Five decades after Enoch Powell’s “Rivers of Blood” speech which saw him ousted from the UK Cabinet for voicing the anti-black concerns of his constituents, the issue of large scale immigration leading to violence is back top of the agenda. UK PM Rishi Sunak talks of the streets being “hijacked” by small groups who were “hostile to our values”. He said Islamist extremists and the far-right, both seek to “weaponise the evils of antisemitism and anti-Muslim hatred for their own ends”.
Immigrant problems and violence have flared recently in Germany, in Sweden, in France, in Ireland – not all Muslim but from backgrounds which are starkly at variance to the country of their choice. The Netherlands is in the grip of a major organised drug trial with some talking of it turning into a narco-state because of the grip of a Dutch-Moroccan gang.
Powell’s words on 20 April 1968 seem eerily prescient, if wincingly racist. “As I look ahead, I am filled with foreboding. Like the Roman, I seem to see “the River Tiber foaming with much blood”. He thought the majority of immigrants did not want to integrate, and that some had vested interests in fostering racial and religious differences “with a view to the exercise of actual domination, first over fellow-immigrants and then over the rest of the population.”
Matthew Syed, of The Times, with a Pakistani immigrant father and a Welsh mother, thinks one reason why certain immigrant communities don’t integrate is because of intermarriage within their group. It is reckoned that between 38/59 per cent of British Pakistanis marry first cousins, which is a worry because of birth defects. But it is also a fundamental instrument of cultural isolation. It “may benefit the patriarchs who dominate these groups but it impoverishes their communities…. who languish in poverty, cut off from society, their votes collated into blocks controlled by clan leaders and where Islamism and antisemitism fester.” Banning cousin marriage has been shown to increase integration and economic growth.
Statistics for UK (as ever to be treated cautiously):
The 2021 census, 7.4 per cent of the population of England arrived in the previous decade; 16.6% in London. Only 4.9% more secondary schools and 4% more GP premises. Immigration does not generate the tax receipts needed for migrants to ‘pay their way’ let alone to finance the new infrastructure required. UK stats are patchy but in 2019 white people were large net taxpayers. Ethnic minorities were net recipients, but there was significant variation: Asian households were close to balance or small net taxpayers; black households were substantial net recipients. People from western Europe and anglosphere countries are high earners. Citizens of poorer countries, such as Pakistan, Turkey and Bangladesh, generally earn less. Though Indian citizens earn much more than people from neighbouring countries. In employment there is huge variation between different groups of migrants. For those born in Bangladesh and Somalia, the rate of employment is low and the rate of full-time employment is very low: almost a third of the rate for those from Poland and New Zealand.
Whether much is to be gained by looking at Powell’s chart, or Michael Houellebecq whose 2015 novel Submission about Islam taking over France caused a furore, or Douglas Murray, UK the political commentator well known as a critic of immigration and Islam, I’m not sure but it does provide a backdrop.
Enoch Powell, 16 June 1912 9.50pm Birmingham, England, had a stellium of planets in Gemini with Sun, Pluto, Mercury, Venus conjunct – so he would have all of Gemini’s communicative powers with Pluto stirring up a ferment of theories. His Pluto would give him a fear of being taken over and trapped. While his Moon Neptune in Cancer falling in the UK’s 10th house conjunct the UK Moon would make him idealistic and patriotic. His Mars opposition Uranus would be uncompromising and his Mercury Pluto would give him a sharp mind though also a tendency to overdo the force of his opinions. His Aries North Node fell close to the UK’s NN reinforcing his need for independence and freedom from being dominated.
Michel Houellebecq, 26 February 1958 1pm St Pierre, Reunion, whose novel Submission imagines a Muslim party upholding Islamist and patriarchal values who wins the presidential election in France with the support of the Socialist Party attracted criticism and support. It was released on the day of the Charlie Hebdo shooting.
He has a 9th house communicative Sun Pisces opposition Pluto with a Fixed T square of an 8th house Venus opposition Uranus square Jupiter, North Node and Neptune in Scorpio. He also has an unaspected 8th house Mars in conservative Capricorn which will act like a loose cannon.
