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The collapse of the travel agent Thomas Cook has led to the largest ever peacetime repatriation with 155,000 British tourists being flown back home in Operation Matterhorn, expected to cost around £100 million. The failure of last-ditch talks to raise fresh funding will put 22,000 jobs at risk worldwide, including 9,000 in the UK.

The company was founded in 1841 ferrying temperance supporters between major English cities, sadly without a start date; and after being acquired by German owners merged with another travel company on 19 June 2007.

The 2007 chart has an entrepreneurial though sticky Fire Grand Trine of Mars in Aries trine Pluto trine Saturn Moon in Leo, formed into two Kites by Saturn opposition Neptune in Aquarius and Pluto opposition a Gemini Sun squaring onto Uranus in Pisces. There is potential wrapped up in this chart though also rolling crises from Uranus Pluto, setbacks from Saturn Mars and Mars Pluto; and impracticality from Neptune. One of the driving rods of this chart – the Sun opposition Pluto – had moved by Solar Arc to catch the July Cancer Solar Eclipse head on. Tr Neptune had also started to undermine the Mutable T Square with a conjunction to the Uranus.

What is intriguing is that in 1841, certain of the major planetary positions were the same – Uranus was in Pisces, Neptune in Aquarius, Jupiter and Saturn in Sagittarius – so not a million miles different from the 2007 chart.

The UK Supreme Court is expected to give its answer about whether Boris Johnson’s cessation of Parliamentary business for five weeks was legal or not, within a day or so. Legal insiders say there’s a real possibility the decision may go against the government. If so, there’ll be more feathers flying in the henhouse.

The Supreme Court was first convened at 10am 1 October 2009 in London which suitably enough gives a Libra Sun with the scales of justice as the ruling symbol. There’s also a Uranus opposition Saturn which can be dictatorial and inconsistent, not given to humility. Plus a Yod of Mars in excitable and patriotic Cancer sextile Mercury in meticulous Virgo inconjunct Jupiter Neptune in Aquarius. Jupiter on the point of a Yod can be influential in setting social patterns and promoting development of ideals, though tends to be self-righteous. A Yod apex Neptune can be fairly ivory-tower and needs seclusion to operate best if it is not to become disorganized.

Neither Boris nor Dominic Cummings look altogether settled with the Supreme Court chart at the moment. Boris has an emotionally jangled, separating tr Uranus square the composite Venus Mercury now; and a disappointing tr Neptune square a composite Saturn opposition Uranus mid-November to mid-December. Dominic Cummings has tr Uranus opposition the composite Sun now and then Venus within weeks – and he regards them with real dislike with a composite power-struggle exact Pluto opposition Mars.

George Blake, the British spy who gave information to the Russians which did great damage to western intelligence in Eastern Europe  is still living in Moscow and evidently regretting his choices. He was convicted of treason in the UK and sentenced to 42 years but managed to escape after five years and was smuggled across Europe.

He was born 11 November 1922 at 2.40 pm Amsterdam, Netherlands, and had a peripatetic childhood, mixing with Communists in Holland, involved in the Dutch resistance during the German invasion and having escaped to the UK worked for British intelligence. After World War 11 finished he was posted to Korea and taken prisoner there for three years, during which his dislike of US bombing turned him towards Russia. He volunteered his services and was a valuable asset for the KGB during his MI6 time in Berlin until he was arrested eight years later. He spent five years in prison and then escaped with two other prisoners and was smuggled across Europe into Russia where he has been for nearly 55 years.

His chart is astonishingly similar to Eli Cohen’s (see post below) – with an 8^th house Scorpio Sun, a 4^th house Pluto in Cancer and a 12^th house Uranus; and both shared Moon Neptune in Leo. Both have Fire Water charts.

The other spy of note Oleg Gordievsky, 10 October 1938, Moscow, no birth time sadly, was a former KGB colonel who became disillusioned after the building of the Berlin Wall and invasion of Czechoslovakia and passed secrets to the British for a decade until he was uncovered by a mole within the CIA and summoned back to Moscow, but managed to escape after interrogation. He’s unlike the other two being a Sun Libra opposition Saturn; with his Sun inconjunct Uranus; and his Jupiter in Aquarius inconjunct Mars Neptune – so would have felt like an outsider. He’s still alive living under protection in the UK. Ben McIntyre wrote a revealing biography of him last year – The Spy and the Traitor.

Downton Abbey: The Movie has had a brilliant opening way above expectation in terms of box office. The reviews were less effusive, talking of same old, same old and no plot. But the punters clearly just want familiarity and not too much nerve-stretching jeopardy.

It started Principal Photography on 31 August 2018 with a confidently successful Jupiter Pluto Neptune mini-Grand Trine; and a business-like Earth Grand Trine – so it did get off onto the right foot.

