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FEARLESS, INDEPENDENT JOURNALISM ON CULTURE, POLITICS AND TECH

WEEKEND EDITION

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
Fraud, lies, perjury ... inside the disturbing new allegations against Tommy Robinson

Sep 11, 2026

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7 min read

Fraud, lies, perjury ... inside the disturbing new allegations against Tommy Robinson

Matt Shea’s explosive film on the far-right activist tells a story of a man who exploits victims and tragedies to raise large sums of money that become very hard to trace. He talks to Lucia Osborne-Crowley

Lucia Osborne-Crowley
Lucia Osborne-Crowley
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
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

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

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

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

The Nerve Weekend Dish: Jay Rayner’s salmon en croute

Sep 11, 2026

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3 min read

The Nerve Weekend Dish: Jay Rayner’s salmon en croute

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

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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


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
Jon Ronson: ‘The worst moments of my life are when I’m between stories’

Aug 28, 2026

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5 min read

Jon Ronson: ‘The worst moments of my life are when I’m between stories’

As his new book The Castle is published, the author and journalist talks to Dorian Lynskey about male midlife crises, country life and why he’s written about his former friend Graham Linehan

Dorian Lynskey
Dorian Lynskey
The Nerve Hotlist

Sep 8, 2026

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6 min read

The Nerve Hotlist

The best culture to check out this week – from a searing study of race and the media at the National Theatre to the joyful return of Call My Agent! – as enjoyed by our editors and writers

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


Joe Woodhouse’s tiger salad summer rolls

Aug 28, 2026

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2 min read

Joe Woodhouse’s tiger salad summer rolls

The vegetarian chef and cookbook writer shares a fresh, zingy dish with a delicious 'double-dunk' sauce for the August bank holiday

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

Sabrina Ghayour’s roasted spiced aubergine and tomato

Aug 14, 2026

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2 min read

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

Zena Kamgaing's one-pan Thai curry salmon with coconut rice

Jul 10, 2026

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2 min read

Zena Kamgaing's one-pan Thai curry salmon with coconut rice

The recipe developer shares a speedy, delicious dinner from her easy-cook recipe book

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