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FEARLESS, INDEPENDENT JOURNALISM ON CULTURE, POLITICS AND TECH

WEEKEND EDITION

Stewart Lee: We’re banning disposable barbecues, but we’re still drilling for oil. We really are cooked

Aug 14, 2026

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4 min read

Stewart Lee: We’re banning disposable barbecues, but we’re still drilling for oil. We really are cooked

Unfortunately, the climate crisis requires concerted, difficult opposition to Trump and the fossil fuel industry, not just restrictions on tinfoil grills

Stewart Lee
Stewart Lee
Jeff Bezos as part-owner of Liverpool? We'd rather have walked alone

Aug 14, 2026

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4 min read

Jeff Bezos as part-owner of Liverpool? We'd rather have walked alone

The club I love has become the latest to fall into the grasp of an egregious billionaire, writes Hannah Jane Parkinson. Is the hyper-capitalist founder of Amazon aware that he’s buying into an essentially socialist institution?

Hannah Jane Parkinson
Hannah Jane Parkinson
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
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

Sangita Myska: Is Jason Arday a fantasist or a victim of racism? Actually, he’s both

Aug 11, 2026

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4 min read

Sangita Myska: Is Jason Arday a fantasist or a victim of racism? Actually, he’s both

The former professor’s claims about his extraordinary life do not bear scrutiny. But the frenzied and vicious reporting about him is impugning the good name of every black academic

Review of the Week: Game of Thrones: The Mad King at the RSC

Aug 14, 2026

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3 min read

Review of the Week: Game of Thrones: The Mad King at the RSC

The stage version of George RR Martin’s blood-and-thunder saga is spectacular, serious, surprisingly empathetic – and could turn out to be a blockbuster, writes Nerve theatre critic Dorian Lynskey

The Nerve Hotlist

Aug 11, 2026

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3 min read

The Nerve Hotlist

This week's top cultural picks – from a cool Anthony Bourdain biopic to Phoebe Bridgers’s soul-searching new album – as enjoyed by our team of editors and writers

The Nerve Weekend dish: Sabrina Ghayour’s roasted spiced aubergine and tomato

Aug 14, 2026

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2 min read

The Nerve Weekend dish: 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

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THE HARBORNE receipts


‘I need to make money’: the story of Nigel Farage’s crypto-awakening

Jun 19, 2026

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5 min read

‘I need to make money’: the story of Nigel Farage’s crypto-awakening

In the latest part of our series The Harborne Receipts, we look at how the chief architect of Brexit fared in post-EU Britain – short of cash, out of politics, but becoming increasingly attracted to digital currencies. Report by Lucia Osborne-Crowley

Lucia Osborne-Crowley
Lucia Osborne-Crowley
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

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

CULTURE


Ellen E Jones: AI can already create films. What it can’t create is art

Aug 7, 2026

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4 min read

Ellen E Jones: AI can already create films. What it can’t create is art

A machine-made movie has premiered at Tribeca and virtual actor Tilly Norwood is about to star in a feature. But if there’s no soul, no emotion, or no attempt at human connection ... who cares? By Ellen E Jones

Ellen E Jones
Ellen E Jones
Joe Lycett: ‘Part of me thinks: we've had so many prime ministers, why not give the bin a go?’

Jul 24, 2026

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6 min read

Joe Lycett: ‘Part of me thinks: we've had so many prime ministers, why not give the bin a go?’

Ahead of a major solo exhibition, the comedian, artist and presenter answers the Nerve Q&A - on Celebrity Traitors, politics, and how his toddler has already started heckling Richard Tice. Interview by Michael Hogan

Michael Hogan
Michael Hogan
The Recommender: Bryony Kimmings

Aug 7, 2026

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3 min read

The Recommender: Bryony Kimmings

The performance artist and screenwriter shares her latest cultural discoveries

POLITICS & INVESTIGATIONS


Liz Truss, dark money and the gen-Z Catholics: who’s behind CPAC in the UK?

Jul 21, 2026

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8 min read

Liz Truss, dark money and the gen-Z Catholics: who’s behind CPAC in the UK?

The British debut of Maga’s favourite conference last week was widely seen as a joke. But a Nerve investigation reveals its young organisers are part of a web of culture-war connections – from the US Christian right to Viktor Orbán's influence network. Alice McCool reports

Alice McCool
Alice McCool
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


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

Christina Soteriou's spicy mushroom skewers with peanut lime sauce

Jul 24, 2026

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3 min read

Christina Soteriou's spicy mushroom skewers with peanut lime sauce

The vegan chef Christina Soteriou shares a zingy dish that works both as a healthy evening meal and a dinner-party treat

Richard Makin’s spicy tahini lime noodles

Jul 17, 2026

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3 min read

Richard Makin’s spicy tahini lime noodles

The author and Instagrammer (aka @SchoolNightVegan) shares an ultra-fast dinner recipe that can be done in 10 minutes flat

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