Hello everyone, 

It’s Jane here, introducing our weekend edition. We have lots of great reads today, including our columnist Stewart Lee on the Reform candidate in Makerfield; film critic Ellen E Jones marking the centenary of Marilyn Monroe’s birth; a peek into the mind of actor/comedian Ardal O’Hanlon via his cultural recommendations, and more.

But first – and I still cannot quite believe that this happened – our main feature is an interview with Gisèle Pelicot, the French woman who has become a global icon after waiving her right to anonymity in the trial of her husband and the 50 men accused of her sexual assault. Her memoir Hymn to Life, with its message that shame must change sides, has inspired people around the world.

Gisèle came to the UK in February to appear before a sold-out audience at the Royal Festival Hall – where the atmosphere was electric like nothing I had experienced before. She returned last weekend to headline the Hay festival where, on a sunny Saturday in the English countryside, 1,700 people listened spellbound at an event chaired by Dame Helena Kennedy and interspersed with readings by the actor Juliet Stevenson. 

Then on Tuesday, before taking the early evening Eurostar back to Paris, Gisèle sat down to talk to the Nerve’s Lucia Osborne-Crowley. I won’t show all our workings here but I want to give a heartfelt thank you to the Double Down News team for the loan of both a studio and a producer – the unflappable Simòn – without whom everything would not have gone so smoothly. 

I urge you to read the interview, in which Gisèle talks about the responsibilities of the tech companies that have enabled crimes like those committed by her husband to be organised on their platforms. She also speaks about the pope’s first encyclical this week, in which he highlights the role of AI in enabling sexual exploitation. 

We will launch the film of the interview early next week – here’s a little preview below – and will include the link in the newsletter.

Also today, we are publishing in full the leaked letter sent to the BBC signed by 400 female screenwriters objecting to the corporation’s decision to commission a male writer to create a drama about the murder of Sarah Everard. They say: “The announcement of this particular commission brought a great deal of anger to the surface … anger that has been building for some time.”

The links to today’s pieces are below. We’ll be back next week with a new investigation, lawyers permitting! If you read this newsletter for free, please consider upgrading to membership to help fund our legal fees. ;)

The Pope’s encyclical on the dangers of AI to human society was a hot topic for the Nerve team this week (here’s a great little digest of his most pertinent comments) especially as it contrasted so dramatically with the promotional message for AI that was Tony Blair’s essay on Labour. One of Pope Leo’s points was that AI amplifies and facilitates sexual abuse material online – and Lucia Osborne-Crowley discussed his important intervention, and much else, with her hero, Gisèle Pelicot, when they met this week. Read the very moving interview here.

In the wake of the Reform candidate for Makerfield’s vulgar remarks about the broadcaster Carol Vorderman, says Stewart in his weekly column, the rules of public life seem to have changed. He writes: “Barack Obama’s 2012 address at the vigil for the victims of the Sandy Hook massacre, widely regarded as one of the great acts of political oratory, was all very well, but in retrospect it is clear that what it lacks is a secondary endorsement of celebrity arsehole sniffing.” You would think the kind of thing Robert Kenyon said would have ended his run for parliament on the spot, but, as Stewart says, “Reform candidates march ever onward”. Swastika tattoos? Who even notices? Read his brilliant column here.

“I’ve loved Marilyn Monroe for as long as I’ve loved films, which is to say forever,” writes our film critic, Ellen E Jones. “While other girls my age were singing along to the Spice Girls’ Wannabe, I was learning the lyrics to Diamonds Are a Girl’s Best Friend”. On a dream assignment for a new BBC radio series to mark the centenary of Marilyn’s birth, Ellen went to the US to meet her idol’s closest friends and see her old haunts – and, based on what she learned, today she writes about what the media-savvy, ahead-of-her-time Marilyn might have done if only she’d lived. Read Ellen’s piece here

He made his name playing the hapless Father Dougal in Channel 4 comedy series Father Ted and ever since has been a regular on stage, screen and the standup circuit, as well as writing novels – including his latest, a mystery called A Plot to Die For. About to star alongside Stephen Mangan, Sarah Hadland and Janie Dee in a new West End production of Florian Zeller’s comedy The Truth, he took a break from rehearsals to share his latest cultural finds with us, including a must-watch documentary about Iran, a novel that made his heart pound and “one of the great art treasures of Europe” by Marc Chagall, hidden away in Kent. Read Ardal’s culture recommendations here.

Something of a Shakespeare superfan, Kenneth Branagh has worked on 35 productions of the bard’s across his career. Remarkably, however, he’s not performed at the RSC in Stratford-upon-Avon for over three decades and now returns there to take up the role of Prospero in a production of The Tempest directed by Richard Eyre (making his RSC directing debut at the age of 83!). But if you’re expecting a heritage piece, think again, writes Claire Armitstead: this is a production fizzing with invention and relevance. Read Claire’s review here.

The Turkish food writer Özlem Warren has a new book, Istanbul, which unfolds as a love letter in recipes to the ancient city. She says that the food of her country “is not just kebabs and this and that, that you might see in touristy areas. You really need to dig deep.” Here she tells us how to make a traditional börek which should be perfect for summer picnics and lunchboxes. Get the recipe here.

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We will be back on Tuesday. Thanks for reading.

Jane

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