Of Liz Truss, the UK and asparagus

We’ll let this classic by Emerson, Lake and Palmer kick off this post:

In politics, all the world’s a stage…

When Liz Truss was passed the baton of PM from Boris by the Queen, virtually all comment on social and independent media was to the effect she would be a disaster for the UK. As things went for Liz, those prognostications proved to be true. They also turned out to be a disaster for her and her government. She now is a record-holder in the annals of UK premierships:

“Of those with clear terms, the prime minister with the total shortest period in office is Liz Truss, whose term will last between 44 and 51 days from 6 September 2022 until her resignation on the selection of a successor, expected within one week of 20 October 2022. Previously, the prime minister with the total shortest period in office had been George Canning, whose sole term lasted 119 days from 12 April 1827 until his death on 8 August 1827.”

Her first policy decisions – the energy ‘relief’ bill and the tax cuts for the richest members of Britain’s upper caste drew outrage from the public and even Conservatives – and the latter is really saying something. There was a running bet in British tabloid media about which would last longer – a head of lettuce or her premiership. It looks like the lettuce won. Asparagus spears may prove to be more accurate still. More on the latter later.

King Charles III recently stated he wanted to be more involved with the government, in this case meaning the Truss administration, whatever that means – whether greater protection for the wealth of the Windsors or more oversight regarding government policy. The Truss administration was under the microscope from the start, both by Charles and by the public. It is going to be an interesting period in the UK, these months ahead. We start with the timeline of her administration and then a look at the chart for the beginning of her administration.

• For her first act, Truss announced her ‘energy support package’, ‘capping’ energy expenditures per household at £2500/yr for the next couple of years. The markets immediately gasped, along with the British public.
• For Act II, the Queen died (really, it wasn’t Truss’ fault), putting her administration on hold for a few days of that other spectacle of national mourning. There was already mourning for Truss’ premiership.
• For Act III, she gave a Bible reading at the funeral of the Queen, as you would. She was mistaken for a ‘minor royal’, by an observant TV presenter. Australians…taking the piss, maybe
• For Act IV, she traveled to the UNGA meeting where she gave an address on the need to fight for democracy (a bit of irony, that) and thereafter met with sleepy Joe, reaffirming her government’s undying fealty to American foreign policy. At least they agreed on the Good Friday Agreement and keeping up the fight against AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria
• For Act V (there are quite a few acts to this show. A continuous supply of popcorn was in order, or a few stiff martinis – shaken, not stirred) there was her Kwasi mini-budget. That’s a play on words, btw. ‘Kwasi’ sounds like ‘quasi, as in ‘almost’. The pound tanked, going Kwasi to parity with the US dollar before bouncing back. The hedge funds made a fortune shorting the pound. The Chancellor trotted off to celebrate his brilliant budget with a champagne toast to him at the home of his hedge fund boss and new-found banker buddies. Hmmm….
• For Act VI, the BoE stepped in and began furiously buying as much government debt as possible to quell the bloodletting from the Kwasi budget.
• For Act VII, Truss stood on the bow of her sinking barge and defiantly squeaked out that she was standing firm with her policies. Her Kwasi policies were barely afloat.
• For Act VIII, Truss reversed the tax cuts for the richest Brits. (the knives began to come out). They didn’t want to, but guys…the bankers, the markets, you know?
• For Act IX, Liz trotted off for the inaugural meeting of the European Political Community in Prague. A little vacation was in order. She and Macron are besties, you know? It was getting hot in London. A few people hoped her decision to attend was the sign of a reset in relations between Brussels and London. Oh, that was a good one! “This is not about moving closer to Europe,” she said. Come on…
• For Act X, the BoE stepped in again, trying to stave off a real financial crash and ‘fire sale’ dynamics. A fire sale – just what the IMF ordered! The Kwasi Chancellor in response brought forward the publication date for his brilliant fiscal plan and economic forecast. There were warnings of a fierce Atlantic storm brewing. Still, Kwasi and Truss were squeaking into the growing headwinds their defiance at reversing their huge tax cuts or cutting public spending. British government borrowing hit a 20-year high. The gilt was starting to flake off of British bonds.
• For Act XI, Truss, in a sad moment of realization turned to Kwasi and said, “Really, it’s been fun dude, but all good things come to an end.” Kwasi shuffled off to destroy his next hedge fund scheme. Truss U-turned, got the bailing bucket on her sinking barge and reversed her tax cuts to corporations, raising them to 25%. Swords, pitchforks and torches began to appear. She also added that public spending would have to be ‘somewhat curtailed’. She was heard to reply, “Oops! We may have made a few errors. Mind you, may have…”
• Then, to round out our acts here, Truss placed the ‘Butcher of the NHS’ – one Jeremy Hunt – in the position of Chancellor. He immediately took the long knives to her budget. He was heard to mention that government spending cuts (like to the NHS, for instance), “may be needed”. Way to go, Jeremy. The public admires your ‘fiscal responsibility’. They can make do with less, the rabble. The British press agreed when they announced his new posting. Just listen:

