Skewering a politician or a public figure with one freeze-framed image in a cartoon takes a particular set of skills and mindset. Peter Brookes is at the top of the pinnacle, contributing to The Times for three decades, and now at 80 has produced another collection of his latest work entitled Torrid Times.  

  He says that cartoonists are “the permanent opposition”. “In other words whoever’s in power, you administer a good kicking when it’s deserved.” “I’m a columnist, a visual columnist. I have to make an argument in a cartoon that is cut and dried. You don’t have room for much ambiguity.”

  He was born 28 September 1943 Liverpool, England, and is a Sun conjunct Neptune in Libra trine Uranus, sextile Pluto. His Neptune is conjunct Mercury in late Virgo square Saturn with a Mars Uranus conjunct in Gemini.

Libra is concerned with fairness. Moon, Mercury, Venus in writerly Virgo; and Saturn, Mars, Uranus in Gemini – he was designed to communicate. Mars Uranus is unconventional, uncompromising and rebellious, inclined to challenge authority figures and to take the outsider’s view. Uranus trine Neptune is creative and inspired; as is Sun Neptune – and Mercury Neptune thinks and communicates in images. He also had his Saturn square Neptune (and Mercury) making him wish for a fairer society.

  James Gillray, 13 August 1756, the Georgian era caricaturist, went for biting satire as well. His most famous work: The Plumb-pudding in Danger  depicts Napoleon Bonaparte and British PM William Pitt carving up the globe.

  He was a Sun Venus in Leo trine Pluto; with Mercury in Leo conjunct Neptune; and a heavily aspected Uranus which was on the focal point of a yod to Jupiter sextile Sun, square Pluto and in a wide opposition to Mars. With his Neptune opposition Saturn.

  He did have similarities to Brookes – strong Neptune for creative images; strong Uranus for a mischievous twist; and an influential and stinging Pluto.

GB News which is the UK’s right-wing tv answer to Fox – the “home of free speech” – has tripped into another storm of controversy after actor Laurence Fox said of a female journalist on air: “Who would want to shag that?” Dan Wooton, the show’s presenter has also been suspended and decisions will be made soon whether they will survive.

  GB News ratings are up, outstripping Murdoch’s TalkTV but the concern will be about advertisers, notoriously sensitive about public outrage, as well as regulators. GB News attracts a majority male audience, mainly middle-class and older.

  It launched 13 June 2021 8pm and has an angry (infuriated) Pluto opposition Moon Mars in Leo, hence the tendency to veer towards shock jock-types and twitter-type provocateurs. There is a Gemini Sun square Neptune never a good sign in a commercial venture; and a can-be-autocratic Saturn square Uranus. There will be ongoing hassle for three years with tr Pluto opposition the Moon in 2023/24; opposition Mars in 2024/25 and the SA Pluto opposition Moon Mars in 2025/26 which may see it hit the buffers.

  Laurence Fox is a phenomenon all on his own, being the scion of a renowned theatrical family. He had a sound acting career before giving it up to become an opinionator and activist. Born 26 May 1978, London, he is a Sun Gemini with a pushily confident Pluto square Jupiter Venus in Cancer; and a troubled, impatient and hard-edged Saturn Mars in Leo square Uranus which will make him inclined to erupt in a reckless fashion. His Capricorn/Aquarius Moon is not well integrated into his chart barring, maybe, a trine to his Sun, so emotionally distanced.

  His father James Fox, famously gave up a successful acting a career to become an evangelical missionary at one point before latterly returning to the screen. Born 19 May 1939, he is a Sun Taurus in an Earth Grand Trine to Mars trine Neptune; with a truly difficult Mars opposition Pluto square Saturn Venus in Aries, suggesting a dominating and aggravating father.

  James was one of three sons of Robin Fox, 15 July 1913, a celebrated theatrical agent and a notorious womaniser, who fell out with a director who wanted to employ his son since he insisted he could not act and should stay working in a bank. Which explains a good deal of that Mars Pluto Saturn Venus T square in James’ chart.