Douglas Murray, 16 July 1979 London, is a far-right journalist, author and activist, a supporter of conspiracy theories like Eurabia in which Arab powers set out to weaken European culture and undermine its previous alliances with the United States and Israel. He has a patriotic Sun Cancer which is in a controlling/influential square to Pluto, trine Uranus and inconjunct Neptune; with a hard-edged, resentful Mars in Gemini square Saturn North Node in Virgo.
What links them are strong Sun Pluto connections – hyper-sensitive to being manipulated or dominated and fairly controlling themselves. But what a strong Pluto does sometimes is have a penetrating insight and ideas that are before their time so arouse resistance and hostility. But are eventually proved right.
Odd other thought from Janet Daley of the Telegraph. On demonstrations she reckons they show many signs of the old Trotskyite infiltration techniques of yesteryear which take over every disaffected group. “So many of the apparently spontaneous uprisings of recent years – Black Lives Matter, Just Stop Oil, the Palestine support marches – are now being guided (and often spoken for) by the sort of experienced handlers who would once have organised the Communist takeover of trade unions.” She isn’t suggesting there is a communist input, merely the same techniques are being used by those who are nihilists, like causing disruptions and are obsessed with attacked western democracy.
Comment from Carson on previous post on US immigration:
“ We are a nation of immigrants like no other. Prior to 1965, when immigration law was vastly liberalized, almost all immigrants came from europe especially northern europe. Almost no one immigrated from Asia Africa or South America. Slavery not withstanding. There were some Asians in the post US civil war era (1865 til 1882). Since 1965 some 60 million people have legally immigrated to the USA. And they have had children since then. Millions more have come illegally primarily from Mexico and Central America. For comparison the entire UK population is about 68 million. Here in the US less than 20% of the population can trace their ancestors living here to 1865 when the US Civil War ended. NOT even to 1776 or earlier. The conservatives are uneasy about that as the newer arrivals obviously do not have that “Protestant ethic” automatically and likewise many are not Christians either. Many of the conservatives promote the US as “a Christian nation” theme which is no longer true if it ever was. At least a third of US population is Atheist Agnostic or non-Christian. Maybe even 50%. There is great unease by the traditionalist part of the US population about immigration and social change. That is reflected in Trump’s candidacy.”
It would be difficult to pinpoint any specific astrological significators for the upsurge in migration. After World War 11, the collapse of the British and French empires would be part of it when tr Pluto Saturn in Leo in 1948 was starting to crawl round the UK’s Fixed planets. The mid 1960s brought a good deal of liberalizing legislation when Uranus Pluto were in Virgo. Tony Blair added his dollop of political opportunism which did not help in the UK when Pluto was in Sagittarius.
Mass migrations of people are usually associated with triple conjunctions such as the late 1980s and mid 1850 which no doubt had an effect.
But since it seems an unstoppable force, it might be sensible to look harder at integration, breaking up ghettos and stop pussyfooting around sensibilities about religious or cultural differences. And toss multiculturalism which emphasises differences and divisions out of the window rather than focusing on cohesion in society.
Not sure this adds much illumination but will no doubt be an ongoing hot topic for some time to come.
See post 3 December 2023 – Europe embroiled in a clash of cultures.
ADD ON: Comment from Bal, 5th March 2024
“As a Gen X, 2nd gen immigrant, Punjabi, Indian, girl born and growing up in England in the 70s and 80s, I hated multi culturalism with a passion. I was desperate to integrate into the Western culture I was growing up in. I don’t just mean the fun things like pop and fashion culture, but the values, the support for women (I acknowledge its imperfections, but Western culture offered a far more empowering environment for women compared to the realities faced by Indian females during that era.), having a voice and being heard.
Multiculturalism basically told 1st gen immigrant boomers, and 2nd gen immigrants, mainly gen X – that it was fine not to integrate, difference was good.
In reality what happened: 1st gen immigrants, boomers, and much of the second generation, particularly Gen X, were encouraged to maintain their distinct cultural identities without the imperative to fully integrate. Consequently, many first-generation immigrants remained entrenched in the conservative outdated values of their Punjabi villages, failing to evolve along with the changing times. This stagnation in mindset was then passed down to their offspring. They didn’t bother to learn English, so as elderly people I see that they can’t advocate for themselves.