Regardless, the show must go on, that is, until it doesn’t. We’ll get to that.

What about this premiership, then? Liz Truss began her tenure as the current PM of the UK when the Queen gave her blessing to the new administration. This was done at Balmoral Castle on 6 Sep 2022 at approximately 12:52 BST. The chart is below (bigger):

The first factor of note is the Mars square to the Meridian axis, showing the battle between the public (4^th house) and the government (10^th house). Mars is in the 7^th house of the figure (litigation, open enemies). This was always going to be a contentious government.

For any government, the 10^th house, its ruler and any planets therein are prime considerations. The Virgo MC in the figure, ruled by Mercury is conjunct the Sun, the latter conjunct Orcus. The Sun/Orcus conjunction can be a punishing combination. It can also represent someone who is a fall guy if other factors are present. Well get to that shortly, too.

Then there are the midpoints to the MC/Mars square, that square describing, “An excitable disposition, the inclination to act under emotional stress, premature action, impulsiveness, a lack of purpose and direction with regard to an aim in life.” The associated midpoints are:

• Sun/Ven: “The power of attainment, the urge to become important, a strong will. – The desire to attain success in life at all cost, the ability to procure the power for giving orders to others, the overcoming of resistance or obstacles.” And to Venus, we have, “Sexual desire, the tendency to do everything with love. – Acting or deciding anything purely from motives of 1ove alone, a person giving way to sexual impulse.”

We will return to the Saturn/Neptune midpoint presently, but this “acting or deciding anything purely from motives of 1ove alone” (highlighted above) bears some expanding upon. Ignoring the sexual side of the latter Venusian influence, Truss was selected by the Conservative party to be PM. Why, when it was well known she was narcissistic and malleable? Well, that was precisely why.

The Big Money wanted Truss in place to push through their agenda of lower taxes (for them), lower public spending (meaning more money and control for them), smaller government and so forth. Kwarteng was the foil to Truss’ premiership. She was selected because she would execute their policies without giving it much thought and because she filled her cabinet with Tufton Street scions – the very people who engineered and pushed through Brexit. There was this in a previous post regarding Truss:

“The bottom line here is that Truss would be a dangerous PM for the public in the UK, unless she is hiding some progressive agenda very close to her chest. Yes, there are serious doubts of that. Her elevation to PM would likely be the final curtain call for any social welfare and workers’ rights in the UK. And that is precisely why the Tories have groomed her for the job. For the British social safety net to be saved – also once the envy of the world, or at least Europe – there needs to be a lack of Truss and her like in any major way in UK government. And lack of trust in UK government and major parties grows by the week.”

Liz Truss was the PM for the oligarchs, most of whom live outside the UK’s borders. And when she backtracked on the tax cuts, her fate was sealed. Her biggest campaign donor was the wife of a former BP executive. If she had stayed she would have been pro-fracking. The UK has been drifting toward fascism for years, accelerated under the Tories. Truss was to be an instrument to further it.

Truss was to be the Manchurian candidate were the plans of the oligarchy to be successful, and the fall girl should they fail, which thus far they have not been able to fully realize. Truss imagined herself to be the reincarnation of Maggie Thatcher, the PM who brought the institution of neoliberalism of the UK. Hopefully instead, Liz Truss will be the one who begins to see it out. With those points in mind we return to the Saturn/Neptune=MC/Mars midpoint combination:

• Sat/Nep: “A peculiar character, a frequent change of mood, the tendency to lose courage quickly, wavering between materialistic and idealistic inclinations. – Emotional suffering, the state of illness.” And, “Lack of energy, listlessness, lack of creative energy. – Weak procreative powers. – Inactivity through emotional depression or sickness.”