  All of which suggests there were issues going back at least two generations of problems with masculine anger. Laurence Fox  fits in with most of the American right-wing, loud-mouth presenters who are enraged about authority figures and the establishment – and usually women as well. Instead of projecting it out onto society and politics he might be happier if he resolved his own personal issues.

  Dan Wooton, 2 March 1983, a GB News presenter and Daily Mail contributor, is a Sun Pisces in an adventurous and lucky square to Jupiter Uranus in Sagittarius. But also with a highly stressed Mars in Aries which is conjunct Venus and inconjunct Saturn Pluto.

  Neither Laurence Fox and Wooton, look in a progressive phase with Fox’s Gemini Sun catching the tr Saturn square this year as well as tr Uranus square his Mars Saturn in 2023/24. Wooton is struggling through thick mud this year and the next two or three with tr Pluto square his Pluto and then Saturn and finally tr Neptune square his Mars. He may have one lucky break but it won’t be good thereafter.

  Maybe the new era circa 2026 onwards will not favour the screamers.

Dianne Feinstein, the oldest serving American senator whose ‘historic career began in tragedy and ended in controversy’ has died. She became San Francisco mayor after a 1978 assassination but recently was criticized for hanging on through prolonged bouts of ill health. She was renowned as a tenacious trailblazer, and a stalwart centrist, at times upsetting both extremes. She refused to ally herself with women’s rights groups, supported programs to fight the Aids epidemic, but vetoed domestic partnership legislation, frustrating LGBTQ+ rights activists. She was an ardent gun control advocate; and supported the death penalty.   After 9/11 she investigated CIA torture as head of the  powerful Senate intelligence committee and memorably faced off against the then CIA director, John Brennan.

“She was a political giant,” said California Governor Gavin Newsom.

  Born 22 June 1933 12.44am San Francisco, she had a quick-witted 3^rd house Cancer Sun alongside a Gemini Moon. Her Moon squared Mars in hard working Virgo in her 6^th – in part a legacy of her abusive mother. She had an unconventional and innovative Uranus in her 1^st house square a 4^th house Venus, Pluto, Mercury in Cancer in her domestic 4^th. Her childhood was described as tumultuous and she had three marriages.

  What stands out is a Saturnine yod of Venus sextile Jupiter in Virgo inconjunct Saturn in Aquarius in her 11^th. That demands maturity, self-discipline and responsibility to get the best of it.

  Her chart keys into the USA chart with her Cancer Sun and her Pluto Mercury in Cancer connecting with the USA Mercury in Cancer opposition Pluto. It would not always be an easy relationship but she made a difference.

Going to war, going on vacation, finding love, luck, success or being accident prone – where in the world? Pin pointing why certain locations are comforting while others bring bad vibes is the function of astrocartography otherwise known as locational astrology, developed by San Francisco astrologer Jim Lewis. Plotting the birth chart on a world map or relocating the chart to a specific town can change your fortunes.

  The classic example is Sean Connery, born into poverty in Edinburgh, who had his mega-successful Jupiter Pluto on his Midheaven line through Hollywood and his Sun Neptune midheaven through eastern USA, New York down to the Bahamas where he retired. The Midheaven lines show career prospects. His first wife, Diane Cilento, was Australian where his Saturn Descendant line ran so it would be an uphill struggle to make it work. His second wife Micheline, who is French-Moroccan, gave him a settled home life, indicated by his Chiron on the IC line (4^th house = home and family) through Morocco and Southern Spain where they lived for some years.

 It need not even mean going to the location indicated. One happy marriage came about with the UK partner having her Venus Ascendant line through Detroit where her husband had been born. The association alone may be enough.  One London stock trader who made a pile on the Tokyo Exchange had his Venus Pluto Midheaven through Japan which he never visited.

   Yoko Ono, born in Japan, has her Venus midheaven line through Liverpool, where Beatle John Lennon was born. Queen Elizabeth II had her Venus Ascendant line through Greece, the birthplace of her lifelong husband Prince Philip.

