On 5 June, in 1963.....

From Wikipedia's list of happenings on 5 June, it is noted that on this day, in 1963 (now 55 years ago!) British Secretary of State for War, John Profumo, was forced to admit that he had lied to the House - an unforgivable offence in British politics. He resigned from office, from the House, and from the Privy Council. Profumo had been at the centre of a scandal involving his affair with high class prostitute, Christine Keeler.

"It soon became apparent to Prime Minister Harold Macmillan (photograph on right) that Profumo's position was untenable. On 5 June 1963, Profumo was forced to admit that he had lied to the House, an unforgivable offence in British politics. He resigned from office, from the House, and from the Privy Council. Before making his public confession Profumo confessed the affair to his wife, who stood by him. It was never shown that his relationship with Keeler had led to any breach of national security. The scandal rocked the Conservative government, and was generally held to have been among the causes of its defeat by Labour at the 1964 election. Harold Macmillan had already gone by then, having resigned in October 1963 to be succeeded by Alec Douglas-Home."

John Profumo, Britain's disgraced Secretary of State for War had been at the centre of a scandal, with potential to bring the entire government down. Profumo was one of Dr. Stephen Ward's "clients". Ward was a successful osteopath with a client list filled with some of the wealthiest individuals in the UK. As a sideline, he procured the services of high class prostitutes for the use of many prominent people in public life, some of whom were his clients.

John Profumo (left) entered into an affair with high-class prostitute, Christine Keeler, not realising that she was also sleeping with (among others) a naval attache at the embassy of the Soviet Union(Russia), and this was during the Cold War! The affair resulted in John Profumo eventually resigning his government post on 5 June 1963.

I think I'm right in saying that those who lived through the "Profumo Affair" in Britain have never forgotten it, it almost brought down the whole government.

Profumo, in betraying his wife, film star Valerie Hobson, and carrying on a affair with Christine Keeler, thought his powerful position made him invulnerable. There have been many men in similar situations since, there were many before, and will be many more in the future.

The late Robin Williams once said: "God gave us all a penis and a brain, but only enough blood to run one at a time". Yes indeed!.

When eventually arrested, Stephen Ward, the procurer, was accused of living off immoral earnings, he committed suicide rather than go to jail.

Shortly after his resignation, Baron Profumo was invited to work as a volunteer by Walter Birmingham, the warden of Toynbee Hall, in a charity based in the East End of London. He continued to work there for the rest of his life. He became Toynbee Hall's chief fundraiser, and used his political skills and contacts to raise large sums of money. All this work was done as a volunteer, since Profumo was able to live on his inherited wealth. Profumo died, aged 90, on 9 March 2006. His wife, the actress Valerie Hobson, stood by him and also devoted herself to charity until her death in 1998.

In the eyes of most commentators, Profumo's charity work redeemed his reputation. His friend, social reform campaigner Lord Longford, said he "felt more admiration [for Profumo] than [for] all the men I've known in my lifetime".

See Wikipedia biography

For Profumo's natal chart see astro.com
John Dennis Profumo, 5th Baron Profumo - born on 30 January 1915
Place Kensington, London, England.

THOUGHTS ON CRIME and MORALITY

Three dramas have recently been part of our entertainment diet (one still at mid-meal). They have very different backgrounds but loosely similar themes: morality and crime, but they could hardly be called Morality Plays in the old sense: Les Misérables (book, film, musical); Breaking Bad (TV series); and Scandal (film about the real-life Profumo Affair in Britian in the 1960s.)

The stories prompt one to question commonly held rigid opinions of what is right and what is wrong. Is the law always right? Can there be moral justification for committing crime? Are crime and morality related, is crime always a moral indicator? In two of the dramas there are activities which, though against laws in place at the time, stemmed from valid personal reasons, considered by the law-breaker extreme enough to warrant his actions.

