A final act of remembrance for the deaths at Flanders one hundred years ago in the First World War will be held this weekend. Passchendaele was one of the bloodiest battle of WW1, leading to 320,000 allied deaths and German losses of between 260,000 and 400,000 men. The Allied assault was … Read more
The drift of eastern EU countries away from democracy towards authoritarianism and Russia is causing considerable concern. A 2017 report described 18 of the 27 Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries as being in democratic decline. The most worrisome are Poland and Hungary, in the 1990s seen as success stories. Hungary under Viktor … Read more
The US isn’t the only polarised country with a rudderless ship of state. The poor Brits are getting increasingly perplexed watching a motionless government murmuring hopeful platitudes about Brexit while the doomsayers are getting louder. The UK’s spending watchdog has warned the post-Brexit IT system for customs is heading for a “horror show” that could … Read more
Never has Plato’s thought, that the problem with democracy is that it elevates opinion above knowledge, seemed more true. What with Trump being elected by precisely those voters his policies will damage most. Macron shoehorned into the Elysee Palace with no experience, but spurred to victory because he wasn’t like his rivals (except … Read more
Forcing taxpayers to foot the bill for the debts of failed banks was supposed to have been outlawed in the EU after the 2008 cataclysm. So no surprises there are grumbling of discontent, especially in Germany, when Italy was allowed to do just that to mop up the mess after two … Read more
London has been around for at least two and perhaps three thousand years, with no charter dates that I can establish. The Romans named it Londinium around 50 AD when Pluto was in Capricorn and Neptune in Pisces, so it is returning full cycle at the moment. There are two dates which … Read more
“Events, dear boy, events” was what former UK PM Harold MacMillan probably never said in response to a question about what blows governments off course and they most fear. But like most clichés it holds more than a grain of truth. Theresa May, already tottering after a series of political blunders, has been … Read more
Theresa May’s new government was kicked off just after 12.30pm on June 9th with an exact Full Moon square Neptune conjunct the Descendant, which is hardly auspicious – impractical, disorganised, lacking will-power, a tendency to give up or give in too easily rather than meet problems head-on, prone to self-deception, lacking in commitment to … Read more
Theresa May will need all of her Saturn in Scorpio sticking power if she’s going to hack on regardless. She’ll meet her backbenchers probably tomorrow (Monday) which might seal her fate. But polls are indicating that none of the possible contenders from within Tory ranks would be any more popular, some less so. So … Read more
A government of ‘certainty’ was how Theresa May described her future hoped-for support from the Northern Ireland Democratic Unionist Party. And good luck with that. The DUP are anti-abortion, anti-same-sex marriage, have previously appointed a climate denier as environment minister in Northern Ireland, and have several ‘creationists’ among its senior members. Lord preserve … Read more