Brexit on crutches six years on

Out of the frying pan onto the spit-roast, the Prime Minister is back wrestling with the Northern Ireland Protocol with every indication that it will end up a hot mess on the floor. The EU is hardening against an ‘unserious’ Johnson, whom no one in Europe believes according to an Irish minister. He’s being elbowed at home, as per usual, by the Tory true-believer euro-sceptics, into what are described as ‘lawless antics’ in breaking the agreement he signed. It is likely to end up in a trade war and continuing ill will, which at a dire economic time seems outrageous.

  UK exports to the EU in 2021 were down 12 per cent on 2018, double the hit to the level of UK exports to the rest of the world – so it can’t all be blamed on the pandemic. Analysts reckon exports to the EU may fall by another 8 per cent again by 2025. The pound is weak, generally attributed to Brexit — down 9 per cent since June 2016.  UK exporters continue to struggle with the bureaucracy involved in selling goods and services to the EU. The massive deregulation and open trade with the rest of the world to replace lost EU business and deliver a boom promised by the Brexiteers hasn’t happened. And the deregulation never will because of the impact on domestic industries such as agriculture.

 The proof of the pudding and all that. The electorate were bamboozled and bewitched by cheap n’ easy slogans that were never going to be a reality.

   Boris’s relationship with the EU has always had that mystifyingly hostile composite Mars opposition Pluto – mystifying in the sense that he has a mega-multi-cultural background so is hardly your average John Bull. But his sojourn as a child, aged 9 to 11, in Brussels with his family when he father was working for the European Commission must have coloured his outlook. That was when his mother suffered a breakdown and he was sent back to England.

 Anyway that Mars opposition Pluto is getting a bucket of cold water thrown on it throughout next year, from early on as tr Saturn sits in hard aspect – and there’s a discouraging uphill slog of tr Pluto conjunct the composite Saturn in 2022/2023 – so nothing that looks like a speedy détente between him and the EU.

  The two prominent Tory Brexiteers who reckon they have the Prime Minister over a barrel – Bernard Jenkins, 9 April 1959; and Bill Cash, 10 May 1940 –  both look considerably discontented ahead for two years.  Bernard Jenkins looks deeply uncertain this year and totally trapped in 2023; and feels a failure by 2024. Bill Cash is displaying some machismo and bullish confidence interspersed with panicky failure this year and next.  So clearly they are not getting it all their own way.

  As an added aside – of Astro-note – Bill Cash has his Solar Arc Pluto conjunct his Libra North Node now and Jenkins has his Solar Arc Uranus conjunct his Libra North Node.  I’m not sure how I’d interpret that except that in both cases with a Libra North Node their challenge in life is learning how to co-operate and their primitive defence will be to insist on standing alone/being the leader not a partner.

 Relations between the UK and the EU are jangled this year with emotional outbursts and irritations from tr Uranus square the composite Venus and tr Saturn conjunct the Mars; and into 2023 an aggravating and argumentative tr Uranus square the composite Mars and tr Saturn in Pisces blocking the composite Pluto and jolting the Uranus. So this spat is not going to settle any time soon either.

38 thoughts on “Brexit on crutches six years on

  1. A very good article on a most depressing subject. I have to say that each day I see this country falling further into the mire. I look at Boris and think – how did we get here! Although to a certain extent it has been years in the making, as successive Governments have not unvested in this country. They took the easy route out by importing more workers instead of investing in Education and Training in a huge way. We have had plenty of money from the EU, as in the mid 1990’s there was a huge amount of funding to train the workforce in computing and software. This should have been maintained as there was very little advertising by the Government to get this change across. Now we are behind again.

  2. The immigration issue has, imo, been fostered for many years by a lack of long term planning, in that a country of this size of economy ought to be more self sufficient in well qualified, well trained labour in many areas, the lack of trades, nurses, farm workers point to poor planning.
    When one looks at the sad statistic of 5 million in receipt of benefits, the number of children on free school meals, one is looking at human talent that has not been fostered; there is always talk of an efficient country with a highly qualified work force, the reality is different and an armchair observer can only conclude that there are too many vested interests in the way, to achieve such aims it would require greater political will to negotiate a coordinated program to achieve sustainability you can then top up with immigrant labour, who ought to be welcomed with respect, not the coldness of the Windrush generation.