Nothing is easier than to denounce the evildoer; nothing is more difficult than to understand him.
― Fyodor Dostoevsky

Les Misérables

In Les Misérables the main character, Jean Valjean, stole a loaf of bread because his sister's children were starving. For this crime he was sentenced to 5 years imprisonment. 14 extra years and hard labour were added to his sentence because of his attempts to escape. He had broken the law, but wasn't it the moral responsibility of the governing body of France to make certain its citizens were not starving? Who would not steal bread to feed starving children? That's just the beginning. When his sentence is over he's put on probation, he has become hardened and inhumane, which is understandable. At the first opportunity he steals silver from a priest, who then forgives him, prevents his re-arrest and lifetime imprisonment, but tells him that it is on condition that, from then on, he will live a good life. He does so, changing his name as well as his lifestyle. An "establishment" figure, police officer Javert, hounds Valjean with a burning determination, obsessed by a need to adhere rigidly to the letter of the law. Javert wasn't wrong - but he wasn't right either.

A criminal remains a criminal whether he uses a convict's suit or a monarch's crown.
― Victor Hugo

Breaking Bad

In Breaking Bad, an acclaimed TV series we're watching via DVD, a highly qualified chemistry teacher in New Mexico, Walter White, discovers that he has inoperable lung cancer. He's a mild-mannered, easy-going family man. He has a pregnant wife and a teenage son who suffers from cerebral palsy. The treatments Walter White needs are horrendously expensive, will not be covered by insurance. He turns down the offer of help from a former business partner. Instead, he uses his rare expertise to begin "cooking meth" (the drug methamphetamine) and selling it, in partnership with a younger guy who knows the business. The expensive chemo therapies, paid for by ill-gotten gains from selling his high quality meth, do cause an improvement in his condition. Improved health means he's able to withstand an operation, set to cost some $200,000.....even more meth cooking and selling is needed.

Over time Walter White becomes hardened psychologically, he meets and does business with criminals and drug lords, as well as dealing with dark thoughts of his own early demise. He is closely involved in murders, multiple deaths, and other crimes directly and indirectly, as well as ensuring that more young lives are destroyed via drug use. We are only at Season 3 (of 5) so I cannot say how it will unfold, but Walter is gradually being turned to stone, morally, mentally and emotionally by results of his crimes.

When a man, before innocent, commits crime, he passes, by a sudden transition, into a new world. The significance of all objects around him is changed; the laws of association in his own mind are changed; a viper is born in his breast which stings and goads him. Sounds that he never heard before ring in his ears; a violated conscience turns avenger and scourger;--the foe is within him. Were it merely an external enemy, assaulting the criminal from without, perhaps he might be fled from, resisted, bribed, or would at last remit his inflictions through very weariness of tormenting. But not so with the consciousness of wrong.... It will not sleep, nor tire, nor relent.
HORACE MANN, Thoughts

Breaking Bad, though its crimes are on a far more serious level from those in Les Misérables raises similar questions. If you were diagnosed with inoperable cancer with, at most, months to live, no means to pay for expensive treatment, and had the skill to make meth (or carry out some other illegal activity), so that your family would not be left with huge medical bills, with likely loss of their home. Would you forgo treatment and face certain death within months, or use your skills, illegally, to make money enough to finance your treatment? There are other similarities to Les Miz too: Walter White's brother-in-law, Hank, is leader of a DEA (drug law enforcement) team pursuing some new mysterious meth-lord. So, Hank = Javert. Walter White takes the alias "Heisenberg" for his meth-dealing persona; Jean Valjean used "Monsieur Madeleine".

In Breaking Bad I see another immorality equal to, or worse than, that of Walter White - the lack of a proper, affordable health care system in the USA, such as is available in most other developed countries, where citizens would not face bankruptcy if catastrophic illness hit them. That is the single, over-riding, wrong which spawned though hardly justified, Walter Whites' huge crimes.

The more insidious kind of crime is writing the laws that make your crimes legal.
― Brandon A. Trean

Wrongs, crimes, immoralities are like trees and plants, they grow from a tiny seed, develop roots that spread, often in unexpected directions; stem and branches grow, bear poisoned fruit and they too, over time, spread beyond anything a person looking at that first tiny seed could have envisaged. In both Les Misérables and Breaking Bad "the seed" can be identified in societal wrongs: deliberate uncaring mis-management by government or ruling body.

Scandal
Circumstances of the third drama, the movie Scandal are somewhat different, and relate to a real-life slice of immorality - and vice rather than crime. It could stand as a morality play for politicians and powerful wealthy guys who like to prey on young women. The Profumo Affair from Britain's early 1960s, is storyline of the film. The film almost certainly skews and embroiders some facts for better dramatic effect. It can tell only basic facts we were allowed to know about the affair. There will be much more still hidden, and will remain so if certain powerful individuals have their way.

