Astrology of Today’s News

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Astrology in a nutshell – some thoughts on psychological astrology and how transformative it can be.

“Understanding yourself in depth for which the birth chart is the road map is the key to understanding why certain events and experiences keep recurring. They may seem to be ‘out there’ but they are inextricably linked to the nature of us as individuals. As Carl Jung says – that of which we are unconscious meets up on the outside as if it were fate.

Coming to terms with ourselves, the totality of us, not just the surface layer, is what makes the crucial difference – owning the parts we have cut off and which consistently trip us up.

Astrology offers a channel into self-knowledge that is available nowhere else. It also tells us that life is about potentials and possibilities and nothing is pre-ordained.  We do have choices within the limitations of our innate nature. Carl Jung again – freewill is the ability to choose that of which we must do. You have to accept the hand of cards you were dealt at birth and see what is the best way of optimizing who you are.”

Advice to those starting their exploration of astrology?

Astrology is eternally fascinating and even after nearly five decades I still get a thrill when it explains the whys and wherefores of situations, relationships, and individuals. So it is worth slogging on through the initial stages. Learning it requires determination – someone once worked out a birth chart containing 2500 pieces of information some of which are contradictory.

Nailing down the meaning of 10 planets in 12 signs, in 12 different ‘houses’ of the chart, and in five major aspects to each other – and then prioritizing what is more important is step number one.

Once over the first hurdle, practice on family, friends, celebrities, and politicians in the news. Test out their birth chart with what you see and know. Do courses, read books, and use the internet where there are helpful, information-heavy astrology sites. If you want to go into practice, consider doing a counseling course whether related to astrology or not. Understanding people in depth and becoming sensitive to the risks of pushing too far too fast will all help.

Astrology can be a catalyst for change but it requires a thoughtful approach that is knowledgeable not just about astrology but also psychology.

  On a new website with a wealth of healing and psychic recommendations on offer.

Marjorie Orr on Astrology’s Transformative Power: Blending Tradition with Psychological Insight

Canada appears to be undergoing its own particular existential and identity crisis with the blame being directed at PM Justin Trudeau. His resignation has been demanded by 24 of his caucus members with today being the deadline for his decision. It seems unlikely he will go instantly though poll numbers are way down with defeat a real possibility in an election expected next year.

  When he took up the reins of office in 2015 according to critics he tore ‘the country’s historic identity to shreds. The three prongs of the attack involved setting fire to its past, promoting LGBTQ and critical race theory in schools and government, and unleashing an unprecedented wave of mass migration.’ Even the liberal Globe and Mail, published a piece about the betrayal of the ‘Canadian Dream’. It spoke of a social crisis, an immigration crisis, an economic crisis and a political crisis.  

 In 2015, transiting Uranus was moving across the Canada Ascendant, hinting at a pull away from the past with a new identity being forged. The tough-minded, persevering Saturn opposition Pluto which is a major prop of the Canada chart had moved by Solar Arc to sit on the Ascendant/Descendant axis and the Canada Neptune as well – so there was immense pressure for a rebranding of the old image. Tr Pluto was also square the Canada Neptune for a moment of confusion and anxiety.

 The hope-for-a-better-society-though-not-always-realistic tr Saturn square tr Neptune of 2015 was also bearing down on Canada’s exuberant and go-getting Mars opposition Jupiter.

  By 2022 into early 2023 tr Uranus was conjunct the Canada Pluto and opposition the Saturn for another considerable upheaval.

 Trudeau was always going to bring sweeping changes – or put another way he was the agent who turned up at a time when changes were going to happen no matter what.

 The relationship chart between Trudeau and Canada has a composite Saturn Uranus conjunction which suggests tension with one side wanting freedom and the other yearning for the status quo of stability. Past and future fight a battle which can be explosive. That Uranus Saturn squares the North Node and opposes the Moon and Algol – so it was always going to be a turbulent association with a good deal of ill feeling on the part of the public (Moon).

  Justin Trudeau’s personal chart, 25 December 1971 9.27 pm Ottawa, Canada, is a curious mix of compassionate Saturn Neptune sitting alongside ruthlessly determined Mars opposition Pluto square his Capricorn Sun. Kind and cruel at the same time.

