Astrology of Today’s News

Humza Yousaf won the leadership of the SNP in the second round with 52.1% of the 50,000 member votes after Ash Regan had been knocked out. Kate Forbes who had lambasted his record saying when he was transport secretary, the trains were always late; when he was justice secretary the police were in crisis; as health secretary he oversaw record NHS waiting lists, came second. A senior Tory was equally blunt. “He keeps saying he’s been in government for ten and a half years.  No one can think of a single thing he has got right. He’s anti-business, anti-monarchy and he’s very strongly anti the UK state.”

  He was the continuity candidate supported by Sturgeon which may tell against him since a recent poll found found half of adults north of the border felt things in Scotland were going in the wrong direction and the Scottish Government had done a bad job in various areas from the NHS to managing the economy.

  One columnist wrote that he ‘has been thrown in at the deep end before he’s shown he can swim. He’ll need more than armbands to avoid the shortest tenure in the party’s history.’

  His election will retain the support of the Green’s which is vital for the SNP’s power-sharing agreement and their input was one reason for the trans tangle which embroiled Sturgeon before she left.

  The election has been keenly watched in Westminster since the SNP is the third largest group of MPs in the Commons with 45 of Scotland’s 59 seats.

 Yousaf, born 7 April 1985 in Glasgow into a Punjab, Pakistan immigrant family, has a charming Sun Venus in Aries in a lively trine Uranus and sextile Jupiter in Aquarius.  This sparkling side to his personality is somewhat over shadowed by a heavier set of three Scorpio planets, ranging from Pluto, Moon to Saturn sitting across from Mars in Taurus conjunct the North Node. Mars square Jupiter can be an opportunist or at least given to rash choices. If his Moon is opposition Mars square Jupiter he may also be prone to over-confidence, a tendency to expect results without too much effort. His Mercury in Capricorn is also in an evasive square to Neptune. 

  Neptune is his only earth planet so he won’t be overly realistic or practical.  Tr Pluto is sextile his Jupiter/Node midpoint which will give him a lift for a couple of months. Though he also looks unnerved with tr Uranus conjunct his Mars at the moment and then late April/early May conjunct his North Node at 18 degrees Taurus.

  His midpoints are not cheering ahead with disasters mid July onwards, on and off into 2024.  What will have more impact is his Solar Arc Neptune conjunct his Jupiter mid to late 2024 which will dent his self-confidence and bring disappointment.

  Nicola Sturgeon was known for her iron grip on party discipline which is well reflected in her first Term chart of 20 November 2014 – with its ruthless Mars Pluto in Capricorn and rigid Sun Saturn in Scorpio.  Yousaf will not have the same firm hand on the tiller of a party already riven by divisions, facing a questionable past record in government, failing public services and an unclear future strategy.

 Yousaf’s relationship with Sunak will be superficially diplomatic with an underlying resentment at the power imbalance and intense discussions which won’t produce much progress over the next two or three years.

He was voted in as First Minister at 3.03pm today and will be sworn in tomorrow.

  His Win chart has a change-of-direction or unpredictable Uranus in the 10^th with high enthusiasm from Jupiter Mercury in Aries in the 9^th. An unrealistic, evasive or indecisive Neptune in the financial 8^th along with the Sun suggests a lacklustre struggle to balance the books. Pluto in the 6^th usually indicates a drive to regenerate what has become broken down but inconjunct Mars Moon in the 11^th hints that progress will be slow with a restive and irritable population, especially amongst women.  

Child actress Brooke Shields miraculously survived an alcoholic stage mother who turned her into the family breadwinner from aged 11 months onwards as an advertising star. Then agreed for her to pose nude for Playboy aged 10 and signed up for her role as a child prostitute a year later in Louis Malle’s Pretty Baby. Mother Teri, a single working class mom, was portrayed in the media as a pimp as she pushed on with Brooke appearing as teenager in other sexualized roles in The Blue Lagoon and Franco Zeffirelli’s Endless Love (1981).