  3. Marjorie – do you think there will be a definitive Brexit chart eventually? I assume the two main possibilities are the 23 Jun 2016 vote chart, or the 1 Jan 2021 actual-exit date? Or is it all just another step in the UK chart?

  4. Well said Liz. Look at your own current terrible USA problems first before berating us for our past 500 years. . As an aside if you believe in Astrology then whether we had brexited or not surely we would still be going through what we are going through now

    • Interesting that several well known astrologers predicted Brexit – Jessica Adams included. There was a kind of inevitability about it but I don’t know whether such things are ‘written in the stars’.

      No one seems to want to mention it but the main reason for the Brexit vote in Red Wall constituencies was the level of immigration from the EU and the failure of the Labour government (Blair and Brown) to shut the doors to Eastern European / former Soviet Bloc countries from 2004 to 2011 when the rest of Western Europe had a moratorium. The consequent flood to the UK left already deprived areas short of houses, school places, medical facilities, public services, public utilities etc etc. We never caught up.

      So nothing to do with cheap slogans and everything to do with daily life. The split between the traditional Labour voters and the Islingtonites plus students in such matters will never be resolved. I don’t know the answer. It could have been a Lib / Lab coalition when Cameron took office but the Libs under Clegg went with the Cons instead. Why?

      • Overall immigration into the UK will be greater than before Brexit because non-EU growth will be higher than the fall in EU migrants. EU immigration fell from 249,000 in 2016 to 198,000 in 2019. This was more than compensated for by a rise in non-EU migrants, from 298,000 to 406,000.

        • UK is facing a perfect storm with ageing population and falling birth rate. Brexit can’t change this fact.

          The government has accepted that we need more immigration to sustain the working population.
          Hence, changes in visa rules were introduced last year resulting in record number of immigration from non EU countries. Mostly from Africa, India and Philippines.

          • Some of the countries are now reporting a Brain drain. Although a nurse was telling me yesterday, that some are returning as the NHS is different to what they thought. .

      • Sorry not astrology related, but the discussion is in need of some facts:
        – The UK, when led by the Tory party, pushed for allowing into the EU countries from the former Communist Soviet Eastern block
        – As all other UE countries, the UK had mechanisms to curb migration, but the UK (Tory) governments chose not to make use of them

        And finally: show some humanity, workers from Poland, Hungary, Rumania, former Yugoslavia have had hard times during the communist period and come to the rich western EU countries (in much higher numbers to Germany, Netherlands, Belgium France than to the UK, by the way) to work and to earn decent money. According to EU regulation they should at least be paid the local minimum wage, so no pressure on wages because of their presence.

        • It was called a youth drain – so what happened to the folk left behind? The only countries to open their doors in 2004 were Ireland, Sweden, and the United Kingdom. The former because they need the labour whilst the UK thought its regulated labor market would ensure wages were maintained at the collectively agreed upon levels.

          And then 2008 happened!

        • Actually it was Labour who did not align themselves with the Eu policy Most of the EU countries decided to hold back on allowing workers to come from the new intake of Eastern counties at the beginning of the 21st Century. Tony Blair decided not to hold back and therefore over a million came to this country, at the same time as Refugees from, I think the war in Rowanda . The country had a huge influx of migrants and housing problems. The British workers resented this intake as many Eastern workers set up building firms and plumbing undercutting the British wages. This has always been seen by some as the route to Brexit.

          • ‘….. undercutting the British wages ..’

            I know people in the construction industry, builders and carpenters who were complaining about that big time. It became a real problem.

          • Helen. Immigration didn’t just affect the building industry. The response from many large corporations to the ready availability of labour from the EU was to introduce zero-hour contracts thus undermining collective agreements in the labour market.

