Michael O’Leary, the mouthy Irish CEO of Ryanair, has let fly about Richard Branson’s claim for taxpayer aid for Virgin airlines. He said “Now you have Virgin Atlantic owned by Delta and a Caribbean island-based, non-resident billionaire. Frankly if he’s worried about Virgin he should write the cheque himself. It’s not like he’s short of money.”

He said he said he expected his airline to be flying around 40% of its services by late June or early July. But a second wave of infections could cut winter traffic by up to 30% and staff would have to be laid off. He also refused to cut out middle seats to maintain distancing.

Born 20 March 1961, he’s a final degree Pisces or Aries with his Mercury in Pisces in an argumentative trine to Mars in Cancer and a dogmatic opposition to Pluto, as well as an evasive trine to Neptune.

He’s not a good match with Branson since O’Leary’s combustible Mars is conjunct Branson’s Uranus; O’Leary’s Saturn opposes Branson’s Cancer Sun; and O’Leary’s Pluto is in a power-struggling opposition to Branson’s Jupiter.

Their relationship chart is beyond horrible with a composite Sun Venus opposition Saturn square a bitterly-hostile Mars Pluto in a tussle-for-the-last-word opposition to Jupiter. Ouch.

O’Leary’s personal chart looks frustrated, blocked and highly impatient this year with Solar Arc Mars conjunct his Pluto; as well as an enthusiasm and bank-account denting tr Saturn square his Jupiter on and off in March/April and returning in June. Plus a disastrous tr Uranus square his Mars/Pluto midpoint through this May, again late year and a final hit in February 2021.

The Ryanair chart, 5 July 1985, is in a panicky undermining year with tr Neptune opposition the Mars/Saturn midpoint, on and off till late February 2021; as well as a blocked tr Saturn square Pluto this year. And 2021 doesn’t look a sparkling year for revenue either though is less catastrophic.

See previous post on Richard Branson 22 April 2020

Lynn Faulds Wood, the fearless defender of consumer rights on UK television, has died of a stroke aged 72. She started on Nationwide, became the face of Watchdog and exposed crooks, conmen and rogue businesses. She was once attacked with an axe and almost killed by the owner of a fleet of illegal lorries, and was advised by police to wear a stab vest. After exposing dangerous design flaws in household appliances, she moved on to focus attention on cancer symptoms and failures in medical care. She herself overcame bowel cancer in the 1990s and a later episode of skin cancer. Many of her campaigns led to changes in the law, business and medical practices.

She was born 25 March 1948 6.10pm Glasgow, Scotland, moved to London and met her husband John Stapleton, another TV reporter, in the early 1970s and married him.

She had a pro-active Aries Sun in her sociable 7^th house opposing Moon Neptune in Libra in her 1^st; with a formidably strong Pluto Saturn Mars in Leo square her Venus in steady Taurus. She wouldn’t be short of courage or endurance. She had an insightful and maverick Uranus in her career 10^th conjunct her Midheaven opposition a happy-at-home Jupiter in the 4^th. Her Jupiter was also in an expansive square to her Sun.

Her Mercury in helpful Pisces in the 6^th house of work and health is curiously unaspected. This can provide problems but can also lend a single-minded approach to interests with less of a tendency to become distracted or scattered.

At the moment her Moon Neptune had moved by Solar Arc to oppose her Uranus which can be nerve-stretched. Uranus Neptune is associated by Ebertin with ‘apoplexy of the brain’ which is a stroke.

Her husband John Stapleton, 24 February 1946 11 pm, Oldham England, is a charming Sun Venus in Pisces with a Sagittarius Moon.

There’s difficult to work with and there’s Val Kilmer according to several Hollywood insiders who tried. After the disastrous Island of Dr Moreau director John Frankenheimer said “Even if I was directing a film called The Life of Val Kilmer, I wouldn’t have **** [him] in it.” “Childish and impossible” came from director Joel Schumacher after Batman Forever in 1995.

Kilmer has just written a ‘candid’ autobiography I’m Your Huckleberry: A Memoir, which according to reviewers doesn’t indicate much self-awareness about why his antics have met with such sour responses or why his career stuttered and parts dried up in the nineties.

He was born 31 December 1959 7.58 am Los Angeles, with his parents divorcing when he was young and a younger brother dying at 15 in a drowning accident. He attended school with Kevin Spacey, went to Julliard, started his career in theatre and went on to become a pin-up A-lister after Top Secret, Top Gun and The Doors.