  Throughout, Brooke defended her mother in what she later described as an enmeshed relationship, but broke free to go to Princeton University and more so when she married tennis star Andre Agassi – who was as controlling as her mother and had a meth habit to match her mother’s alcohol addiction. Finally she married happily a TV writer/producer, has two teenage daughters and still works as an actress. From being one of the most famous faces in the world, best friends with Michael Jackson, she gives every indication of being happy with who she is as she publicizes a new documentary about her extraordinary life, titled Pretty Baby.

  She was born 31 May 1965 1.45pm New York into distressed circumstances, with her wealthy father’s Italian family paying for a termination – mom took the money but had her anyway, There was a marriage but it split when Brooke was five months old, though she did have the stability of her conservative father’s home for regular visits growing up. She was exploited as a child and raped at 22. It’s a miracle she didn’t go the way of her mother.

  Brooke has a Gemini Moon exactly on her Midheaven and Venus in her career 10^th. With a Gemini Sun, Jupiter, North Node in the 9^th. Her Gemini planets are square a volatile and tumultuous Mars, Pluto, Uranus in Virgo in her 12^th house opposition Saturn.

 The 10^th house is the one I relate to mother’s influence and the Moon there does have a sense of a physical identification with mother or vice versa. Mother’s body image is a factor. Venus in the 10^th does describe a beauty or charm-offensive career – though the square to Mars opposition Saturn hints at a degree of force, unfair/cruel treatment and underlying irritation and resentment.

  Brooke’s Sun Jupiter would keep her optimism/Pollyanna spirit high and four planets in detached Gemini including her Moon would make it easier for her to stand back from her feelings. Her mother’s Jupiter fell on her Ascendant so she would be there as a cheerleader and morale-booster and accentuate the positive in her daughter’s life at least on the surface. Born 1 August 1933 Teri Shields was a Sun Leo opposition Saturn so would have self-esteem issues.

 Andre Agassi, 29 April 1970, was also a Saturnine type with a Sun Saturn conjunction in Taurus so would have similar self-doubts. Brooke said she married her mother first time round and then seems to have moved out of the old patterns with her second husband – a Sun, Mercury and Jupiter in Aries.

  Good on her having struggled through to stability. There’s no doubt that a strong Jupiter works wonders when it comes to overcoming childhood horrors.

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Turmoil in Israel with 600,000 on the streets protesting, the military up in arms and threats from the largest union to paralyze the economy by striking, look likely to force Benjamin Netanyahu to back down on his controversial judicial reforms. The Israeli government, the most right-wing ever, wants to take full control over the committee which appoints judges which critics say they will help him as Netanyahu faces an ongoing trial for corruption.

 There are also protests from Middle Eastern neighbours, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Jordan about plans to push ahead with more settlement units in occupied East Jerusalem, despite a recent promise not to. Estimates indicate about 650,000 settlers are living in the occupied West Bank. Under international law, all Jewish settlements in the occupied territories are considered illegal. Fewer internal protests from Israelis about these.

  Last year saw Israel on its Nodal Return, a moment of destiny when the opportunity to take a new path is on offer. What was clear with the election of Benjamin Netanyahu was that the country had “turned its face against progress and doubled down on the worst of the past.” (see previous post 30 December 2022)

  What lies ahead through the Pluto in Aquarius years will be a grim battle against forced change. Israel with its 8^th house Taurus Sun and 10^th house Moon, Saturn, Pluto in Leo and 11^th house Mars in Leo is built to withstand gargantuan pressures. But even it will have to give way as first tr Pluto opposes its Moon in 2026/2027, then throughout the 2030s tr Pluto opposes Saturn Pluto and then squares its Sun in the late 2030s and then opposes its Mars in early 2040s. Whatever is left will be a radically different country.  