            BTW There were 6 million applications from EU nationals for settlement status in the UK post Brexit. These families are entitled to houses, school places, medical facilities, social security benefits etc etc. A 10% increase in population is a lot to cater for!

            Had we not Brexited, the population boom would have continued and our social problems worsened – not least as a result of the lack of skills training for the indigenous population. Why should employers bother with training when they could easily buy in trained workers from the EU?

  5. Looking at how Brexit developed it is easy to see that the two extremes polarised the country and the cooler heads with more adroit diplomatic skills were drowned in the confusion, there was no need for the UK to leave the EU entirely, it could have been managed so that it retraced two steps back, freeing itself from the Lisbon Treaty and Maastricht to take it back to EFTA, which meant recovering a great deal of independence whilst still maintaining good commercial relations with the EU, however David Cameron was spooked by UKIP led by the forceful orator who is Nigel Farage backed by a shadowy cabal; Cameron, like Parsifal, asked the wrong question and the country now has to live with consequences, maybe it will give the EU time to sort out their own problems not least the euro, so that at some time in the future the UK and the EU can coexist and profit from a new relationship.

    • Spot on Virginia! Exactly my sentiments, there was no need to leave but just re-adjust terms. Problem is that all of these right wing shifting politicians think that 3 word slogans constitute policy (Get Brexit Done) and that complex problems (N. Ireland) can be solved with simplistic solutions. All driven by binary thinking (black/white, right/wrong) which leaves no room for nuance, cooperation or even an attempt to understand opposing views. It is true that things would have been difficult with or without Brexit but now the effects of Covid have obfuscated the very real impact of Brexit – with the fog of propoganda used to good effect (Imperial measures, my foot!) – it is doubtful whether people in Britain will ever really understand how much self harm has been done, not just to relations with the EU. Britain under the Johnson premiership has shown itself to be an unreliable partner, which makes finding other (more costly because they are further away) trading partners elsewhere in the world even more difficult. Britain certainly has found the splendid isolation that the people thought they so wanted. Question is: how is that working for them?

    • Cameron knew the problem was immigration and tried desperately to persuade the EU to impose a moratorium on the free movement of people into the UK. Had the EU complied, Brexit wouldn’t have happened.

      It wasn’t an unreasonable request since all the other EU countries had a seven year moratorium on the new Eastern members (2004 to 2011) but the EU was intransigent – it showed it’s true colours.

      Believe it or or not, the silly slogans were irrelevant. We know what Boris is and what Boris can and can’t do – it is possible to see through him and still accept him.

      • It was the UK that wanted the former Comecon bloc countries in the EU so it would benefit from the cheap labour. When that backfired, instead of addressing the issue in the EU, Britain wanted out, leaving the EU now facing the problem of what to do about ‘newer members’ backsliding away from the rule law. It could be said that the UK created the immigration problem itself.

  6. Through my darkest times, astrology has often been my only light of hope. I’ve been able to identify the ‘hidden enemies’, those who want to be the Best, the Wealthiest, the One with most Friends – all at my expense. Astrology has helped me grow spiritually. Linda Goodman set me off on the journey way back in 1974, I will be eternally grateful for that. It’s a shame astrology isn’t used to treat the mentally ill and help them see how their problems have been manifested.

  7. Brexit is not going to be undone as the barriers to rejoining are likely to be just too onerous. Even the Labour Party has recognised that fact. Britain might want a free trade relationship with Europe but the fact is if it does not get one it will just have to look to other markets for trade just as it has done in the past when relationships with the Continent have been strained. That process is already underway as can be seen by the growth in traffic going through west coast ports in the U.K. such as Liverpool.

    The Eurozone has its own challenges coming up. The North node is currently at 22 Taurus squaring the Uranus at 22 Aquarius in the Euro 1st January 2002 chart and transiting Uranus will be at 22 Taurus later this year. When Pluto enters Aquarius it will oppose the Euros Moon at 0 Leo. That looks to be a challenge to make fundamental changes.

