1960 5am Sydney, Australia, in many ways was a lost soul like her. He had an Aquarius Sun square a Scorpio Moon and Neptune; and a tormented, accident-prone Mars Saturn in Capricorn trine Pluto. With a light-hearted Jupiter Venus in Sagittarius covering over his inner struggle with a devil-may-care smile. A serious accident in 1992 left him with residual brain damage. His Uranus in the 7^th house of close relationships hinted that long-term commitments were not his thing.

  When she died tr Pluto was exactly opposition her Venus; tr Saturn exactly opposition her Jupiter; the tr Moon within a degree of crossing her Sun and tr Neptune was square her Sun and Neptune – emotionally intense, discouraging and optimism-denting and sliding into a Neptunian swamp.

  Looking at it all from a distance – she didn’t do herself any favours with the media, deliberately hyping her sexuality. She did have a sad backstory – but I feel sorry for these poor kids growing up in all that mayhem.

Add On: Having skipped through her family background in greater detail, it’s a miracle she was as sane as she was and survived as long.  Mother, date unknown circa 1938, a total whackjob and absent mainly, the below link worth reading: https://www.theguardian.com/theobserver/2000/aug/06/features.review7

It lays out mother’s tortuous and surreal explanation for why the Green paternity was not true though it clearly was.

Paula was brought up as the daughter of Jess Yates, religious TV presenter who was manic depressive and lost his career after being exposed having a fling with a 16 year old at the instigation of long-time enemy Hughie Green. Green himself had numerous affairs, another illegitimate child from his teenage years, and was self-obsessed according to his other children who described him as “highly dysfunctional”. Alcohol, drugs and ultimately cancer from smoking made his final years reclusive.

Green, 2 February 1920, London was a poser and a hypocrite with a Sun Aquarius opposition Neptune Jupiter in flamboyant Leo. His superficially charming and manipulative Pluto in Cancer opposition Venus crashed into Paula’s Mars opposition Saturn square Mercury; and his Sun opposed her Uranus, with his Mars in vengeful Scorpio opposition her Sun – not a good fit.

 Jess Yates, 20 December 1918, was not much better, though marginally so, with his Sagittarius Sun falling in her 5^th house. But his Pluto was also conjunct her Mars, his Neptune conjunct her Ascendant and his Saturn conjunct her Pluto.

  She was not well served by the adults in her childhood.  

Her Neptune in the 4th certainly showed up one of its less wonderful facets both in terms of the ethos of her growing up years and also the mystery of her father.

Actress Jamie Lee Curtis, daughter of thespian parents once hailed as the love match of the decade, has won her first Oscar as Best Supporting Actress in the much lauded Everything Everywhere All at Once. In her thank you speech she remembered Janet Leigh and Tony Curtis fondly. Jamie Lee has had a long career littered with awards for film and TV work, prolific in the horror genre, though she never quite reached the super-star status of her parents.

  Born 22 November 1958 8.37 am Los Angeles, her parents split when she was four and she grew up with her mother and a supportive stepfather, only catching up with Tony Curtis in her 20s. She spent time with him researching the family’s Hungarian ancestry; is politically active and has written several children’s books.

  Jamie is a Sun Scorpio on the cusp of her hidden and creative 12^th house conjunct Venus; with a Fire Grand Trine of Saturn Mercury in Sagittarius on her Ascendant trine an 8^th house Uranus trine a 4^th house Aries Moon. She is inspirational, opinionated and an odd mix of attention-seeking and private. Her determined Mars in Taurus sits in her performing 5^th house in an adventurous opposition to Jupiter.

  Tr Uranus is opposition her Jupiter exactly for this win bringing luck her way.