   There are other Fixed planet countries that will be going through the mill in the 2030s – India/Pakistan with their Saturn, Pluto, Venus, Sun in Leo all being ground down but they do have Jupiter in Scorpio to add some mellowing luck. The UK also with a Fixed Grand Cross running from 9 to 23 degrees will find 2030 to 2040 heavy going. Ditto Russia and China. France will catch the brunt of it in the late 2030s as the Fr Uranus opposition Pluto square Mars is under pressure.

 Pluto in Aquarius won’t just bring new ideas, inventions, discoveries and enlightened thinking, it will bring about a deconstruction and reconstruction decade. The previous time there were similar Pluto transits to the UK (and other similar charts) was 1945 to 1956 – when a battered, weakened and impoverished UK crawled out of a ‘victorious’ World War 11 and divested itself of the empire.

   During the last Pluto in Aquarius (1778 to 1799) the American colonies revolted against Britain, the military and economic superpower of the time. Despite the loss in the aftermath the UK was increasingly prosperous with the Industrial revolution ongoing. In France the agricultural and climatic problems of the 1770s and 1780s caused great poverty which led directly to the French Revolution. In China the height of Qing glory and power had been reached and was slowly sinking into decline with. What rises on one Pluto can fall on the next and vice versa. See September 11 2021. The USA will be less affected having only one Fixed planet – and the North Node.

  Back to present day Israel – tr Neptune will square the Israel Uranus this year and Jupiter in 2024, undermining the adventurous, risk-taking spirit – the domestic mood will be nerve-stretched and highly strung. From this August tr Uranus will conjunct the Israel Sun on and off till early 2025. Uranus normally brings about sudden change but even it will be hard pressed to make a dent on an 8^th house Taurus Sun. Though there will be an economic effect as tr Uranus starts a seven year trek through Israel’s financial 8^th house.

  Netanyahu’s latest government, 29 December 2022 4.30pm kicked off with unrealistic Neptune close to the Midheaven which is never a good sign for a government administration with an emotionally intense, bitterly argumentative and manipulative Pluto, Venus, Mercury in Capricorn. Tr Pluto is now poised to move into the administration 8^th house which will either bring secret, dirty dealings ahead or heavy restrictions. Or both.

  Netanyahu himself is insignificant in the greater scheme of things though his relationship chart with Israel does have the composite North Node at zero degrees Taurus – so he is a pivotal figure for Israel on the brink of the Pluto in Aquarius era – and clearly one who leads down the wrong path.

ADD ON: In lock step with Israel, the fate of the Palestinians looks not less stressed.

The Palestine Independence Declaration, 15 November 1988, with its three Scorpio planets ranging from Pluto at 12 degrees to the Sun at 22 will be put through the mill with tr Pluto squares throughout the 2030s. Before then tr Neptune is in a highly-strung, nerve-stretched square this year to the Uranus moving on to an uncertain and panicky tr Neptune and tr Saturn square the Saturn and conjunct the Mars by 2025. That looks like a considerable defeat.

   Gaza, 9 November 1917, with a Scorpio Sun Mercury square Saturn Neptune in Leo and Uranus in Aquarius will be under the Pluto cosh from 2027 onwards throughout the 2030s.

  Hamas, 14 December 1987, is not much different with Mars Pluto in Scorpio at 11 to 13 degree. Like Palestine it looks edgy and undermined this year.

  Whether the Palestinians ultimately prevail which seems unlikely, or end up in resigned submission like the Tibetans, there may well be an end of times battle raging through the 2030s. Israel won’t come out smelling of roses but in what form it survives is tricky to say. Even South Africa finally caved and gave up apartheid – but that was after international leverage. Ditto Northern Ireland – an uneasy peace but it did come together after the US stepped in and exerted pressure for the Good Friday Agreement.

   There should have been international policing put in when Israel was formed in 1948 to protect the rights of the Palestinians but the US and Europe had their hands full sorting out post-WW11 damage and looked the other way.  