  Celebrities who run activist campaigns in Africa like Ben Affleck, George Clooney, Angelina Jolie have strong lines running through that location drawing their attention. As does Princess Anne who has done sterling work for Save the Children for decades.   Prince Harry and Meghan Markle should also look to Africa for their future success.  Harry’s Lesotho charity which supports young people in Africa is headquartered where he has his high-vitality Mars Uranus on the Midheaven with a successful and charitable Jupiter Neptune in the 10^th.

  Where it can get tricky for couples deciding on a major domestic or work relocation is if a specific place suits one and not the other. Hollywood for Megan emphasises her 1^st house attention-seeking Leo Sun.  But it puts Prince Harry in the shadows with a 12^th house Sun and 8^th house Moon.   

  What is marginally odd is that Meghan has her Sun in the 10^th conjunct the Midheaven for London – which indicates great success and prominence though it puts her Moon, Saturn, Jupiter and Pluto in the 12^th so she never felt at home. London gave her Prince Harry and a £42 million wedding as a springboard for future success but she would not feel nurtured.    

  Mars lines indicate a heated location likely to bring arguments or accidents. Uncannily every American president in recent times who volunteered or was pulled into military activity did so on a world zone through which one of their four Mars lines ran. For Roosevelt it was Pearl Harbor; for Harry Truman, Japan and Korea; for Kennedy, Lyndon Johnson and Ford, it was Vietnam; for Jimmy Carter, Iran. Margaret Thatcher’s Mars on the midheaven (the key Mars line) runs straight through the tiny Falkland Islands, where Britain declared war after the Argentinian invasion in 1982. George W Bush had his Mars Midheaven line through Afghanistan.

  Actress Natasha Richardson, born in London, who was married to Liam Neeson, tragically died after a ski-ing accident near Montreal, Canada. Her chart relocated there put Mars conjunct her Ascendant there opposition Saturn. She had that accident-prone aspect natally but the Canadian location highlighted it.

Pluto lines are recommended to be treated with caution. JFK had his Pluto midheaven through Dallas, Texas, where he was assassinated in 1963.  Obviously not everyone dies on their Pluto midheaven lines, since regular world travellers will cross theirs several times a year. Additional factors will have been in play. In JFK’s birth chart he had an unaspected and uncontrolled Pluto which Dallas triggered.

  Years ago I was reluctantly persuaded to lecture on a cruise ship in the eastern Mediterranean, which given that my Pluto MC runs through Athens and down through Egypt, both of them on the itinerary, I was nervous beforehand. Not too much else showed up in my chart in terms of predictive influences – and my Pluto is well integrated in my chart, so I agreed. But it was not a happy voyage, the scary highlight of which was being in Luxor one day before the first Al Quaeda terrorist massacre of 62 tourists.  Plus I had a serious nose-bleed, requiring hospital treatment. A close shave.

  Astrocartography can be uncannily accurate but it may not always be fully lived out and can function in obscure ways. On my own chart – Big Sur in California is my idea of healing heaven with Venus, Mars, Neptune and Chiron lines anchored there. India with which I have strong and friendly career connections flags up. But I have never quite worked out what I am supposed to do with my most successful career lines running through Iran, Kazakhstan, Mongolia and the UAE. Maybe in another lifetime.

On mulling over those lines through the Middle East and further north – those regions did have a resonance for me.  I read voraciously of explorers in Arabia when I was a teenager and since have been fascinated by melting-pot Middle Eastern history ancient and modern.

  I even have a tenuous connection extraordinarily enough with Kazakh/Mongolia where my Chiron/MC line runs. It is connected to a friend who sadly suicided just as he was going out there to film. I had introduced him to an intermediary who was able to get permissions and make the impossible happen. But tragically it wasn’t enough.

  So the lines do spark up interest even if never visited.

  Not everyone is mobile or has a choice about uprooting but astrocartography can still indicate places where connections at a distance can be made or explored.

