Friday Bite 8 May 2026

Carnage

”​If there’s no cease-fire​, you’re not going to have to know. You’re just going to have to look at one ​big glow​ coming out of Iran​. And they better sign their agreement fast.” Donald Trump, 7 May

“The United States has violated the cease-fire.” Ebrahim Zolfaghari, Iranian military spokesman, 7 May

 “The retaliatory strikes against Iranian targets are just a ‘love tap.’” Donald Trump, 7 May

A TURQUOISE CLOUD has descended upon Great Britain. It bears the signature of Nigel Farage and the Reform party. It could also signal the beginning of the end of the Labour Party and raises the prospect of a far-right, populist government in the not-so-distant future.

Britain did not hold a general election on Thursday, merely local council elections, however these are seen as an indication of the way the country would vote on a national scale. And in their thousands, the people gave the bird to Sir Keir and Labour, in so doing they upended Britain’s political landscape. Gone is the two-party political system that has been in effect since 1922.

The votes are still being counted, but at this stage (Friday afternoon) Reform has acquired 591 new councillors (lost none) while the Conservatives have lost 272 and Labour, 398. The Prime Minister has declared that he is not going to “walk away”, despite the results for Labour being variously described as “carnage” and a “bloodbath”.

Poetry in motion. At the time the polls opened for this game-changing election, 18 degrees of Gemini was rising – Pluto in the Labour Party’s natal chart.  And at noon on the twelfth of February, 1906 when the Labour Party was formed, Pluto was rising. As always with Pluto, transformation – or reformation as I prefer, which allows the integrity of the original entity to remain even while everything else is changed – is at work, whether it is indeed inspiring the beginning of the end of Labour or a complete reworking of its political identity. Clearly, the mood of the public is toward the far right while the problems within the party owe much to its left-leaning MP’s,

What may also be significant in regard to the crossroads at which Labour finds itself is that its Sun-Saturn midpoint falls at 28 degrees of Aquarius – the degree of the hugely influential solar eclipse of 17 February.

Unfortunately, the situation has not changed since I last looked at Sir Keir’s chart and we remain stuck with a sunrise horoscope or that of his prime-ministership.

At sixty-four years of age, Starmer has reached the second Uranus-square – a time of upheaval and change, if not revolution and rebellion! – so, on the face of it, staying on in the same role is not appropriate and he will resign or face a coup. Not helping his desire to remain as prime minister is transiting Pluto’s conjunction to his natal Saturn, which in his case represents the ongoing struggle that he is experiencing in leading the country in a new and appropriate direction while appeasing those in his party who insist that Labour maintains its socialistic integrity. It’s probably not as simple as that, but much of the flip-flopping he has displayed is based on practical and necessary actions versus the welfare of the people, especially the underprivileged, the disadvantaged and the needy. The desire to please all of the people all of the time – a product of his Moon, Mercury and Venus in Libra – has made him appear weak and vacillating.

Sir Keir was elected prime minister as the Saturn-Neptune conjunction was in embryo. In March this year, they conjoined and now remain close with six degrees between them. Saturn and Neptune were in trine at Labour’s inception therefore the party responds to the ebbs and flows of the Saturn-Neptune cycle. And what do Saturn-Neptune conjunctions preside over? The end of regimes and the beginning of new ones.

I see no reason why Sir Keir should have to go when anyone following him will face exactly the same divisions and dilemmas. Replacing him would be a temporary salve on a deep-seated and aggressive problem. Starmer has been outstanding in his role as global statesman, and while all countries need to be successfully managed by their governments, in this time of international unrest, statesmen with integrity and vision are vital.

However, however, Starmer’s days are numbered and as soon as the opposition within the party gets its act together, he will be gone. In two weeks’ time, Mercury and the Sun will conjoin Uranus while Mars squares Pluto (currently hovering over the prime minister’s Saturn) which may prove to be the prime minister’s Waterloo. Sadly, in my opinion.

COULD THE SAME only be said of America’s president, currently embroiled in a war of threats, insults and lies with Iran over the Strait of Hormuz. (Not a war, you understand, not Operation Epic Fury, because that was paused, if not ended, as soon as the cease-fire came into effect.)

On Sunday, President Trump announced Operation Freedom whereby the United States would lead thousands of stranded ships safely through the waterway. On Monday, he paused the project. Unfortunately, no one informed the Secretary of War and the Secretary of State; Hegseth announcing that the United States had secured a path through the Strait and, at a separate press gathering, Rubio claiming that America was helping ships through the waterway as a “favour to the world”.

