Opinion

Stewart Lee: Move over, Nigel – it’s time for the Bin Supremacy

A comedy writer with a refuse receptacle on his head may be the only thing that stands between Britain and fascism. He’s just the man for the job

Stewart Lee

Sangita Myska: Burnham’s vow to deport the Rochdale gang leader is a big and difficult promise

The PM-in-waiting has marched on to the far right’s home turf by promising to act against Shabir Ahmed. He must know the task is fraught with obstacles and risk, writes the Nerve’s political columnist

Sangita Myska

Deborah Frances-White: No, Nigel, not all men are misogynist, and not all pubs are either

When the erstwhile MP for Clacton defended a candidate’s crass comments about women, he called them something ‘you’ll hear in every pub in the country’. Our survey of pubs suggest that’s simply not true, writes 'the Guilty Feminist'

Reform UK

We’re being asked to save two buckets of water a day. Meanwhile data centres drink a town’s worth

England is heading for a 5bn-litre daily water shortfall by 2055 – so why is the government fast-tracking one of the most water-hungry industries there is, and letting it keep its consumption private, asks campaigner Adele Walton

Environment

Timothy Snyder: People think evil is purposeful, but Trump proves you can be malign and stupid

The US’s defeat at the hands of Iran – for that is what it was – has achieved absolutely nothing but to revive a brutal regime, writes the historian

Opinion

Sangita Myska: He may be King of the North - but Andy Burnham should still stand in a leadership election

Labour’s coronation is going smoothly – too smoothly. A leadership contest to stress test the next prime minister is necessary for the good of party, and to unite the public behind him, argues the Nerve’s political commentator

Sangita Myska

Sergei Cristo: From interference in Brexit to arson attacks on Starmer – then as now, Russia is playing with us

The names linked to the men jailed for attacks on Keir Starmer’s properties are disturbingly familiar to those of us who warned against Putin’s efforts to disrupt Britain 10 years ago, writes whistleblower Sergei Cristo

Politics

Deborah Frances-White: The far right find any excuse for rioting and racist violence. Imagine if women took vigilante justice on their male abusers

The men who rush on to the streets to persecute immigrants in Belfast and beyond would be horrified by any act of feminist disorder, writes Deborah Frances-White

Deborah Frances-White

Scan your eyeballs, think of the children: how Britain sells surveillance as safety

Keir Starmer's under-16 social media ban can only work if everyone proves who they are. It is the natural conclusion of the Online Safety Act – and of a Brexit that was always about control, says digital rights advocate Heather Burns

Tech

Stewart Lee: Ireland is an island of fable and magic. It’s just a shame about the pogrom

On tour through glorious Irish towns, pubs and clubs, it was almost - but not quite - possible to tune out the race riots being stoked up in the North

Stewart Lee

At last, the fool’s bargain that the media struck with AI may be over

In a thunderous speech last week, the boss of the New York Times sounded a rallying call to news organisations to rise up against the theft of their work by Big Tech – and not before time, writes Branko Brkic

Tech

Natasha Walter: if a far-right government was treating protesters like Labour is, there would be outrage

Activists have been detained for months without trial and declared terrorists. On Friday, four will be sentenced under egregious circumstances. We should be more alarmed that Palestine and climate campaigners are being treated like this in a social democracy, writes the author and columnist

Politics

Sangita Myska: Henry Nowak’s father asked for peace. In response, Nigel Farage produced a conveyor belt of lies

The horror of the teenager’s murder, and the police failings surrounding it, have been shamelessly exploited by the far right’s disinformation machine whose claims, in turn, have been legitimised by the media

Sangita Myska

Stewart Lee: Quick - dangerous ideologies are storming the beaches. Has anyone reserved a sun-lounger?

At a Normandy D-Day commemoration, Pete Hegseth, the American Secretary of War, noted that beaches were stormed in 1944 and are being stormed by ideologies now. The two events share precisely one feature, and that is sand

Stewart Lee

Stewart Lee: Who needs Barack Obama when you can vote for a Reform candidate who dreams of sniffing arseholes?

Revelations that would ruin most politicians seem not to touch Farage and his party. But if a crypto tycoon gives you £5m, maybe different rules apply?

Stewart Lee

Timothy Snyder: We are watching the US attempt a superpower suicide

From the abandonment of its alliances to the dismantling of its education system, Trump’s administration is tearing down the institutions that really made America great, writes the historian

Politics

Sangita Myska: Over 2000 British citizens have served in the IDF during the Gaza war. Our government doesn't want to know

A cross-party open letter demands the UK government upholds its obligations to screen returning dual-nationals for their links to potential war crimes

Sangita Myska

Sangita Myska: Starmer can’t go on – but he can’t leave yet either

The PM’s position is untenable, and his time in office has been a string of unforced errors, but Labour is even more badly served by the current chaotic infighting. The only way forward is an orderly transition to a candidate that both wings of the divided party can respect

Sangita Myska

Richard Dawkins’s chatbot isn’t conscious: it’s just all talk

The acclaimed scientist spent time with Anthropic’s ‘Claudia’ and couldn’t believe she wasn’t sentient. But Dawkins' own work has taught us that complexity can exist without a divine spark, writes neuroscientist Anil Seth

Tech

The Met Gala’s fake feminism worships male wealth. But women can see through it now

Jeff Bezos’s idea of ‘female empowerment’ just divides and weakens us. It’s solidarity that brings strength, writes Natasha Walter.

Natasha Walter

Cory Doctorow: Comrade Trump is the unwitting hero of a green revolution

In the first of a new monthly column for the Nerve, the author and cyber-activist argues that by dumping cheap solar panels on Asia and starting a catastrophic war in the Gulf, the president has started a headlong rush for cleantech that no eco-activism could match

Tech

Nudification, 'synthetic' rape... online violence against female journalists is an escalating crisis

Ahead of World Press Freedom Day on Sunday, the authors of a groundbreaking new study reveal how much abuse women in public life are exposed to in the age of the broligarchs – and the censorship and emotional damage it causes. By Julie Posetti and Kaylee Williams

News

Deborah Frances-White: Women are being sedated, raped, filmed ... we can’t stop it on our own

Despite the Pelicot case, the uncovering of an extensive ‘sleep content’ abuse network has been under reported in the mainstream media. We desperately need influential and decent men to confront those who participate in this vile exploitation

Deborah Frances-White

Sangita Myska: Should Bitcoin investor Nigel Farage be promising to pass laws boosting crypto? Of course not

In the US, Trump is already riding roughshod over glaringly obvious conflicts of interest. We can’t let the same thing happen in Britain

Reform UK

Wael al-Dahdouh: ‘Gaza's journalists are forced to tread on our pain, and go out and report’

Al Jazeera’s Wael al-Dahdouh, who returned to work within days of his family being killed by an Israeli strike, recalls his grief, determination and sense of isolation at covering a war while being personally attacked

News