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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As winter approaches, an ode to the overcoat

October 21, 2021

Although at the start of October we were having an Indian summer, a glance outside the window proves a bitter reminder that we are marching into the cold season. The days of striding out without anything but a raincoat are dwindling fast, and the wardrobe must be flung open, the moths beaten back. It will [...]
We could make Glasgow great again if London and Edinburgh can get along

October 19, 2021

Glasgow is the fifth largest city in the UK, easily the biggest in Scotland, though still smaller than it was 50 years ago. The Dear Green Place, more aptly tagged “No Mean City” in the 1930s, was once the second city of the empire, a global hub of shipbuilding and coal-mining, beautified by trade barons [...]
No, the traditional suit won’t ‘die’- and here’s why

October 13, 2021

We are told that formal dress is dying, its mortal wound inflicted by the pandemic and the lockdown embrace of more casual attire. Certainly there are worrying signs: Marks & Spencer has stopped selling suits in many of its stores, and in the market as a whole sales are down dramatically. I have written in [...]
Aye, aye Captain! The new defence chief of staff needs to tackle the China question

October 11, 2021

The appointment of a new chief of the defence staff—the professional head of the British armed forces— easily slips into the important but not newsworthy category. Last week’s announcement that Admiral Sir Tony Radakin, currently first sea lord, will take up the post in November should, however, give even passing observers pause for thought. For [...]
Why do young Tories dress so badly?

October 6, 2021

It is a perpetual truth that stereotypes are a distorting mirror of reality, but that they also take time to develop and therefore are often a reflection of what was, not what is. So it is sartorially with Conservatives. The cliché is probably of a pinstriped, red-faced financier, Rik Mayall’s sneering Alan B’Stard in a [...]
Ballooning infrastructure costs could be quelled if Whitehall embraced clear data

October 4, 2021

Infrastructure is one of the government’s latest passions. It could be, in ministers’ eyes, a foundation for Global Britain and a way out of the economic decline that Covid-19 has brought in its wake. We have a National Infrastructure Strategy, and the prime minister, announcing it last summer, admitted it sounded “positively Rooseveltian” and pledged [...]
Keir Starmer’s 14,000 word memo sums up the Labour party’s existential challenge

September 27, 2021

We are in the throes of the Labour Party annual conference in Brighton, the opposition’s seaside shindig where members mix with party grandees, policy is debated and the would-be government parades its show ponies for the media and the electorate. It provides an opportune platform for individual shadow ministers to catch the attention of the [...]
Tunnel vision: the private sector has the ability to transform British infrastructure

September 20, 2021

Last week came an unsurprising denouement: the proposed link between Scotland and Northern Ireland, via a bridge or a tunnel, was being shelved. The Treasury could not countenance the estimated £15 billion cost. This was a project with Boris Johnson’s name all over it: big, bold, innovative and eye-catching. It would be a solid piece [...]
Going grey gracefully: How to make silver hair work for you

September 16, 2021

Last week, I wrote about the trauma I endure when going to the hairdresser. However, there was an upside. As the barber’s scissors danced around my head, he remarked that I had thick hair. I agreed, without wanting to seem boastful of something utterly outwith my control. But I ventured the opinion that, while I [...]
Cressida Dick should go and her successor needs to jump-start the police force

September 13, 2021

Even a palate jaded by the madness of modern Britain will have found piquancy in Dame Cressida Dick’s two year extension to her term as Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis. Dame Cressida will stay in his position until 2024. She has been the UK’s senior police officer since 2017, is the first woman to [...]

City firms send workers home as heatwave melts London

Brentford in talks to host Shakhtar Donetsk Champions League fixtures

New City venue rethinks competitive socialising… again

By: Eliot Wilson

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