“Cantankerous. Opinionated. Big mouth”  is the description actor Brain Cox, born a few days earlier than Donald Trump, applies to himself, though his politics do lean leftwards. He has had a late career resurgence as the Murdochian media patriarch in the dynastic family drama ‘Succession’ which starts its final season.

  Cox was born 1 June 1946 2.15pm Dundee, Scotland, and brought up by his sisters after his father died when he was 8 and his mother was hospitalised several times with nervous breakdowns. He has had a long and notable career on stage in Shakespeare and in numerous successful movies.

  Cox’s Mercury is in Gemini close to outspoken Uranus in his communicative 9^th and sextile his Pluto and widely Mars in flamboyant Leo which explains his tendency to go off like a sky rocket when prompted about his political views. He has a Cancer Moon conjunct Venus in his career 10th alongside a well-organised Saturn. His Jupiter Neptune in Libra in his 1^st trine his Sun, Mercury and Uranus will bring luck to his creative and imaginative talents – with considerable heft since it sextiles onto Pluto and Mars.

  An interesting and talented man – his actor’s 15^th harmonic is super-strong with a T square of Venus, Saturn, Sun and Moon tied into Pluto; Pluto on the focal point of a Yod to Mercury and Mars; and another T square of Neptune Jupiter Mercury.  Born to act.

  Succession launched 3 June 2018 and became an instant hit with critics though less so with audiences. It has been drenched in nominations and awards.  The start chart has a creative Water Grand Trine of Jupiter in money-magnet Scorpio in a high-finance trine to Neptune trine Venus with Venus opposition Pluto in Capricorn, making influential, power-hungry Pluto the driving planet. So it had the celestial powers behind it.

  On a personal note – I found the first season dreary, dull clothes and colours and unlikeable characters across the board. I only kept watching since the critics raved about it and I assumed I had missed something. Have not seen it since.  It did get me pondering – Cillian Murphy in Peaky Blinders and Damien Lewis in Billions are playing hardly likeable characters and yet they engage the audience’s interest and  sympathy. The Succession lot did not, apart from Cox to a degree. Not quite sure what the difference is.

Monaco is aflutter over a magazine story of a split between Prince Albert and his beleaguered wife Charlene with hot denials being issued about ‘the malicious rumours’ and assurances about their joint appearance at King Charles’ Coronation in May. Their relationship chart always was atrociously bad. The explosively unstable wedding chart equally was an omen for rolling crises to come. And both have major stressors on their emotional chart areas over the coming two years. It may get patched together with stories of millions being handed over to keep up appearances but it won’t be a fairy tale ahead.   

  The relationship chart is a mix of grandiose dreams and delusions with a composite Sun opposition Jupiter square Neptune. But there is also a one-sided, unkind/cruel treatment Saturn Mars conjunction trine the Sun which suggests one partner has to suppress their needs, wants and identity to hold it together which leads to simmering resentment. Tr Pluto will grind painfully on squaring the composite Saturn and Mars until late 2024; with tr Uranus causing havoc from mid 2024 and throughout 2025 as it elbows the delusional composite Sun Jupiter Neptune T square.

  They were married on 1 July 2011 when the Cardinal Grand Cross of a New Moon in Cancer opposition Pluto square Saturn opposition Uranus was in place – which is controlling, chained-together and prone to blowing a gasket frequently along the way.

  She was born 25 January 1978 12.35 pm Bulawayo, Zimbabwe,  and has a friendly Sun Venus in Aquarius in her much-travelled 9^th opposition a flamboyant Mars in Leo. She has an erratic Uranus in her 7^th square her Moon so was always going to attract an unpredictable partner and is herself not well-designed for 24/7 togetherness. She also has Neptune in the 8^th which again finds commitment tricky; with dutiful Saturn and Moon in Leo in her 4^th house of family and domesticity. She would be attracted to money and the five star lifestyle with a Leo Moon and Jupiter in her 2^nd house of finances but it has come at a considerable cost.