  He is a thinker and communicator with an Air Grand Trine of Saturn trine Pluto trine Venus, so overly inclined to pursue dogmas and ideas – which he will do with excessive determination given the Pluto opposition Mars on the cusp of his 8^th. Though not always sensibly or realistically with his Saturn opposition Neptune.

 Saturn conjunct his Midheaven natally will bring retribution for mistakes and any underhand actions – which may be more apparent as tr Uranus enters Gemini by July 2025 onwards. He may be forced into a change of career direction in May 2025 as tr Uranus is conjunct his Midheaven (repeating January to mid March 2026).

 Even before then tr Neptune conjunct his Mars next March followed by tr Saturn conjunct his Mars in May 2025 and beyond will bring losses and setbacks. Tr Neptune Saturn in Aries will then  proceed to oppose his Pluto and square his Sun through till 2027 for a swampy undermining phase.

 His initial Swearing In chart, 4 November 2015 10.45 am does have the Solar Arc exactly conjunct the IC at the moment for a time of disruption and uprooting. With the passionately enthusiastic Venus Mars in Virgo being rattled by the recent Lunar Eclipse and the March and September 2025 eclipses as well. He will most likely come out fighting since an 8^th house Mars opposition Pluto is unlikely to go gracefully.

 That he was going to bring far-reaching changes was never in doubt with his Pluto opposition Mars square Capricorn Sun opposing the Canada Sun Uranus in Cancer; and his Uranus closely conjunct the Canada Descendant.

 The key question is what comes next?  Tr Uranus is now moving into the Ca 2^nd house of finances so money will be erratic in the coming years though with a chance of innovative ventures paying off. Much internal dialogue and confusion with tr Saturn Neptune moving through the Ca 12^th; and a chance to revision the future and the make-up of Canadian society as tr Pluto moves into the 11^th this year and on for many years to come.

Gwyneth Paltrow’s Goop – ‘a major player in the cut-throat world of global wellness, a market recently valued by McKinsey as being worth more than £1 trillion’ – appears to be on the decline. Last year, Goop’s London store was shuttered after losing an estimated £1.4 million and there are cuts to the Goop workforce ongoing as revenue elsewhere slows. Ms Paltrow is returning to her former career on the big screen to appear in sport drama Marty Supreme alongside Timothee Chalamet.

 Goop while definitely weird as well as successful and riddled with scandals of various varieties, health-related and financial, was very much a Pluto in Capricorn entity. It started with a newsletter in 2008, was incorporated in the UK in 2011 and went stratospheric.

 Gwyneth Paltrow was born 27 September 1972 5.25pm Los Angeles, with an actress mother and producer-director father, and has a chart overloaded with do-or-die determination and luck. Her 7^th house Libra Sun is conjunct Pluto and Mars in late Virgo all squaring a 10^th house Jupiter. Her Gemini Moon on her IC is conjunct Saturn and opposition a ‘spiritual’ 9^th house Neptune. 6 Air planets including an 8^th house Mercury Uranus conjunction in Libra make her a communicator; and her Venus in fashionable Leo in her 6^th would have inclined her towards pricey health products.

 What is intriguing is that the initial incorporation of Goop on 9 August 2011 occurred on a Mars opposition Pluto which fits her no-holds-barred chart and temperament; with Sun Venus in Leo to match her natal Venus in Leo. Jupiter in Taurus was then moving through her natal 2^nd and tr Uranus was square her Sun paving the way for a life-changing and lucrative venture.

 Tr Saturn was then rising above her Descendant and as tr Saturn sets at the moment moving below her Ascendant her career will lose its momentum.

  She may not enjoy what comes next with tr Saturn moving through her low profile 1^st quadrant for several years ahead; plus a seriously undermining tr Neptune Saturn opposing her Mars, Pluto and Sun and square her Jupiter through 2025 till late 2027 as well.  

 The Incorporation 2011 chart has the Solar Arc Sun opposition Neptune at the moment which is never a good financial omen with both squared by tr Uranus in 2025.

  The excesses of Capricorn – a quick trawl through the Goop website evokes astonishment that it ever made money at all.

The money men are stirring the political pot pre-election with Elon Musk drenching Trump and potential voters with hard cash, Washington Post owner Jeff Bezos causing ructions banning a Harris endorsement; and Murdoch as usual rolling over to assist Trump’s chances.

