Marjorie

“Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.” Dylan Thomas.

At 89 actress Sheila Hancock has earned the right to strutt her stuff and toss around her opinions on life, love and politics. Her latest memoir Old Rage was intended as an inspirational guide to growing old for those who aren’t Joan Collins but she rampages off down divergent paths as the whim takes her.

  She was born 22 February 1933 on the Isle of Wight into a working class family, a surprising background for a later Royal Shakespeare Company classical actress, and migrated from there into television over a long and prolific career. She has been married to two actors, who both died of oesophageal cancer. Her second husband the talented John Thaw best known for The Sweeney, Morse and Kavanaugh QC was an intense relationship which they took a break at one point since they both felt smothered but came back together again.

  She’s a Sun Pisces opposition Neptune in Virgo, good for a film and creative career, though by all rights it should have made her dreamy and vague. It is her Mars and Jupiter in Virgo opposition Mercury in Pisces which will fire up her tendency to straight speaking. That plus a rock-the-boat Uranus square Pluto. She has two Yods in her chart – one onto Venus and the other onto Jupiter which will give her the potential for making a major contribution to culture.

 John Thaw to whom she was married for 29 years was born 3 January 1942 in Manchester and was a Sun Capricorn with an Earth Grand Trine of Mercury in Capricorn trine Saturn Uranus in Taurus trine Neptune in Virgo – a heavy weight personality, renowned for his grumpiness, a heavy drinker and smoker.

 Their relationship would not be all plain sailing with his Mars in Aries in a firecracker conjunction to her Uranus. The over possessiveness which both admitted to came from his Cancer Moon conjunct her Pluto and his Pluto opposition her Aquarius Moon. Their relationship chart had a needs-space composite Sun square Uranus; an irritable and one -sided Mars square Saturn, hinting that one had to bite their tongue more than the other; and a successful-together Pluto Jupiter

  Their wedding chart of 24 December 1973 was also an indication of a close but not easy connection with a New Moon opposition Saturn square Pluto; with the New Moon trine Mars and Mars opposition Uranus. It was probably as well that both had busy and constantly changing acting careers to soak up the grittier side of their chemistry.

  She is on a third Saturn Return this year so reflecting deeply on life and what comes next.

“Age is an issue of mind over matter. If you don’t mind, it doesn’t matter.” Mark Twain

“Age is not important unless you’re a cheese.” Helen Hayes  

Coercive control has come into the relationship lexicon in recent years and onto the criminal statute book as controlling and threatening behaviour has become an offence. More women are coming forward to be open about their experiences which has a knock-on effect as it alerts other sufferers that their marital experiences are neither normal nor acceptable.

Ruth Dodsworth, a Welsh broadcaster and weather presenter, has been talking of her fears as her bullying ex-husband is about to be released from a three year prison sentence for coercive control and stalking. They were married for 18 years with two children and he conducted a campaign of domination, verbal and physical abuse which so eroded her self-esteem she didn’t recognize what was happening. It was her teenage children who eventually made her see sense and leave.

  She was born 21 May 1975 in Worthing, England, and has a Yod of a final degree Taurus Sun conjunct South Node sextile Mars inconjunct Uranus. Such a Uranus should have made her rebellious and a trailblazer but her Mars opposes Pluto Moon in Libra; and her Pluto Moon are square Venus in Cancer conjunct Pluto – so her childhood experience would make her battened down and fearful. Lack of emotional nurturing and subsequent low self-worth would make her susceptible to the ’love bombing’ that went on in the courtship to persuade her to get hitched.

  Her ex-husband, a former nightclub owner Jonathan Wignall, 17 May 1966 (Companies House), is also a late Taurus Sun. In his case his Sun is closely conjunct the destructive Fixed star Algol and the North Node and Mars in ultra-determined Taurus as well, all of which are in a hard-edged sextile to Saturn, a slippery opposition to Neptune. His Mars is also in an angry and controlling trine to Uranus Pluto. That is some chart –  massively stubborn, relentlessly obsessive, possessive and volcanic. His childhood background which isn’t known would also be hair-raising.

  Their relationship chart is also a wonder to behold with an affectionate composite Sun Venus conjunction also conjunct an up-and-down Jupiter Saturn conjunction – all trine Pluto. What was worse is a composite Yod onto Mars inconjunct Pluto sextile Neptune.  Locked together in a maelstrom of love and hate, high enthusiasm, harsh criticism and over control.