    • Perhaps you are correct Hugh. Though it is possible that a future government may have to consider rejoining parts of the customs union or single market. But it would be good to have a PM and government who behave like grown ups towards our nearest neighbours, instead of treating them with contempt.
      We will only be able to build a successful future when we are prepared to let go of the past, and accept that the rest of Europe has moved on from WW2

    • The fact I always bear in mind whenever the ‘benefits’ of EU membership are touted is that the UK’s annual economic growth rate was a damned sight higher in the years immediately prior to EU entry in 1973 than after.
      In the final analysis, this is the only statistic that actually matters.

    • The good voters of Hartlepool told the Labour Party just what they thought about their deceit, perfidy and treachery over their solemn sworn oath to respect the outcome of the 2026 referendum.
      Surely, even the dolts who run the Labour Party don’t want a repeat of that – not that they give a damn about what the ‘peasants’ think.

  8. Liz. Why are you banging on about Corbyn all the time. He’s long gone
    Or is that the only defence you’ve got against this most chaotically destructive government we have at the moment
    Try and think of some positive comments to make in favour of the Tories. If you can

    • Can’t think of any at all, to be honest. Perhaps that reflects the way the Tories have treated the country in the last twelve years?

    • Mary. I was responding to a comment that the UK was in spitting distance of a 2nd referendum. Well Starmer has never been involved in any such plot – it happened under Corbyn.

      I really don’t think that Corbyn can be taken out of the picture when Brexit is being discussed – any more than Boris Johnson can be taken out of the picture. Why are you being so one sided?

  9. Having campaigned against Brexit for five years and the country being within spitting distance of a 2nd Ref undermined by Labour and LibDems own goals, and the betrayal of the Peoples Vote campaign by one of its leaders leaving it in disseray at the crucial moment, my frustration know no bounds at all the oh so predictable consequences.
    A poster talks about karma an oh so abused concept, but the reality was an ignorant population who were complacent of the result, special intrest groups and individuals who feared the EUs new Tax rules and used noxious nationalism to manipulate the population along with Murdoch and Dacre etc.
    As ever the Daily Mail has played a noxious role in preceedings. The Rothermere Family has had an incredibly destructive role in Britains public life for generations. Lets never forget Rothermeres championing of Hitler and Mosely.

    I know you have covered the Mail Marjorie, but would dearly appreciate a look at the Rothermere dynasty, particularly the one during the war and the current owner.

    • I don’t know when the UK was within spitting distance of a 2nd referendum. The general election in December 2019 was a landslide victory for Boris – suggesting that a 2nd referendum would, in any case, have been for Brexit.

      As a matter of interest, Corbyn was pro Brexit though he went with the majority of the shadow cabinet in voting against it. Perhaps that is how karma works – Corbyn was brought down by his own duplicity.

    • Well, it’s all the dirty money laundering the Russians do in the UK – they funded Brexit so they didn’t have to obey the more strict laws of the EU and the majority of the UK people apparently can’t see that they were duped.

      What does the UK have to sell that can’t be bought elsewhere more easy? Who will want to sell to you when there’s demand elsewhere and it’s easier to sell? The sun is setting on your island nation. I am grateful my Quaker Welsh ancestors came to America

      • @American Gal – why so angry? This is an astrology forum, not Twitter.

        As for Russian money laundering, it has been going on in numerous locations for many years, often involving property purchases – you’ll find Russian-owned land and property all over the world. And if you’d care to read an article on Fortune.com (22 March 2022) entitled ‘US banks must work together to fight Putin’s money laundering’, you’ll see what’s been happening in the US. Here’s a quote:

        “Over an eight-year period, Putin’s money laundering machine successfully converted more than $230 billion worth of Russian rubles into U.S. dollars, including the hundreds of millions of dollars Sergei Magnitsky died tracking. This happened at a time U.S. banks were supposed to be on guard to prevent the kind of money laundering that enriched Putin and the oligarchs.”