Elon Musk, 28 June 1971 7.30am (unverified) Pretoria, South Africa, is certainly in the eye of the celestial storm of the moment with his Uranus in Libra catching the recent Solar Eclipse and next March’s by opposition; plus his Pluto in late Virgo being rattled up by the recent September Lunar Eclipse and early and late eclipses in 2025. How that will play out is anyone’s guess with an eclipsed Uranus hinting that a radical change of outlook is required; with much the same for an eclipsed Pluto – transform or stagnate. He also has tr Uranus moving to hard aspect his Jupiter Neptune opposition Saturn from spring 2023 on into 2026 which will be an exceptionally rocky ride and dent a few of his high hopes. Running into a dead-halt meltdown by 2026/27 from SA Pluto square his Mars.

 His relationship chart with Trump looks extremely uncertain and undermined now right through till early 2026 with tr Neptune square the composite Sun Saturn conjunction. Late December to mid March 2025 looks especially jangled.

 Musk’s time of birth is uncertain as is Putin’s birth date; though if the Putin 1952 date is sound then there may be successful associations between them from this November through till 2026.

Jeff Bezos, 12 January 1964, has alarmed Washington Post staffers and some board members by issuing an edict against supporting Harris in the election the first time in 30 years the paper has not stood behind the Democratic candidate. The billionaire LA Times owner has done the same saying he does not wish to widen the divide out in society and that readers should decide for themselves.

 [A dispassionate media would be a fine thing but in the present climate it hardly stands up to scrutiny as an excuse.]

  Bezos, 12 January 1964, is looking hemmed in and frustrated throughout November with tr Pluto conjunct his Mars for the final time. And none too happy or popular through January 2025. He does have a Jupiterian yod in his chart inconjunct Uranus Pluto sextile Neptune which is being triggered by the recent Libra Eclipse and the next March Aries Eclipse – so his tendency to trip himself up from over confidence may be on show. His 2026/27 look devastatingly confused and disappointed with losses in various quarters.

 His relationship chart with Trump has a veneer of enthusiasm covering over an aggravated and resentful composite Saturn Venus opposition Mars. Not a match made in heaven.

 Bezos’ relationship with the Washington Post hints at more tempests, tensions and disappointments to come because of his autocratic behaviour over the next three years or more.  The WPost, 6 December 1877, is panicked and disillusioned at the moment till February 2025 with tr Neptune conjunct the Mars; and mightily jangled through late this November to late December with tr Uranus conjunct the Pluto; and emotionally overwrought through January 2025.

** A minor thought vis a vis the UK Government’s incomprehensible decision to allow/encourage Labour activists to assist the Harris campaign which was (yet another) tone deaf and politically inept decision. The relationship chart between Starmer and Trump is under a dark cloud till late this November with tr Pluto square the composite Saturn; in turmoil through December and in a bad-tempered stand-off through January, repeating later in 2025 with tr Pluto opposition the composite Sun Mars conjunction.

“Round about the cauldron go;

In the poison’d entrails throw.

Toad, that under cold stone

Days and nights has thirty-one

Swelter’d venom sleeping got,

Boil thou first i’ the charmed pot.

Double, double toil and trouble;

Fire burn, and cauldron bubble.

**

Fillet of a fenny snake,

In the cauldron boil and bake;

Eye of newt and toe of frog,

Wool of bat and tongue of dog,

Adder’s fork and blind-worm’s sting,

Lizard’s leg and owlet’s wing,

For a charm of powerful trouble,

Like a hell-broth boil and bubble.”

Shakespeare

Gladiator II, Ridley Scott’s epic historical action film, the sequel to the successful Russell Crowe 2000 blockbuster, is due for release this November. Paul Mescal plays Lucius, the secret son of the murdered Maximus from the previous narrative. The storyline sticks close to the original with Lucius, formerly heir to the Roman Empire, becoming a gladiator after his wife and child are killed in a coup, to wreak vengeance on corrupt rulers.  The original was the second highest grossing film worldwide in 2000.

  Principal Photography started on 7 June 2023 in Ourzazate, Morocco, with a potentially successful Venus (Mars) opposition Pluto square Jupiter North Node in Taurus. Though the Gemini Sun square the Saturn/Neptune midpoint hints at a degree of uncertainty.

