Hello, Jane here bringing you Tuesday's newsletter, including a piece on last week’s landmark US court rulings finding tech companies liable for knowingly harming young users, journalist Andy Twelves – the first to call out Dr “MattGPT” Goodwin over his new book – reporting on his TV debate with Goodwin in the GB News studios and our weekly cultural hotlist.

One of the highlights of the recent Laugharne festival, which the Nerve media-partnered, was listening to the onstage conversation between Robin Ince and the young journalist and author Lucia Osborne-Crowley, a transcript of which we are publishing today. 

While working as a legal reporter in 2021, Lucia used her holiday allowance to travel to the US and sit in on the trial of Ghislaine Maxwell – often queuing from one in the morning to get a seat and her book about the trial was published in 2023. Before the link to the interview, here’s Lucia to tell you a bit more about her book.

“Two years ago, I published a book called The Lasting Harm: Witnessing the Trial of Ghislaine Maxwell, after many years of investigative reporting into Jeffrey Epstein’s decades-long sex-trafficking operation. When I decided to write this book, back in 2019, I did so because this criminal operation was being reported on in a manner that focused almost exclusively on the intrigue of the high-profile perpetrators at the expense of the harm caused to the victims. So I decided to write a book entirely dedicated to the perspective of the victims – their stories, their lives, in their own voices.

“Now, years after the book hit the shelves, the Epstein story has been shot straight back into the headlines as a result of a heroic effort by victims to campaign for legislation ordering the Department of Justice to release all files related to its various Epstein investigations. The victims successfully convinced members of Congress to introduce the bill, and its passage into law is the reason the world is now glued to the millions of documents known as the ‘Epstein files’.

“And so I find myself in the unexpected situation of having a two-year-old book back in the spotlight. While it of course gives me no pleasure to see the depraved details that have come to light in the files, it does give me a great deal of pleasure to see this new wave of interest in this story. The reason I am pleased to have arrived at this moment is because my book was always about empowering the survivors and asking the world to listen to their stories – and what we’re seeing now is the ultimate testament to the survivors’ courage, tenacity and grit. If it weren’t for them campaigning to pass the Epstein Files Transparency Act, none of this would be happening. Their voices are louder than ever, and I’m immensely glad the world is listening. 

“With the Epstein story back in the news, I’ve received many requests to speak about my book and the fall-out from the files. Today, the Nerve is publishing an extract from one of my favourite conversations I’ve ever had about the book, with Robin Ince at the Laugharne Weekend.”  Read the conversation here.

It’s Jane again! As the coordinator of the Nerve’s busy event calendar, here’s a message for those of you in the Bristol area. We will be bringing our Nerve banners to Bookhaus on Wapping Wharf on 19 May to host an evening with our contributing writer Natasha Walter. She will be discussing her important new book Feminism for a World on Fire, published by Virago. Ticket details here (members will receive an email later in the week with a special discount code).

Finally, a quick ask: if you click the Protonmail ad at the end of this newsletter it will help us raise some extra funding. Thank you for that, and to all our members and subscribers for your support. 

Here are the links to today’s stories: 

Last week, journalist Andy Twelves wrote a piece for the Nerve on accidentally finding himself fact-checker-in-chief for the new self-published polemic by Reform UK’s byelection loser Matt Goodwin. At the end of the piece Andy said he’d be happy to debate Goodwin “on your GB News show or on any broadcaster you like”.  Sure enough, Goodwin agreed to a GB News face-off. Andy tells the story of what happened next...

In the current news cycle, blink and you’d have missed the pair of seismic court rulings in the US last week that found Meta (and, in one, Google) liable for failing to protect young people from social media harms. Meta’s stock fell 8% and Mark Zuckerberg looked unusually glum leaving a meeting with a congressman. Zamaan Qureshi, co-founder and director Design It For Us – a pressure group that has been campaigning for Big Tech accountability to young people – explains how we are at a historic moment, and how juries are stepping in where legislators have failed. Read Zamaan’s hopeful piece here.

At the Laugharne Weekend, Lucia Osborne-Crowley, one of four journalists in the courtroom daily for Ghislaine Maxwell’s trial, talked to Robin Ince about abuse, justice and the ‘rape myths’ that silence survivors. Read the discussion here.

Are you planning to take in some culture over the upcoming long weekend? Our recommendations span The Drama, with Robert Pattinson and Zendaya, described as “modish and archly marketed” by our film critic Ellen E Jones, to Riz Ahmed’s six-part comedy Bait on TV. And if the weather is bad, there’s the new track The Ground Above from Beth Orton and Florence Knapp’s The Names – what sounds like an unmissable and engrossing debut novel out now in paperback. Read the full list here.

Thank you for reading and see you again on Friday.

Jane, co-founder

Stop drowning in spam. Proton Mail keeps your inbox clean, private, and focused—without ads or filters.

Take control of your inbox