George Reid – a voice with a purpose ++ Aldebaran

George Reid, former Presiding Officer and founder member of the Scottish Parliament, who has just died at 86, was that rare animal, a politician with a background in the real world.

 Initially an award winning journalist and TV producer, he became an SNP MP for several years, campaigning for devolution, before prompting a no confidence motion against the Labour government which led to Margaret Thatcher winning in 1979. He lost his seat and went back to television,  producing the reportage by Michael Buerk of the Ethiopian famine of 1984 that inspired the Band Aid and Live Aid charity campaigns. This led to his being headhunted by the International Red Cross where he spent 12 years as head of information for the Red Cross and then director of its International Campaign for Victims of War, working worldwide in conflict and disaster zones. He headed the international relief effort in Armenia after the 1988 earthquake which killed up to 50,000 people and left 130,000 needing medical attention.

  His second political stint saw him elected as an MSP for the new Holyrood government, serving as presiding officer during the troubled construction of the new building. An obituary said: “his intellect, talent for diplomacy and personal charm made him at once an establishment figure and a politician beloved of the national movement.”  Latterly after a bout of ill health, he became a visiting academic, an independent reviewer of public bodies, and the Queen’s representative to the Church of Scotland.

  Having worked under George in his stint in STV in the late 1960s what fascinated me about his later career was his knack/talent for being in at the centre of the zeitgeist – whether being the trigger for Labour losing the 1979 election, Live Aid, global disasters, and devolution.  I did not agree with his politics but he was a pivotal figure.

   He was born 4 June 1949 near Stirling, Scotland and had an extraordinarily tough chart that belied his looks. His journalistic talents came courtesy of a communicative Gemini Sun and Mercury sextile Jupiter.  That was part of a Half Grand Sextile of Mars in determined Aquarius opposition Pluto sextile Mercury conjunct Aldebaran sextile Jupiter. His formidable Mars opposition Pluto was square Saturn in self-reliant Aries which gave him courage and a hard core. His Venus Uranus in Taurus trine Neptune was restless and innovative.

 It was a chart which suited his work with the Red Cross since Mars Pluto Saturn is designed to cope in crises.

  His communicative Mercury in Gemini exactly conjunct the Fixed Star Aldebaran is interesting since it can give “honor, intelligence, eloquence, steadfastness, integrity, popularity, courage, a responsible position, public honors and gain of power”. “The star is said to presage individuals who are “restless and riotous, always stirring up popular dissent and revolution.” The star is also said to inflame the minds of the people with furious quarrels, and to be an enemy of quiet and peace, “madly desiring civil and domestic wars.” [Astrology King.]

Henry Kissinger also had Mercury conjunct Aldebaran, as does Prince William.

 The original Act of Union which bound Scotland to England has Saturn exactly conjunct Aldebaran, which is not considered positive.

  My political prejudice may be showing through but I never understood his fascination for the SNP since he was an internationalist at heart and his chart does not gell with the SNP chart. Maybe his emphasized self-reliant Saturn in Aries persuaded him that the country of his birth needed to stand on its own two feet.

  He said of devolution that Scotland was now a country where “if we make mistakes they are our mistakes, and we can no longer blame anyone else”. Pity Nicola Sturgeon was/is not listening.