Astrologically, why is the UK experiencing an exacerbation of conflict in Iraq, deploying thousands of troops to Afghanistan, and banging the war drum along with the USA over Iran?

Three complicated questions, the latter in particular, but thankfully there is a short astrological answer, and it comes in two parts:

1) Transiting Jupiter is currently directly opposite the UK's Mars. In Greek/Roman mythology, Zeus/Jupiter was a fairly aggressive character, and Mars is famous for being the God of War. This doesn't fate the UK to be involved in war, however. What it means is that it's time for the nation as a whole to peer into its national psyche and review its policies, strategies, and behaviours in the world in relation to the armed forces, the Ministry of Defence, and how the country uses its power and will.

2) Transiting Pluto making a sesquiquadrate (try saying that when you've had a drink!) aspect to the UK's Mars. Pluto tends to reflect an intensification and dramatisation of an issue - in this case, the issue is Mars/aggression - but the purpose behind it is to lance a boil. If what you are doing is making things worse, or if there are toxins in your system, a transit of Pluto often coincides with a crisis that forces you to expel them so that you can thrive.

The tendency with these sorts of transits is to become belligerent, to swagger around like you own the place, to refuse diplomacy and negotiation, to play hard ball, and to lose your temper easily. Your finger's on the trigger and you don't care anymore what you destroy, so long as you release the pent-up aggression. This is, of course, primitive behaviour and not at all civilised. It's blatantly anti-social, not to mention destructive, and of course there is the issue of international law.....but under these sorts of transits things like laws and non-violent conflict resolution are rudely shown the middle finger......

Neither of these transits mean 'you have to go to war' or 'you have to attack someone' or 'you're going to be attacked by someone'. What they mean is that the UK's Martian nature is on the rise, and needs carefully managing. Without being blindly optimistic, you could say that it's an opportunity to have a clear and uncompromising look at how the national collective will is being used - and abused - so that it can be adjusted and channelled in a healthier, life-promoting way.

With the fall-out from the local elections continuing to cast doubt on Tony Blair's leadership of the Labour party, is there a resignation in the offing yet?

Astrologically-speaking, we can expect the crisis to keep building until the end of Wednesday 10th May 2006. If Blair manages to hold on beyond then, he'll possibly feel as if he's through the worst of the fall-out and that he can now 'draw a line under it' (a favourite New Labour phrase). But he's not out of the woods yet, not by a long shot.

Neptune is currently slowing down, preparing to turn retrograde. On Monday 22nd May 2006 Neptune will appear to be motionless in the sky, and will then back-track over ground it has already covered. We can expect Blair's power to keep eroding as it does so, because Neptune (erosion) is making an aspect to Pluto (power) in his natal chart. So he'll shortly find that the public and media scrutiny is raking back over the things he'd thought he'd 'drawn a line under' and 'moved on from'. To put it bluntly, Blair is likely to feel swamped by it all around this time, as wave after wave of scandals, rumours, and accusations of deceit and possibly fraud are levelled at him and his government.

In terms of holding onto power and letting go of power, significant days after that lie around 10th June, 11th July, 11th August. From August 2006 onwards until the end of the year and into 2007 things will most probably be very rocky indeed for Blair. If he's still in office during the summer and autumn, making the past crises look like a walk in the park, perhaps leaving him wishing he'd resigned earlier to avoid it all........ Drawing a line under it? Not a chance.