  She’s had a tumultuous two years, absent for 10 months in 2021 in South Africa getting treatment for a sinus condition and then admitted to a Swiss clinic for exhaustion on her return. This coincides with tr Uranus crossing her Taurus Ascendant after 2020 which is when individuals strike out for freedom and stage a rebellion. And indeed just after tr Uranus squared her Sun and Venus.

  Prince Albert’s Pluto is conjunct her 4^th house Saturn so he will anchor her down and play on her sense of duty.

 Moving ahead she has tr Uranus opposition her 7^th house Uranus exactly now – for her mid life crisis when she will be chafing at the bit. Tr Uranus then moves on to square her Moon in April which will be domestically unsettled, emotionally upsetting. Tr Pluto is opposing her Mars exactly now till June for extreme frustration and feeling trapped, returning through 2024. With 2025 being road blocked and undermining.  There is no pressure on her Sun/Moon midpoint, the marriage significator, until 2028. So it is possible that a face-saving agreement is reached, at least for a few years.

  Prince Albert, 14 March 1958 10.47 am Monte Carlo, is not an easy or self-aware personality with a 10^th house Pisces Sun, an 8^th house Mars and Moon in Capricorn and Pluto in his 4^th. Designed for a public career but empty inside and never satisfied, driven by impulses he doesn’t understand, compulsive about being in control at home. He has a head-in-the-clouds and can-be prone to scandal Jupiter, North Node, Neptune in his romantic 5^th, also the chart area of children which has produced some off-piste offspring and multiple relationships.   

  His 7^th house Saturn (= close partners mean hard work) is being undermined by tr Neptune square this year; with his 8^th house Mars catching the tr Pluto conjunction all year which is trapped and frustrated. His emotionally controlling 4^th house Pluto will be blocked in 18 months by SA Saturn in opposition.

  Both of them have their Progressed Moon moving through their 12^th house which is a time of endings and clearing out what no longer works – her for eighteen months and him for two years. Like her his Sun/Moon midpoint does not catch much in the way of transits until late this decade.

  Who’d want to be a princess? Especially one locked in a tower. No amount of glitter would make up for the aggravation.

Add On: Princess Caroline, eldest child of Prince Rainier and Grace Kelly, was heir presumptive until Albert’s children arrived and if anything happened to them would be again. She was born 23 January 1957 9.27am Monte Carlo, and has a hidden 12^th house Aquarius Sun opposition Uranus square an 8^th house Moon Neptune in Scorpio. She certainly gives off an enigmatic and powerful aura but she will be difficult to get to know. Her marital life has been tangled with firstly a banker giving way secondly to a wealthy sportsman with whom she had three children and he was killed in a speedboat accident at 30. Third is Prince Ernest Hanover, with whom she has one daughter. He has an erratic temperament and alcohol problems. They live separate lives.

  With Jupiter in her 7^th she will find it easy to attract partners and will cope well socially. That plus a friendly 11^th house Mercury, Venus in Capricorn will allow her to operate in public with charm and friendliness though essentially she is very private.

Solar activity is heading for a peak period lasting several years which could result in power outages, grounded flights, and auroras. Solar flares which are powerful bursts of energy can disrupt radio and GPS communications and electric power grids.

  Intense geomagnetic storms do appear to occur when there is an astrological parallel though there’s no real way of linking the data in any meaningful way.  

  The Carrington Event of 1 September 1859 was the most intense geomagnetic storm in recorded history. It occurred over several days when the Virgo Sun was square Uranus and trine Pluto and the Aquarius North Node opposed both Saturn and Mars.  The magnitude of the event was best described in the global 22^nd harmonic with a Pluto opposition Mars square Jupiter. With the 18^th harmonic also indicating raw power.

Others of note:

13 May 1921, the most intense geomagnetic storm of the 20th century, which caused substantial damage to overhead and underwater telegraph equipment; electrical fires.  There was a Taurus Sun, with a volatile and disruptive Uranus opposition Jupiter square Mars; and Uranus trine Pluto. Again the 22H was well aspected linking Pluto Mars and Jupiter Uranus.