John Profumo, Britain's disgraced Minister for War was at the centre of this scandal, which had potential to bring the entire government down. Profumo was one of Dr. Stephen Ward's "clients". I see Ward as "the seed" in this story, for it was from his activities that all other actions grew. Oddly, some saw him as "fall guy". In acting as a high society procurer of young women for the Great and the Bad, Ward had no extenuating circumstance. He apparently did what he did just for the hell of it, and because he could. He wasn't in need of money, a successful osteopath with a client list filled with some of the wealthiest individuals in the UK.

Profumo, in betraying his wife (film star Valerie Hobson) and carrying on a affair with Christine Keeler, one of Ward's "young ladies", thought his powerful position made him invulnerable. There have been many men in similar situations since, there were many before, and will be many more in the future. Profumo, though, was particularly careless in that his chosen extra-marital lover, Christine Keeler was also extra marital lover of a Russian naval attaché, the pair were also introduced by Ward. Minister for War + Russian naval attaché : hot sex + cold war = alarm bells! The young women involved, Christine Keeler and of lesser importance Mandy Rice-Davies, were not forced into doing what they did. They were showgirls from poor backgrounds, willingly coerced, hankering after more bright lights and good times. They were teenagers - not an excuse, but a fact to be taken into consideration. There are no good guys or gals here, nor even any good intentions by bad guys. When eventually arrested Stephen Ward was accused of living off immoral earnings, he committed suicide rather than go to jail.
(Photograph: Ward and Keeler. Getty Images.)

The vices of the rich and great are mistaken for error; and those of the poor and lowly, for crimes.
~Lady Marguerite Blessington

Famous Philanderings USA and UK Style

As the lunar eclipse progressed, under thick cloud cover, on Wednesday evening we were watching a 10-year old movie on HBO, "Primary Colors". I first saw it years ago, back in the UK, but in those days much of its significance would have gone right over my head. This time I thoroughly enjoyed it and, by the time the Moon was again shining above the clouds, I understood it. The story-line is very apt just now, with politics and the presidential race full in our faces.

"Primary Colors" the movie was adapted from a novel, originally said to be the work of an anonymous author, later unmasked by a clever literary analyst, as journalist Joe Klein. It's a semi-fictional satirical story of a presidential candidate in the USA. The tale manages to integrate the complexity and ethics, or lack of them, involved in politics generally. By the movie's conclusion the viewer is left wondering whether, in politics, the ends do sometimes justify the means.


John Travolta and Emma Thompson play the parts of presidential candidate and wife, Jack and Susan Stanton - very thinly veiled caricatures of Bill and Hillary Clinton, the plot gently satirizes their adventures in the 1990s. Travolta did a wonderful job, I thought. I've been a fan of his since "Saturday Night Fever" - how he has evolved since those days! We happen to share Aquarius Sun with Pluto in first house opposing Sun in 8th, with Cancer rising. Similarities end there!

One key element in the "Primary Colors" plot was, not surprisingly, Jack Stanton's philanderings. Coincidentally, today 22 February, is the birthday of Christine Keeler, who was closely involved in the philanderings of a high level politician in Britain, in the early 1960s. Christine Keeler, the leading player in what is now known as the Profumo Affair.

The Secretary of State for War, John Profumo entered into an affair with high-class prostitute, Christine Keeler, not realising that she was also sleeping with (among others) a naval attache at the embassy of the Soviet Union(Russia), and this was during the Cold War, don't forget! The affair resulted in John Profumo eventually resigning his government post. I think I'm right in saying that those who lived through the "Profumo Affair" in Britain have never forgotten it, it almost brought down the whole government.



Christine Keeler's 12 noon chart reveals some Taurus planets on each side of, and close to, Fixed Star Algol (25 Taurus)traditionally thought to be the most malefic of all stars. Algol certainly turned out to be an ill omen for Keeler's reputation and those connected with her. There's a Grand Trine linking Uranus, Neptune and (out of sign) Venus in her natal chart, which could be seen to describe her effect on her clients -illusion of love leading to delusion and some unexpected results.

Robin Williams has said "God gave us all a penis and a brain, but only enough blood to run one at a time". Yes indeed!.