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FEARLESS, INDEPENDENT JOURNALISM ON CULTURE, POLITICS AND TECH

BANK HOLIDAY EDITION

Jon Ronson: ‘The worst moments of my life are when I’m between stories’

Aug 28, 2026

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5 min read

Jon Ronson: ‘The worst moments of my life are when I’m between stories’

As his new book The Castle is published, the author and journalist talks to Dorian Lynskey about male midlife crises, country life and why he’s written about his former friend Graham Linehan

Dorian Lynskey
Dorian Lynskey
Ready for Farage? ICE’s tech enablers are already embedded in the British state

Aug 28, 2026

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9 min read

Ready for Farage? ICE’s tech enablers are already embedded in the British state

Palantir, Anduril, Cellebrite and others supply America’s deportation machine. They also hold UK contracts with the Home Office, MoD and police – offering surveillance capabilities that a Reform government would inherit. Max Colbert reports

Max Colbert
Max Colbert
‘Epstein claimed Andrew was even kinkier than him’: Andrew Lownie on the book that rocked the royal family

Aug 25, 2026

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6 min read

‘Epstein claimed Andrew was even kinkier than him’: Andrew Lownie on the book that rocked the royal family

The biographer who knows more royal secrets than almost anyone else talks to Lucia Osborne-Crowley about veiled threats, Fergie and the forces trying to hush up a scandal

Lucia Osborne-Crowley
Lucia Osborne-Crowley
Stewart Lee: Ofcom won’t touch GB News. But now it’s demanding a right of reply for jokes

Aug 28, 2026

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6 min read

Stewart Lee: Ofcom won’t touch GB News. But now it’s demanding a right of reply for jokes

The regulator has ruled against me over a mistake I made about an ex-Tufton Street campaign manager on a comedy show. The consequences seem like bad news for off-the-cuff banter

Meta helped destroy my generation’s sense of self. An $18bn settlement is not punishment enough

Aug 28, 2026

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3 min read

Meta helped destroy my generation’s sense of self. An $18bn settlement is not punishment enough

For those, like me, who have lost loved ones to online harms, the spectacle of a historic lawsuit against a social media company has been bittersweet, writes Adele Walton

Review of the Week: Erykah Badu & the Alchemist – Before The World Blows: The Abi and Alan Experiment

Aug 28, 2026

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3 min read

Review of the Week: Erykah Badu & the Alchemist – Before The World Blows: The Abi and Alan Experiment

The neo-soul queen is back with her first full-length release in over a decade: a hazy, epic collaboration with the Alchemist that transports you with every listen, writes Kate Hutchinson

The Recommender: author Meg Mason

Aug 28, 2026

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3 min read

The Recommender: author Meg Mason

The bestselling novelist and memoirist shares her latest cultural favourites

The Nerve Weekend Dish: Joe Woodhouse’s tiger salad summer rolls

Aug 28, 2026

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2 min read

The Nerve Weekend Dish: Joe Woodhouse’s tiger salad summer rolls

The vegetarian chef and cookbook writer shares a fresh, zingy dish with a delicious 'double-dunk' sauce for the August bank holiday

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THE HARBORNE receipts


Follow the money: the Farage funding timeline

Aug 7, 2026

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14 min read

Follow the money: the Farage funding timeline

As the revelations around donations to Reform and its leader multiply, we’re keeping the receipts. Carole Cadwalladr introduces a master timeline of our investigation into Farage’s biggest funder, cryptobillionaire Christopher Harborne, and argues that Farage is a symptom, not a cause, of forces reshaping politics across the world

Carole Cadwalladr
Carole Cadwalladr
Crypto, peerages, or political self-sacrifice – why did Farage gift Boris the 2019 election?

Jun 12, 2026

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14 min read

Crypto, peerages, or political self-sacrifice – why did Farage gift Boris the 2019 election?

Part two of the Harborne Receipts, the Nerve’s investigation into the billionaire's influence on UK politics brings us to the 2019 election – which took the UK out of Europe while dumping 300 Brexit party candidates, leaving a wound on the far right still raw today. By Carole Cadwalladr and Lucia Osborne-Crowley

Chequers gatherings, Johnson's diary and a new jet fighter... how billionaire Christopher Harborne became a big player in defence

Jul 5, 2026

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11 min read

Chequers gatherings, Johnson's diary and a new jet fighter... how billionaire Christopher Harborne became a big player in defence

Soon after the Ukraine war broke out, the investor emerged as a highly favoured backer of the Tory government – and then a major shareholder in privatised defence lab QinetiQ at a transformative moment for its fortunes. By Carole Cadwalladr and Charlie Young

CULTURE


Saul Williams: ‘Resistance fighters need something to listen to’

Aug 21, 2026

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7 min read

Saul Williams: ‘Resistance fighters need something to listen to’

The multitalented musician, poet, film-maker and Sinners actor talks to Kate Hutchinson about finding energy, his friendship with Robert Del Naja, and making music in troubled times

Kate Hutchinson
Kate Hutchinson
Bella Ramsey: ‘I go to Quaker meetings and just sit in silence for an hour!’