He has a 12^th house Sun Saturn in Capricorn trine an 8^th house Pluto in Virgo, sextiling onto Neptune which is conjunct his Scorpio Midheaven. Key planets in hidden houses can offer depth insight and subtle influence or drown him in the unconscious without much understanding of why others have such a strong reaction to his behaviour. He has in the past inhabited his characters during filming to the point where he became them – and was known as psycho Kilmer. His Neptune will help for a movie career and Pluto for creating an aura. His Moon in mischievous Aquarius squares Neptune and is inconjunct Pluto, so emotionally confused. He also has an excitable, enthusiastic  and adventurous Jupiter, Mars, Mercury in Sagittarius trine Uranus; and a charming Venus in Scorpio in an emotionally erratic square to his Uranus. A complicated mix.

At the moment he has his Progressed Mars conjunct his Moon which doesn’t sound easy – emotionally explosive. And he has the tr Saturn Pluto moving across his Ascendant down into his 1^st house which will give him a sombre image. Tr Neptune is also squaring his Mars Jupiter in 2020/21 which will be enthusiasm-denting. None of which suggests great success immediately and he will be less visible in years to come.

“Everything will be OK. We are all in this together” trills fashion designer Stella McCartney’s website promoting high-end (very expensive) fashion. She’s all for sustainability, supporting eco-green and animal causes except when it comes to nurturing the furloughed staff of her company with its £500 million a year turnover. She will claim up to 80 per cent of their wages to a maximum of £2500 a month from the government (taxpayers) and doesn’t plan to top up their wages. She’s worth around £60 million.

Born 13 September 1971 in London, she’s an intense, workaholic Sun, Venus, Pluto in Virgo; with a wobbly, up-and-down and very scattered Mutable T Square of Saturn opposition Jupiter Neptune in Sagittarius square Mercury in Virgo. And she has a hard-edged, emotionally cool Air Grand Trine of Mars in obstinate Aquarius trine Uranus trine Saturn; with the head-in the-clouds, super-optimistic Jupiter Neptune being the driving planets of the Trine from the opposition to Saturn.

She’s facing a disappointing run of Neptune transits in opposition first to her Sun from exactly now, on and off into 2021, followed by oppositions to her Venus and then Pluto up to mid decade. At the moment she has a frustratingly trapped, dead-halt Solar Arc Mars opposition her Pluto, and a highly-strung Solar Arc Uranus conjunct her Neptune. Into 2021 tr Uranus will rattle her Grand Trine as it squares her Mars for more nerve-wracking events. Since it elbows her Grand Trine it will shift her life onto a different track, and presumably not one of her choosing. She’s not used to being slated, having built up a Mary Poppins and super-successful reputation.

The incorporation of her company on 28^th February 2001 also indicates a financially blocked and sticky three years ahead.

Even Switzerland is not immune from the economic landslide with the Swiss National Bank suffering its worst quarterly loss since its 1907 foundation.

The SNB, 20 June 1907, is showing stress this year with the financial Solar Arc Venus in a blocked square to the Pluto. And there’s no indication of a let up from challenges for several years ahead. 2021/22 has the car-crash Solar Arc Saturn and Sun both impacting on the SNB Mars; as well as an undermining tr Neptune starting a three year dip squaring the Pluto, then the Sun and conjunct Saturn. It’ll be early 2025 before the downturn lifts.

The Switzerland, 12 September 1848 12.55 pm Bern chart, is similarly moving into confused, disappointing and swampy territory with tr Neptune opposition the Virgo Sun this year and conjunct the Saturn in Pisces in 2021/22; with a disruptive Solar Arc Pluto opposition Uranus in late 2021 and forced change with great difficulty with tr Pluto moving to square the Pluto. There’ll be some good news in 2021 but it’ll be a long haul which fits the other indicators – that the economic downturn will, not surprisingly, run on until almost mid decade.

Liechtenstein, which is interwined financially with Switzerland, is also showing panic on its Central Bank chart, 5 December 1861, which shows tr Uranus conjunct Pluto and opposition Mars picking up late May into June, and repeating till early 2021, which will be fairly disastrous and insecure; with uncertainty stretching on for three years with tr Neptune opposition the Saturn Jupiter in Virgo.