  Her mother Janet Leigh, best known for Hitchcock’s Psycho had a long and distinguished career as well as a highly publicized marriage in the 1950s to Tony Curtis followed by a divorce ten years later. She was born 6 July 1927 2.15pm Merced, California, and had a 9^th house Sun Pluto in Cancer square a 12^th house Libra Moon. She also had a Fire Grand Trine of Mercury in Leo trine Jupiter Uranus in Aries trine Saturn in Sagittarius. Plus a showbizzy Mars, Neptune, Venus in Leo in her career 10^th. In certain respects Jamie is like her with a strong-opinioned Pluto in the 9^th, a Fire Grand Trine and Saturn in Sagittarius.  Though mama was the more flamboyant of the two.

  Tony Curtis, 3 June 1925 9am New York, was the son of immigrants and spoke Hungarian until the age of six. His mother was schizophrenic, as was his youngest brother. When Curtis was 8 he and another brother were put in an orphanage for a while because there was no money for food. That brother was killed four years later in a road accident. Curtis joined a neighborhood petty crime gang but was saved from a life of delinquency by being sent to a Boy Scout camp. He started acting at 16. He peaked in Some Like It Hot and Spartacus but his disastrous childhood led to six marriages, an alcohol and cocaine addiction which caused cirrhosis and eventually pulmonary lung problems from smoking.  He did make it to 85 and caught up with Jamie when she was an adult. Though when he died he mentioned all five of his children in his will and left them nothing. It all went to his sixth wife. A damaged man.

  He had a restless and friendly 11^th house Gemini Sun and Venus in an unpredictable and erratic square to Uranus – added to Neptune conjunct his Sun/Moon midpoint it would make him temperamentally unsuited to commitment. Even more troubling, he had a trapped, angry 12^th house Mars Pluto in Cancer trine a 4^th house Saturn in Scorpio so the trauma of his childhood would never be far from the surface.  

  Jamie Lee has followed her mother in having a long term stable marriage though she was alcoholic at one point. But she was clearly drawn to connecting with her father with his Venus falling conjunct her Descendant. And her 4^th house Aries Moon sat in his 10^th conjunct his MC. His Neptune was also conjunct her 8^th house Uranus, perhaps sparking up the fascination with her forbears. Oddly Jamie’s Progressed Moon is exactly conjunct her father’s Neptune at the moment as she accepted her award – family resonances across the ether.

A Hollywood family drama.

The BBC’s talent for shooting itself in the foot and bungling a response has dominated the UK headlines for days. The issue at stake is whether a top sports presenter who owes his social media fame to his decades-long association with the BBC should keep his political views to himself. Journalists should be impartial/neutral but until a few years ago it was accepted sports presenters were not held to the same strictures.

  [The public stand off has now ended with Lineker returning and a new review of guidelines underway.]

   Complicating the issue is the often specious distinction between ‘employed’ and ‘freelance.’ HMRC (the revenue) tightened their rules and the BBC was blamed for forcing presenters whose main livelihood was the BBC to be registered for tax purposes as ‘freelance.’ Freelancers in theory and by definition do not owe loyalty to one organization.

  Adding another layer of difficulty is the rapid intrusion of what Rod Liddle described as ‘the magnificent derangement, the psychosis, of the people inhabiting that moronic inferno cyberspace.’ Twitter. Shooting off trite, knee jerk rapid responses in 150 characters to complex problems adds little to enlightenment. The excuse that the Home Secretary’s inflammatory language needs to be called out sounds reasonable. The question is by whom and on what platform? Continuing Rod Liddle’s chuckle-worthy thoughts yesterday – do we want to hear a crisp-seller’s views? Lineker having a healthy advertising sideline as well.

   Tim Davie, the new BBC Director General swooped in two years ago and said he would tighten the rules about high profile presenters letting fly on twitter etc. So why was that not laid on the line to Lineker two years back?  If he felt the new system ran against his integrity, his contract could have been allowed to lapse. Leaving it until it became a public three ring circus was more than foolish.

The BBC was launched 14 November 1922 6pm London with the Sun and two other planets in Scorpio in its entertaining 5^th house. The Sun squares Neptune which opposes Mars in contrary, obstinate Aquarius; and it has a Water Grand Trine of Pluto trine Mercury in Scorpio trine Uranus in the 10^th; and Pluto square Saturn. All of which adds up to an enduring but inordinately stubborn organization, creative with a capacity for healing, but often cut off from reality, living in its own bubble. Getting the BBC to admit it is wrong has always been a monumental task.

