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FEARLESS, INDEPENDENT JOURNALISM ON CULTURE, POLITICS AND TECH

Weekend EDITION

From celebrity intellectual to anti-woke outlaw: how Steven Pinker lost his way

Sep 18, 2026

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7 min read

From celebrity intellectual to anti-woke outlaw: how Steven Pinker lost his way

The pop psychologist’s new book seems to betray a lurking fear of others’ criticism – about his Epstein links, his manosphere admirers and his discredited former field of study, writes Virginia Heffernan

Virginia Heffernan
Virginia Heffernan
Cory Doctorow: AI’s big beasts aren’t really scared of their products. They’re scared of their competition

Sep 18, 2026

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4 min read

Cory Doctorow: AI’s big beasts aren’t really scared of their products. They’re scared of their competition

The US giants would love to stop battling each other and be protected from China – and they might have hit on just the narrative to make that possible, writes our tech columnist

Cory Doctorow
Cory Doctorow
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
Stewart Lee: ‘Danny Tommo’ and his men of fighting age seek their Passport to Piddington

Sep 18, 2026

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5 min read

Stewart Lee: ‘Danny Tommo’ and his men of fighting age seek their Passport to Piddington

The hamlet that voted to secede from the UK over asylum seekers is about to be invaded by the very worst Britons this country has to offer

‘We don't want just bums on seats’: how the Yard, London’s coolest theatre, was reborn

Sep 18, 2026

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4 min read

‘We don't want just bums on seats’: how the Yard, London’s coolest theatre, was reborn

Created from scavenged scaffolding in a scrappy corner of Hackney in 2011, the venue became celebrated for innovation and talent spotting. Now reopened following a £7m rebuild, its artistic director Jay Miller intends to keep breaking boundaries. Interview by Fergus Morgan

Review of the Week: Golden Boy at the Almeida theatre

Sep 18, 2026

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3 min read

Review of the Week: Golden Boy at the Almeida theatre

A dazzling production, and Josh O’Connor’s star turn as a boxer grappling his way to the top, drag what could have been a faded period piece to the brink of greatness, writes Nerve theatre critic Dorian Lynskey

The Recommender: Bob Stanley

Sep 18, 2026

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3 min read

The Recommender: Bob Stanley

The Saint Etienne musician, writer and pop historian shares his latest cultural discoveries

The Nerve Weekend Dish: Smash burger tacos by Poppy Cooks

Sep 18, 2026

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2 min read

The Nerve Weekend Dish: Smash burger tacos by Poppy Cooks

The social media star shares a fast-food-inspired mash-up that’s super simple and perfect for students to rustle up

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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
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

Ursula Kenny
Ursula Kenny
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

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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