While there has been some progress towards integration over time, a significant portion of the Indian diaspora, spanning even to the third and fourth generations, still prioritize their Punjabi heritage over their British identity. Being British often feels like a mere formality for them, a means to acquire citizenship rather than a genuine sense of belonging.
It’s worth noting I am seeing more integration from Gen Z onwards though in the Punjabi / Indian community. For some communities within the wider South Asian community, this lack of integration has been even more marked.”
ADD ON: Allison Pearson: Interesting observation on watching George Galloway revel in his victory at the Rochdale by-election. “There were no women on the ballot paper and, as far as I could see, there were no female faces among the Muslim “brothers” at Galloway rallies. Islamic patriarchy ruled. How many of the avalanche of postal votes that secured victory for a candidate who unashamedly turned it into a Gaza election were cast by women who don’t understand English, women who do as their husbands tell them.
There were 13,460 postal votes cast in Rochdale last week – that’s 43.2 per cent of the total and more than 12,335 were received by Galloway’s far-Left, pro-Palestine Workers Party of Britain. The proportion of postal votes was up from 22.7 per cent in the 2019 general election to 43.2 per cent in the by-election. Disgracefully, the Electoral Commission has chosen not to investigate this startling increase in voters who cannot be seen or checked. That’s a can of worms the authorities clearly don’t want to open. For the same reason, Labour MPs turn a blind eye when they attend meetings of “the community” where women are either segregated or absent entirely.
Empower women to break free of patriarchal communities. There is a strikingly low employment rate among Muslim women – almost 70 per cent don’t work compared to 20 per cent among Christian women. That means no opportunity to mix with their fellow citizens, no chance to improve their language skills, no opportunity to earn money that will buy a bit of independence from those husbands who still think it is their right to dominate their wives (which suits those men just fine), no chance to feel British and pass on that settled loyalty to their offspring.
At school, there were girls — who went on “holiday” to Pakistan and were never seen again. Later, they would hear that their absent friends were married to uncles or cousins. Clever girls used to deliberately fail their exams because they knew the fate that awaited them once they completed their education.
One mother came over as a 14-year-old bride for an arranged marriage almost 60 years ago, but she barely knows 10 words to exchange with the locals. “She has no non-Pakistani friends and she has never worked. Her husband used to taunt her saying she could never run away because no one would understand what she was saying.
It might be worth looking at the commencement of the British Nationality Act, 1948 which happened on 1st January, 1949. This was about the right to immigrate to the UK from Empire and Commonwealth countries. Jupiter in Capricorn was conjunct its, and the UK’s Sun. Currently, Pluto has been transiting the Mars, 27 Capricorn – but has been travelling across the Capricorn planets for some time – Sun 10 Capricorn, Moon late Capricorn, Mercury 21 Capricorn, Mars 27 Capricorn. It has also squared Neptune 15 Libra (UK ‘karmic’ S Node 14 Libra), and is now about to square the 2 Taurus/Scorpio Nodes. Saturn has just opposed the 1948 position, 6 Virgo, and will square the 14 Sagittarius Venus exactly in April. UK Mercury is 17 Sagittarius, in the third house, ruling the 9th of the ‘far horizons’ and travel, and the hidden 12th house. More may surface then.
Pluto for 1949 was 16 Leo, squaring the UK Neptune 18 Scorpio, and opposing UK Venus 16 Aquarius. So the recent Uranus transit has shaken this up, and much is still rising to the surface to be examined. Of interest for the mid fixed degrees is the Parekh Report of October 2000 (Commission on the Future of Multi-Ethnic Britain). Uranus was then 17-16 Aquarius. Neptune, Rx, 3 Aquarius is about to have its Pluto transit, as are the Nodes (alliances, people) for 1949.
The United Nations, 24 October, 1945 has been going through a similar Pluto journey – with its idealistic Libran stellium of Venus, Neptune and Jupiter to it’s slightly concerning Mars/Saturn conjunction at 23/4 Cancer. Now Pluto is square the UN Sun, 1 Scorpio. Migration is very much a global issue, and post WW2 ideals of peaceful union are being tested.