  Sally Challen who was initially was given a life sentence for murdering her over controlling and philandering husband in 2010 but eventually released after an appeal on the grounds of his coercive control, was born 27 July 1964. She has a Leo Sun square Saturn and Mars trine Pluto – so two of the same markers as Ruth Dodsworth – a Saturnine dented self-esteem and a childhood experience from Mars Pluto of dominating masculinity. Her father, a soldier died when she was young. She still insisted she loved and missed her husband even after she killed him.

  These relationships are not simple.

Add ON: Both Ruth Dodsworth and Sally Challen have strong 12th Harmonic charts – 12 being the number of sacrifice. Being sacrificed or becoming a victim to other persons’ (or entities’) plans, ambitions or intrigues. 12 warns against being a victim of circumstances, or dragged into other people’s affairs where you will be the one suffering the consequences. 12 may also make a conscious sacrifice. It can ultimately become the healer.

Anthony Albanese has been sworn in quickly as the new Australian prime minister to allow him to attend talks with Joe Biden and the India and Japan premiers in Tokyo. It is not yet known whether his centre-left Labor party will reach the 76-seat majority needed to govern in its own right but he has the guarantees for a coalition if not. He has promised to tackle climate change, rising living costs and inequality.

  He became AU PM at 9am in Canberra which gives a charming, good-for-PR 10^th house Venus though with a financially blocked and deprived 8^th house Pluto and Saturn with Pluto trine a 12^th house Sun Mercury. Economic circumstances beyond the government’s control will hem it in. A full 9^th house of a Pisces Moon as well as Mars Neptune conjunct in Pisces conjunct Jupiter in Aries indicate foreign affairs will be a major focus though muddled plans and over optimism will prove stumbling blocks.

 His personal chart, 2 March 1963, a Sun Pisces opposition Pluto Uranus, looks rattled and confused exactly now till mid June and in better spirits for a few weeks after that.  Certain high hopes will get dashed this year; 2023/2024 look frustrating and stuck; with more luck/confidence in 2024/25.

  His relationship chart with the Australia country chart has an extraordinary composite Saturn opposition Pluto square Uranus – which could suggest a connection that needs tough conditions of deprivation to thrive with crises inevitable though also a drive for reform and revolutionary change. It will be an uphill struggle for two years ahead with massive jolts in 2023.

 The Bank of Australia, 14 January 1960 chart, like other global central banks is ploughing through exceptionally stormy seas over coming years. There’s a devastating and confused Solar Arc Pluto conjunct Neptune now; losses and some disappointments this year which will trigger a confident and determined response. Then on through challenges peaking around 2024/25/26 – so there won’t be any quick n’ easy fixes.

  The Albanese government chart looks ground to a halt, trapped and panicky in three years time which fits the timeline. He’s taken over at a truly difficult transition.

See previous post May 12 2022.

Add On: His father was a cruise ship steward who took no part in his upbringing and he was told had died, only finding out recently that he was alive. That certainly fits with a Sun opposition Uranus. But oddly enough also with a Sun opposition Pluto which frequently occurs in the charts of individuals whose fathers died young or disappeared from their lives. Traditionally Sun Pluto suggests a controlling and possessive father but it can also clearly indicate a literally ‘out-of-their-control’ father. Sun trine Neptune also suggests confusion or evasion around father.

 He is on record as being Republican and his relationship charts with the UK and the Queen indicate an inherent suspicion and uncertainty with marked composite Saturn Neptune influences. His relationship with the UK will sag from now onwards and through 2023 with jolts and hiccups. His relationship with the Queen also shows dislike of the power imbalance. With Prince Charles 2023 to 2026 look devastated, undermined and jangled – so a push for change is coming though whether it succeeds isn’t clear.

 The Australia/UK chart is under a dark cloud in 2023/24 but it’ll be after mid decade before there is a clear cut indication of a possible split.   

