Hi all,

Sarah here. Anyone else out there have an “at bloody last!” moment on Sunday when the clip of Andy Burnham stating that Russia interfered in the Brexit referendum started doing the rounds? Here’s what he actually said (on The Rest is Politics podcast): “I asked the question coming to Downing Street, ‘was there interference in the 2016 referendum from Russia?’ And I’ve had the clear answer that yes, there was.” This is the first time a government minister, let alone a prime minister (of which there have been six since the vote) has acknowledged this.

As I’m sure most of you know, starting in 2019, Carole (Cadwalladr, our Nerve co-founder) was sued by Brexit-backer Arron Banks personally for a line she spoke in a TED talk about his links to the Russia government. (Crucially, she wasn’t sued for reams of reporting on our newspaper, the Observer, on the same subject – it was a deeply cynical case.) I went to every day of the trial in 2022 and I remember often saying to Carole then that time would tell, and that truth always comes out in the end. 

Of course my hallelujah moment was short-lived, as Brexiteers started their age-old attempts to frame anyone who speaks out about Russian political interference as a traitor to those who voted for Brexit, rather than someone identifying a threat to national security which we've failed to acknowledge, much less investigate. And the media got tangled up, as ever, in the same tortured dance. Incredibly, Newsnight invited a former Putin spokesperson on “for balance” (surprise surprise, he denied any meddling). As Carole says in this new video she’s recorded for social media:

“Some of the key revelations around what Russia was trying to do came in 2018 when myself and Peter Jukes, another journalist, broke a series of stories in the Observer [about Banks’s] series of meetings inside the Russian embassy with a Russian businessman who offered him sweetheart [business deals]. BBC News, they just literally didn't pick it up … It's a really kind of a clear illustration of why we are still so vulnerable and still refuse to understand the gravity and importance of what happened.” 

Anyway, please do consider upgrading if you read for free to support our investigations, which have included extensive reporting on the Nathan Gill scandal – just one of the clear examples of the Russian state disrupting European politics.

Below are the links for today’s edition, including Sangita Myska’s take on the Green party’s “Zionism is Racism” vote and our advice columnist, agony aunt Philippa Perry, on how Gen-Zers can navigate the worst job market for young people in living memory.

This month, at the Green party conference, Sangita writes, a vote was passed “so laden with self-indulgence that it’s a miracle it didn’t need a fork-lift truck to table it” – the motion that “Zionism is racism”. Now the right have descended in force on party leader Zack Polanski, fresh from his byelection loss and looking more vulnerable than he ever has. Sangita says: “I’ve yet to see how passing the motion will help end the slaughter of people in Gaza, improve Palestinians’ living conditions, or stop their land being stolen and their children murdered”. What the episode has been, however, is the kind of “pointless ideological purity test” that only undermines the possibility of electoral success. Read her column here.

The Nerve’s agony aunt is hearing from worried parents of young people who are watching their children struggle in the current dismal employment market. They certainly need support, but she advises against “rescuing” them by taking over: “Rescue can feel like love to the rescuer, but the message received may be ‘you cannot manage this, so I had better manage it for you’.” Also, Gen Z may come by their opportunities in unusual ways. “Their careers will probably start in a way we don't recognise,” Philippa writes. “It may look like three days in a cafe, two freelance clients and a project on YouTube.” The message is: don’t panic. Read her advice here.

“Forget Celebrity Traitors, this is a King Lear for our times,” writes the Nerve’s Susan Ferguson about Manchester Royal Exchange’s powerful new production starring local lad and former Shameless star David Threlfall in the lead role. Aside from the utterly unmissable Traitors series Susan’s alluded to, this week the Nerve team can also recommend Naza, a chilling new documentary about the mass killing of civilians in Gaza, the Avalanches’ new album, and plenty of other TV, art, theatre and film. (Oh and in case you missed it, here’s Nerve art critic Ben Luke’s top five shows to see during Frieze month in London.) Read this week’s hotlist here.

We’ll be back on Friday with details of how to buy our new zine. Until then, keep on shouting at the screen!

Sarah