FEARLESS, INDEPENDENT JOURNALISM ON CULTURE, POLITICS AND TECH

Weekend EDITION

Jun 26, 2026

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9 min read

The Nerve's summer books 2026

From a sweeping Korean family saga to a love letter to George Michael, our team of writers and editors each recommend a perfect read for your summer getaway – and one they’ll be taking on holiday. Plus three Bookstagrammers share their top picks

‘There are no normal people here’: the youth verdict on the rightwing Davos

Jun 26, 2026

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7 min read

‘There are no normal people here’: the youth verdict on the rightwing Davos

This week’s ARC conference in London, an event bankrolled by the old and very rich, insists it is fighting for the young. They aren’t convinced, writes Stella Tsantekidou

Stella Tsantekidou

Timothy Snyder: People think evil is purposeful, but Trump proves you can be malign and stupid

Jun 23, 2026

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3 min read

Timothy Snyder: People think evil is purposeful, but Trump proves you can be malign and stupid

The US’s defeat at the hands of Iran – for that is what it was – has achieved absolutely nothing but to revive a brutal regime, writes the historian

Timothy Snyder

Stewart Lee: It’s not been a great week for denying climate change. But the global far-right tried anyway!

Jun 26, 2026

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4 min read

Stewart Lee: It’s not been a great week for denying climate change. But the global far-right tried anyway!

As London boiled in the record-breaking heat, the anti-net-zero ‘Alliance for Responsible Citizenship’ were in town. Let’s hope they remembered to hydrate

Jun 26, 2026

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4 min read

Review of the Week: Frida Kahlo: The Making of an Icon

Frida Kahlo's image is now so commercialised that her celebrity is in danger of eclipsing her art. The problem with the much-anticipated Tate show about her legacy is that we don’t see enough of her electrifying work, writes Imogen Carter

Jun 26, 2026

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3 min read

The Recommender: Adam Kay

The author, screenwriter, comedian and former doctor shares his current cultural favourites

Jun 26, 2026

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2 min read

The Weekend Dish: José Pizarro’s chilled roast tomato soup with figs

The chef and restaurateur shares a cooling summer dish rich with memories of his Spanish childhood

Sangita Myska: He may be King of the North - but Andy Burnham should still stand in a leadership election

Jun 23, 2026

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4 min read

Sangita Myska: He may be King of the North - but Andy Burnham should still stand in a leadership election

Labour’s coronation is going smoothly – too smoothly. A leadership contest to stress test the next prime minister is necessary for the good of party, and to unite the public behind him, argues the Nerve’s political commentator

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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, +1

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

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

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

CULTURE

Jun 19, 2026

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9 min read

'Billionaires aren’t going to save you’: Amazon union trailblazer Chris Smalls on fighting back against the gig economy

The labour activist who took on Jeff Bezos in 2022 – and challenged him again at the Met Gala this year – talks to Lucia Osborne-Crowley about courage, community, class and why he's telling his remarkable story in a new memoir

Lucia Osborne-Crowley

Jun 12, 2026

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3 min read

Review: Disclosure Day

A Spielberg alien movie is not to be missed, writes Ellen E Jones – especially when the extraterrestrials might offer an alternative to our fraught political reality

Ellen E Jones

Jun 23, 2026

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4 min read

The Nerve Hotlist

This week’s top cultural picks – from Toy Story 5 to a major new exhibition of Japanese photography – as enjoyed by our team of editors and writers

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, +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

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 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

Jun 12, 2026

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14 min read

Crypto, peerages, or political self-sacrifice – why did Farage gift Boris the 2019 election?

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?

Charlie Young, +1

THE NERVE WEEKEND DISH

Jun 19, 2026

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2 min read

Ursula Ferrigno’s Italian courgette pie

The Italian-born food writer shares an easy, summery dish perfect for antipasti, picnics or lunch in the sun.

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

Helen Graham’s leek, miso and mango chutney skewers

Jun 12, 2026

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2 min read

Helen Graham’s leek, miso and mango chutney skewers

The London-born chef shares a fresh, vegan and barbecue-ready dish from her debut cookbook

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

FEARLESS, INDEPENDENT JOURNALISM ON CULTURE, POLITICS AND TECH

Weekend EDITION

The Nerve's summer books 2026

‘There are no normal people here’: the youth verdict on the rightwing Davos

Timothy Snyder: People think evil is purposeful, but Trump proves you can be malign and stupid

Stewart Lee: It’s not been a great week for denying climate change. But the global far-right tried anyway!

Review of the Week: Frida Kahlo: The Making of an Icon

The Recommender: Adam Kay

The Weekend Dish: José Pizarro’s chilled roast tomato soup with figs

Sangita Myska: He may be King of the North - but Andy Burnham should still stand in a leadership election

SIGN UP TO STAY UP TO DATE AND SUPPORT THE NERVE

FREE

£0

ANNUAL member

£68

MONTHLY member

£6.95

FOUNDER member

£250

POLITICS & INVESTIGATIONS

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

Crypto, peerages, or political self-sacrifice – why did Farage gift Boris the 2019 election?

The billionaires' eugenics project: how Epstein infiltrated Harvard, muzzled the humanities and preached master-race science

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

CULTURE

'Billionaires aren’t going to save you’: Amazon union trailblazer Chris Smalls on fighting back against the gig economy

Review: Disclosure Day

The Nerve Hotlist

SPOTLIGHT ON PALANTIR

The Palantir pipeline: how Peter Thiel's surveillance firm hired more than 30 senior UK officials

‘It beggars belief’: MoD sources warn Palantir’s role at heart of government is threat to UK’s security

Revealed: Palantir deals with UK state total at least £670m – including £15m contract with nuclear weapons agency

THE HARBORNE receipts

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

Crypto, peerages, or political self-sacrifice – why did Farage gift Boris the 2019 election?

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

THE NERVE WEEKEND DISH

Ursula Ferrigno’s Italian courgette pie

Honey & Co’s herby chicken burgers

Helen Graham’s leek, miso and mango chutney skewers

Özlem Warren’s börek traybake with spinach and cheese