The haunting and haunted life of leading World War One poet Siegfried Sassoon is being re-examined in Terence Davies’ Benediction, a biopic about personal loss, wasted life and talent unfulfilled – a man betrayed by himself. Decorated for bravery on the Western Front and described as recklessly  courageous, Sassoon turned against the war, writing poetry about the horror of the trenches and his 1917 Soldier’s Declaration against the continuation of the war became a cause celebre. Though also earned him a stint in the Craiglockhart psychiatric hospital, engineered by a friend to avoid charges of treason, dramatized in Pat Barker’s Regeneration novels and films.  There he met Robert Graves  and another leading war poet shell-shocked Wilfred Owen with whom he shared a strong bond.

Owen’s Anthem for Doomed Youth “What passing-bells for these who die as cattle?” became even more poignant when he was killed within a week of the Armistice in 1918.

 After the war in the 1920s Sassoon wrote the Sherston Trilogy of novels, really a fictionalised autobiography  – Memoirs of a Foxhunting Man etc – and conducted a series of homosexual affairs including one with Ivor Novello. He married when he was forty and had a son though the marriage split after 12 years.

   An earlier biographer remarked of him that he had lived posthumously since the war.

  He was born 8 September 1886 Tunbridge Wells with a rectified time of 5.22am.  He was a Sun Virgo sextile Saturn in Cancer on one side and sextile Mars in Scorpio on the other, with his Sun sitting on his Mars/Saturn midpoint – which suited him for a military career but would also be inclined to depression. His parents split when he was four and his father died five years later. His hard-working Capricorn Moon opposed his Saturn which would exacerbate his tendency to the glooms though a lucky, adventurous Uranus Jupiter in a confident trine to Pluto would help to add a counter-balance. His Venus Mercury square Neptune would foster his creative talents.

  I must admit to struggling to pinpoint the effects of the war on him astrologically-speaking. The two outermost planets Pluto and Neptune were both on the cusp of a sign shift as the war began and in the early stages – Pluto at zero Cancer as war broke out and Neptune into Leo shortly after. One partial clue may be his North Node in Virgo, maybe in the 12^th, which would make him unusually open to others’ pain. He was on a  Half Nodal Return in 1914 when the war began with the Eclipses in Pisces.

By 1917 when his tolerance for the horror had gone the transiting Node was conjunct his Moon and opposition his Saturn.  He did seem to be unduly sensitive to his Node. His Progressed Mars did oppose his Pluto which is more suggestive of a catastrophic and soul-searing phase but that was not until 1919/20. Though it may have been a delayed reaction.

  His friendship with Wilfred Owen, 18 March 1893, was close though probably not sexual. Owen was born two months after Ivor Novello, a later liaison, 15 January 1893, with both having the Neptune Pluto in Gemini on Sassoon’s Midheaven. And Owen like his wife Hester Gatty, 16 March 1906, had a Pisces Sun in Sassoon’s relationship 7^th house.

   All a muddle – as if each relationship offered him part of what he needed but it was never enough.

  His wife, Hester Gatty, had her Saturn conjunct his Pisces South Node which suggests at some level she may have pulled him back into the past. Though (his birth time being accurate) her Sun Venus in his 7^th would help to give him an uplift.

Not sure I am much the wiser.

Add ON:

Sassoon’s 12^th harmonic of the victim is prominent with a Grand Trine, formed into a Kite by a war-like Saturn opposition Pluto and destructive Pluto square Mars.

 Sassoon quotes:

“Sneak home and pray you’ll never know

The hell where youth and laughter go.

Look down, and swear by the slain of the War that you’ll never forget.”

“I died in hell. They called it Passchendaele.”

“Soldiers are citizens of death’s grey land, drawing no dividend from time’s tomorrows.”

“For death has made me wise and bitter and strong;

And I am rich in all that I have lost.”

“I know that he is lost among the stars,

And may return no more but in their light.”

Whatever fairy godmother or wizardess stood over Boris Johnson’s crib, she’s had her work cut out through decades of disgraces, scandals, lies, indolence, irresponsibility, negligence, unprincipled and dishonourable behaviour. Teachers at school complained of his sense of entitlement in expecting results with no effort, which continued later through a car-crash journalistic career, rife with complaints from colleagues about his delinquent conduct and on in similar vein through his subsequent roller coaster political stint. (See wiki)

  Despite all of which, with egregious missteps every inch of the way which would have sunk ordinary mortals, he has continued to rise and survive – and so it goes on.

  This is grinding old axes astrologically speaking but since the local elections have clearly not put a stake through his premiership and Partygate looks to be going the way of his previous 10,000 misdeeds, it probably requires an update.