  It will be released on 15 November 2024 when there is a Sun opposition Uranus; a blocked Mars opposition Pluto and an up and down Mercury opposition Jupiter square Neptune. The Gladiator 1 release, 5 May 2000, had a Sun Jupiter Saturn in Taurus conjunction inconjunct Pluto; with Jupiter in a lucky square to Uranus so some similarities with a marked Jupiter in Taurus but this one not perhaps quite as successful.

  Ridley Scott, the director, 30 November 1937, is a Sun Sagittarius with a risk-taking Mars in Aquarius square Uranus and a super-confident Jupiter opposition Pluto. Tr Pluto tugging on his successful Jupiter Pluto opposition will help to boost his chances; but he also has undermining, failed-hopes influences.

Paul Mescal, the Irish lead, 2 February 1996, a Sun Mars in Aquarius, has one upbeat influence over the launch followed by  a less than ecstatic one after a few days through December.

  Oddly Ridley Scott and Gladiator might get a lift in 2026/27 but it does not look to be the same rip roaring success as before.

  Perhaps the appetite for blood and circuses has receded since pre-9/11, Iraq and all that has followed recently.  

 “None of us can change the past” was King Charles’ attempt to tackle the reparations row over the transatlantic slave trade at the Commonwealth Heads meeting. From 1500, the British government and the monarchy were prominent participants in the centuries-long slave trade, alongside other European nations. British ships are reckoned  to have transported over three million enslaved Africans, mostly to colonies in the Caribbean and North America. Britain also had a key role in ending the trade in 1833. Some Commonwealth leaders have called for the UK to pay financial compensation estimated at more than £18tn ($23tn).

The Commonwealth of Nations, is an international association of 56 member states, the vast majority of which are former territories of the British Empire. It dates back to the first half of the 20th century with the decolonisation of the British Empire through increased self-governance of its territories. It was formalised on 11 December 1931.  The current Commonwealth of Nations was constituted on 28 April 1949. The Head of the Commonwealth is Charles III. He is king of 15 member states, known as the Commonwealth realms, whilst 36 other members are republics, and five others have different monarchs.

 The 1931 chart has an enthusiastic Fire Grand Trine of Sagittarius Sun trine Uranus and trine Jupiter;  five planets in earthy Capricorn trine an idealistic Neptune; and a hard-edged though innovative Saturn opposition Pluto square Uranus. With fittingly a go-it-alone North Node in Aries.

 The 1949 chart has a similarly energized mix of Earth and Fire with a Taurus New Moon plus Venus and Mercury; with Pluto and Saturn in Leo and Mars in Aries. There was a mainly Fire but mixed element Grand Trine of Mars trine Saturn trine Jupiter; with a super-confident Jupiter on the focal point of a yod to Uranus sextile Saturn. Also with an Aries North Node.

 Both charts hint that 2026/27 will be years of major upheaval. On the 1931 chart the Solar Arc Uranus conjunct the Pluto and opposition the Saturn will upend that T square. Fractious arguments will precede it with the Solar Arc Mars square the Mercury in 2025.

 The 1949 chart has a tension-erupting tr Uranus square the Saturn from mid 2025 into 2026; with a road-blocked and infuriated SA Pluto opposition Mars as well as a can-be-fanatical SA Neptune conjunct the Uranus in 2026/27; followed by a deconstruct and reconstruct tr Pluto square the Sun in 2027/28.

From a previous post April 3 2023. Slavery reparations – righting historical wrongs

  The history of British/English involvement in slavery has danced to the tune of Uranus Pluto with its participation in transatlantic slavery beginning in 1592 under Uranus Pluto in Aries; and taking over the slave trade to South America in 1713 under Uranus Pluto in Virgo.

  Uranus Pluto is more commonly associated with rebellions and revolutions, present during the civil rights unrest in the USA in the 1960s with Uranus Pluto in Virgo in place and over the independence from colonial rule for 12 African states. But that Uranus Pluto conjunction also oversaw Nelson Mandela’s imprisonment as well as Martin Luther King and the Kennedy brothers’ assassinations.

  During the previous Uranus Pluto conjunction in the 1840s and 1850s Natal in eastern South Africa, became a British colony and another Anglo-African War broke out. In the USA Harriet Beecher Stowe published Uncle Tom’s Cabin.