As a Gen X, 2nd gen immigrant, Punjabi, Indian, girl born and growing up in England in the 70s and 80s, I hated multi culturalism with a passion.
I was desperate to integrate into the Western culture I was growing up in.
I don’t just mean the fun things like pop and fashion culture, but the values, the support for women (I acknowledge its imperfections, but Western culture offered a far more empowering environment for women compared to the realities faced by Indian females during that era.), having a voice and being heard.
Multiculturalism basically told 1st gen immigrant boomers, and 2nd gen immigrants, mainly gen X – that it was fine not to integrate, difference was good.
In reality what happened: 1st gen immigrants, boomers, and much of the second generation, particularly Gen X, were encouraged to maintain their distinct cultural identities without the imperative to fully integrate.
Consequently, many first-generation immigrants remained entrenched in the conservative outdated values of their Punjabi villages, failing to evolve along with the changing times. This stagnation in mindset was then passed down to their offspring.
They didn’t bother to learn English, so as elderly people I see that they can’t advocate for themselves.
While there has been some progress towards integration over time, a significant portion of the Indian diaspora, spanning even to the third and fourth generations, still prioritize their Punjabi heritage over their British identity. Being British often feels like a mere formality for them, a means to acquire citizenship rather than a genuine sense of belonging.
It’s worth noting I am seeing more integration from Gen Z onwards though in the Punjabi / Indian community.
For some communities within the wider South Asian community, this lack of integration has been even more marked.
What would have happened if there had been no multiculturalism? Would we be a more cohesive society? I don’t think it would have been any worse.
FYI, I identify as British, English, Indian – in that order, I don’t feel Punjabi at all, hence why I often get called a coconut!!
Thank God for Coconuts. Great response. I was a 3rd culture kid – what that means is I lived in 10 places before I was 14 because of my father’s career. What that means is I am never completely a part of my parents home culture. There are millions of us (military brats, embassy brats, corporate brats) and I have a lot of sympathy for first and second generation. You make a great point about English Culture and I am getting ready to dig into my reading – and it is about the rights of women as well as educating women. As far as USA – the mandatory and universal education at least until 8th grade was one of the things that made the country successful. Sort of falling apart now. Because so many were farmsteads over here for so long – women were expected to work. My ancestry is English- pretty much – but dad travelled the world. I have a lot of hope for GenZ. They are a tough group and do not put up with a lot of crap. I have twin nephews from that generation growing up in New York State (nice State upstate).
Bal, Thank you for this. Depressing but insightful and first hand knowledge leaves no argument. Have added your post onto the main text for ease of finding later along with similar experiences described by others.
I wouldn’t say Douglas Murray is a far right journalist. Only if you are far left would you say that. Also he’s gay, which tends not to be a far right characteristic.
Its a shame you don’t have a birth time for his chart.
@ Kerstin,
There will always be racial and other minorities who will say anything and do anything to be a member or adjacent to those who are seen to be in power.
Besides most white gay men see themselves as white men first and gay somewhere down the line–see Andrew Sullivan.
Rather than rebut the message, adherents of identity politics will find ways to explain away inconvenient opinions in order to discount them.
Someone like Murray ends up being the wrong type of gay, better yet he has a greater evil glommed onto him. The oppressed then becomes the oppressor, just like magic.
Similar with any prominent figure who’s the wrong type of (fill in the blank).
So many fanciful reasons are confected to explain the likes of Clarence Thomas, Kemi Badenoch and Thomas Sowell.
I don’t think he’s far right either. A lot of things he says are based on his own personal experience of going to see a situation for himself before he comments. He’s spent years studying the Israel and Palestinian situation for example, talking to people on both sides and asking questions. He’s not an armchair critic but someone who actually tries to make sense of situation with real first hand knowledge of what’s going on and he really does try to fair to all sides. He’s very clever and he’s very articulate. I enjoy watching him on Youtube. His knowledge is firsthand and I think he is due some respect for that especially when you consider the drivel we get dished up day after day on mainstream media by “pundits”.