Gareth Neame, the producer who suggested Downton Abbey in the first place, oversaw its spectacularly successful television run, and was co-producer of the film, is the fourth generation of a family steeped in the cinema and TV business. He was born 8 March 1967, and in addition to Downton, he brought winners like Spooks, State of Play, Hustle, New Tricks amongst others to the screen.

He has a super-talented chart with a creative Water Grand Trine of a Pisces Sun trine Jupiter in Cancer trine Neptune, formed into a Kite by Sun opposition Pluto Uranus – very much on the cutting edge. He’s got a successful tr Pluto trine his Sun/Jupiter midpoint exactly now as it launches; with tr Pluto moving to form a confident opposition to his Jupiter in 2020/2021 which will push his Grand Trine and life onto a different track. Plus a Solar Arc Jupiter opposition his Sun in 2020 which will also bring a triumph or two, followed in subsequent years by Solar Arc Jupiter conjunct his Pluto and then Uranus – he’ll be on a roll.

Julian Fellowes, the writer of Downton Abbey, 17 August 1949, Cairo, Egypt, is an influential and entertaining Sun Pluto in Leo; with a showbizzy Mars in patriotic Cancer square Neptune and in an exuberant opposition to Jupiter; and a hard-working, communicative Mercury Saturn in Virgo. His Sun is quincunx Jupiter in socially ambitious Capricorn. He’s had an illustrious career winning awards for his screenplay of Gosford Park; and penned many others; and clearly has a special feeling for the aristo lifestyle of bygone days.

The UK Opposition Labour Party is riven by division as much as the Tories, with civil war almost breaking out when the far left attempted to abolish centre-left Tom Watson’s elected Deputy Leader position. He described it as a ‘drive by shooting’ which had been triggered by his pro-Remain and Second Referendum stance on Brexit; and said that Momentum, who were exerting the pressure disliked a broad church and plurality of views.

Not too different from the sling-them-out government response to MPs who differed from the Boris Brexit line.

Corbyn stamped on the notion of deleting Tom Watson’s position but it’s done damage. Jon Lansman, the activist, Corbyn supporter and founder of Momentum founder, 9 July 1957, is a Sun Cancer with a lively Mars, Venus, Uranus in Leo trine Saturn in dogmatic Sagittarius. He’s deflated at the moment with tr Neptune opposition his Solar Arc Mars; and in a fairly excitable and agitated phase with tr Uranus square his Uranus, Venus and Mars between now and 2021. He does have a confident tr Pluto trine his Jupiter in Virgo in 2021/22 but that runs alongside two serious setback Solar Arcs in 2021/22.

Momentum, founded 8 October 2015 – if it holds good as a chart since I’m fairly wary of political party charts – is downbeat now till mid December with tr Saturn in hard aspect to the Libra Sun opposition Uranus square Pluto. Though it also has a risk-taking, adventurous surge of confidence from Solar Arc Mars conjunct Jupiter also now. It looks jolted in about six months’ time; and has two difficult Solar Arcs in 2021/22.

Tom Watson has been having a tough time, not just with internal party politics, but having backed the fantasist Nick (Carl Beech) who falsely alleged abuse by leading politicians. Born 8 January 1967, his Capricorn Sun square Mars in Libra has been heavily pressured over the past two years by the tr Pluto hard aspect. That has now cleared; but his Pluto Uranus in Virgo opposition Saturn is picking up the tr Pluto trine and sextile over the next two/three years – and even soft aspects will be an uphill struggle.

His relationship with Lansman is fairly hostile with a composite Mars Pluto, a high-tension Uranus inconjunct Saturn; and a cold Venus square Saturn. It won’t improve in November.

The two Labour Party charts – 27 February 1900 and 12 February 1906 – if they hold water – show mixed fortunes on the 1900 chart, picking up more successful influences from late February 2020 till late 2021 after a discouraging and frustrating two years recently. The 1906 chart isn’t showing much cheer, indeed the opposite in 2020 with an undermining tr Neptune square the Pluto, conjunct the Jupiter/Uranus midpoint early on and conjunct the Mars/Saturn midpoint from April on and off into 2021.

Brad Pitt was given a rapturous response at the Venice Film Festival for his starring role in James Gray’s space odyssey/family drama Ad Astra with an 8/10 critical rating. Though it’s doubtful whether it will outdo the  abysmally-reviewed Rambo for this weekend’s opening for second place behind the surprising front-runner Downton Abbey: The Movie.

James Gray, the director and writer, was born 14 April 1969 in New York and has several films to his credit which made it to the Cannes Film Festival shortlist. He has a powerfully focussed chart with a Yod of Jupiter in Virgo (conjunct Uranus and Pluto) sextile Neptune inconjunct Sun Saturn in Aries – an individual who would always follow his own path.

