UK Riots - an astrological comment

In 1979 a Tory government came in to power lead by Margaret Thatcher, at the time the UK economy was considered to be facing severe problems, including inflation running in to double figures. In seeking to amend this Thatcher's government immediately raised taxes and interest rates and made cuts to public spending, particularly welfare and social security spending. These policies were to hit the poor the hardest.

As a result of these policies by 1980 Britain had been plunged into a full scale recession, with unemployment hitting an unprecedented 3 million. At the time there was wide spread criticism aimed at Thatcher who adamantly refused to change course on any of those policies.


In 1981 an event occurred that triggered a summer of riots throughout the UK when police were thought to have refused to get help for a young black youth who had been stabbed. This event lead to what are now known as the Brixton riots. The Asian community had been feeling increasingly disenfranchised. The Police had been given new powers to question people about their immigration status. Resentment arose about how the police applied these laws in particular to the Asian community. Economic hardship and these feelings of being targeted by the police lead to the riots


When looking at events that affect a country a look at sun entering the cardinal signs (called ingress charts) can give an insight into the events, especially compared to that countries chart. In particular the Aries ingress gives an insight into the whole year.





If we look at the previous Aries ingress to the 1981 riots and compare it to the UK 1801 chart (above) we can see that the ingress occurred at the same time as a full moon. The ingress is always going to be opposite the 1801 UK Uranus, the planet of rebellion, but it's not always going to have a full moon contacting this planet. Note also the involvement with Mars conjunct the ingress sun and thus opposing the UK's Uranus.  By the time of catalyst event that triggered the riots Mars has moved through the zodiac and is now square the UK moon. The moon represents the public;  this square shows the public discontent




Also if we look at the chart for the 1981 catalyst chart (Above) we can see that Mars (planet of anger and aggression) is now opposing Pluto (planet of violent upheaval) Further riots were to follow in July of that year


Fast forward 30 years and we have another Tory government who, as soon as they were elected introduced austerity measures which included severe cutbacks to the welfare state, again these have had the most impact on the poorest of society. Not only that but any chance of the poor bettering themselves has been taken away by the introduction of unaffordable university fees. And again there is tension between the police and black communities.

A catalyst incident again triggered a series of riots, starting in Tottenham and spreading throughout the country (on going as I write)


So what of the Aries ingress chart this time? (Above) No full moon this time but as you can see the sun is conjunct Uranus so we again have the planet of civil unrest emphasised. Also note Pluto on the UK's IC and squaring the UK ascendant.




If we look at the catalyst chart we see that Mars is opposing Pluto as it did in 1981 - this time we have the added factor of both squaring Uranus indicating the suddenness and violence of the current riots
Inst 2011 catalyst


Finally just take a look at the previous eclipse chart to these current events in relation to the UK chart. Note it is exactly on the UK’s midheaven. Also note that the degree of this eclipse is conjunct the 1981 catalyst moon. History is repeating itself but in a far more intense and violent way than the previous incident.

I am neither condoning nor condemning the riots, just making astrological comment – these charts show that economic factors have a bearing on both events. There is far more that can be studied here- I’ve only touched the tip of the iceberg.
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The following websites were used in researching this article:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2004/may/09/past.women
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/secret-papers-reveal-thatchers-fury-during-1980-crisis-2171788.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1981_Brixton_riot
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1981_England_riots
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-14436499

Street Photography Now – According To Flickr.

Is voyeuristic! No. Honestly. It’s a long time since I last blogged and as you can see this is not about astrology, it’s miscellaneous.

My second love after astrology is photography, it’s a recently acquired hobby in relation to astrology but it’s grabbed me. A friend persuaded me to join Flickr and I soon discovered that there is a wonderful group of people there. Indeed I have made many friends there.

For just over a year now I have become fascinated with the genre of street photography and recently enjoyed the exhibitions put on by the London Street Festival Organization.  http://londonstreetphotographyfestival.org/

It's an addictive pastime and indeed I have friends and contacts at Flickr who also class themselves as street photographers – one of whom recently had his account deleted by Flickr with no warning whatsoever, there one minute and gone the next! I found this extremely worrying as in many ways our street photography was of a similar style. The only way he could get support was to re-join under a different name (this in itself is bad practice, why is there no support email address at Flickr?)

It’s taken my friend 4 days, countless emails and numerous posts on the help forum in order to get an answer to the one question he asked “why?”

Finally it seems he got an answer, his photos are deemed ‘voyeuristic’ by Flickr? Hang on….? He’s a street photographer and so am I? Does that make me a voyeur too? Does this mean that the British Library who hosted one of the London Street festival’s exhibitions encourage voyeurism?

It appears he broke the community guideline that states

“Don’t be creepy.
You know the guy. Don't be that guy.”

Now if that isn’t a vague guideline I don’t know what is, who at Flickr (and its parent company Yahoo) defines creepy? – but on the strength of that Flickr can do the following

Flickr expressly reserves the right to immediately modify, delete content from, suspend or terminate your account and refuse current or future use of any Yahoo! service, including Flickr pro, if Flickr, in its sole discretion believes you have: (i) violated or tried to violate the rights of others; or (ii) acted inconsistently with the spirit or letter of the TOS, the Community Guidelines or these Additional Terms. In such event, your Flickr pro account may be suspended or cancelled immediately in our discretion, all the information and content contained within it deleted permanently and you will not be entitled to any refund of any of the amounts you've paid for such account. Flickr accepts no liability for information or content that is deleted.

So the photo uploading site, used by many professionals and used by the BBC and the American Government amongst others can just delete your account, with no warning and no reason given  whether you are a paid member or not. I’m sorry Flickr this is entirely unacceptable behaviour by you. In fact I find that creepier than any street photographer’s photo stream.

Oh and please don’t think this is an isolated case, here are a few more:
Yahoo 'censored' Flickr comments 
Flickr Accidentally Deletes a User’s 3,400 Photos
What Would Happen If Your Pro Flickr Account Was Deleted?

 One final note: It seems that you can post all sorts of pornographic images to Flickr without being considered creepy (and there is a hell of a lot of  it there) yet street photography images are considered creepy and voyeuristic!

I will be uploading my last ever picture to Flickr soon, it will be a street candid so no doubt will be considered voyeuristic. I'll miss all my contacts, (whom I want to thank here and now for their support, comments and encouragement)  but never again will Flickr have a penny of my money or a moment of my time.

Meanwhile my photos will continue here for the time being whilst I look into other alternatives:
https://picasaweb.google.com/sasastro