Really appreciate this post, on a topic that has been much on my mind lately (and clearly on many other people’s as well).
As an American, I think @HughFowler is right that the U.S. has a better track record in bringing immigrants into the fold, although obviously not without a great deal of turmoil throughout our history. Clearly, racism, classism, and belief in cultural superiority have always created huge problems. Also, sadly, there have always been horrifying, divisive, race-baiting individuals who have inflamed the passions of many, such as the former president and current Republican candidate (I avoid saying his name like the characters in the Harry Potter books avoid saying their villain’s).
Still, maybe a saving grace is that we have always had the concept of America as being “out of many, one.” Assimilation–at least in the public sphere–has traditionally been seen as an unreservedly good thing, although admittedly not nearly is much in this current era of victim politics.
This especially applies to our laws. Despite everything you can say about the flaws in our justice system–almost all of it sadly true–it is also the case that immigrants have always been expected, broadly, to operate under the same legal system as everyone else, and to observe the same civic forms. The UK seems to be a cautionary tale in this regard; it’s my understanding that under Tony Blair’s immigration regime, Muslim immigrants were allowed to establish separate “sharia law” courts within their communities, which inevitably resulted in the horrible oppression of women and girls, especially, and created another barrier to assimilation.
We have also had the long-held value prohibiting the state’s establishment of religion–although the current Supreme Court, and many in the Republican Party, seem to be wilfully forgetting that.
Geneticists will tell you that race is an utterly meaningless concept, and that the few genes that create visible differences among people groups are some of the least important. Common cultural norms–including common expectations regarding individual rights and obligations under the legal system–are far more important for social cohesion. Most of us here–the sane ones, anyway–see that. I hope that sanity eventually prevails on both sides of the Atlantic.
This parallel system of ‘sharia law courts’ you describe does not exist and has never existed in the UK.
I don’t know where you got this misinformation from.
Sorry Jonathan, but the law has turned a blind eye with regards to Sharia law. It may not be official, but it exists.
more about this debate here https://fullfact.org/law/are-there-80-sharia-courts-britain/
Candy, as a born and bred south- westerner I have seen a political change in my area from my youth. 60 years ago my county was Liberal from coast to coast, with maybe the odd bit of blue here and there. Nowadays the Tories are in full control. How has it happened? Georgie( below) has a point in that most of my neighbours are now white refugees from cities elsewhere. Also, the population here has “aged ” alarmingly over the years. The Libdems did capitalise by promoting the ” only way to beat the Tories” line, but blew it rather when they entered the Coalition and supported austerity. The South- West is no longer Liberal, but may vote so increasingly next time.
Here’s my controversial take: the muslim rebellion in Rochdale against Labour resembles the rebellion in Scotland against Labour in 2014/15.
In both cases, voters feel “tricked” by Labour. Labour spent the 80’s and 90’s claiming that Thatcher and Major were illegitimate PMs because “Scotland hadn’t voted for them”. That was a nationalist dog whistle because no region gets the govt they vote for 100% of the time. London manages it 40% of the time, and the LibDem-voting south-west about 10% of the time.
The only way for Scotland to get the govt they vote for 100% of the time is to be independent – but when the Indy ref happened, Labour came out sheepishly for the union and their voters felt they’d been lied to for votes (not helped by the fact that Labour took them for granted and barely sent them a leaflet once a decade). A bunch of Scots defected to the sectarian, anti-English SNP.
A similar pattern is going on with muslim voters, with Labour telling them god knows what behind closed doors, but publicly saying something different.
I think muslim voters have clocked that Labour thinks of them as ghetto people who should remain silent on the backbenches. Whereas Tories will promote people of muslim heritage on merit – see Sajid Javid becoming Home Secretary.
As I understand it, the final straw came when Starmer’s team briefed the press that muslim voters were “fleas” who they “were shaking off”.
This went viral on british-muslim twitter, they were angered and determined to vote against Labour and didn’t care if the Tories won because “at least you know where you stand with the Tories”.
No voter, muslim or otherwise, will tolerate being called “fleas”. No voter likes being tricked or taken for granted.