Michael Gambon, one of the greats of British theatre has died. An illustrious six decade career firmly founded on years with Laurence Olivier’s National Theatre, allowed him to branch out in TV and films – Maigret, The Singing Detective, Dad’s Army, The King’s Speech and Gosford Park until he landed the role of Dumbledore in six of the Harry Potter films.

  He was born 19 on October 1940, no birth time, in Dublin into a working class family, which moved to England when he was six. He left school at 15, became an apprentice toolmaker, then a qualified engineering technician. Aged 24, he wrote a letter to the Gate Theatre in Dublin outlining an imaginary theatre career and was taken on.

  He was a Sun Libra in a mischievous, oddball inconjunct to Uranus which was in turn in a creative trine to Neptune. He had the grounded Saturn Jupiter conjunction in Taurus trine his Venus in Virgo. His Mars in Libra conjunct his North Node was in a determined sextile to Pluto conjunct his Chiron.  His Uranus was further emphasized being opposition his Mercury in Scorpio. He would definitely stand out from the crowd.

  He did have a wonderful – and well-trained – stage voice which maybe his Neptune sitting on his Mercury/Pluto midpoint helped.

 His actor’s 15th harmonic was well aspected.

  I once saw him in Checkhov’s The Cherry Orchard and he was superb and memorable.  His Maigret was also a tour de force.

I wondered what had motivated him to make such a bold and dramatic switch out of engineering into the theatre. When he was 24 in 1964 tr Uranus Pluto in Virgo were conjunct his Venus and trine his Saturn Jupiter conjunction – arguably making him aware that his day job might fulfil his Saturn in Taurus but did nothing for his Jupiter – so ideals and dreams won the day as well as luck.

Singer Katy Perry is catching the headlines for having been married to Russell Brand for a nano-second years back, being embroiled in a house purchase gone wrong, and by roaring onto a Peppa Pig special as Ms Leopard. The real estate imbroglio, her second, may not be her fault but she is clearly unlucky when it comes to property purchases.  

  Born 25 October 1984 7.58 am Santa Barbara, California, into a strict religious family, she does have a heavyweight chart with a controlling 12^th house Sun Pluto conjunction in Scorpio with Mercury, Saturn, Moon in Scorpio all conjunct her Ascendant in her 1^st house. Her Taurus North Node is in her 7^th house of close relationships which will be her challenge in life and her Chiron is in her 8^th. Sun Pluto, Moon Saturn and NN in 7^th will make cooperative partnerships a demanding exercise for her.

  Her Venus in adventurous Sagittarius is conjunct her Uranus for a lighter-hearted streak. Her Taurus North Node may also be a pointer to her entanglements over financial property deals. Even if not her doing, it seems to attract tussles.

  The match with Brand never made Astro-sense with his Uranus conjunct her Sun Pluto and his Gemini Sun opposition her Uranus. His Saturn opposed her Mars with his Pluto square her Jupiter and Mars – each of them would send the other running for cover with those cross Uranus aspects, plus the aggravation of Saturn to Mars.

  Their relationship chart had a Sun opposition Mars Jupiter square Uranus – explosive, disruptive and unstable. With an unaspected Venus and sparsely aspected Moon. Not even a prominent Jupiter could save that.   

  The wedding in October 2010 in India was an extravaganza with the groom arriving on horseback and the happy couple accompanied by  elephants, camels and more horses in the wedding procession. There were fire jugglers and fire eaters, snake charmers and dance troupes, folk singers and drummers and several costume changes for the henna-adorned bride and, less traditionally, similarly painted groom.  Way way over the top as might be expected from a relationship with a flamboyant, composite Leo Sun boosted to ludicrous levels by Mars Jupiter and Uranus.

  The wedding chart itself had a final degree Libra Sun trine an uncommitted, dreamy Neptune; a hard-hearted Saturn square Pluto; and a Jupiter Uranus conjunction which I have come to distrust around relationships/weddings since it usually indicates an impulsive decision taken in haste and regretted later.