The latter midpoint to the MC/Mars square is most revealing of the Truss administration, as it shows weakness, a lack of creativity, and some rather peculiar characters, all of which served to bring the premiership to a quick close. When the crème de la crème of the Conservative Party chose Truss, what they didn’t know or had miscalculated was that she would turn to a ripe Stilton on the British nose. The Sabian symbols for the Truss administration are interesting, if the time is correct:

The Sabian symbol for the rising degree:

• • A girl’s face breaking into a smile. (16^th degree of Scorpio) Well, she was ‘the chosen one’, after all. Why not smile at her success?

And then we have the symbol for the solar degree:

• • An aristocratic family tree (14^th degree of Virgo) She was put in place to serve the aristocrats of the Conservative Party

The culminating degree (MC) is also of interest:

• • An expressionist painter at work (9^th degree of Virgo)

A word about expressionism is in order here. All of these symbols are particularly pertinent to the UK today, but the expressionist painting below is perhaps the clearest presentation about this particular British administration:

For those readers not familiar with the painting, it is The Scream by Edvard Munch (1893), Expressionism is a modernist movement, initially in poetry and painting, originating in Northern Europe around the beginning of the 20th century. Its typical trait is to present the world solely from a subjective perspective, distorting it radically for emotional effect in order to evoke moods or ideas. Expressionist artists have sought to express the meaning of emotional experience rather than physical reality. That disconnect from physical reality is what has characterized Tory policy since they took power 12 years ago.

The Tories have presided over 330,000 excess deaths due to austerity policies (a key feature of neoliberalism) since they have been in power. It was Brexit that turbocharged the race to the ‘final solution’ for British neoliberalism and which placed Truss in power. The rich would have gotten that much richer under Truss. She was the 5^th PM in six years, if that sends a signal to the Tory Party, as in maybe the British public doesn’t like you so much, putting it politely. If there is not a general election soon, there may be blood in the streets if policies like those of the Tories continue. The Tories have taken the British public to be fools. Well, they aren’t, and they have had enough.

What we are seeing in the UK is the end stage of zombie capitalism, which in turn is the end stage of neoliberalism. Truss was never going to be allowed to be another Thatcher. That ship has sailed. Now, the Tories “just look like fools, standing on the prow of a boat that’s abandoned its fleet, and pissing into the winds of history, only to find they are getting themselves wet.” Their attempt at disaster capitalism has turned the public sharply against them.

The day before the final curtain, Truss was caught up in the maelstrom. The outcome was clear. Transiting Ceres was at the MC and squaring Mars, showing a distinct turn of events. Given the midpoints there, and that Ceres has a Pluto-like action, a major upset was indicated. That was reinforced by Saturn about to make its direct station square to Uranus – out with the old, in with the new.

The scenes at Parliament were legend. The Hamster was forced to resign, two of the whips quit, Conservative parliamentarians were manhandled into a no-confidence vote. There was a newscast later that stated, “None of us here have ever witnessed anything like this”. And even a German newscast broadcast some of the choicest words (in English) stated during the chaos (listen to the end). Now we come to the final act of the Truss administration.

• Final act: At about 13:35 BST on the 20^th of October, Liz Truss emerged from No. 10 and announced her resignation. The nation breathed a collective sigh of relief. There were no curtain calls.

So, Liz Truss’ short time as PM is finished. A new one will be chosen in a week. Then she will make her way to her final burtsey to the King as she hands in her resignation. Yet another unelected PM to lead the British people through this crisis? Who shall it be? Well, the asparagus psychic – Jemima Packington, a.k.a. ‘Mystic Veg’ – had Boris Johnson returning to power. It might be possible as a caretaker PM, and it would fit in with the current show, but would it be accepted.? Sunak and Mordaunt are favorites. There are rumors that BoJo is favored, too, along with Suella ‘Hamster’ Braverman. Mystic Veg also sees the King abdicating next year.

There are already rumblings about Charles’ health problems (anything to grab a headline and clickbait), but that will be another post for another time. I like asparagus, though, (sans psychic) with a little bit of butter and salt. But I’ll stick with astrology to read the signs of the times. Now the UK faces another round of Conservative Party antics.

Welcome back, my friends, to the show that never ends.

Featured pic from The Economist