The issue isn’t immigration per se. It’s that one party, Labour, has been playing sectarian and identity politics in different parts of the country, which is generating a backlash and a movement towards other sectarian parties like the SNP and Galloway’s outfit which promise to offer a “purer” sectarian space.
But Labour shouldn’t have encouraged sectarian politics in the first place over the last four decades.
The real point is that the ‘legacy’ UK population, that is the population which is descended from pre 1945 population, or earlier, is in spitting distance of being rendered the minority population of that nation. This event will, surely, occur by the latter party of the present century, in the span of a couple of generations from present.
Even in Enoch Powell’s time, this would have been seen as a purely fanatistical development, something which would ‘never happen’ or ‘couldn’t happen’ because of ‘reasons’, “the government would never allow it”.
But it is here. A concrete definite unavoidable fact.
I’m not pontificating about the rights or wrongs of it all, but the need for the grown up recognition of the fact, and the realisation that the institutions and historical character of the UK, such as the present political set up, the monarchy, the established church etc etc, everything that makes England England, and the Tory Party which, supposedly is the defender of it, cannot possibly survive this radical transformation.
A new people means a new nation.
The Windrush generation answered the call of the Mother Country to come to her aid. When they got here, they hated it and would have turned round and gone back home if they could. Cold, grey, unwelcoming, both the country and the people. Problem was that they had to pay back the cost of the passage here – about £1000 in today’s money – which took over a year, the money deducted from their paltry pay every week. It would then take another 1-2 years of living very frugally to save enough to go back home, and not many managed to do that. So they stayed.
The vast waves of immigration of the past decade have been and will continue to be driven by war and climate change. It’s all chickens coming home to roost.
And Sunak’s speech the other day, that’s disgusting political opportunism, fanning flames of hate in a desperate attempt to win support for the Tories in the upcoming general election.
Problem isn’t with legals …it’s with illegals who hop on as relatives of these legals n use immigration loopholes n then tax loopholes…also if people r not taking offs then someday that fatigue is going to come out violently..not taking off isn’t hard working, it’s actually being unable to survive ..which isn’t sustainable cz then finally either one surrenders to these anti western gangs to survive or enters crime
According to the latest figures, 1.2 million people immigrated to the UK in 2022 — that’s more than double the population of Manchester in a single year.
Compare it to illegal migration to UK in the same period was around 52,126.
One of the interesting points I find in Marjorie’s post is net tax contribution of immigrants to UK economy. Even Sunak family, although billionaires, have been net recipients if you look at their share of tax contributions compared to their earnings till 2022 after when his wife decided to pay the Non-Dom tax.
A big chunk of the 1.2 million who got visas are students. They pay tuition fees of about £20k per annum in advance (no loans for them) plus visa fees. They are supporting the university sector. And they leave after their degree.
Also, a net recipient is someone who receives more in benefits plus state services (NHS, state education) than they pay in tax.
The Sunaks have never been on benefits and don’t use state-funded services, instead they paid for private education and private healthcare. Claims that someone who pays half a million a year in tax is a net recipient is the silliest thing I’ve read!
Most of the ‘universities’ they go to are fraudulent. And they don’t go back. And they bring spouses etc with them.
Sunak’s wife, even though she is a billionaire, has taken loans and grants from the government to support her businesses during Covid, that immediately went bankrupt. (https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2023/oct/19/sunaks-covid-startup-fund-invested-nearly-2m-in-firms-linked-to-his-wife)
Along with the non-dom tax status and the fact that they both actually regard their home as California, this isn’t the behaviour of a patriotic British family is it?
No wonder he declined to investigate all the Covid fraud.
Availing state benefits and use of state funded services is negligible as compared to the looting of tax payer money through govt schemes like furlough and then declaring your companies bankrupt. How many ventures of Sunak’s wife went bankrupt after taking tax payer money? What are Sunak’s assets in UK and how much do they actually pay?
The scale of benefits they received is off the roof.
Ann, and Kirsten,
The companies that Mrs Sunak had investments in constituted less than 5% of shares. Meaning she had no control over whether they claimed furlough or
not.
