The Brexit Deal was signed at 2.44pm and announced at 3pm in London, with sighs of relief all round. The devil will be in the detail but even Nigel Farage says the long haul out of the EU is over. It will still have to be ratified by both parliaments but the reckoning is that Boris has enough to see it through even if the batshit crazy ERG-ers mount a challenge (violently anti-Eu types who really wanted a No Deal fallout.) Commentators added below.
The announcement chart has a co-operative 7th house Sun Mercury in an easy trine to Moon Uranus in the friendly, networking 11th. And Moon Uranus square a Jupiter Saturn conjunction in Aquarius in the international 9th – marrying idealism and materialism though it won’t be seamless. With both Uranus and Mars hitting on Jupiter Saturn there will be jolts, hitches and glitches along the way.
Two aspects raise more obvious question marks. One is the indecisive Neptune in the 10th square North Node on the Ascendant opposition Venus. The other is the dirty-dealing-in-secret Pluto in the 8th in a frustrating and trapped square to Mars. Luckily the Mars Pluto square is almost exact so although the next few months will be fraught, it may not cause much aggravation beyond that.
There’s not much indication of triumphant celebrations on any of the charts of key figures – negotiators, Boris etc. I take that back – Ursula von Leyen has tr Uranus opposition her Jupiter for a considerable sigh of relief, which she deserves having pushed Barnier aside to take over negotiations. Boris isn’t looking too chirpy but then he didn’t over his resounding election victory either. One of the oddities of his temperament.
There will be all manner of griping and groaning but from an initial reaction it does seem in the circumstances like a triumph for Boris which Theresa May couldn’t have managed to pull off.
Add ON: The media as to be expected are split between the contemptuous left-wing and the jubilant right-wing. Below thoughts to ponder from various commentators.
The general view appears to be “Even with this deal, nobody is a winner.” A trade agreement along the lines of the one negotiated between the two sides will leave Britain facing a 4 per cent loss of potential gross domestic product over 15 years compared with EU membership, according to the UK’s Office for Budget Responsibility. Britain will begin its “independence” facing unsatisfactory frictions in the roughly half of its trade that is with the EU, especially in services.
It is certainly not the easy deal Brexiters blithely predicted. Manufacturers – face costly extra bureaucracy which is likely to hit exports to Europe. There is even less for the service sector, the engine of the British economy. The price of British sovereignty is essentially the first trade deal designed to reduce access. This – represents a much harder Brexit than even many Leave supporters thought they were voting for in 2016.
In the long term, however, Britain is weakened. The UK alone carries less clout in the world. The Union is in great peril. Northern Ireland will look ever more toward the Republic; Scotland appears likely to return the Nationalists to power with their agenda of a second independence referendum. More important, the UK’s economic trajectory is now slower and lower.
Finally shorn of the economic advantages of EU membership, the UK is going to need a more agile and effective leadership than this government has thus far generally shown itself capable of delivering.
There’s also an argument that Brexit is now four years out of date. “The whole ‘Global Britain’ model doesn’t reflect the more protectionist, nationalistic world we’re living in,” said Thomas Wright, the director of the Center on the United States and Europe at the Brookings Institution. “Becoming a global free trader in 2016 is a bit like turning into a communist in 1989. It’s bad timing.”
“The world is now dominated by three gargantuan economic blocs – the United States, China and the European Union. Britain has finalised its divorce from one of them, leaving it isolated at a time when the path forward seems more perilous than it once did.”
‘The prime minister – has run down the clock and squandered diplomatic goodwill until the only viable option was a bad Brexit softened at the edges by the prospect of it being implemented in an orderly fashion. To have avoided the very worst-case scenario is a pitiful kind of achievement. Mr Johnson deserves no credit for dodging a calamity that loomed so close because he drove so eagerly towards it. This, too, is intrinsic to his modus operandi. His core skill is getting out of scrapes that his own negligence and recklessness get him into.’
