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Astrology a cure for UK’s health crisis: Conservative party MP

Some believe in astrology while others dismiss it or enjoy it as entertainment, but one British MP from the ruling Conservative party says he is absolutely convinced of its benefits, and wants it to be used in the crisis-ridden National Health Service (NHS).

Updated on: Feb 25, 2015, 15:34:24 IST
Hindustan Times | By , London
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Some believe in astrology while others dismiss it or enjoy it as entertainment, but one British MP from the ruling Conservative party says he is absolutely convinced of its benefits, and wants it to be used in the crisis-ridden National Health Service (NHS).

Comments about astrology by David Tredinnick, MP from Bosworth, inside and outside the parliament have often prompted much online ridicule, but he insists astrology has a “proven track record”. Those who oppose astrology are ‘racially prejudiced’, he says.

Tredinnick, who has drawn up astrological charts for fellow MPs, has been to India to study the ‘Lahiri’ system of astrology. Facing cuts, the NHS is currently grappling with severe staff shortage and is a major issue in the build-up to the May elections.

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HT Image

A former soldier, he told the Astrological Journal: “I do believe that astrology and complementary medicine would help take the huge pressure off doctors. Ninety per cent of pregnant French women use homeopathy. Astrology is a useful diagnostic tool enabling us to see strengths and weaknesses via the birth chart”.

Tredinnick, 65, added: “Astrology offers self-understanding to people. People who oppose what I say are usually bullies who have never studied astrology. Astrology was until modern times part of the tradition of medicine”.

Criticising the BBC and others who dismiss astrology, he said: “They are also ignorant, because they never study the subject and just say that it is all to do with what appears in the newspapers, which it is not, and they are deeply prejudiced, and racially prejudiced, which is troubling.”

A member of the House of Commons health select committee, Tredinnick says he has studied astrology and healthcare for 20 years and now wants astrology to be incorporated into medicine. He is also member of the science and technology select committee.

Tredinnick previously recalled his visit to India: “I have been to India and talked to people there and to the Indian Government about the Indian astrological system, Lahiri, which is part of their culture”.

According to him, Chris Patten, chancellor of the University of Oxford and Britain’s last governor of Hong Kong, had an official astrologer.

  • Prasun Sonwalkar
    ABOUT THE AUTHOR
    Prasun Sonwalkar

    Prasun Sonwalkar was Editor (UK & Europe), Hindustan Times. During more than three decades, he held senior positions on the Desk, besides reporting from India’s north-east and other states, including a decade covering politics from New Delhi. He has been reporting from UK and Europe since 1999.Read More

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