The primary motive for high immigration levels is to ensure economic growth. Following covid Biden in the US and Albanese in Australia have allowed very high levels of immigration in the knowledge that if they didn’t, there was a high risk of a recession. Their calculus being that a recession would be far more unpopular than the migrant/refugee intake. As the world population growth slows and then declines we will need a new economic model that is not based on growth. Japan has faced this for decades now and has somehow muddled through.
I can’t wait for George Galloway to stir those mps up in parliament
Actually I think that the most malign influence encouraging negative, prejudicial attitudes to race and immgration over the last 14 years has been the Conservative Party. Sunak’s speech on Friday was breathtakingly hypocritical. He is failing to control the blatant racism within his party (Anderson, Braverman) and happily stirs up the culture wars as an excuse to put ever more stringent controls on protest. He doesn’t need Galloway.
I disagree with his politics but at least he stands for something and is straightforward. Popcorn at the ready.
Marjorie I am so pleased that you wrote this. It is a very complex area. The truth is that the U.K., is like many EU countries, dividing into residents with roots back to the second world war moving to the countryside and newer arrivals in the cities. The statistics show an enormous flight and the cities are changing amazingly rapidly. Many people do not recognise a lot of places anymore. This is happening all across Europe but it is on steroids in the U.K. as Brexit increased non eu immigration tremendously from Asia and Africa and slowed eu immigration to nothing. Of course original residents will have concerns about their Christian Romano culture being displaced that took two millennia to create. That does not make them racist. They have rights too and they were never consulted or given a vote upon this huge social change. Denmark has taken a much tougher line of control and assimilation and maybe other countries will follow? It would be interesting to know their astrology? They say it was the only way to protect their welfare state for their own working class as mass immigration was undermining their ability to pay for it and to protect their culture. Certainly their welfare and economy is in a better shape than many as is their social cohesion and crime levels. France seems determined to protect some aspects of French culture in the Republic. The U.K. government, if not the people, fully signed up to multiculturalism. Does the astrology give any clue what will happen in the future across Europe? What way will different countries handle the issue?
It appears that one of the major themes of Pluto in Aquarius will be to break down and redefine the meaning of community. More and more, people will identify with humanity as a whole rather than a small part of it. Traditional nationalism is out the window. All countries will be multicolored and whites will be everywhere a minority. That does not mean the end of liberal democracy, but it is the end of liberal democracy with an exclusively Western and colonial perspective.
I suspect that it will mean the end of liberal democracy. Whether that is a good or a bad thing is another matter. In the UK at least in lots of areas of the country the current system is not delivering much to many of its inhabitants and I don’t think that is going to change when the current government is thrown out. The most remarkable thing about the recent UK Parliamentary by-election in Rochdale was not that George Galloway won but that a local Independent candidate running with a limited budget on a subset of purely local issues managed to get more votes than the Conservative and Labour candidates combined
Just reading about Haiti where there has been a prison escape by 4000 inmates rescued by gang members. Apparently the country has not had elections since 2016 and its last President was assassinated by the gangs in 2021.
Poor standard of living / wealth inequality is a driver for gangs to take root.
Is the UK at this stage? There may well be some pockets of it already. I’m not sure given depleted police and armed forces, the poor ethics shown by politicians that it would take a huge shift for Britain to go there.
It would unforuntaely fit the Pluto in Aquarius symbolism.
You are quite right.