  In the eternal war between the forces of total oppression (Pluto) and the will for freedom (Uranus) sometimes one wins, sometimes the other. There is not another hard Pluto Uranus aspect until the 2040s. But it may be that Pluto moving into Aquarius, ruled by Uranus, combining as it does the two conflicting energies raises the same mood.

  The moves to abolish slavery came in stages in the UK, first with a ban internally in the UK and only after 1833 in British overseas territory.

 What is intriguing is that the two key acts – the Slave Trade Act 28 March 1807 and the Slavery Abolition Act 28 August 1833 both had Pluto square the North Node – and the 1833 Act had Uranus in Aquarius. Pluto square the NN is puzzling at first glance but perhaps a hint that the zeitgeist/spirit of the Age was moving against Pluto’s need to control and to project its hatred and contempt towards those who are different and therefore deemed inferior.

Actor Ron Ely who came to fame as Tarzan in the 1960s television series Tarzan has died at 86 five years after his second wife was stabbed to death by their son Cameron who was subsequently shot by the police.  Initially Cameron phoned police to say his father had killed her and when they arrived, according to the sheriff he indicated he had a gun and was shot. Ron Ely then unsuccessfully sued the authorities saying first responders were negligent in their actions involving both his late wife and son.

Ron was born 21 June 1938 8.10 am Hereford, Texas, with an 11^th house Sun Mercury in Gemini and a fairly disjointed chart with a secretive, intense, seductive Pluto Venus on his Leo Ascendant; a free-spirited Uranus in his 10^th in a creative trine to Neptune; with his 12th house Mars in Cancer square his Aries Moon and trine an 8^th house Jupiter. His Sun was also square his Moon and trine his Jupiter. Plus he had a hard-edged, not-always-sympathetic Saturn in Aries square Mars and inconjunct Neptune.

    There are not too many hints in his chart of the calamity that would strike him late in life though his South Node in Taurus conjunct Algol might be one hint since both oppose a 4^th house Scorpio North Node, indicating that family and domestic matters were a challenge for him.

 His son Cameron, 28 October 1988 was clearly troubled with a Sun Pluto conjunction in Scorpio and a probable Mutable Grand Cross of Mars in Pisces opposition Venus square Uranus Saturn in Sagittarius maybe opposition a Gemini Moon -this would make him exceptionally highly strung. Plus a yod of Sun sextile Neptune inconjunct Jupiter. He would have a hair-trigger temper, a need to maintain control over his environment and a tendency to flights of over-confidence.

 What is marginally odd – if the birth dates are sound – is that Valerie Ely, 13 October 1956, appeared to have an easier relationship with her son than with her husband. She was a Sun Neptune in Libra with her Saturn square Pluto and Venus.

 Her relationship chart with Cameron had an easy going composite Sun square Jupiter, a confident composite Jupiter trine Mars; and an admittedly intense Mercury conjunct Pluto.

His relationship chart with his father had a much trickier composite Mars trine Pluto with an ego-clashing Mars opposition Neptune; and a yod of Saturn sextile Jupiter inconjunct Pluto hinting at power and control issues – which were reflected in Cameron’s chart with his Sun Pluto conjunction as well as his afflicted Mars giving him major anger issues.

 Ron’s relationship chart with his wife Valerie was even more stark with a truly difficult composite Mars square Pluto; and a yod of Jupiter sextile Neptune inconjunct Mars – suggesting an aggravated relationship with domination issues and resentment.

  As I say it depends on birth dates being accurate but whoever did what to whom, the atmosphere in that house must have been a tinderbox ready to blow.

“Vaulting ambition, which o’erleaps itself,

And falls on th’other. . . .” Shakespeare

Rudi Giuliani as the tragic hero brought low by hubris seems an unlikely depiction as he shows precious little of his former glory gained in his days as New York Mayor overseeing crime rates dropping and taking charge over 9/11. He has been ordered to hand out the keys to his Manhattan penthouse and all his valuable possessions to the Georgia election workers who won a $148 million defamation judgment against him. Last month he was disbarred in Washington, months after he lost his law license in New York for pursuing false claims about the 2020 election. He is still facing his biggest test yet: fighting criminal charges in the Georgia case accusing Trump and 18 others of working to subvert the results of the 2020 election.