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Abigail Disney, granddaughter of the co-founder of the Walt Disney Company has criticized the company management for furloughing 43,000 employees during the lockdown without first cancelling plans to pay shareholder and executive bonuses. Top executives have taken pay cuts during the crisis, but their bonuses are worth way more. Disney’s USA theme parks have been closed since March, costing it $1.5 billion in revenue per month. She has been outspoken about growing income inequality in the USA, repeatedly criticizing Disney Executive Chairman Bob Iger’s pay package. In 2018, Iger earned a $66 million, while in 2019, his compensation package was estimated to be $35 million. She said “there is nobody on Earth worth 500 times his median workers’ pay.” She inherited $120 million from her parents.

Born 24 January 1960 in Los Angeles, she is a Sun Mercury in Aquarius in an idealistic and creative square to Neptune; with a tough-minded Pluto trine Mars Saturn in Capricorn; and a sociable Venus Jupiter in Sagittarius trine Uranus.

Oddly enough Bob Iger, who has returned as Disney CEO to cope with the coronavirus crisis, 10 February 1951, is also an Aquarius with his Sun in an ultra-determined controlling opposition to Pluto and a visionary trine to Neptune – Neptune Pluto can be megalomaniac and capable of handling huge enterprises. He’s also got an enthusiastic Mars Jupiter in filmic Pisces; plus a can-be-autocratic Uranus square Saturn. He’s in for a jolting and swampy couple of years ahead. Bu he won’t exactly be queuing at a food bank.

The Abigail Disney/Bob Iger relationship chart is argumentative with a composite Sun Mars- very widely square Saturn; with a high-tension composite Mercury opposition Uranus square Neptune. It’ll continue to be downbeat this year and more combustible in 2021 with first tr Saturn producing more criticism and then tr Uranus lighting another fuse next year in square to the Sun Mars.

Disney, founded 16 October 1923, is running into the greatest crisis of its history over the next two to three years with tr Pluto square the Sun Saturn in Libra and then the Solar Arc Pluto moving across the conjunction to Sun and Saturn in 2022/23. In 2024 tr Neptune opposes the Mars for a sense of panicky failure. Crowd-attracting venues are going to really feel the pain.

Jane Goodall, the cheerleader for chimpanzees and ardent conservationist, is the subject of a documentary The Hope transmitting for Earth Day tonight.

She started with no scientific training but went on to spend 60 years studying man’s closest relative in Tanzania until more recently switching over to become an advocate for the natural world.

She was born 3 April 1934 at 11.30 pm in London and went to Africa in her 20s. She has a successful though not easy chart with a 10^th house Jupiter, which usually brings increasing respect with age, opposition a pro-active Aries Sun Mars and a restless, adventurous Uranus in her 5^th squaring onto Pluto in the 8^th. That Pluto would give her research abilities and the capacity to be ahead of her time, and for that reason would run her into resistance from stick-in-the-muds in her profession. Mars Pluto would also give her the courage to live and work in high-risk situations.

She also has a scientific Saturn in Aquarius conjunct Venus; and a Mercury in Pisces trine Pluto and opposition Neptune. A Neptunian slant is often found oddly enough amongst scientists.

She was married twice, the first time to a wildlife photographer, the second to a member of the Tanzanian government and head of their national parks.

An amazing lady who still travels extensively despite her age.  She has a marked superstar 22^nd Harmonic; a creative 5H; humanitarian 9H and an enduring 11H.

Richard Branson is finding out the hard way that another coronavirus side effect is the visceral dislike of people whose businesses don’t pay UK taxes and then have the gall to expect to be baled out by taxpayer. He is looking for £500 million in government aid to help stricken Virgin Atlantic, rather than dipping into his £4billion fortune. Dragon’s Den Duncan Bannatyne and Simon Cowell have hit out at the mega-rich, like Victoria Beckham and Branson, for leaning on the state. Simon Cowell says he will continue to pay his staff.

Tom Bower, his unauthorised biographer, says ‘Branson must rank as the least deserving tycoon in the Treasury’s long list of casualties asking for financial help. He wants a loan from the same tax system he has spent his entire career avoiding.’

What Branson has been superb at is building a media brand image through countless business set-ups and a fair number of failures. One commentator wrote: ‘He is a salesman who breaks rules not out of any radical impulse but because he has always got away with it.” Another described him as a “chancer” and a ‘vacuum.’ He advocates ethical transparency and accountability despite the veil of tax-haven secrecy over his businesses; and campaigns for a fairer world, flying his private jet into climate change summits.