It is a complex subject. The U.K. was actually a net exporter of people upto the 1980s. Indeed, what is little recognised in the current fetishisation of the “Windrush Generation” is that in the period immediately after the Second World War at least 2 million people emigrated from the U.K. in the late 19th Century the figures are even bigger. Between 1870 and 1914 10 million individuals left Britain forever. One thing to consider is that most of Europe has a pending demographic deficit due to declining birth rates which in part is a function of how modern capitalist society places profit before human reproduction. In addition politicians are fiddling their economic figures by encouraging immigration because the way the figures are calculated the bigger the population the bigger the national GDP. This is why immigration is often claimed to be of overall benefit to the economy. When examining GDP per person unfortunately the picture is a lot less rosy. Despite mass immigration U.K. productivity per person is in decline. Ultimately the big worry for the government will be when the overall political and societal cost of having such an inefficient immigration based economy will actually itself start to prompt mass emigration. There is tentative evidence this is already beginning to happen as was witnessed by the mass exodus of many East Europeans from the U.K. at the outbreak of Covid. The danger for countries such as the U.K. is that it will be left with an ageing native population and a largely unskilled, unintegrated and unproductive immigrant population while both skilled natives and skilled immigrants will leave. It should be noted that demographic trends everywhere are showing a decline in human fertility and that there is going to be a bidding war in the not too distant future for those with skills. As far as cultural assimilation goes the US has a far longer history of successfully welding immigrants into its society than Europe which has plenty of historical ethnic divisions of its own waiting to cause conflict without needing to add foreign migrants to the mix.
Astrologically I would suggest the 2 February Uranus Neptune Conjunction at 19 Capricorn in 1993 opposite the U.K. 1801 Moon might be a key date for the beginning of current mass immigration to Britain along with a lot of other current trends. Neptune in Pisces formed a sextile to that degree in 2020-2022 and Uranus is currently trine it at 19 Taurus. One assumes that a massive reality check is going to happen when Neptune joins Saturn at 0 Aries in 2025 particularly as it will oppose the U.K. 1801 Uranus at 1 Libra. This cycle of conjunctions accompanied both the end of the Korean War in 1953 (fixed barriers going up) and the collapse of the European Communist block in 1989 (barriers coming down).
My notion is, that in this context, the chart for the assumption of power by the Blair government in 1997, must surely hold the key to it all.
It was the type of major seismic event, such as the adoption of a new constitution etc, which astrology thrives upon. It was the decisive moment in the UK’s current immigration/population story.
Most migrant people I have encountered in the UK have been hardworking, often in nursing, cleaning and care work. The kind of work that is too poorly paid to attract indigenous workers. Otherwise they run thriving small businesses, rarely taking holidays and providing convenience to the neighbourhood, whether in last minute groceries or take away food. In my opinion, the recent “furore” is to be found under the hot collars of white supremacists eager to stir up division and hatred because that erstwhile supremacy and is being threatened by more actual dialogue and solidarity between people of all races. The pro-ceasefire in Gaza demonstrations are a case in point, as was the pulling down and dunking of the Coulston statue in Bristol. Many young people too, involved in the struggle for climate justice are looking towards the global south who will be first in like in the coming catastrophe. Of course Tories, right-wingers and writers for the Telegraph can’t abide this because it destabilises the paradigm that they’ve had the whip hand over for so long.
Keep your hat on. I have also known many migrants who were hard working and quiet living. An influx of Pakistanis into Glasgow decades ago was welcomed since they did not drink alcohol and ran corner shops open seven days a week and all hours. In London I had an Indian landlady, Czech and Australian neighbours and friends.
I think the view is different if you live near one of the Midland ghettos or in certain areas of London.
It has nothing to do with the Telegraph – I read all the papers and Janet Daley is reasonable. Other Tel writers I admit I skip since they are biased on almost all subjects.
Surely all of us are biased, it all depends on the biases of the person making the observation. People with a left wing bias will view conservatives as “biased”, and people who are conservative will view left liberals as “biased”.
I’m a bit sceptical that any one of us is perfectly unbiased, the shadow the shadow.
True. Furthermore, no-one is completely left or right. Each person will
have varying views on politics within a day. Too far left or right join up. Like any organisation in the world. When politics becomes too overwhelming: it divides people. When it intrudes in every aspect of our lives, we all become aware of a kind of suppression. Our Governments/political parties are too involved in every day politics. This may seem an odd thing to write. Yet they are. They seek to decide every single aspect of our lives. This is suppression. A good Government will put in place a working structure; to enable people to live and feel valued. Britain’s has politics only, we have lost the structure for society to function. Immigration is overwhelming at the moment, because of a lack of structural planning and not enough homes or health places to accommodate them. It is now out of control. None of us are happy and too a certain extent; unnerved. Assimilation takes time – it looks like this was not even considered. Hence the mess and fear for some.