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 486 Articles

100 candles in the wind: Celebrating Marilyn Monroe’s centenary

June 3, 2026

This week marked the 100th anniversary of Marilyn Monroe’s birth. It seems both absurd – she was younger than national treasure Sir David Attenborough – yet also somehow reasonable: she is now a figure from the past, barely even brushed by the outstretched fingertips of memory. Marilyn’s status as an icon is assured, hard-wired into [...]
Milburn NEET review: Anger crackles from the page but will Labour act?

June 1, 2026

Alan Milburn's review into Britain's economically inactive youth (or NEETs) makes for extraordinary reading, but will the government act?
On this day: Britain’s youngest ever Prime Minister is born

May 28, 2026

A prodigy and exception, William Pitt the Younger was Britain's youngest ever Prime Minister. On this day in 1759, he was born, writes Eliot Wilson
Supermarket price caps? Rachel Reeves is truly panicking

May 25, 2026

Rachel Reeves's impulse to meddle in supermarket pricing shows she is not seriously interested in growth at all, writes Eliot Wilson.
On This Day: Happy birthday Andrew Neil

May 21, 2026

Today in 1949, Andrew Neil was born. He remains one of the most compelling figures in the British media landscape, writes Eliot Wilson In a media landscape of interchangeable and forgettable talking heads, Andrew Neil remains an unmistakable and forceful presence. Readers who can recall a time when he was not a well-kent face in [...]
Labour’s leadership Phoney War continues, this time as farce

May 18, 2026

Labour is conducting Schrodinger’s leadership election and it’s increasingly looking like I, Claudius performed b y the cast of Up Pompeii, says Eliot Wilson Following Labour’s punishment beatings in the local and devolved parliamentary elections, the guerrilla war over Sir Keir Starmer’s leadership of the party has finally erupted into open warfare. Or has it? [...]
On this day in 1940: McDonald’s is born in a strange kitchen in California

May 15, 2026

On this day in 1940, Mac and Dick McDonald opened an octagonal kitchen in San Bernardino and changed food forever, writes Eliot Wilson.
Starmer serves up his best and empty platitudes

May 11, 2026

If today’s relaunch-not-relaunch buys Keir Starmer any additional time in Downing Street, it will only be due to the extraordinary fecklessness of his would-be challengers, none of whom has anything significant to say about change either, says Eliot Wilson Is Sir Keir Starmer all right? There is a reason I ask. At last week’s local [...]
This accidental Finnish defence startup can teach the UK some lessons

May 7, 2026

The UK is home to some of the world's most significant defence companies, but also its most inefficient procurement systems, writes Eliot Wilson.
On this day: Tony Blair’s New Labour landslide

May 1, 2026

A new dawn broke on this day in 1997, ushering in an era of Cool Britannia, writes Eliot Wilson Do you remember where you were on Thursday 1 May 1997? It was 20°C in London that afternoon: Michael Jackson headed the singles chart for the seventh time with “Blood on the Dance Floor”, while the [...]

Listed companies shouldn’t be excluded from Burnham’s Scale-Up Fund

NFL cut ticket prices to fill Tottenham Hotspur Stadium

Man to Man review: Tilda Swinton is sublime in play about survival amid turmoil

By: Eliot Wilson

All 486 Articles

Subscribe