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FEARLESS, INDEPENDENT JOURNALISM ON CULTURE, POLITICS AND TECH

WEEKEND EDITION

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
Banger racing, big hats and the beach: photographer Sophie Green celebrates British subcultures and social rituals

May 22, 2026

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3 min read

Banger racing, big hats and the beach: photographer Sophie Green celebrates British subcultures and social rituals

Ahead of a new exhibition, the acclaimed documentary photographer shares the stories behind her vibrant images of gatherings, traditions and “the eccentric lengths to which the British will go” when having fun

Stewart Lee: Streeting? Burnham? Who cares? Just get after Farage while he’s vulnerable

May 22, 2026

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4 min read

Stewart Lee: Streeting? Burnham? Who cares? Just get after Farage while he’s vulnerable

Labour has chosen the precise moment when the Reform leader is in trouble to ... have a massive navel-gazing spat about leadership. Still, it’s not like the stakes are high or anything

The Recommender: Rene Matić

May 22, 2026

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3 min read

The Recommender: Rene Matić

The Turner-shortlisted artist, who this month won the Deutsche Börse photography prize, shares some of their current cultural favourites

Review of the Week: The Color of Rain by Aja Monet

May 22, 2026

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2 min read

Review of the Week: The Color of Rain by Aja Monet

The American blues poet’s new album moves from neo-soul to spiky social commentary in a thrilling, sonically inventive mix, writes Jude Rogers

The Nerve Weekend Dish: Honey & Co’s herby chicken burgers

May 22, 2026

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2 min read

The Nerve Weekend Dish: 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

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Contact? Source? Or friend? The curious connection between Michael Wolff and Jeffrey Epstein

May 12, 2026

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11 min read

Contact? Source? Or friend? The curious connection between Michael Wolff and Jeffrey Epstein

The New York media insider has 100 hours of interviews with the dead sex offender. But the Epstein files also reveal an intimate 20-year history of emails between the two men that seems far more than journalistic, writes Ellie Leonard

Nigel Farage wants to build a British ICE. Keir Starmer may have handed him the tools

Apr 8, 2026

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11 min read

Nigel Farage wants to build a British ICE. Keir Starmer may have handed him the tools

Reform’s proposed "Deportation Command” would integrate NHS, police and financial data into a single surveillance database. Meanwhile, Palantir has signalled it won’t stand in their way, and campaigners say Labour’s new data law opens the door. By Rei Takver

Rei Takver
Rei Takver
‘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: Douglas Stuart

May 15, 2026

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4 min read

The Recommender: Douglas Stuart

The Booker-winning author of Shuggie Bain shares his current cultural favourites

Imogen Carter
Imogen Carter
The Nerve Hotlist

May 19, 2026

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5 min read

The Nerve Hotlist

This week’s top cultural picks – from Gary Oldman in a Beckett classic to Genesis Owusu's infectious hip-hop – as enjoyed by our team of editors and writers

‘It costs less than we think to stand up for truth’: author Yassmin Abdel-Magied on the power of ‘wilful women’

May 19, 2026

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6 min read

‘It costs less than we think to stand up for truth’: author Yassmin Abdel-Magied on the power of ‘wilful women’

The Sudanese Australian writer, a former oil rig engineer, talks to Lucia Osborne-Crowley about her new novel featuring a female outsider trying to stop a Deepwater Horizon-type disaster – and being a writer on Emmerdale

Lucia Osborne-Crowley
Lucia Osborne-Crowley

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


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

Ranie Saidi’s lime steamed sea bass

May 8, 2026

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2 min read

Ranie Saidi’s lime steamed sea bass

The London-based supper club host shares a fragrant recipe for ikan siakap stim – inspired by one of his beloved Malaysian grandmother’s dishes, painstakingly recreated for his debut cookbook

Nargisse Benkabbou’s baked chermoula potatoes with eggs

May 1, 2026

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3 min read

Nargisse Benkabbou’s baked chermoula potatoes with eggs

The chef and food writer shares her recipe for batata m’chermla – a classic Moroccan breakfast dish ideal for bank holiday brunch

Joe Woodhouse’s garlic-chilli potato dumplings

Mar 13, 2026

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5 min read

Joe Woodhouse’s garlic-chilli potato dumplings

The popular veggie cookbook author shares an easy and flavourful one-pot family dinner

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