He was born 18 July 1950 7 am Blackheath, England, with an entrepreneur mother who told him he could become anything and a barrister father who paid for his first sexual experience with a prostitute, was dyslexic, apparently cheated at exams and left school at 16. He has a 12^th house Cancer Sun exactly conjunct the Fixed Star Procyon, which raises to great heights and can come crashing down, associated also with rashness and temper. His Sun squares an impulsive Mars in Libra conjunct a publicity-attracting Neptune. His secretive Pluto sits on his Leo Ascendant making him both an enigma and a showman. His Jupiter in Pisces is on the cusp of his 8^th house of business finances giving him luck and opposes his Moon, describing the indulgent mother; on the other side of his chart Saturn in Virgo in the 2^nd, makes him ‘careful’ about his personal finances.

If his birth time is right then his Solar Arc Midheaven and his Uranus will catch the mid year Solar and Lunar Eclipses for a crisis and forced change of direction.  Tr Saturn also opposes his Sun this year and squares his Midheaven. But even more significantly tr Pluto is aiming to oppose his Sun and square his Aries Midheaven in 2021/22 which will put him under tremendous pressure for change and could see a major dent in his reputation. Plus his Solar Arc Pluto is in a blocked square to his Sun in 2021. He’ll push bullishly ahead as he always does supported by a couple of Jupiter uplifts. But if anything his 2022 is worse with a severely jolting Solar Arc Uranus conjunct his financial Saturn; a car-crash Solar Arc Mars square Moon; and possibly a Solar Arc MC conjunct his Uranus.

It may be that the pay-no-tax Leviathans also become a casualty of the CV 19 bug – Amazon, Apple, etc etc never mind Branson. It’ll become a much more mainstream issue given the economic pain of the lockdown and health costs.

Victoria Beckham is the latest celebrity to fall foul of public outrage as she stands to rake in taxpayer money to support her loss-making fashion business in the CV lockdown. Staff have been put on furlough which allows her to reclaim 80% of their wages.

The Beckham’s conspicuous wealth, much of it flaunted on Instagram, includes a newly acquired £17 million Miami penthouse, a £25 million mansion in London and a £6 million barn conversion in the Cotswolds. Her handbag collection is reportedly worth £1.5 million; a recent birthday party for their son knocked them back £100k etc etc. Her fashion business, effectively a hobby, hasn’t made a profit since it opened in 2008, lost £12.3 million in 2018 and has been propped up by cash injections from her husband.

Maybe just maybe this is a coronavirus effect that will stick as the punters fall out of love with the crass 1 per centers with their private jets and their obscenely bloated lifestyles, which they display with “don’t you envy-me?” arrogant insensitivity to the downtrodden masses.

She was born 17 April 1974 with an unverified birth time of 10.07am in Hereford, England, and is a sparky Aries Sun opposition Uranus; with her Mercury in an intense opposition to Pluto; her Venus in a frivolous, superficial conjunction with Jupiter in Pisces; and a hard-edged Saturn Mars in Gemini, and an Aquarius Moon.

David, 2 May 1975 6.17 am London, is more practical with a Taurus Sun and Capricorn Moon and an emphasised Saturn on the point of a Cardinal T Square to Jupiter opposition Pluto.

Both of them look to be in for major changes in their lives from 2021 onwards. She has tr Pluto square her Sun and Uranus in 2021/22 which will bring a complete turnaround; with financial hopes sagging more than somewhat. Though she’ll get a lift when her Solar Arc Jupiter moves to oppose her Uranus and conjunct her Sun in 2022/23. That’s followed by a serious downer from tr Neptune square her Mars Saturn in 2024/25.

He’s also got upheavals from tr Uranus conjunct his Sun and an insecure and overly-excitable Solar Arc Mars opposing his Uranus in 2021. But he’ll be pushing ahead confidently nonetheless with tr Pluto square his Sun/Jupiter midpoint in 2021/22. Then tr Pluto squares his Uranus for more turbulence in 2023/24.

If his birth time is sound, then tr Neptune will conjunct his Sun/Moon midpoint from later this month through till early 2022, which suggests disappointments in close relationships and an undermining of bonds. There were reports of marital problems a while back. But this was always the year when there would be more aggravation with tr Uranus conjunct the composite Sun and Mars, on and off into 2021; with more instability in 2022/23 with tr Pluto square the composite Uranus.

It’s an affectionate relationship with a composite Sun Venus Mercury Mars and they’ve stuck it out through thick and thin and stormy patches before, so there’s no saying they will go their separate ways, but their lives do look in some turmoil for some years ahead.