1 April 1960 solar flare, Sun Aries trine Uranus and square Saturn – with a Half Grand Sextile of Pluto opposition Mars sextile Jupiter sextile Neptune.

23 July 2012, solar flare, Sun Leo on focal point of a Yod to Neptune sextile Pluto – and more starkly Mars opposition Uranus square Pluto. With a Half Grand Sextile of Mars opposition Uranus sextile Mercury sextile Jupiter.

  They don’t run on the same cycle of planetary ones but do seem to peak when there are heavy Mars Pluto ++ aspects.

P.S. This is not my tech-savvy area so I am unclear about some of the differences between flares, storms and other geomagnetic events.

 21 to 24 May this year with Pluto opposition Mars square Jupiter in Taurus will undoubtedly accompany a major event or two which may include solar activity.

Nerves fraying at fears of a global banking crisis nosedived European banking stocks this morning with Deutsche Bank’s shares down by 14 per cent,  Commerzbank by 9 per cent, Société Générale 7 per cent and the Stoxx Europe 600 banks index, dropped by 5.2 per cent. “Europe is very tilted towards banks, which have been in the eye of the storm ,” said an equity strategist. “There are bank-specific issues to worry about like regulation and deposit safety.” In London, Barclays dropped 6.4 per cent and Natwest by 6.1 per cent.

   The Euro Stoxx bank index was introduced on 16 September 1998 and is certainly recording a shock at the moment with tr Uranus square the Mars; with a pervasive sense of confusion and devastation running through 2023/24 with tr Pluto conjunct the 29 degree Capricorn Neptune, heading into a discouraging and challenging 2024/25 with tr Pluto square the Saturn, hinting at shortages. It is not quite as impactful as 2008 when the economically unstable Saturn opposition Uranus hit on its Sun and its Mars was also afflicted.

  The other banks show much the same timeline.  Deutschebank, 22 January 1870,  looks panicked and uncertain with a three year stretch ahead of meltdown confusion and upheaval.

 Commerzbank, 26 February 1870, jolted and disrupted at the moment by tr Uranus conjunct its Pluto also has an uncertain and high anxiety tr Neptune square its Saturn 2023 into 2024 undermining its sense of stability and solidity. Into 2025 will be ratchety.

 BNP Paribas, 23 May 2000, has its Fixed planets of Uranus at 20 Aquarius square Jupiter, Saturn, Venus from 21 to 27 Taurus all rattled up in the next two/three years. Plus tr Saturn square its Gemini Sun this year and worse square its Pluto opposition Mars in 2024.

Barclays, 7 April 1690, on high alert and in a state now with more disruptions in 2024.

NatWest, 18 March 1968, sagging this year into 2024 with tr Neptune conjunct its Pisces Sun and opposition Uranus with high-anxiety in 2024 and facing considerable failure as it heads for 2025.

  Much the same story all round – not as bad as 2008 but it is not a one-week panic. It will run on.

Uranus moving on to 18 degrees for the final time in a few weeks (April 24 to May 12) is raising anticipation or dread about momentous events occurring. It is true that a planet moving to a sensitive degree can stir up the ether and trigger, in this case, both the Solar and Lunar Eclipse charts from late in 2022 which had 18 degree Saturn as well as the history-changing Uranus, North Node, Mars conjunction of last August at 18 degrees. And, of course, the May 5 2023 Lunar Eclipse hanging over the Coronation with Uranus at 18 Taurus close to the eclipsed Full Moon.

Question one – does the number itself matter?  Some astrologers and numerologists attach a meaning to the degree. Numerologists think 18 equates to ‘strength, a natural leader, sometimes great material success, but also conflicts and enemies, fire and explosions, including from natural elements.’ The 18^th harmonic oddly is seen in the charts of serial killers. Though just as the 9^th harmonic which makes it up as 9 X 2, can be in its positive manifestation humanitarian and negatively a financial con artist, there is a spectrum of meaning.

