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

All 455 Articles

Nigel Farage has lost his way as voice for the silent majority

August 2, 2021

There are some basic rules of public relations which are familiar to anyone with, well, the world. There are some groups which it is folly to challenge, no matter how well argued you think your case is. Nurses, children’s hospitals, veterinarians, cancer researchers: all are best given a wide berth if you’re feeling pugilistic, as [...]
Green and pleasant land? The future of cannabis use in the UK

July 29, 2021

Smoking as a social activity suffered a heavy blow around 15 years ago. Between 2006 and 2007, the four parts of the United Kingdom brought in new laws prohibiting smoking in public places, with Scotland being the first to take the leap. I bear a sliver of responsibility: I worked for the House of Commons [...]
The Northern Ireland Protocol was only ever a placeholder to get Brexit over the line – now the real work begins

July 26, 2021

Mention Northern Ireland to a British politician and he or she will edge towards the door. With some notable exceptions such as John Major and Peter Mandelson, our leaders have tended to regard Northern Ireland as a strange land where normal rules do not apply: sectarian divisions they don’t understand and political parties which don’t [...]
Why we must resurrect the tie from this boorish open-collar culture

July 23, 2021

Since the general demise of hats, the most vulnerable, because the most superficially dispensable, piece of a gentleman’s wardrobe is the tie. In politics, we have perhaps David Cameron to blame for pioneering the look of dark suit and open-necked white shirt which may have been a carry-over from his days in public relations. For [...]
Credit disagreement: the future of the high street depends on how we handle retailers’ Covid debt

July 19, 2021

It is a commonplace that the pandemic has devastated the economy. The prospects of recovery may be rosier than we had dared imagine, but businesses have suffered grievously, especially those for whom in-person custom, footfall, is vital. One sector which has been hit particularly hard is independent retail. The death of the high street has [...]
Let the train take the strain: The revival of sleeper services

July 12, 2021

The opening of the Eurostar service between London and Paris revolutionised travel for Britons to the Continent. The first train from Waterloo to the Gare du Nord ran on 14 November 1994, and a full daily service was operating by the following May. The completion of High Speed 1 in 2003 shortened the journey time [...]
Boris Johnson needs to tread a path back to a free market economy and focus on facilitating investment

July 12, 2021

Boris Johnson has always been difficult to classify in ideological terms. Ten years ago, he was a small-state economic and social liberal who identified as a One Nation Conservative. His City Hall rival Ken Livingstone initially feared he was “the most hardline right-wing ideologue since Thatcher” but later concluded he was “a fairly lazy tosser [...]
Fizzing with possibilities: is champagne worth it?

July 5, 2021

Modern champagne developed about 150 years ago, when growers began to use the méthode champenoise to create their sparkling wine. It was much sweeter then than the drink we enjoy now, before the designation Brut was coined for the British market in the 1870s. But it was then, as it is now, the acme of [...]
Nissan’s £1bn gambit in Sunderland is worth every penny of subsidies for Boris Johnson

July 5, 2021

The campaign for the Brexit referendum seems a long time ago. By the calendar, it was only five years ago, and yet we remember it like another world: David Cameron was prime minister, Barack Obama was in the White House, François Hollande was sneaking out of the Elysée palace on the pillion of a scooter [...]
Boris Johnson’s Global Britain agenda is being undermined by funding cuts for the British Council

June 28, 2021

Last week the British Council’s CEO, Kate Ewart-Biggs, announced that it had been informed by the government that its budget was to be reduced over the next two years in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic. Its commercial income has fallen, and its grant-in-aid from the government is being cut. The overall reduction in funding [...]

‘Very concerned’: City watchdog scolds motor finance lenders over £9bn redress scheme

Dallas, Boston, New York New Jersey: Inside England’s Fifa World Cup stadiums

Glengarry Glen Ross at the Old Vic fails to close

By: Eliot Wilson

All 455 Articles

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