His first movie Little Odessa won at the Silver Lion Venice Film Festival in 1994 – that was when his Solar Arc Jupiter (Pluto Uranus) and tr Uranus Neptune in Capricorn were all hovering around hard aspects to his apex focal point Sun – see chart. Yods usually need a significant trigger from transits and other influences etc to jolt them into gear. There’s nothing much on his chart suggesting a rip-roaring success with this one with tr Neptune in a worrisome square to his Solar Arc Saturn now and moving to a panicky square to his Mars from mid-November.

Neither is Brad Pitt in a spectacularly successful phase, see post August 30 2019. He’s probably at a stage where he’s not too concerned about box office takings and more with enjoying himself in the film roles he picks. Though upbeat tr Jupiter is moving through his 1^st house at the moment and conjunct his Sun in early November; and tr Pluto is sextile his Solar Arc Midheaven (birth time being accurate) – so he’s not disheartened.

It was a good symbiosis between director and actor with Gray’s Jupiter sitting on Pitt’s midheaven for a successful partnership in terms of ambition, with Gray’s focussed Sun Saturn falling in Pitt’s performing 5^th house of creativity. Though it wouldn’t be without its rough edges with Gray’s Mars in Pitt’s 1^st house which can be competitive and square Pitt’s Pluto Uranus which can be explosive. On the relationship chart it displays as a complementary and friendly composite New Moon conjunct Venus (more whole when together); and a high-octane Saturn opposition Uranus Pluto square Mars.

Ed Buck, a former male model who campaigned for animal rights, has been charged with operating a drug house and administering methamphetamines to vulnerable gay black men to manipulate them into participating in sex acts. The prosecutors described him as a “violent, dangerous sexual predator” – three men appear to have died in his apartment. He was a fixture on the Los Angeles Democratic scene, having formerly been Republican when he was in Arizona.

He was born 24 August 1954 in Steubenville, Ohio – there’s some doubt as to the exact day but the 24^th works well on present events.

He’ll be a Sun Virgo conjunct a controlling Pluto on one side; and on the other conjunct Mercury trine Mars in Capricorn, sextile Saturn in Scorpio – and that mini-Grand Trine of Sun, Mars, Saturn does have a cruel and unpleasant feel to it. His adventurous Jupiter Uranus in Cancer may be conjunct a Cancer Moon and squares Venus Neptune in Libra – emotionally unpredictable, slightly fanatical/off-the-wall with Uranus Neptune, frivolous, confused.

At the moment on this birth date he’s got his Solar Arc Sun conjunct his Saturn and his Solar Arc Mars opposition his Mercury – so a general logjam as he gets hauled away in a police car. Plus the jolting tr Uranus opposition his focal point Saturn through this year and early next to upset his applecart.

His 9^th Harmonic is very marked, linking a perverse Neptune to Mars Jupiter and Venus; as well as neurotic Mercury to Saturn and Neptune. The 9^th is supposed to be humanitarian but its under-developed side is greed, immorality and irresponsibility. His 10^th harmonic – the seeds of the rise and fall, good and bad – is also notable and ruthless.

Hideous man and such a waste of young lives.

Spook-fascination has produced another TV mini-series from Netflix about Israel’s top Mossad spy in Syria in the 1960s Eli Cohen. He is played bizarrely enough by Sacha Baron Cohen taking on a serious role.

Born 16 December 1924 12 noon Alexandria, Egypt (from memory), he stayed behind, when his family moved to Israel in 1949, to organise Zionist activities. He was then trained in undercover work by Mossad, lived briefly in South America to establish a persona as a rich businessman, went to Syria and moved in high society, became the confidante of generals and ultimately Deputy Defence Minister. The information he radioed back in secret transmissions was key to Israel winning the Six Day War. He was pressured by his Mossad overlords against his better judgement to return to Syria one last time, was captured, tortured and executed.

He was a confident and enthusiastic Sun Jupiter in Sagittarius square Mars Uranus in Pisces and trine Neptune Moon in Leo – certainly devil-may-care, idealistic, brave and foolhardy. That all makes sense of a high-roller who lived like James Bond. His darker, more secretive side came from Saturn in Scorpio in his 8^th trine a 4^th house Pluto which in turn opposed Mercury. His Venus in Scorpio also in the 8^th was trine Uranus Mars and square Neptune Moon.

I cannot fathom the kind of temperament which can live that kind of a double life where the penalty for exposure is guaranteed to be exceedingly nasty. Living with that kind of constant fear takes a special kind of character.

Cohen’s family have complained that his womanising streak has been sensationalised in the TV drama and that wasn’t the man they knew. His widow also aimed a few brickbats at Mossad, blaming them for sending him back.

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