  His relationship chart with the Conservative Party 1912 is on a steady downward slide from now (mid May), till early August, most likely as a result over the cavalier declaration about ditching the Northern Ireland Protocol – and that tr Neptune square the composite Mars returns in April 2023, as well as late in the year.  2023 will also see relations under a dark cloud with a ‘separating’ tr Saturn square the composite Venus and Sun.

  His relationship chart with the UK is similarly into swampy territory this year with tr Neptune square the composite Jupiter and aggravated and disrupted through 2023/24.

  If the past experience with Maggie Thatcher and Tony Blair holds good then the original PM chart is the one that holds clues about the exit.

  Boris became prime minister on 24 July 2019 at 3.12pm and that chart while rattled and facing hostile criticism this year isn’t terminally challenged until 2024 when tr Pluto starts to oppose the Sun and the Solar Arc Sun squares the Uranus.

  His personal chart is not showing much on the midheaven or Solar Arc Midheaven which tells about career and life’s direction. Though if his birth chart is relocated from New York to the UK it puts the Midheaven in line for an undermining tr Neptune opposition in 2023 and a tr Uranus square the Solar Arc Midheaven in 2023 as well.

  In 2023 tr Saturn in Pisces will make a ratchety, bad tempered trip in hard aspect round his Mutable T Square – square his Mars in March and then conjunct his Saturn and opposition his Uranus. Saturn Returns are always heavy years.

   And in his case his Scorpio Moon is also taking a pounding. It was keyed up when his mother died last year; and will be facing considerable pressure from Solar Arc Saturn opposition exact in three months but in effect now. For a politician the Moon represents not only women in his life but also the public and thus approval or popularity. Into 2023 from March onwards tr Pluto will square his Moon on and off till late 2024 which will be extremely challenging emotionally, domestically and even physically.

  Like Blair he may drag on and on despite the country’s exasperation.

See previous post January 13 2022 on Maggie Thatcher and Blair’s exit from No 10.

Add On: May 27

Peter Hennessy, the political historian in the FT on Boris:

“ British politics is reduced to the psychology of one man. For Johnson, the state is “an adventure playground”. On any given issue, “the overwhelmingly important prism for him is: what does it do for me and my reputation?”  

“Britain’s political system depends on the acceptance that “good chaps of both sexes don’t do certain things”. “If the prime minister is the number one wrong ’un, you’re in deep, deep trouble.”

“Boris does it (lies), you get the impression in the bad weeks, almost daily.” It has led to “a bonfire of the decencies”.

“The one thing I’m sure is whoever replaces Boris, whatever the circs, he or she will make great play of being anybody but Boris in terms of due process and care and attention.”  

‘It took Britain 12 years to get into Europe in 1973, it will take a similar time to get out. “The curse of Brexit will be with us for a long time.”

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Turkey’s unpredictable and authoritarian president Recep Erdogan has thrown a spanner in the works of Finland and Sweden’s desire to join NATO which require a unanimous agreement from all 30 members before it can go ahead. He is aggrieved by what he sees as Sweden’s failure to crackdown on members of the Kurdistan Workers’ party (PKK), an armed militia that has fought the Turkish state since the 1980s and of harbouring exiled members of the Gulen movement, a secretive Islamic sect that Ankara blames for a violent coup attempt that rocked Turkey in 2016. He described Sweden and Finland as “incubators” for terrorist groups. He is struggling with a troubled economy ahead of elections due before June next year and has a record of playing hardball with the west.

  One of his officials said they may agree but only if their conditions are met including the return of terrorists and perhaps getting the go ahead to buy fighter jets from the USA.

  Having looked at various charts I’m not sure I am any the wiser.  The Nato chart, 24 August 1949 11.42am Washington, is certainly due for an upheaval and change of direction from tr Uranus square the 10^th house Pluto from the 29^th of this month to mid June and repeating in November and March 2023. Tr Neptune is also in a confused and indecisive opposition to the Mercury exactly now and repeating on and off till late 2023. 2023 looks downbeat with tr Saturn opposition the Sun, Moon, Saturn. There’s a jolt or shock of sort involving future direction from Solar Arc Sun square the Mars which might well be the result of an overly confident push.