Donald Trump’s reason for pausing the operation was to give space for US efforts to finalize a settlement with Iran to end the war. More cynical voices cite Mohammed Bin Salmon’s refusal to give the United States access to its airspace and American bases in Saudi.

On Tuesday, Iran established the Persian Gulf Strait Authority, a new body to regulate and organize the passage of vessels, whether military or commercial, through the waterway, thus permanently altering the status of the Strait.

On Thursday, Iran and America traded accusations over who on Wednesday struck who first in the Hormuz Strait. According to the United States, it attacked military sites in Iran in retaliation for “unprovoked Iranian attacks” as it tried to escort ships through the Strait while Iran claimed that US military had violated the ceasefire by carrying out airstrikes on Qeshm Island and two cities on its southern coast.

Nevertheless, on the same day that Mr Trump was waxing positive about a fourteen-point plan submitted to Iran which would end the conflict “quickly”. A senior member of Iran’s parliament dismissed the “memorandum of understanding” as a wish list.

It is difficult to see a quick end to this conflict, which has already gone on for sixty-eight days. Although last Friday’s full moon, which flanked Iran’s MC-IC axis, gave hope of an ending by mid-May, there are too many unanswered questions, not least why so many American troops have been sent to the region. They’re not just there as window dressing. And my reading on the situation, especially in light of future alignments and eclipses, is that the US’s business with Iran and the Middle East has only just begun.

BRIEFLY, HANTAVIRUS. The desperate situation in which holiday-makers and staff find themselves on board the cruise ship MV Hondius has spawned fears of a new pandemic. Five cases of the Hantavirus have been confirmed and three have died. Health authorities are currently trying to locate dozens of passengers across the world who disembarked before the virus had struck the ship. Concerning as the situation is for all the people involved, fears of another pandemic are greatly exaggerated.

I had pointed to the forthcoming Jupiter-Pluto opposition as having a reference to the events of 2020 and the Jupiter-Pluto conjunction, and while another mass infection cannot be ruled out, a reference to does not imply a pandemic of the Covid kind. It can mean inquiries and information related to Covid…

AND FINALLY, SIR David Attenborough celebrates his one hundredth birthday today. He is our national treasure. In fact, there was a people’s plea for him to become prime minister! Still working and producing fabulous documentaries on wildlife and the planet, he is an outstanding broadcaster, fearless and far-sighted. He is clearly a super-ager, and hopefully has more years ahead in which to share and delight us with his wisdom, humour and compassion.

Friday Bite 1 May 2026

NACHO

“The only place Americans belong in the Persian Gulf is at the bottom of its waters. Iran will protect [its] nuclear capability. Iran will keep Hormuz.” Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, Iran’s Supreme Leader, 30 April

“We need the ballroom … Nothing should be allowed to interfere with with [sic] its construction, which is on budget and substantially ahead of schedule!!!” Donald Trump, Truth Social, 26 April.

‘Long before Americans had a nation or a constitution, we first had a culture, a character, and a creed. Before we ever proclaimed our independence, Americans carried within us the rarest of gifts: moral courage, and it came from a small but mighty kingdom from across the sea. For nearly two centuries before the revolution, this land was settled and forged by men, women who bore in their souls the blood and noble spirit of the British. Here on a wild and untamed continent, they set loose the ancient English love of liberty and Great Britain’s distinctive sense of glory, destiny, and pride, and that’s what it is: glory, destiny, and pride.’ Donald Trump, 28 April.

NACHO IS AN acronym formed by the phrase: Not A Chance Hormuz Opens. A statement issued on Thursday by Iran’s supreme leader made clear that the United States has no place in the future of the Persian Gulf and that Iran is intending to implement “new legal frameworks and management of the Strait of Hormuz”.

Thus ended the meagre hope that the deadlock over the international waterway would soon be over.

In last week’s Friday Bite, I referred to today’s full moon, which like all full moons inspires closure and completion, and speculated that since it falls on Iran’s MC-IC axis, it might signal the end of the war or at least the end of Iran’s ability to hold out, given the drastic state of its economy and infrastructure, but it seems not only is it the end of Donald Trump’s “nice guy” but Iran is ramping up its hold on the Strait and preparing for fresh action by the United States.

Today should be the last day of the war in Iran. The Trump administration had sixty days from the start of Operation Epic Fury to prosecute its “foreign offensive” without seeking the approval of Congress. The administration has been arguing that the president did not start a war but rather undertook “combat operations” and Trump has been referring to the conflict as a “special military operation”. (Why does that sound familiar…) This week found Pete Hegseth, Secretary of War, claiming that the sixty-day clock is paused because of the ceasefire. There is also the possibility that the president will use a legal loophole allowing him a thirty-day extension.

