Hello all: it’s Jane here introducing our Tuesday newsletter, including an exploration of Reform UK’s relentless crypto-boosting and this week’s culture picks.

“We need to change politics and we need to do it now…” said Andy Burnham in his much-anticipated speech at the People’s History Museum in Manchester yesterday before going on to set out his vision for the country. The UK’s prime minister designate is promising to introduce a more collaborative style of government – problem-solving, not point-scoring – to create a No 10 in the north and to encourage collaboration over conflict. Burnham is set to be our seventh PM in 10 years: can he succeed where others have failed?

Many moons ago, as a young politics student, I recall learning how Britain’s first-past-the-post electoral system actively encourages an adversarial style of debate – the very opposite of consensual government. What would the Nerve’s resident agony aunt, Philippa Perry, advise to get us out of our rut? As she writes in her column today: “Perhaps the question is not what is wrong with this prime minister or that one. The question is, what sort of political system produces this level of instability?”

On the rise of the conflict and anger we are now seeing, she tells me: “We are living in a stewpot of a time where conflict feels more available than it once did, with social media rewarding outrage and certainty more than nuance and curiosity. Hot weather is associated with increases in aggression and violence, and it’s only getting hotter. International tensions are high, and many people feel economically and politically insecure. What makes it harder for sanity to win is that some of the most visible political figures in the world appear to thrive on division and confrontation. Whether politics shapes culture or culture shapes politics, I do not know. My suspicion is that, as in families, influence tends to flow in both directions. 

 “As a psychotherapist I spent my working life watching people disagree – couples, families, colleagues and friends. The issue is rarely the existence of conflict but the process through which it is handled. A relationship, a family, an organisation or a friendship can survive differences of opinion if there is curiosity, respect and a shared wish to understand. It is much harder to survive a process that rewards contempt, humiliation and point-scoring. I worry that if we carry on like this we’re doomed, really doomed, end of empire doomed.”

So there’s a challenge, Andy. 

A quick reminder that we have tickets on sale for our special screening of Shoot the People next Tuesday at 7pm at the Rio Cinema in Dalston, east London. The documentary, about the work of the photographer and activist Misan Harriman, will be followed by a conversation with the Nerve’s Carole Cadwalladr, Misan and the director, Andy Mundy-Castle. Nerve subscribers can get discounted £10 tickets using special code NERVE10. Details here.

And do please consider upgrading to paid membership if you read us for free. Our investigations cost money and we want to do more. We have big ambitions. Link to today’s pieces below…

In May last year, Nigel Farage appeared at the Bitcoin 2025 conference in Las Vegas and told his audience that Reform UK would enact a "crypto revolution" if the party came to power. It would introduce, he said, a crypto assets and digital finance bill to create a Bank of England "bitcoin digital reserve" and a reduction in capital gains tax on crypto from 24% to 10%. The draft bill was subsequently posted on the policy section of Reform's website – until at some point towards the end of last month, after Farage's undisclosed £5m "gift" from donor Christopher Harborne was revealed, it was taken down. Perhaps there's a perfectly innocent explanation – we've asked Reform, twice, but they've not replied – or perhaps the bill is just too nakedly advantageous to one powerful industry. The Nerve’s Ian Tucker asked experts to unpick who would benefit from the bill and how – and to analyse Farage's other recent crypto-boosting moves. Read his report here.

If no other MPs put their names forward, Andy Burnham could become PM as soon as 20 July. He will be the seventh prime minister in a decade. What advice can our resident agony aunt give to reduce conflict in our politics and let governments get on with the job? Read her column here

The sculptor Anish Kapoor has returned to London’s Hayward Gallery, site of his first UK survey almost 30 years ago, to fill it with visceral, gargantuan forms for an ambitious exhibition that’s well worth checking out. But if you’re after something more intimate for your culture fix this week, there’s a gorgeous free exhibition of prints by the likes of Lucian Freud, Frank Auerbach and Dorothea Wight in Liverpool, and the Sundance prize-winning real-life love story Birds of War hits cinemas. There’s also an important reminder that tickets go on sale tomorrow for the hottest ticket of the autumn: the Bayeux Tapestry at the British Museum. All these tips and more in this week’s hotlist.

That’s it. We’ll be back on Friday, and just to say if you enjoy this newsletter do share it with your friends and colleagues.

Jane