 Sabian symbols assign enigmatic meanings to astrological degrees:

17-18 degrees Taurus: a Symbolical Battle Between “Swords” And “Torches”. Maybe warmongers versus trailblazers of new ideas.

Or A Woman Airing An Old Bag Through The Open Window Of Her Room. The feminine getting rid of old baggage.

18-19 degrees Taurus – A New Continent Rising Out Of The Ocean. Hope for the new possibilities of the Pluto in Aquarius era for two decades ahead.

  Looking through recent charts which feature 18 degrees Fixed there are some amusingly apposite ones – wealth-acquiring Elvis had Jupiter at 18 Scorpio. Charles Babbage, father of the computer had Uranus at 18 Leo – mind you so does Prince Andrew, with his contrarian tendencies leaning more to the minus side. Sex-toy supremo Jaqueline Gold had her Mars at 18 Taurus. Matt Hancock, UK politician who resigned after a sex scandal has Venus at 18 Scorpio. Pluto at 18 Fixed include Narendra Modi and Benjamin Netanyahu. The Sun at 18 Fixed has the Tory Party 1912 in Taurus and Richard Sharp, BBC chairman in Aquarius.

   Administrations which kicked off under 18 degree Fixed – Xi Jinping’s 3^rd Term; Giorgia Meloni in Italy, the Swedish PM,  Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak’s term.

  All of the above will be shaken up or provided with an opportunity for change when Uranus comes back round for a final time to 18 degrees.

  The key global shift indicated by last August’s coming together of the North Node and Uranus wouldn’t happen in the blink of an eye, and often the scale of a change can only be seen in retrospect – small ripples extending out to create a giant wave. See post 17 June 2022.

  For individual charts it may be no more or less important than any other transiting Uranus hard aspect, which will bring the impetus to move away from old compromises and restrictions and strike out in a new direction in whatever arena of life is indicated by the personal planet involved.

Robert Peel must be turning in his grave as his brainchild of a modern, liberal metropolitan police force of 1829 has been slated as a racist, women-hating and gay-bashing ‘boys club.’ This is only the latest inquiry to issue a set of trenchant criticisms of London’s police force and who knows whether it will have any more impact than the previous ones.

  Sir Robert Peel, 5 February 1788, was a lifelong politician, twice prime minister and Home Secretary, and regarded as one of the founders of the modern Conservative Party as well.   He played a central role in making free trade a reality and set up a modern banking system. He supported Catholic Emancipation, the Reform Act and the repeal of the Corn Laws.

  Intriguingly his chart with its Aquarius Sun conjunct Pluto is being rattled up exactly at the moment by the tr Uranus square – so he may be waving a bony finger from the crypt. He had four planets in Aquarius, Jupiter in Gemini and Neptune in Libra – a thinker and a communicator.

 The London Met founded 29 September 1829 was the largest and first of the police forces with others following in different locations by circa 1850.  

  The Met chart has been extraordinarily accurate with the Solar Arc Mars opposing the Sun over large year’s scandals and now moving to conjunct the Pluto next year. With a nerve-stretched SA Neptune opposition the Uranus now. All of which reflects a devastating phase, that could spell the end of the entity altogether or at least grind it to a frustrating and aggravating halt as reforms are put in place.

   With a natal Sun opposition Pluto it is a control-freak organisation but it also has the capacity to be inspirational with a Fire Grand Trine. Tr Pluto is exactly square the Mercury at zero degrees Scorpio as bitter discussions and divisive arguments gets under way running into and through 2024 and beyond as tr Pluto is then conjunct the Uranus for a period of upheaval in 2024/25.  Tr Neptune and Saturn in Aries will create more setbacks and lower morale from 2026 onwards for two or three years – so it won’t be an instant transformation into a new Met.

  Mark Rowley, the new commissioner, started on 12 September last year a Sun opposition Neptune which does not exactly inspire confidence.