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FEARLESS, INDEPENDENT JOURNALISM ON CULTURE, POLITICS AND TECH

LATEST EDITION

Deborah Frances-White: The most dangerous thing about misogynistic jokes isn’t the punchline. It’s the laughter

Nov 3, 2026

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10 min read

Deborah Frances-White: The most dangerous thing about misogynistic jokes isn’t the punchline. It’s the laughter

Comedians have been causing controversy recently for jokes about rape, incest and even what women wear to the gym. The performers may not be sexists – but somewhere in the audience, violent men are hearing their darkest views being applauded, writes the Guilty Feminist

Deborah Frances-White
Deborah Frances-White
One in a Million: the epic film that humanises the refugee experience - and the Syrian woman who made it

Oct 30, 2026

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6 min read

One in a Million: the epic film that humanises the refugee experience - and the Syrian woman who made it

Ten years in the making, Itab Azzam and Jack MacInnes' poignant new documentary is an intimate portrait of one refugee girl and her family fleeing Assad's regime for Germany. Itab talks to Natasha Walter

Natasha Walter
Natasha Walter
Annie Altman v Sam Altman: how OpenAI’s boss gave evidence under oath over his sister's allegation that he sexually abused her

Oct 29, 2026

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24 min read

Annie Altman v Sam Altman: how OpenAI’s boss gave evidence under oath over his sister's allegation that he sexually abused her

In recent weeks, the AI billionaire and his youngest sibling gave pre-trial depositions in a case brought by Annie claiming repeated abuse when she was a child. With her lawsuit in jeopardy, the Nerve’s Lucia Osborne-Crowley speaks to her and investigates a long-running story that has been largely ignored by the media

Lucia Osborne-Crowley
Lucia Osborne-Crowley
The Nerve Hotlist

Nov 3, 2026

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5 min read

The Nerve Hotlist

The best culture to enjoy this week, from a dazzling Spanish queer epic to the return of Netflix's Black Doves, as seen and enjoyed by our editors and writers

'Crypto is a funhouse mirror of bullshit’: actor and campaigner Ben McKenzie on a get-rich-quick illusion

Nov 3, 2026

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6 min read

'Crypto is a funhouse mirror of bullshit’: actor and campaigner Ben McKenzie on a get-rich-quick illusion

The former star of The OC and author of Easy Money spoke to Lucia Osborne-Crowley about his efforts to get politicians to regulate the booming sector – a task whose urgency was underlined again when $6.3bn in digital assets disappeared in a hack last week. Introduction by Ian Tucker

Review of the Week: I Love Boosters

Oct 30, 2026

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3 min read

Review of the Week: I Love Boosters

Starring a trio of high-end shoplifters and a teleporter powered by communist theory, director Boots Riley’s follow-up to Sorry to Bother You is a riotous, anti-capitalist vision, writes Nerve film critic Ellen E Jones

Stewart Lee: Boris Johnson said Trump wouldn’t betray Ukraine. Incredibly, Boris Johnson was wrong

Oct 30, 2026

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5 min read

Stewart Lee: Boris Johnson said Trump wouldn’t betray Ukraine. Incredibly, Boris Johnson was wrong

Among the former PM’s trove of non-think pieces for the Daily Mail, one hilariously wrong prophecy somehow sheds an even more depressing light on our current crisis

Revealed: struggling London university Goldsmiths spent £14m on lawyers and consultants while shedding 500 jobs

Oct 27, 2026

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5 min read

Revealed: struggling London university Goldsmiths spent £14m on lawyers and consultants while shedding 500 jobs

As staff strike over a third restructuring plan in five years, freedom of information requests have uncovered the startling amounts the cash-strapped institution has spent on professional services. Brenna Spain reports

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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


‘I started the podcast speaking into a sock’: content creator Blindboy on becoming an audio phenomenon

Oct 23, 2026

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6 min read

‘I started the podcast speaking into a sock’: content creator Blindboy on becoming an audio phenomenon

The masked Irish writer began his online talk show as a sideline. Now his discursive monologues on politics and culture draw millions of listeners. He talks to Brenna Spain about success, missing "cultural scarcity" – and Mark Zuckerberg's new castle

Brenna Spain
Brenna Spain
The Recommender: Inua Ellams

Oct 30, 2026

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3 min read

The Recommender: Inua Ellams

The do-it-all writer, artist and creator of Barber Shop Chronicles picks out some of his recent cultural favourites

The next Post Office scandal? Meet the fishermen fighting an ecocide

Oct 16, 2026

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7 min read

The next Post Office scandal? Meet the fishermen fighting an ecocide

On Teesside, maritime livelihoods are in crisis – and, as a powerful new documentary reveals, crews are sure the local freeport is to blame. Hannah Jane Parkinson reports. Plus, Ellen E Jones on five more documentaries to look out for

Hannah Jane Parkinson
Hannah Jane Parkinson

POLITICS & INVESTIGATIONS


Sleepless in Slough: the residents who fear for their failing health in Europe’s data centre capital

Sep 29, 2026

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7 min read

Sleepless in Slough: the residents who fear for their failing health in Europe’s data centre capital

With an estimated 40 facilities packed tightly together in the town, local people say their quality of life is being ruined by strange and unsettling noise pollution. Brenna Spain reports

Brenna Spain
Brenna Spain
‘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

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
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


Revealed: Britain's contracts with Palantir hit £1bn

Oct 2, 2026

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9 min read

Revealed: Britain's contracts with Palantir hit £1bn

Newly surfaced disclosures reveal the government has spent or agreed to spend at least £992m with Peter Thiel’s controversial AI company – as pressure mounts on Andy Burnham to block them. Max Colbert reports

Max Colbert
Max Colbert
'We’re watching you’: MP Clive Lewis reveals Tom Watson has warned him over criticising Palantir

Sep 29, 2026

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4 min read

'We’re watching you’: MP Clive Lewis reveals Tom Watson has warned him over criticising Palantir

In a letter to his former Labour colleague, the peer, who joined Peter Thiel’s AI company this month, writes: ‘You have made the case against the company more or less continuously’. By Carole Cadwalladr

Carole Cadwalladr
Carole Cadwalladr
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

THE NERVE WEEKEND DISH


Erica Drum’s hearty chickpea and chorizo stew

Oct 30, 2026

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3 min read

Erica Drum’s hearty chickpea and chorizo stew

The Irish chef shares a warm, autumnal dinner (with some super-easy extra toppings) from her debut cookbook

Alissa Timoshkina’s kopytka with mushroom and spinach sauce

Oct 23, 2026

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3 min read

Alissa Timoshkina’s kopytka with mushroom and spinach sauce

The award-winning food writer shares a Polish potato dumpling dish that’s perfect comfort food for autumn

Jane Ferguson
Jane Ferguson
Ali Stoner’s Cullen skink bake

Oct 9, 2026

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3 min read

Ali Stoner’s Cullen skink bake

The home cook and former Masterchef Australia contestant shares a new twist on an old Scottish favourite from her debut recipe book

Tim Anderson’s curry ramen

Oct 2, 2026

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3 min read

Tim Anderson’s curry ramen

The chef, author and Japanese food enthusiast shares a classic comfort food recipe from his new cookbook

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