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FEARLESS, INDEPENDENT JOURNALISM ON CULTURE, POLITICS AND TECH

Latest EDITION

Natasha Walter: The end-times oligarchs are weary of Earth. But we should stand and fight for our home

Sep 15, 2026

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4 min read

Natasha Walter: The end-times oligarchs are weary of Earth. But we should stand and fight for our home

In answer to the question ‘what can I do?’ in the face of Trump, the tech bros and their apocalyptic visions – we can come together in the love and support of our communities

Natasha Walter
Natasha Walter
We need to talk about the Bayeux Tapestry show and its billionaire sponsor

Sep 10, 2026

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8 min read

We need to talk about the Bayeux Tapestry show and its billionaire sponsor

Igor Tulchinsky, whose name and portrait are front and centre of the British Museum’s blockbuster show, has funded the IDF and donated to Trump even as the president undermines cultural institutions, writes Nerve art critic Ben Luke

Ben Luke
Ben Luke
I was there for the Daphne Caruana Galizia verdict. It was like hearing a court rule the Earth is flat

Sep 11, 2026

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6 min read

I was there for the Daphne Caruana Galizia verdict. It was like hearing a court rule the Earth is flat

Stephen Grey, who spent years investigating the tycoon accused of masterminding the journalist’s murder, says his outrageous acquittal has left a grieving family without justice – and yet still not without hope

Stephen Grey
Stephen Grey
The Nerve Hotlist

Sep 15, 2026

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5 min read

The Nerve Hotlist

The best culture to check out this week – from a Tilda Swinton tour de force to the new album by jazz stars Ezra Collective – as enjoyed by our editors and writers

John Sweeney: Dressed in Crusader chainmail and Reform footy kits, Farage’s faithful couldn’t care less about his scandals

Sep 15, 2026

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4 min read

John Sweeney: Dressed in Crusader chainmail and Reform footy kits, Farage’s faithful couldn’t care less about his scandals

Mega-donors, Nigel's £5m gift, the Channel 4 sting ... John Sweeney tried to challenge loyal party members about all of it – and no one seemed concerned

Lyse Doucet: ‘The fear of not being a journalist was bigger than the fear of what was around me’

Sep 11, 2026

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6 min read

Lyse Doucet: ‘The fear of not being a journalist was bigger than the fear of what was around me’

The BBC correspondent and winner of the 2026 Women's prize for non-fiction answers the Nerve Q&A on friendship, bravery, and the importance of Yorkshire tea. Interview by Ursula Kenny

Parlour games and real-life pain: the enduring, subversive power of Agatha Christie

Sep 11, 2026

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7 min read

Parlour games and real-life pain: the enduring, subversive power of Agatha Christie

As a season of Christie TV, theatre, books and events kicks off, Dorian Lynskey sees the author’s everlasting play The Mousetrap for the first time – and finds it far from what he was expecting

Stewart Lee: Danny Tommo’s masked patriots are coming for the Mail – if Millets doesn’t run out of balaclavas first

Sep 11, 2026

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8 min read

Stewart Lee: Danny Tommo’s masked patriots are coming for the Mail – if Millets doesn’t run out of balaclavas first

When the rightwing pro-Christian protesters are standing outside the rightwing pro-Christian newspaper demanding to be bought a house, you hardly need a satirist to intervene

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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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15 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


Meera Syal: ‘The government is like a typical Asian parent. Art is seen as a waste of time’

Sep 4, 2026

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7 min read

Meera Syal: ‘The government is like a typical Asian parent. Art is seen as a waste of time’

The actor, novelist and star of Goodness Gracious Me talks to Tara Joshi about racism, growing up, and blazing a trail under the gaze of disapproving aunties

Tara Joshi
Tara Joshi
Deborah Frances-White: Gloria Steinem inspired sisterhood wherever she went

Sep 4, 2026

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4 min read

Deborah Frances-White: Gloria Steinem inspired sisterhood wherever she went

The trailblazing women’s rights campaigner taught me that true progress is not about wins and losses, but about making the journey together, writes the Guilty Feminist

Deborah Frances-White
Deborah Frances-White
The Recommender: Samuel Barnett

Sep 11, 2026

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3 min read

The Recommender: Samuel Barnett

The actor known for The History Boys, Dirk Gently and the current hit stage musical of Pride shares his cultural highlights

Kate Hutchinson
Kate Hutchinson

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

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
Charisma, cruelty, greed: John Sweeney on the ‘dark genius’ of Nigel Farage

Sep 1, 2026

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16 min read

Charisma, cruelty, greed: John Sweeney on the ‘dark genius’ of Nigel Farage

In an exclusive extract from his new book, the Nerve’s Reform correspondent explores the career of ‘a leader who never seems to suffer the consequences of his actions’ – and asks if he should ever be allowed near power

John Sweeney
John Sweeney

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


Jay Rayner’s salmon en croute

Sep 11, 2026

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3 min read

Jay Rayner’s salmon en croute

The restaurant critic, Masterchef winner and cookbook author shares his update on a classic dinner-party special

Ottolenghi’s chicken meatballs with pistachios and spinach

Sep 4, 2026

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2 min read

Ottolenghi’s chicken meatballs with pistachios and spinach

The star chef and restaurateur shares a bright and highly flavoured dish from his new easy cookbook

Anissa Helou’s spicy fish wrap

Aug 21, 2026

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4 min read

Anissa Helou’s spicy fish wrap

The acclaimed cookbook writer shares a zingy Lebanese recipe from the land of her childhood

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

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