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FEARLESS, INDEPENDENT JOURNALISM ON CULTURE, POLITICS AND TECH

LATEST EDITION

Cory Doctorow: Comrade Trump is the unwitting hero of a green revolution

May 5, 2026

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7 min read

Cory Doctorow: Comrade Trump is the unwitting hero of a green revolution

In the first of a new monthly column for the Nerve, the author and cyber-activist argues that by dumping cheap solar panels on Asia and starting a catastrophic war in the Gulf, the president has started a headlong rush for cleantech that no eco-activism could match

Cory Doctorow
Cory Doctorow
‘Oestrogen gives me patience!’: psychotherapist Philippa Perry on hormones, whodunnits and the power of hope

May 5, 2026

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7 min read

‘Oestrogen gives me patience!’: psychotherapist Philippa Perry on hormones, whodunnits and the power of hope

The agony aunt and Nerve columnist talks to Ursula Kenny about how her life as a shrink – and the joys of getting older – inspired the detective in her debut novel

Ursula Kenny
Ursula Kenny
I made Labour Together angry. Here’s how it feels when a political party targets you

May 1, 2026

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17 min read

I made Labour Together angry. Here’s how it feels when a political party targets you

Paul Holden had been reporting on the thinktank at the heart of Keir Starmer’s rise to power when he was told he was the subject of a national security investigation. This is the twisting story of what happened next

Paul Holden
Paul Holden
The Nerve Hotlist

May 5, 2026

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3 min read

The Nerve Hotlist

This week’s top cultural picks – from Kneecap’s new album to a riotous female-led Tudor play – as enjoyed by our team of editors and writers

Stewart Lee: Palantir’s predecessors were confronted on Cable Street. It’s harder to fight fascism now

May 1, 2026

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5 min read

Stewart Lee: Palantir’s predecessors were confronted on Cable Street. It’s harder to fight fascism now

Even in a country on high alert for intolerance, the totalitarian tech firm is still advancing silently into the heart of the British state

Review of the Week: Mass at the Donmar

May 1, 2026

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3 min read

Review of the Week: Mass at the Donmar

Fran Kranz’s play, about two families’ long-delayed reckoning in the wake of a school shooting, is moving and superbly acted but not to be entered lightly, writes Nerve theatre critic Dorian Lynskey

Sangita Myska: Should Bitcoin investor Nigel Farage be promising to pass laws boosting crypto? Of course not

Apr 26, 2026

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4 min read

Sangita Myska: Should Bitcoin investor Nigel Farage be promising to pass laws boosting crypto? Of course not

In the US, Trump is already riding roughshod over glaringly obvious conflicts of interest. We can’t let the same thing happen in Britain

The Weekend Dish: Nargisse Benkabbou’s baked chermoula potatoes with eggs

May 1, 2026

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3 min read

The Weekend Dish: 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

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PALANTIR SPOTLIGHT


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
Palantir's social media manifesto is a blueprint for technofascism

Apr 24, 2026

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5 min read

Palantir's social media manifesto is a blueprint for technofascism

The surveillance firm’s viral X post calls for hard power, conscription and the end of pluralism. AI expert and academic Mark Coeckelbergh on what happens when technology becomes the gateway to authoritarianism

‘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

POLITICS & INVESTIGATIONS


Pete Hegseth's Crusader tattoos aren’t just symbols – they're a battleplan

Apr 28, 2026

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5 min read

Pete Hegseth's Crusader tattoos aren’t just symbols – they're a battleplan

The US secretary of war has ‘God wills it’ inked on his right arm and a Jerusalem cross on his chest. Now he is directing hostilities against a Muslim country, writes Kat Tenbarge

Nudification, 'synthetic' rape... online violence against female journalists is an escalating crisis

May 1, 2026

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4 min read

Nudification, 'synthetic' rape... online violence against female journalists is an escalating crisis

Ahead of World Press Freedom Day on Sunday, the authors of a groundbreaking new study reveal how much abuse women in public life are exposed to in the age of the broligarchs – and the censorship and emotional damage it causes. By Julie Posetti and Kaylee Williams

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
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

CULTURE


The Recommender: Danny Robins

May 1, 2026

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4 min read

The Recommender: Danny Robins

The creator and presenter of Uncanny, the hit paranormal podcast and TV show, shares his latest cultural favourites

Deborah Frances-White: Women are being sedated, raped, filmed ... we can’t stop it on our own

Apr 28, 2026

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5 min read

Deborah Frances-White: Women are being sedated, raped, filmed ... we can’t stop it on our own

Despite the Pelicot case, the uncovering of an extensive ‘sleep content’ abuse network has been under reported in the mainstream media. We desperately need influential and decent men to confront those who participate in this vile exploitation

Deborah Frances-White
Deborah Frances-White
Richard Gadd’s new show Half Man is hard to watch. But does it have anything to say?

Apr 24, 2026

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4 min read

Richard Gadd’s new show Half Man is hard to watch. But does it have anything to say?

The acclaimed new drama from the creator of Baby Reindeer doesn’t ‘expose’ toxic masculinity so much as simply make a spectacle of it, writes Julia Raeside

Julia Raeside
Julia Raeside

THE NERVE WEEKEND DISH


Georgina Hayden’s spring meatballs, pasta and peas

Apr 24, 2026

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2 min read

Georgina Hayden’s spring meatballs, pasta and peas

The bestselling cookbook author shares a light and fresh pasta dish that's packed with flavour

Jad Youssef’s Lebanese chicken with garlic and lemon

Apr 17, 2026

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4 min read

Jad Youssef’s Lebanese chicken with garlic and lemon

The restaurateur shares a tray-bake recipe for djej b’sayniyeh – a longtime family favourite – from his debut cookbook

The Borough Chef's asparagus and ricotta tagliatelle

Apr 10, 2026

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3 min read

The Borough Chef's asparagus and ricotta tagliatelle

A fresh, seasonal spring pasta dish from social media star and recipe developer Beth Adamson (aka @boroughchef)

Kate Young’s roasted spring onion tart

Apr 2, 2026

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4 min read

Kate Young’s roasted spring onion tart

The novelist, cook and food writer shares a vibrant dish from her inventive new book

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