  A fatal fall through excessive pride would not seem an exaggeration in his case and he has come down with a resounding clunk. His career was always littered with scandals, sexual and financial, and questionable judgments, such as support for the Iraq War. But he has finally hit zero.

 Born 28 May 1944 2.31 pm New York, he has a 9^th house Gemini Sun conjunct Uranus with Saturn in Gemini conjunct his Midheaven.  But what is eye-catching is a formidably determined, good-in-crises and potentially lawless Mars Pluto conjunction in Leo on the focal point of a mini Grand Trine of Sun Uranus trine an evasive Neptune on his Ascendant.

 His Venus in Taurus (conjunct Algol) is sextile his Descendant and Scheat – hinting at a stormy love life.

 When 9/11 happened, tr Jupiter was crossing his 10^th house giving him extra prominence. His Progressed Mars was exactly square to his Sun, his Solar Arc Uranus was conjunct his Mars, his Solar Arc Pluto was conjunct his Neptune and tr Neptune was opposition his Pluto. He was undoubtedly shocked though with tr Uranus was in a ‘lucky’ opposition to his Jupiter there was also an opportunity. What Mars Pluto excels at, is rising to the challenge in situations of high stress and danger, when others are panicking.

   But after the jeopardy recedes there is always a yearning to relive the high risk, adrenaline-surge, sometimes by creating chaos to provide the thrill and emerge once again as the hero. A failed political career followed his exit from New York and his embrace of Trump – fairly similar in astrological features  – was to provide the final coffin-nail in his reputation.

 At the moment Guiliani has tr Neptune squaring his Saturn and Midheaven and opposing his Ascendant now and throughout 2025; with tr Neptune Saturn in Aries opposing his Neptune in 2025; and tr Pluto squaring his Mars and Pluto between 2025 and 2027. All of which looks like the final collapse.

Saturn on the Midheaven has a reputation for exacting justice and retribution for misdeeds. Stray from the straight and narrow and karma catches up.

He does have a pronounced 10^th harmonic, associated with the wheel of fortune which indicates a rise as well as a fall of fortune. It has a Grand Trine of Sun trine Pluto trine Mercury formed into a Kite by Pluto opposition Neptune, which last can have  megalomaniac ambitions.

  Ironic that his fate is sealed with the Mars opposition Pluto in place across coming months.  Which may also be true of Justin Trudeau being pressured by those within his own party to resign – he is also a Mars Pluto type. Of which more anon – though Mars Pluto don’t let go easy.  

Cliff Richard, the teenyboppers’ delight pre-The Beatles in the early 1960s, is still going strong into his mid eighties. He has announced his Can’t Stop Me Now tour to Australia, New Zealand and the UK in 2025.

  He started as a rebellious rock and roll singer in the style of Presley and Little Richard with his backing group, the Shadows, but an increased focus on his Christian faith led to a more middle-of-the-road image. In a career over 65 years, he has collected several gold and platinum discs and awards, including two Ivor Novello Awards and three Brit Awards though he never made the same inroads into the USA music scene.

 Born 14 October 1940 9.10 pm (rectified and unconfirmed) in Lucknow, India, he came to the UK aged 6 when violence broke out pre-independence and partition.

He has a Libra Sun largely unaspected in his performing 5^th house; with his Mercury in Scorpio also in his 5^th opposition Saturn Jupiter in Taurus widely square Pluto in his financial 2^nd house – thus a fixed T square giving him endurance and a stubborn streak. He also has a 12^th house Uranus exactly conjunct Algol in a creative trine to Neptune.

   His 10^th house Aries Moon, suiting him for a public career is in a possessive trine to Pluto and a fractious opposition to Mars in his domestic 4^th house. His Venus in Virgo trines Saturn Jupiter.

 An unaspected Sun will make him defensive and independent, aloof and absorbed within his own world.  

  His romantic life has always been a subject of intrigue for the media with a string of high profile ladies at one point who never made it up the altar and he has lived for some years with an ex-priest and his mother.

  When the police raided his Berkshire home in 2014 as part of the Operation Yewtree post the Jimmy Savile scandal, tr Neptune was conjunct his Midheaven and tr Saturn in Scorpio was opposition his Taurus planets as he expressed outrage at the publicised operation and retired to Portugal thereafter for a few years. No evidence was found and he subsequently successfully sued the BBC and South Yorkshire Police for damages.