  This year tr Uranus will square the BBC Neptune late April/early May and then oppose the Sun from mid June onwards, on and off into early 2024 – upheavals, disruptions, high tension.  Tr Saturn moving across the 10^th house from last year for another three years will be a time when mistakes will be called out as well as one of heavier responsibilities. 2024 may see more chickens coming home to roost with the Solar Eclipses catching the BBC Saturn in Libra.

  The present Director General Tim Davie, 25 April 1967, is a Sun Taurus but what is significant is his Mercury in Aries on the focal point of a yod inconjunct Pluto Uranus sextile Neptune (Moon). His Solar Arc Neptune is square his Mercury this year for a mega-confusion. An Astro nugget.

  What is more pertinent to the BBC’s reputation is the Chairman Richard Sharp appointed by Boris Johnson – with an investigation ongoing as to whether Sharp, a banker to trade and a Tory party donor, facilitated a near £1 million loan for the rancid prime minister. All denied. The mismanaged Lineker shambles has dragged his position back into the limelight.

   Born 8 February 1956, Sharp is a Sun Aquarius opposition a super-confident Jupiter Pluto in Leo; with Mercury in Capricorn opposition Uranus square Neptune. His chart is in all sorts of trouble this year with – tr Pluto opposing his Uranus now and then square his Neptune later this month till mid June and again through 2024; and tr Uranus square his Sun at 18 degrees Aquarius late April/early May. Plus tr Neptune conjunct his Venus plus various unhappy midpoints.

  Sharp’s relationship with Boris Johnson looks highly aggravated and upended from mid April this year and with the BBC he’s on a knife edge from mid May if not before. He won’t go easily but I reckon he will be forced to ultimately.

 The BBC was started by John Reith who laid down an ethos for an independent public service organization which gave equal consideration to all viewpoints. He was opposed to American-style free-for-all radio, whose goal was to attract the largest audiences and the greatest advertising revenue.

  He was born 20 July 1889 4.30pm Stonehaven, Scotland, during the Neptune Pluto in Gemini conjunction which spawned a good many media start ups. He had a 9^th house Cancer Sun and a rigidly self-righteous Saturn in Leo. With a surprisingly rebellious 10^th house Uranus in an explosive square to Mars in Cancer in his 8^th. Not quite the chart I would have expected apart from the emphasis on 9^th house communication and strong moral beliefs (his Presbyterianism).

Actor Robert Blake has died, whose greatest claim to fame was the unsolved murder of his wife in 2011 for which he was held to blame in a civil suit though the criminal trial fell to bits.

  He was born 18 September 1933 8.30am Nutley, New Jersey, and was a child actor with song-and-dance-act parents and a train-wreck childhood, being abused by a violent stepfather. His adult life continued on a self-destruct trend with intermittent bouts of violence, alcohol and drug problems, interspersed with work.

  His second wife Bonny Lee Bakley, 7 June 1956 10.40pm Morristown, New Jersey, was a fantasist, grifter and groupie who claimed to have been married nine times, all with the aim of becoming rich and famous. Blake became her 10^th husband in November 2000 after a paternity test proved her recent pregnancy was his and not Christian Brando’s. In May of the following year she was shot in the car after an evening out when Blake claimed he had returned to the restaurant. He was charged with her murder along with two co-conspirators whom he allegedly had asked to kill his wife but all the evidence was circumstantial and he was found not guilty. Though a later civil suit did find him responsible for her wrongful death.

 Hollywood melodrama at its tawdriest. Quentin Tarantino’s  Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, is dedicated to Blake. His  later life dealing with the fallout from his wife’s murder mirrors Brad Pitt’s character Cliff Booth who is also accused of murdering his wife.

