By: Eliot Wilson

Eliot Wilson is a writer, commentator and contributing editor at Defence On The Brink. He was formerly a clerk in the House of Commons and writes regularly on politics, defence and international security, and Parliament and the constitution, including for The Spectator, The Hill, The i Paper and CapX

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Scottish independence is Sturgeon’s long game and a useful smokescreen

July 4, 2022

Last week, the first minister of Scotland, Nicola Sturgeon, laid out her plans for the latest attempt to separate the United Kingdom. In a statement to the Scottish Parliament which was long on wishful thinking and short on legal technicalities, she announced that the “proposed” date of another referendum on independence would be 19 October [...]
Negotiation has failed: the defence Keir should have made for rail strikes

June 27, 2022

The rail strikes have finished, for the moment, and we can return to normal after the disruption. But we are promised a “summer of discontent”, with teachers and barristers next up to withdraw their labour. Disruption in public-facing services seems to be emerging as 2022’s leitmotif. The government responded to the transport strike by simultaneously [...]
The disarray of Johnson’s government exposes a disdain for Britain’s rules

June 20, 2022

When Christopher Geidt joined the Royal Household in 2002, he could scarcely have imagined that he would, two decades later, be front-page news. Yet that is what happened last week: Lord Geidt’s resignation as independent adviser on ministers’ interests was the political story of the week, and its implications are still emerging. What does it [...]
The Conservative Party under Johnson has given up its devotion to freedom

June 13, 2022

It was country music legend Toby Keith who observed that “Freedom don’t come free”. Nevertheless, when the Conservative Party adopted the Manchester liberalism of Margaret Thatcher nearly 50 years ago, it was willing to pay the price. Freedom, in all its forms, became a touchstone of the Conservative brand, pursued not only for its beneficial [...]
Walking in London: Now is the time to rediscover the capital, by foot

June 9, 2022

One of the perverse effects of lockdown was to get people walking more. Public transport was off-limits, but exercise and a change of scenery was necessary to stave off cabin fever, so citizens of the capital found themselves strolling the city streets in a way they hadn’t before, with many taking the opportunity to look [...]
Our auto industry must let go of nostalgia even as it revives DeLorean

June 6, 2022

Last week, we were bombarded with fond memories and childhood nostalgia as the famed DeLorean car make was revived. A new model, trading on those most powerful of marketing tools, will be released. Former Tesla executive Joost de Vries has bought the rights to the famous name and set up the gullwing-doored Alpha5 as a [...]
Great transport means opportunities – we just need to learn how to fund it

May 30, 2022

It will not have escaped your notice that Transport for London opened a new part of the network last week. The Elizabeth line, which began life as Crossrail in a 1974 rail report, currently runs in three separate stages across the capital. It will eventually extend from Reading and Heathrow in the west to Shenfield [...]
Johnson could use the meal deal moratorium to finally find some values

May 23, 2022

A week ago the government announced that it was delaying the introduction of a ban on so-called BOGOF (buy one, get one free) offers on food and drink high in salt, fat or sugar. The prohibition, intended to help reduce overconsumption and therefore obesity, was deferred, according to the Department of Health and Social Care, [...]
Sadiq Khan could be leading the way in deserting the foolish war on drugs

May 16, 2022

Those who like to think they take the long view of history will tell you that the “war on drugs” started in 1971, when Richard Nixon declared illegal narcotics to be public enemy number one. Yet its lineage extended far further back than that: in the US, Congress banned alcohol for nearly 15 years from [...]
We must design tech legislation fit for free markets and open trade rules

May 9, 2022

Late last month we saw a grand statement of principles by a global coalition of economic powers. The United States, the 27 member states of the EU, the United Kingdom and 32 other countries around the world signed the Declaration for the Future of the Internet, a rather ornately presented summary of the philosophical approach [...]

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Inside Sarah Ferguson’s £100k-a-week rehab with lakeside apartment and round-the-clock therapy

By: Eliot Wilson

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