The Ideas Lab

Home
Podcast
Defence
History
Parliament
UK politics
US politics
Writing
Archive
About

History

Sunday round-up 17 August 2025
Robert De Niro's waiting... because it's his birthday and he's booked Laser Quest with John Humphrys, Julian Fellowes and Kevin Rowland; and the end of…
 • 
Eliot Wilson
3
The "other" Treasury Board
With Rachel Reeves having appointed new non-executive directors to HM Treasury's board, there is a much older institution, the Treasury Board of…
 • 
Eliot Wilson
Sunday round-up 10 August 2025
Baroness Butler-Sloss, Rosanna Arquette and Antonio Banderas share a birthday with John the Blind of Bohemia, and the Treaty of Sevrès is signed then it…
 • 
Eliot Wilson
1
Today in history: the Admiralty turns down the electric telegraph
The Royal Navy was offered a demonstration of electric communications in August 1816 but was quite content with its new semaphore system of wooden poles…
 • 
Eliot Wilson
Sunday round-up 3 August 2025
The irreplaceable Sir Terry Wogan would have been 87 today; candles for the more-alive Steven Berkoff and Martha Stewart, and the feast of St Waltheof…
 • 
Eliot Wilson
1
Harris keeps her powder dry—but for what?
The former Vice-President has decided not to run for Governor of California in 2026, in what could conceivably be an unpredictable contest
 • 
Eliot Wilson
2
Sunday round-up 27 July 2025
What do Bobbie Gentry, Bob Diamond, A-Rod and Jonathan Rhys Meyers have in common? Let's start with a birthday...
 • 
Eliot Wilson
3
Digest of the week: Typhoons, gender and royalty
The UK signed a preliminary deal to sell fighters to Turkey, the President of the French Republic wants his day in court and a snippet of royal news
 • 
Eliot Wilson
Sunday round-up 20 July 2025
Candles and cake for Carlos Santana, Sir Edward Leigh, Sandra Oh and Gisele Bündchen, a great Austrian naval victory and the feast of Elijah the Prophet
 • 
Eliot Wilson
Are MPs bound by the Official Secrets Act?
Robert Jenrick claims he could not speak out because he would have faced prosecution, despite parliamentary privilege: I cannot see how that could be so
 • 
Eliot Wilson
1
Sunday round-up 13 July 2025
Birthday cake? Make it so for Sir Patrick Stewart, Harrison Ford and Ian Hislop, while Montenegro marks Statehood Day recalling the end of the Congress…
 • 
Eliot Wilson
Chequers: grace-and-favour retreat or bunker?
The house in Buckinghamshire has been the Prime Minister's country retreat for just over a century, sometimes the scene of high drama or low farce
 • 
Eliot Wilson
© 2025 The Ideas Lab
Privacy ∙ Terms ∙ Collection notice
Start writingGet the app
Substack is the home for great culture