        You could also think about this piece on Russian money laundering on Forbes.com, 20 August, 2020:

        ” A new report from the U.S. Senate Select Committee on Intelligence offers a damning portrait of the people Donald Trump chose as his partners for potential projects in Russia. They include individuals with alleged connections to the mob, to Vladimir Putin and to human trafficking.

        The group would comprise an extraordinary list of associates for any international businessman, let alone for the sitting president of the United States.”

  10. That may be correct but to go far back in history is ridiculous and as cruel as what was done. Every country has skeletons in their cupboard so who’s going to be the judge and jury . Brexit will never work

  11. “Anyway that Mars opposition Pluto is getting a bucket of cold water thrown on it throughout next year, from early on as tr Saturn sits in hard aspect – and there’s a discouraging uphill slog of tr Pluto conjunct the composite Saturn in 2022/2023 – so nothing that looks like a speedy détente between him and the EU”

    The Mars, Chiron, S Node trio opposite Pluto/N Nodes is fascinating. Draws ‘the people’ into his personal wounds and wobbles. And the devil’s in the details with Virgo Pluto/NN too I think. Also interesting that Mars in Pisces and Neptune in Scorpio are in mutual reception – much deception, and self-deception or confusion? Perhaps tr Saturn representing Dad, and possibly his views of the EU itself, will finally bring a sense of reality?

  12. Maybe it’s karma? Britian’s actions from Ireland to Africa, Asia, and the Americas has given the country centuries of ill-gotten gains and there has been so much death in the names of their Kings and Queens. Perhaps it’s time the crown and country to start paying reparations and making apologies or else fade away from the world stage – a fate that’s well overdue.

    • As an American I really don’t think you are in a position to talk about National ‘karma’, especially on such slight understanding. But since we are here and putting aside your genocidal history and current behaviour can we talk about the nuking of over 200.000 civilians and the incomprehensible . Aside from the holocaust its the worst crime against humanity which aside from their lives has bound the world in an octopus of fear, the existential dread that one of your increasingly insane presidents will end the world.
      And if not them then in response using the weapons of mass destruction that the US so thoughtfully imposed on the whole planet, and every species. For ever.
      And then there is the guns and healthcare. No civilised society has healthcare like it, and no civilised society has 30% of the adult nation, that’s around an extraordinary 80 million people who think slaughtered children are a reasonable price to pay for the most illusory and destructive of ‘freedoms’.
      And if ever there as abuse of a fundamental concept, it is that noxious lie.
      Karma eh?

      • Whataboutism doesn’t absolve the UK of their 500+ years of crimes against humanity or the cruelty of empire. Beginning with the dispossession of the Irish from their land and language – and the genocide of millions, the opium wars, it’s just endless and it’s what your monarchy represents.

        Everything that belongs to the monarchy belongs to the people of the UK, when are you going to seize what is your’s?

        • There is no need to seize Crown property on behalf of the people.

          Perhaps, as an American, you are not aware of ‘The Crown Estate’ – a collection of lands and holdings in the United Kingdom belonging to the British monarch as a corporation sole. It is deemed to be the sovereign’s public estate which is neither government property nor part of the monarch’s private estate.

          The sovereign is not involved with the management or administration of the estate, and exercises only very limited control of its affairs. Instead, the estate’s extensive portfolio is overseen by a semi-independent, incorporated public body headed by the Crown Estate Commissioners, who exercise “the powers of ownership” of the estate, although they are not “owners in their own right”. The revenues from these hereditary possessions have been placed by the monarch at the disposition of Her Majesty’s Government and proceed directly to Her Majesty’s Treasury, for the benefit of the British nation.

          The Crown Estate is formally accountable to the Parliament of the United Kingdom, where it is legally mandated to make an annual report to the sovereign, a copy of which is forwarded to the House of Commons. In Scotland, the Crown Estate is managed by Crown Estate Scotland, a body formed in 2016.

          If the monarchy was ever abolished, the Government of the day would have to establish ownership though the Crown Estate is likely to continue as a charitable trust in some form. I would be interested to know what an independent Scotland intends doing.

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