  The union lasted a year until he texted her saying a divorce was imminent.

  She is now together with Lord of the Rings/Hobbit actor Orlando Bloom, 13 January 1977 9.15 am Canterbury, England, with whom she has a young daughter.

  He’s a Capricorn with an 8^th house Scorpio Moon and Uranus, and an 8th house Pluto so is not uncomplicated himself. His Scorpio Moon is conjunct her Sun which is ideal though it is also conjunct her Pluto which for most would be overly intense. But his 8^th house Pluto perhaps has acclimatized him to possessive relationships.

  His Uranus is on her Ascendant and conjunct her Moon Saturn which will throw up a few tensions – though two busy careers may soak up some of the wrinkles. His Pluto squares her Mars which will lead to tussles for the last word.  The saving grace will be his amiable Jupiter in Taurus falling in her 7^th house offering her support and enthusiasm when she gets too intense.

  Their relationship chart has a passionate composite Venus trine Pluto and an easy-going composite Sun square Jupiter so is a giant improvement on the Brand match, if not altogether straightforward.

Azerbaijan having launched a military offensive in Nagorno-Karabakh triggered a humanitarian catastrophe as Armenian refugees pour out of the region and has made its allegiance with Russia a priority. The US and EU are rapidly revising their view of Azerbaijan, a resource-rich country, which had been seen as a reliable security partner and vital transport hub.

  Russia blamed Armenia for flirting with the west and thereby being to blame for the loss of Nagorno-Karabakh.

  Astrology charts are useless for these two countries since they were liberated more or less at the same time in 1918 and again in 1991.

  It has raised fears in Armenia of a rerun of the genocide of 1915 which has left them understandably hyper-sensitive. The mass murder of around one million Armenians during death marches to the Syrian Desert and the forced Islamization of others, primarily women and children, was driven by a wish in the Ottoman Empire to systematically destroy the Armenian people and identity during World War I.

  That started on 24 April 1915 when the war-mongering, destructive Saturn Pluto conjunction was almost exact and squared Venus. There is nothing similar at the moment.   Chiron was conjunct Jupiter exacerbating the wound rather than presenting good news.  The February 1915 Solar Eclipse was in the same Saros Series as this recent one so there will be some similar vibes. But nothing like a destructive as the 1915 Saturn Pluto.

  The two country charts show much the same panicky failure and tough slog ahead so Azerbaijan will not be brandishing the victor’s crown without paying a price.

Nicaragua under its strongman ruler Daniel Ortega is being slated for cracking down on opposition leaders, universities and now the Jesuits, seizing their assets. UN rights panel warns Nicaragua is being ‘stripped’ of critical voices.

 Ortega, 11 November 1945 2.30am La Libertad, Nicaragua, a leader of Nicaragua’s left-wing Sandinista revolution in 1979, was credited with first bringing down a dictator, and then the US-sponsored rebels, who tried to block his move into legitimate power. Four decades later, he is the longest-serving leader in the Americas. But his critics, who include many former allies, say he has become a corrupt and authoritarian ruler, turning his back on his revolutionary ideals and coming to resemble the dictator he deposed. In recent appearances he has looked frail, and his speeches have been increasingly erratic.

  He has a mega-controlling Scorpio Sun square Pluto with a can-be-cruel Saturn Mars conjunction in Cancer opposition a Capricorn Moon square Venus. Plus Venus Jupiter in his 1^st – a charmer on the surface with an exceptionally dark side. Tr Pluto has been conjunct his Moon and opposition his Saturn Mars in the past three years with the pressure not letting up till late 2024. So he may well be under immense physical and psychological pressure.