  The Turkey country chart and all its relationship charts with Russia, Finland and Sweden are awash with Scorpio planets which are catching this year’s Eclipses and the tr Uranus oppositions in 2023. So nothing too settled.

  Turkey’s relationship with Nato is disappointing this year with a dashed-hope tr Neptune square Jupiter, raising intense emotional reactions with tr Pluto square Venus till this December; stressed in 2023/24 and not too happy in the three years following.

  Though neither Finland nor Sweden look exactly on an even keel vis a vis Nato either through 2023 to 2025. And the Nato/Russia connection looks most stressed around 2024/25 rather than now.

 Who’d know? It’s the problem with international cooperation when opportunistic politicians with an eye to the main chance use any leverage they can to get themselves attention and kudos from their domestic audience.

 Erdogan 26 February 1954, is a Mars in Sagittarius opposition Jupiter square Venus, Mercury, Sun in Pisces – aggressive in pursuit of his own self-importance, slippery, with a tendency to cosmeticize his motives – trying to sound moral when in reality being motivated by self-interest.

“One man’s terrorist is another man’s freedom fighter.”

For Turkey previous post see: April 17 2022

Teflon Mark Rutte in for a fourth term as prime minister of the Netherlands despite a string of scandals, is relying on his winning Jupiter to see him through this year. It may not hold him up through 2023 but will be back with more unmerited bounty by 2024.  Whoever said life wasn’t fair?

   Born 14 February 1967 6.53pm, The Hague, he has a hard-working 6^th house Aquarius Sun in a slippery square to Neptune. His Neptune is in a Water Grand Trine to Jupiter in Cancer trine Saturn in Pisces, with his Saturn opposition Uranus Pluto in Virgo – so a talented Grand Trine formed into an influential and innovative Kite. He also has an ego-centric Yod of Jupiter sextile Uranus inconjunct Sun.

  Tr Pluto will oppose his Jupiter for a final time this August to early December which is mirrored on his 4^th Term chart, 10 January 2022 with tr Pluto conjunct the Mars/Jupiter midpoint. So a confident push ahead.

  It won’t be all upbeat since he also has this year tr Saturn conjunct his Sun and square his Neptune this year. And 2023 looks tough going with tr Uranus jolting his Sun and Neptune; and Solar Arc Saturn opposition his Neptune in 2023 and then square his Sun in 2024. Plus a frustratingly trapped tr Pluto in Aquarius  square to his Mars from March 2023 on and off until late 2024, with a panicky uncertain tr Neptune conjunct his Saturn from May 2023 onwards as well. That timeline is also mirrored on the 4^th Term chart with panics, uncertainty, indecisiveness and unpopularity in 2023 into 2024.

  His Jupiter will, as per usual, pick him out of a hole and by 2024 he has Solar Arc Jupiter conjunct his Uranus for a lucky break and more so by 2025 with his Solar Arc Midheaven conjunct his Jupiter. It may be he exits parliament and moves to greater triumphs elsewhere given he has tr Uranus conjunct his Midheaven from 2025 onwards indicating a change of career.

  Luck is distributed whimsically by the gods and is rarely earned.  

Actress Selma Blair has written “a jaw-flooring memoir of alcoholism, suicide attempts, being raped, multiple times” and getting a late diagnosis of multiple sclerosis which explained symptoms she had suffered for decades. Titled Mean Baby: A Memoir of Growing Up she describes herself as arriving in the world scowling. Having been landed with the family label she set out to fulfil the legend taking to alcohol aged 7, promising herself she would be “the best alcoholic a girl can be,”  and acting out venomously and at times violently. Her first boyfriend died at college and after a split from her second she attempted suicide.  Her blackout drinking led to multiple rapes and she only gave up when she had a young child a few years back.

  Born 23 June 1972 8.45am Southfield, Michigan, she was the youngest of four daughters of the ‘dazzling, ambitious but acid-tongued judge Molly Ann Beitner.’ Her mother often told her how she’d wanted to have her aborted and didn’t expect her to amount to anything. And when little Selma admitted to feeling sad and anxious, her mother assured her that if things ever got too bad the pair of them could go out to the garage, run a hose from the exhaust into the window, and stop breathing together. What is astonishing is that she “studied and revered” her mother, describing her as beloved when she died.  