I think we can be certain that with or without legal loopholes and the approval of Congress, this war will go on if Donald Trump so chooses. And, as I mentioned last week, the longer the Strait of Hormuz remains closed to almost all international traffic, the more devastating the consequences for the rest of the world. We in the west are only just beginning to feel the cost in terms of food and oil prices: some developing nations face famine.

And there will be payback. Already Iranian Islamist groups are claiming responsibility for attacks on Jewish communities across Britain – on Wednesday a Somali-born British citizen who had previously been referred to the government’s counter-extremism programme stabbed two Jewish men in broad daylight – and today the government raised its terror-threat level to severe.

It’s going to be a difficult summer.

IN MY SATURDAY Hello, I mentioned that given the severe astrological volatility of the time, we were lucky not to have had some seismic developments of the real and metaphorical variety. I spoke too soon. Hours later a man armed with a 12-gauge shotgun, a handgun, and multiple knives and daggers, attempted to storm the White House Correspondents’ Dinner taking place at the Washington Hilton. We later learned that Cole Tomas Allen, a graduate from Caltech and a respected teacher, had sent an email to family and friends just before he embarked on his mission explaining his reasons for targeting the president and top administration officials. He has since been charged with the attempted assassination of Donald Trump.

Here is a picture of that moment.

You couldn’t have designed a more appropriate horoscope for an assassination. Scorpio rises with Pluto, the ruler, precisely squaring the Sun. The Moon, conjunct the Midheaven and on the anaretic degree (29 degrees of Leo), is precisely squaring Uranus. Explosive. Unexpected. Profoundly disturbing. Frankly, it’s a miracle no one was killed. It was certainly quite the miracle for Donald Trump, given that the Moon was conjunct his Ascendant (and Mars) and squaring Uranus, some five degrees away from his Midheaven. By my calculations, that must be life number eight!

Of course, no sooner had the event taken place than social media was awash with conspiracy theories, considerably boosted by recent concerns over the genuineness of the Butler assassination attempt. We shall never know, of course, and even if it does smell fishy, I also know from long experience that truth is invariably stranger than fiction.

INTO THIS FEBRILE atmosphere, some thirty-six hours later, landed King Charles and wife, Camilla. Concerns over this royal trip to celebrate the 250^th anniversary of America’s independence, had been rife for months. Was it seemly for the King to play kissing-cousins with Donald Trump when the president was being loudly disparaging about prime minister Keir, calling him “no Winston Churchill”, and accusing the United Kingdom of coming late to the party? “We don’t need people that join us after we’ve won the war…”. As for the ‘special relationship’, “it’s not good, not good at all.”

Never underestimate Charles Mountbatten Windsor. Over the three-day visit to the United States, the King gave a masterclass in dignity and diplomacy. His speech to Congress was an unqualified success – it went on far longer than scheduled, entirely due to the twelve standing ovations he received. He noted, “executive power should be subject to checks and balances” and that “with the spirit of 1776 in our mind, we can perhaps agree that we do not always agree, but two nations when in agreement can do great things, not just for the benefit of our peoples but all peoples”. And in a playful toast at the white tie dinner later that night, he joked about America’s colonial past and said, “if it wasn’t for us, you’d be speaking French.”

It’s always easier to examine a chart once an event is over, even so, Venus on the Midheaven, albeit conjoined to Uranus, was a portent of a love-in. Which indeed it was. There was plenty of controversy to account for Uranus but it was finessed and the spirit of kinship and Kingship was on display. I was a little concerned about the connection to Charles’s natal Saturn – at five degrees Virgo, it was squared by Venus and the Midheaven and conjunct the Ascendant – but although the trip may have been a duty and a responsibility that he was not looking forward to, he accomplished it with great aplomb. Mars at fourteen degrees of Aries was conjunct his Midheaven, which pointed to a potential attack on his position but instead fired him up and inspired a winning performance.

Pluto is also currently floating around Charles’ descendant, which at best helps reinvigorate relationships that have lost their lustre but can also inspire profound and painful relationship developments. Plus, Pluto on any angle, always points to a period in which life and death issues of a literal or figurative nature are in play. The King is living with terminal cancer but to all intents and purposes it seems as though he is living life to the full and living up to his role as King. This trip may turn out to be a crowning glory.

JUST NOW IT is reported that Iran has sent its latest proposal for negotiations with the United States to Pakistani mediators.  Is there still a chance that today’s full moon will mark the end of the stalemate?

Let’s keep hope alive.