Aug 14, 2026

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4 min read

Bella Ramsey: ‘I go to Quaker meetings and just sit in silence for an hour!’

The Game of Thrones and Last of Us actor, now starring in the buzzy indie drama Sunny Dancer, talks to Hanna Flint about coming of age, looking for faith ... and the apparently endless process of doing the laundry

Hanna Flint
Hanna Flint
The Nerve Hotlist

Aug 25, 2026

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4 min read

The Nerve Hotlist

This week's top cultural picks – from Jorja Smith’s uplifting new album to the bumbling charm of TV's Ludwig – as enjoyed by our team of editors and writers

POLITICS & INVESTIGATIONS


‘He was doing something amazing’: Jason Arday, by the friend who’s known him since childhood

Aug 25, 2026

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11 min read

‘He was doing something amazing’: Jason Arday, by the friend who’s known him since childhood

In the relentless culture war surrounding the professor, the voices of those closest to him were absent. Here, his longstanding friend Sam Clark talks to the Nerve about the kind, warm and remarkable man he remembers

Farage, the money launderer and me: a decade of denial

Jul 17, 2026

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15 min read

Farage, the money launderer and me: a decade of denial

The Reform leader’s relationship with the UK media has enabled him to operate with impunity for years. This past fortnight, that impunity finally appeared to be coming to an end. Carole Cadwalladr, who’s tracked him for a decade, reports on why

Carole Cadwalladr
Carole Cadwalladr
The billionaires' eugenics project: how Epstein infiltrated Harvard, muzzled the humanities and preached master-race science

Feb 13, 2026

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14 min read

The billionaires' eugenics project: how Epstein infiltrated Harvard, muzzled the humanities and preached master-race science

Edge - Jeffrey Epstein's favourite intellectual salon - was sold to me as a gathering of the world's finest minds, writes Virginia Heffernan. The files reveal it was something far darker: a decades-long project that cloaked eugenics, race science and sexual misconduct in Ivy League respectability

Virginia Heffernan
Virginia Heffernan
‘They can shape the outcomes they claim to forecast’ – could Polymarket influence an election?

May 15, 2026

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9 min read

‘They can shape the outcomes they claim to forecast’ – could Polymarket influence an election?

A platform backed by Peter Thiel and advised by Donald Trump Jr. is taking anonymous crypto bets on UK elections, missile strikes and the death of world leaders. In Britain no regulator will touch it, writes Ian Tucker in this in-depth guide to so-called "prediction markets"

Ian Tucker
Ian Tucker

SPOTLIGHT ON PALANTIR


The Palantir pipeline: how Peter Thiel's surveillance firm hired more than 30 senior UK officials

Apr 24, 2026

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8 min read

The Palantir pipeline: how Peter Thiel's surveillance firm hired more than 30 senior UK officials

The AI company holds £670m in UK government contracts. It has also hired dozens of senior officials from the departments awarding them – raising what transparency experts call an 'acute' corruption risk, write Charlie Young, Carole Cadwalladr and Ian Tucker

Charlie Young
Ian Tucker
Carole Cadwalladr
Charlie Young, +2
‘It beggars belief’: MoD sources warn Palantir’s role at heart of government is threat to UK’s security

Mar 13, 2026

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10 min read

‘It beggars belief’: MoD sources warn Palantir’s role at heart of government is threat to UK’s security

Experts say that claims UK data remains under government ownership miss the point that the company has the capability to build its own detailed picture of the British population, and even infer state secrets. Report by Charlie Young and Carole Cadwalladr

Charlie Young
Charlie Young
Revealed: Palantir deals with UK state total at least £670m – including £15m contract with nuclear weapons agency

Jan 27, 2026

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13 min read

Revealed: Palantir deals with UK state total at least £670m – including £15m contract with nuclear weapons agency

EXCLUSIVE Nerve investigation finds Trump ally Peter Thiel's surveillance firm has won at least 34 contracts, including management services for Britain's nuclear deterrent, with MPs warning of 'gaping vulnerability' as US president threatens Nato allies. By Carole Cadwalladr, Charlie Young and Max Colbert

THE NERVE WEEKEND DISH


Sabrina Ghayour’s roasted spiced aubergine and tomato

Aug 14, 2026

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2 min read

Sabrina Ghayour’s roasted spiced aubergine and tomato

The bestselling author of Persiana shares a mezze-friendly creation from her new collection of one-pan recipes

Ed Smith’s roast Thai-ish chicken thighs with hot and sour salad

Aug 7, 2026

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2 min read

Ed Smith’s roast Thai-ish chicken thighs with hot and sour salad

The food blogger and author behind Rocket & Squash shares a fresh, gai-yang-inspired meal from his new book

Ella Risbridger’s herby mango salad

Jul 31, 2026

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2 min read

Ella Risbridger’s herby mango salad

The author of the acclaimed The Kitchen Book shares an ultra-fresh, summery, no-cook recipe

Zena Kamgaing's one-pan Thai curry salmon with coconut rice

Jul 10, 2026

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2 min read

Zena Kamgaing's one-pan Thai curry salmon with coconut rice

The recipe developer shares a speedy, delicious dinner from her easy-cook recipe book

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