 Selma is a Sun Cancer opposition Jupiter in Capricorn in her performing 5^th house square Pluto – such a strong Jupiter would be one of her saving graces, since it inculcates optimism when dark clouds close in. The Jupiter Pluto will make her a rule-breaker.

   It is her Moon aspects which are eye-dropping and savage. A 4^th house Scorpio Moon conjunct Neptune trines a 12^th house Mars South Node sextile Pluto – and that describes one dysfunctional and unpleasant mother.  

  Her mother Molly Ann Breitner, 25 January 1938, was a confident Venus Sun Jupiter in Aquarius in a controlling opposition to Pluto. Her Pluto was trine a cruel, hard-edged Mara Saturn conjunction probably trine a Scorpio Moon. Like her daughter she was saved from debilitating depression and the effects of destructive mothering from the generation before by her strong Jupiter and Pluto.

 Their relationship chart was understandably aggravated to an extreme degree with an afflicted and integral angry Mars.  And down the generations the family pattern rolls until someone stops and unpicks the negative chain.

  At the moment Selma Blair has Jupiter moving through her 8^th which is often a time of clearing out the past and opening up a brighter future so the book may act as a release and bring new understandings. What a depressing story though I suppose she has pulled herself out of it.

Apocalyptic warnings about inflation and the cost of living in the UK should theoretically involve a punishing of the wicked and rewards for the faithful. Given that the last bout of high inflation in the 1970s resulted in Margaret Thatcher’s election to power, it might seem to some a misnomer.

  Inflation now stands at 9% the highest since the 1970s oil crisis when a sudden supply shock sent the oil price soaring by 300%. Inflation climbed to 12.9% in 1974, 24% in 1975. By 1976 Labour PM James Callaghan was forced to go cap in hand to the IMF for a loan. Maggie was elected in 1979 and by 1983 inflation had sunk back to 4%.

   In the early 1970s when the economic woes kicked off, the UK 8^th house Mars was – as ever – heavily challenged by tr Saturn in Aquarius in square; and by the Solar Arc Neptune just into the UK financial 8^th house heading to conjunct the Mars as the economic crisis escalated. Tr Pluto was in a blocked square to the UK Solar Arc Midheaven and moving to a disruptive conjunction to the UK Uranus; with a panicky, devastated tr Neptune square the UK Pluto. And the Solar Arc Pluto was moving to conjunct the UK 11^th house Saturn across the mid 1970s as well. By the time of the 1976/77 bailout tr Uranus in Scorpio was opposing the 8^th house UK Mars. If not apocalyptic, certainly catastrophic.

   Not all of that is repeating now but there are enough red flags of similarity to raise alarm. The Solar Arc Uranus moving through the UK financial 8^th house will conjunct the Mars by 2025 for an economic shock of considerable proportions. Before then there is a stuck, powerless, image-denting Solar Arc Pluto square the UK Sun within the next six months; followed by Solar Arc Saturn in a disruptive, economically-destabilizing opposition to the UK Uranus by late 2023 at the same time as a lacklustre, undermining Solar Arc Sun square the financial 2nd house Neptune. And the Solar Arc Midheaven is catching the tr Uranus hard aspects this year and will square the Neptune by 2024.

  This year and next the tr Saturn square tr Uranus will rattle up the UK’s Fixed Venus, Neptune, Saturn which will also make for a rocky ride.

  Andrew Bailey, Bank of England chief has been sounding warnings and getting blamed for the Covid money-printing spree and low interest rates. His own chart and that of his term both have heavy Neptunian swamps writ large this year into a discouraging 2023/24. Not a walk in the park.

 The Bank of England chart, 27 July 1694 JC, is in for a gruelling few years with the uncertain, undermining tr Neptune conjunct Neptune and square Saturn now till 2025; a logjammed and scary tr Pluto trine Mars in 2023/24; and the tr Saturn Neptune in Aries moving to oppose the Mars in 2025 and then square the financial Venus until 2026.  By 2026 tr Uranus is preparing to exit the UK financial 8^th house which will bring to an end an unstable and unpredictable economic phase. See previous post May 14 2020 for parallels with the 1970s.

All that money wasted on covid loans and reckless Boris largesse. Sigh.

ADD ON: FT May 19 2022:

Britain has the highest inflation in the G7 of advanced economies  —– and the country’s inflation problem has more signs of persistence than in many other European countries.