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FEARLESS, INDEPENDENT JOURNALISM ON CULTURE, POLITICS AND TECH

LATEST EDITION

Natasha Walter: Labour’s workaday repression of protest doesn’t alarm us. But it should

Jun 9, 2026

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5 min read

Natasha Walter: Labour’s workaday repression of protest doesn’t alarm us. But it should

If a far-right government detained activists for months without trial and declared them terrorists, there would be outrage. But Palestine and climate campaigners are being treated like this in a social democracy, writes the author and columnist

Natasha Walter
Natasha Walter
‘Her silence was more powerful than words’: how I interviewed a Facebook whistleblower who wasn’t allowed to speak

Jun 5, 2026

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6 min read

‘Her silence was more powerful than words’: how I interviewed a Facebook whistleblower who wasn’t allowed to speak

The Nerve’s Carole Cadwalladr was all set to talk to Sarah Wynn-Williams, author of the explosive memoir Careless People, at the Hay festival when Meta’s lawyers intervened ... and turned the event into ‘absurdist theatre’

Carole Cadwalladr
Carole Cadwalladr
James McAvoy: 'I'm always going to try and find the laughs'

Jun 5, 2026

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5 min read

James McAvoy: 'I'm always going to try and find the laughs'

The Scottish Hollywood actor – and now first-time director – answers the Nerve Q&A on fame, indie film-making and snogging an unexpected co-star. Interview by Hanna Flint

Hanna Flint
Hanna Flint
Stewart Lee: Quick - dangerous ideologies are storming the beaches. Has anyone reserved a sun-lounger?

Jun 8, 2026

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4 min read

Stewart Lee: Quick - dangerous ideologies are storming the beaches. Has anyone reserved a sun-lounger?

At a Normandy D-Day commemoration, Pete Hegseth, the American Secretary of War, noted that beaches were stormed in 1944 and are being stormed by ideologies now. The two events share precisely one feature, and that is sand

The Nerve Hotlist

Jun 9, 2026

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4 min read

The Nerve Hotlist

The best culture to check out this week – from Nicola Walker in a pin-sharp new comedy to the triumphant return of War Horse – all seen and enjoyed by our team of editors and writers

Sangita Myska: Henry Nowak’s father asked for peace. In response, Nigel Farage produced a conveyor belt of lies

Jun 9, 2026

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5 min read

Sangita Myska: Henry Nowak’s father asked for peace. In response, Nigel Farage produced a conveyor belt of lies

The horror of the teenager’s murder, and the police failings surrounding it, have been shamelessly exploited by the far right’s disinformation machine whose claims, in turn, have been legitimised by the media

At last, the fool’s bargain that the media struck with AI may be over

Jun 9, 2026

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5 min read

At last, the fool’s bargain that the media struck with AI may be over

In a thunderous speech last week, the boss of the New York Times sounded a rallying call to news organisations to rise up against the theft of their work by Big Tech – and not before time, writes Branko Brkic

Review of the week: Cry Baby by Vince Staples

Jun 5, 2026

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3 min read

Review of the week: Cry Baby by Vince Staples

Over a foreboding rock soundtrack, the California rapper delivers hard-edged, compelling social commentary on Trump, violence, Black stereotypes and more, writes Nerve music critic Kate Hutchinson

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Billionaire Christopher Harborne donated millions to Farage and Johnson. Then the pro-crypto announcements began. Is there a connection?

May 22, 2026

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10 min read

Billionaire Christopher Harborne donated millions to Farage and Johnson. Then the pro-crypto announcements began. Is there a connection?

The crypto investor’s £5m gift to Reform’s leader coincided with the party’s new-found advocacy for digital assets – part of a pattern of significant political donations that also included £1m to the former Tory prime minister. Report by Charlie Young and Lucia Osborne-Crowley

Charlie Young
Lucia Osborne-Crowley
Charlie Young, +1
Peter Mandelson, the Russian superyacht and the scandal we completely misread

Feb 24, 2026

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14 min read

Peter Mandelson, the Russian superyacht and the scandal we completely misread

When Britain's most powerful political fixer was caught on an oligarch's boat in Corfu, we called it Yachtgate and moved on. The Epstein files now reveal the full picture: a web of Russian money, paedophile kompromat and New Labour access that shaped a decade of British politics, writes Tamsin Shaw

Tamsin Shaw
Tamsin Shaw
‘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
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

CULTURE


The Recommender: Nilüfer Yanya

Jun 5, 2026

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4 min read

The Recommender: Nilüfer Yanya

The London-based singer-songwriter shares her latest cultural discoveries

Imogen Carter
Imogen Carter
‘They are weapons of war’: Gisèle Pelicot on the tech platforms that facilitate rape

May 29, 2026

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7 min read

‘They are weapons of war’: Gisèle Pelicot on the tech platforms that facilitate rape

The woman whose courage at trial transformed the debate around abuse talks to Lucia Osborne-Crowley about survival, reclaiming confidence – and shutting down the tools of sexual exploitation

Lucia Osborne-Crowley
Lucia Osborne-Crowley
What Marilyn would have done next...

May 29, 2026

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5 min read

What Marilyn would have done next...

A lifelong Monroe fan, the Nerve’s film critic Ellen E Jones has made a BBC radio series to mark the centenary of the actor’s birth. Here, she imagines the future that might have opened up for a media-savvy artist ‘vastly ahead of her time’

Ellen E Jones
Ellen E Jones

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
New fears over spread of Palantir’s influence after ‘Big Brother’ Met police project extended

May 15, 2026

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6 min read

New fears over spread of Palantir’s influence after ‘Big Brother’ Met police project extended

The programme, designed to expose officer misconduct, was due to expire last month. The Nerve has established that it was extended to today, May 15, with no indication what happens next. Officers fear they will be under long-term surveillance, while it’s also emerged the project could be rolled out to more staff. Report by Max Colbert and Lucia Osborne-Crowley

Max Colbert
Lucia Osborne-Crowley
Max Colbert, +1
‘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

THE NERVE WEEKEND DISH


Ella Risbridger’s no-knife potato and prawn curry

Jun 5, 2026

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3 min read

Ella Risbridger’s no-knife potato and prawn curry

The bestselling cookbook writer shares a fresh and easy one-pot dinner – with no chopping-up required

Özlem Warren’s börek traybake with spinach and cheese

May 29, 2026

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3 min read

Özlem Warren’s börek traybake with spinach and cheese

The Turkish food writer shares a versatile and summery dish perfect for lunch, dinner or eating al fresco

Honey & Co’s herby chicken burgers

May 22, 2026

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2 min read

Honey & Co’s herby chicken burgers

The restaurateurs and life partners Itamar Srulovich and Sarit Packer share a fresh, summery dish for a sunny weekend

Marina Georgallides’s kleftiko

May 15, 2026

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2 min read

Marina Georgallides’s kleftiko

The popular Instagram cook, aka @chefmarinie, shares her recipe for classic slow-roasted Greek lamb – an easy winner for special occasions

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