‘So far, the government has given little indication of its plans. A vision for post-Brexit Britain, its economy, and its place in the world, have yet to be spelt out. It is far from clear, moreover, that a government that has mishandled much of its response to coronavirus is capable of steering a traumatised country through the extraordinary period of change ahead.’
Extras:
“Brexit was always in part fuelled by the allure of destroying the present. The farce has been presented as a drama, when reversing more than 40 years of cooperation for peace and prosperity is truly a tragedy.”
“This deal will see the poorest communities across Britain hit hardest – especially in the north and the Midlands, which are more reliant on manufacturing, set to be a significant loser. For all the talk of “nothing to lose”, analysis by IPPR shows that a Brexit deal like this will cause the most harm to those least resilient to it. “
“We share the view of most informed world opinion, especially American, that beyond our weaker economic position, we shall become less important allies for the US because of our forfeiture of influence in Europe.”
“Post-Brexit Britain can indeed exclude Polish plumbers and Romanian car-washers. There will be immense popular disappointment, however, trending to anger, when it becomes understood that our newfound liberty does nothing to resolve the far more serious problems posed by non-EU immigration, especially from Africa and the Middle East.”
“In the words of Churchill after Dunkirk: “wars are not won by evacuations”.
Boris and the Brexiteers broke it – they own it. And they won’t escape the brickbats as the actualite throws a spotlight on the mendacity.
I would take statements like “4 per cent loss of potential gross domestic product over 15 years compared with EU membership, according to the UK’s Office for Budget Responsibility” with a giant tablespoon full of salt.
There arn’t any economists that can predict six months ahead, let alone 15 years ahead. No economists in 1993 predicted the 2008 financial crash for example, so it’s a bit of a fraud for economists to pretend they have these types of predictive powers. I don’t know why people quote these predictions so breathlessly.
Most astrologers would hesitate to predict 15 years out.
The arc of history is bent by individuals throwing curveballs – inventions, the management of a country, what people do with the hand they’ve been dealt have much more power to affect society than dry trade deals.
The country with the most trade deals in the world is Mexico, but they don’t seem to be able to capitalise on them. Trade deals are not a guarantee of success – as the people in the eurozone found, when their EU status and common currency not only failed to protect them in the eurozone crisis of 2010-2013 but those things may have exacerbated the situation.
Trade deals are not magic pieces of paper.
With that caveat, I’m glad that we have one that allows the UK to try new things given that the status quo was clearly failing.
‘Economists’ simply have an absolutely appallingly bad track record of ‘forecasting’ anything.
Vey silly question, Marjorie, but given that the Nodes are tightly conjunct the Ascendant and Descendant, does that indicate that the Deal was in any way destiny?
I have got to say that the chart for the agreement does not look too bad. It does not have much water and does look rather fixed as is appropriate for a deal. It will be OK but will neither be the triumph nor the disaster that some want it to be. The Mars square Pluto will, I suspect cause the agreement to be awkward and difficult from time to time due to aggravating external circumstances which will lead to change in the long run. Otherwise I suspect we will wonder what the fuss was about in a few years time.
For Boris however this is a big achievement but, as with winning an election, he now has to fulfil the promises that he has handed out. No wonder he is privately anxious. His big ambitions were to be Prime Minister and to get the UK out of the EU. This has been done but will not change the UK quickly or necessarily for the better or in itself transform Boris into a great statesman. Events will intrude as they have done in the last year. That these are not as comfortable as some is shown by the charts of the Brexiteers as described by Marjorie.
In any event let’s hope for a Happier New Year.
Brexit IS ‘out of date’.
Four and a half years out of date, in fact.
So, now people are moaning that Brexit ‘isn’t nationalist enough’.
Really, you, can’t make this sh*t up.
November 4, 2040 there’s a new Jup/Saturn conjunction – at 18º Libra. (Withe Mercury at 23º Libra.)
It will be in the 5th house of the 14:44 brexit chart, conjunct the Path of Fortune and trine the NN in Gemini and Ascendant also of this chart.