   Both Blake and Bonny Lee had freedom-loving Uranus in the 7^th which suggests an erratic approach to one-to-one commitment. He also had a controlling Pluto in his 10^th; and a 4^th house Saturn square Mars in Scorpio – so his childhood cruelty would linger in its effects. His Virgo Sun was in his 12^th.

  Bonny Lee had an entertaining, playgirl Gemini Sun, Moon in her performing 5^th house; with a super-confident and subtly manipulative 8^th house Jupiter Pluto in Leo square opposition Mars square a 10^th house Saturn. She was raised by a grandmother which makes sense of the 8^th house, in a childhood that was no more nurturing than Blake’s –  scary, trapped and chilly. Money was what she sought in compensation for what she had suffered.

  Her Jupiter Pluto was conjunct Blake’s South Node in Leo; her Midheaven was conjunct his financial 2^nd house Mars; her Uranus was conjunct his 10^th house Pluto and her Neptune opposed his Uranus – money was the root of most of the woes, though there was also a fight for control. It was a match designed to ratchet up the level of nervous tension to unbearable levels.

 Their relationship chart had a controlling/possessive composite Sun Pluto conjunction which was on one leg of a yod sextile Uranus and inconjunct Mars (Saturn). [A touch like the Lineker/BBC relationship – below).  Destined to blow a fuse at some point. Tr Neptune was opposing their composite Sun Pluto when she died loosening their bond.

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Mutiny on the BBC flagship Match of the Day as striking soccer pundits take umbrage at Gary Lineker being grounded for speaking out of turn. In a plotline from a bad soap opera all football programmes TV and radio may be voiceless as the massed sporting ranks walk out in support of their master.

  The issue at stake is Lineker, highest paid by far of BBC stars, slamming government policy on immigration by text. The new Director General, keen on imposing impartiality on BBC staff, say he breached guidelines and hauled him off air.  Lineker described the Government’s latest small boats policy as “immeasurably cruel” and “directed at the most vulnerable people in language not dissimilar to that used by Germany in the 30s”. The left wing media are supporting him, the right-wing not.

  Lineker was a footballer and for thirty years has been a BBC pundit which has helped him acquire 8.7 million Twitter followers.

  What is intriguing astrologically-speaking is Lineker’s interface with the BBC given that he has been a fixture for so long.

  He was born 30 November 1960 in Leicester, England, and is an adventurous and outspoken Sun Sagittarius in a determined and controlling square to Pluto North Node in Virgo; with a hard-edged and short-fused Mars in Cancer opposition Saturn Venus in Capricorn.

  His Sun is conjunct the BBC’s Venus for a friendly link; but his Pluto North Node opposes the BBC’s 10^th Uranus which is highly disruptive. And his Saturn opposition Mars squares the BBC’s Saturn in Libra – thereby crashing his irritable, authority-loathing tendencies into a collision with the BBC’s (not always obvious) desire for balance and the BBC’s Pluto in Cancer compounding the aggravation.

  Even more striking is the relationship chart with an inflammatory and volatile Yod of Sun sextile Neptune inconjunct Mars. Tr Pluto is exactly square that Mars now and on and off till late 2024 – so the boiling cauldron will not cool down anytime soon. Tr Saturn is also square the composite Saturn Jupiter opposition Uranus now and throughout the year dampening enthusiasm between the two.

  If I could pitch a personal viewpoint.  When I started in journalism some decades back it was considered unprofessional for journalists to hold party political views – or at least allow their opinions to interfere with their work. They were there as dispassionate observers to make sense of the political scene. The explosion of social media has given carte blanche to everyone and anyone to voice their opinion. Lineker was never a journalist but he does owe his income and position to an organization that should be seen as impartial.  

  Lobbing grenades at government policy?  Do I care what a former footballer who commentates about men kicking balls up and down a pitch thinks?  Actually not at all. Whether he is right or wrong, or partially right but over the top in voicing his opinion doesn’t really matter. If he wants to be an activist he should set himself free of the BBC and do his thing, though I suspect his twitter audience might shrink.  Ditto Chris Packham.