 His initial presidency chart, 10 January 2007, has a brutal and ruthless Mars Pluto conjunction and a Capricorn Sun inconjunct Saturn – so it was never going to be an enlightened administration. Tr Neptune is undermining the Mars Pluto for a whiff of failure this year and next with jolts and jangles from tr Uranus square the Saturn this year into early 2024 as well. Plus SA Saturn square the Jupiter denting enthusiasm. But there’s also a pushily-confident SA Jupiter conjunct Pluto this year as well. There is nothing too terminal in this chart for another five years.  Though Ortega’s relationship chart with Nicaragua hints at growing unease and tensions, peaking in 2025/26 when frustrations and rage will increasingly spill over.

  Nicaragua, 11 October 1821, has a Libra Sun opposition Saturn Moon Jupiter in Aries – all of which are catching the Solar Eclipses in 2023/24 so there could be a change of direction sparked by a crisis or several. That plus the Solar Arc Neptune Uranus square Pluto colliding with the Nicaragua Saturn (Moon) in 2023/24/25 will make for a high-tension, confusing and stuck three years ahead.

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Compassion for refugees escaping discrimination is being  touted as “unsustainable” by UK Home Secretary, Suella Braverman, whose hard line on migrants has earned her brickbats from several quarters. She is now challenging whether the UN’s 1951 Refugee Convention is “fit for our modern age”.

  The Convention was drawn up in 1951, originally focused on  Europe’s post-war refugees. It says they should not be returned or expelled from a country against their will if they fear for their life or freedom. Almost 150 countries have signed up to the Convention. Braverman argues the the threshold has been lowered so that asylum seekers need only prove that they face “discrimination” instead of a real risk of torture, death or violence. “But we will not be able to sustain an asylum system if in effect, simply being gay, or a woman, and fearful of discrimination in your country of origin is sufficient to qualify for protection.”

  The UN Refugee Convention was signed on 28 July 1951, when there was a hopeful, charitable Neptune opposition Jupiter square an innovative Uranus Mars in Cancer. There are hints of major stress on the agreement in 2025 with the Solar Arc Mars conjunct the Saturn, the SA Sun conjunct Neptune and square Mars and the SA Saturn square the Pisces North Node. Even before then tr Uranus square the Pluto hints at disruptions forcing a change in outlook.

 The United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR), 14 December 1950, is going through its own agonies at the moment with a trapped/paralysed tr Pluto conjunct the Mars at the moment as well as the unsettling/forced change tr Uranus square Pluto. With tr Pluto moving on to a discouraging, uphill slog in square to the Saturn in 2024/25 – plus tr Neptune having been in an undermining square to the Sun last year moving to square the financial Venus up to 2025.

  Nothing that looks like a solution.

  Suella Braverman is but a blip on the landscape and will soon be history one way or another. But maybe it takes a Sun Aries opposition Pluto to speak the unspeakable. Plus she has Uranus and Mars tied into a Fixed Cardinal Grand Cross so she is not backward about voicing her trenchant opinions and refusing to back down.

   Migrants are a pressing and almost insoluble problem for most countries especially those with generous state subsidies with understandable concern from governments over costs and resentment from the public at being overwhelmed by outsiders when they themselves are struggling.

  All countries need migrants to fill certain jobs and ultimately to support an ageing population through paying taxes. But the pressure in numbers from war, and climate change never mind mediaeval beliefs in their home land, will only increase.

  Countries near frontlines are worst effected. Lebanon with 5.5 million population has 1.5 million refugees from Syria.  Jordan who took in Palestinians in 1947 and 1967 has around 2.18 such refugees with a total population of 11.15 million. Turkey has around 3.6 million Syrian refugees and a population in total of around 85 million.

  Sometimes compassion is not enough.

ADD ON: The 1951 Convention was widened in 1967 (4 October) to include refugees from outside Europe. It has a Libra Sun opposition Saturn in Aries which is being rattled up by the October 2024 Libra Solar Eclipse and its Uranus by the September 2024 Lunar Eclipse.  With trenchant divisions through this year and next. So much the same timeline as above with pressure for change.

Suella Braverman – not having a good year vis a vis her Home Secretary Term chart but has smatterings of Jupiter especially in 2025 so something is going right for her.