Plus:
– trans. Neptune is at 4º Taurus (conj. Brexit Uranus in the 11th, Uranus rules the MC) – to me this Neptune diminishes the strenght of the Uranus (and the will to keep being alone, separated from the EU).
Also in 20 years, in the same chart, the Sun in solar arc will be conjunct the natal Pluto – so, transformation.
I’m thinking that maybe in 20 years the UK will ask to be back in the EU.
And with t. Mercury at 23º Libra (of the new jup/saturn conjunction of 2040) squaring, from the 5th, natal Pluto – perhaps highly organized young people will Force a change, a going back to the EU.
So – perhaps in 20 years they’ll come back?
The untold story is the lives destroyed by the abrupt end of freedom of movement. Hundreds of thousands of peoples hopes , relationships, families torn apart by new immigration rules. No one seems to care. Marjorie does the chart say anything about that?
9th house – abroad – with the Jup/Saturn conj. in Aquarius.
Given that in the last few posts, people have been focussing on Gemini Suns and various aspects of Gemini, does anybody have any thoughts about the chart for the Deal having a Gemini Ascendant?
As expected, the negotiations were down to the wire. The EU modus operandi.
Pro-EU commentators say this is not as good as the Customs Union/Single Market. Of course, not. It was never meant to be.
I hope those on both sides of the Brexit divide, put back the differences and work on exploiting the opportunities this separation provides. There will be hardcore believers and doubters .. Cannot avoid. Ignore them and march ahead. Brexiteers should not shun having a close relationship with the EU in terms of trade, security etc that are mutually beneficial and Remainers should accept that the relationship with EU is changing and work constructively to get the best out of the situation.
Majorie’s prediction above sounds very positive, except for mention of “jolts, hitches and glitches along the way”. A new relationship , separation or change of terms/conditions of relationships will have these and only the determination and willingness of both the parties in the deal can help to overcome it.
Remainers, Brexiters, EU populace, UK and EU politicians, Eurocrats – everyone must understand separating does not have to mean acrimony, and it is in interests of the both UK and EU to have a friendly relationship. Undermining one another is bad for both sides.
Two things you need to consider as well:
– Getting out of the Erasmus programme is just plain evil
– Several voices inthe EU (Express, Farage) are now openly seeking to destroy the EU, which is even more inimical
Farage is not even in the EU anymore.
Typo: some in the UK (taboid press, populist politicians) are now openly aiming for the destruction of the EU. In the UK it is often framed as a dictatorial bureaucracy, but for many in the remaining EU27 it is a voluntary collaboration of independent countries.
“There will be all manner of griping and groaning but from an initial reaction it does seem in the circumstances like a triumph for Boris which Theresa May couldn’t have managed to pull off.”
I understand the sense of relief. But from what I’ve read, the deal is actually worse than the one Theresa May brought to Parliament and Commons voted down. So, the only thing that really has changed is that “Hard Brexiters” chickened seeing the actual lorry chaos and maybe finally realizing what this might mean for their futures.
I wouldn’t be surprised, given by how bad BoJo’s transits look, if this bluff wasn’t, eventually, called.
The Brexit deal was signed at 14:44.
Would you know where was it signed (London or Brussels)?
I think that Neptune aspect is disastrous and will bring a decline in the UK standard of living. And the first six months will be so rough Boris won’t survive because of Uranus square his MC.
Read Majorie’s predictions on EU and the main component countries. They are not rosy either.
Decline in UK (and EU, USA) standard of living may not have much to do with Brexit. May be, it is just showing in the UK’s Brexit chart, just like it should show in other charts of UK.
Those damn house systems, in 14:44 chart, using Placidus, Mars, Moon, Uranus are in 12th house!!!
All I can say is…Phew!!! It doesn’t look too awful, Marjorie, seen worse UK charts manage to survive ordeals. And in the end, who knows, it may all be for the best. As the Arabs say ‘It is written.’