Not sure exactly what these two approaches to Palantir reporting today by the new Observer - under Tortoise media - & the Nerve, set up by five former Obs journalists (me included) tells us, but I feel like it’s definitely… something… 😂 Oh and also Obs launched v nice-looking new mag. 👏 that team

Bruce Springsteen is making me a fan... Opening his concert in Los Angeles yesterday, worth the wait to see the transition to the opening song 90 seconds in. ✌️❤️🇺🇸 #Resist

Tens of thousands chant “Russians, go home!” at tonight’s anti-Orbán concert in Budapest’s Heroes’ Square ahead of Sunday’s Hungarian election.

This week’s Nerve hotlist. Some gems here Always 100% tested. Think of us as Which? mag for arts and culcha

Lots of sensible recommendations in this IMO. But many of them not new - so it is to see if the government will actually enact these, especially the parts which Rycroft suggests should be carried out through the Representation of the People Bill.

The story of 'woke' FOr years. mainstream conservatives and even centrists rounded on progressive culture as though it were a threat to society. Now they see where the real threat lay Writer and critic @dorianlynskey.bsky.social examines the meaning of one of the defining terms of our age.

Really sad to read this. Love and solidarity to all my former colleagues and anyone affected on the og Tortoise team 🙏

NEW "I wouldn't trust the Americans one inch not to escalate" In an exclusive interview with the Nerve, former senior Nato commander and Iraq veteran General Sir Richard Shirreff gives his in-depth analysis on Trump's "war of choice and hubris" in the Middle East. 1/9🧵

While this Labour government has had plenty of disappointing moments, this really is huge. Campaigners and experts have always told me this is the quickest and most effective way to immediately reduce child poverty. It took too long to get here but this is big.

Extraordinary development in this cynical case against local journalism outlet @londonermag.bsky.social The claimant didn’t turn up and sent a crap sick note. Total waste of public resources and court time and has cost the publisher £20k already

Americans are dying so that Kushner can make money

Some community therapy from the Nerve (From our peerless cultural advice columnist Philippa Perry ❤️)

F*cking hell www.motherjones.com/politics/202...

Oh yes and there was this

Caerphilly by-election, Oct 2025. Reform lost to the local, highly motivated and caring candidate Gorton and Denton, Feb 2026. Lost to the local, highly motivated and caring candidate So clearly the smart move is to carry on stoking division… 🤔

Just can’t believe that wanting to financially punish women who miscarry didn’t swing the vote for him. Stupid woke voters.

Some cracking reads in the Nerve this weekend, including this interview with Ash Sarkar in which she has some fascinating things to say about the state of politics - and why you should very much avoid going down the K-hole, kids (🧵)

🚨Our BBC is under attack 🚨 I just signed this - the BBC is not perfect but it must be protected. Just looking at those who most want it to fail tells us all we need to know about how important it is to our democracy… Please add your name 🙏 38d.gs/cicq

Stoked that Lyse is the Nerve’s Recommender this week ❤️💪

Melania so elegantly dispatched by @xanbrooks.bsky.social 👏👏👏 www.theguardian.com/film/2026/ja...

This is the language of ICE right here in the UK

I wrote this song on Saturday, recorded it yesterday and released it to you today in response to the state terror being visited on the city of Minneapolis. It’s dedicated to the people of Minneapolis, our innocent immigrant neighbors and in memory of Alex Pretti and Renee Good. Stay free

Well this seems to have hit home… Worth taking a moment to appreciate human graphic design. Contracts data is boring. The names of government agencies are grey. IT language is dull. Convert it all into a single visual hit? BOOM! Thank you to Lynsey Irvine, the Nerve’s genius creative director. 🙏⚡️

Matt Goodwin of course has a long-standing and deeply emotional connection to Manchester

Prepare for a return to 19th-century Russia levels of absurdism in our culture… Clip from the brilliant @statuscoupnews.bsky.social on the ground in Minneapolis Follow them!

Beautiful statement by Renee Good’s widow. Also that target vs raised ratio is v moving. We have to remember that most people, like Good, are good. www.gofundme.com/f/support-fo...

hugely infectious giggle at the end of this reel….💥

SAVE ROWAN’S FINSBURY PARK (iykyk) An old development proposal is back for 190 homes, possibly a tower at the site … locals can contribute their thoughts by Dec 19 (link in next post). Also there is a petition: you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/sa...

Why artists are essential

This is the most alarming story I’ve read today. Giving up the fight before it’s started

Quite a week last week…. 😅Thanks for all the great feedback 🙏

The digital version of our Nathan Gill timeline is now online ⬇️⏳ www.thenerve.news/p/nathan-gil...

Review of the week: Wet Leg live @royalalberthall.bsky.social ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ They may have started off as self-deprecating jokers, but this pulsating live show is final proof that the Isle of Wight rockers are now something much bigger, writes @katehutchinson.bsky.social www.thenerve.news/p/wet-leg-to...

45% of British voters are strongly opposed to Reform, and 33% favourable to Reform. 71% of 2025 Labour voters are strongly opposed to Reform. And immigration has fallen 50% in a year. What possible reason is there for this mess?

Traitors on the inside, Trump on the outside ... who’d want to run the BBC now? Actually, I would This week’s column by Stewart Lee www.thenerve.news/p/stewart-le...

The Obs has done lovely job collecting tributes to Rachel Cooke - her character jumps off the page. & an edit of some of her best writing including her famous recipe for parmesan biscuits. How nice if people would make these at Xmas and remember her with pleasure. The perfect Rachel tribute! links ⬇️

Wonderful tribute by @timadamswrites.bsky.social Rachel was always a wonderful colleague and over the past 14 months, during we experienced a horrendous period at the Guardian together, she became a cherished friend…. /cont. 🧵 observer.co.uk/news/nationa...

Weirdly relaxing reel…

‘have to say, I'm worried about your country. I've really developed a relationship with it, and it's so worrying to see the support for someone with absolutely no qualifications, like Farage, when he's absolutely, completely, utterly useless.’ Danish actor and 💯 dude Claes Bang talks to the Nerve…

Great piece for the Nerve on the BBC sabotage (and the dire failure of the institution to stand up for itself). Also - acc to Guardian - the production co that made the Trump Panorama, is working on a film about Nigel Farage. So I guess that’s canned now? 🤷‍♀️ www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

I mean, what kind of legal action would this be exactly? Defamation? I would truly love to see it. 'They made it look like I instigated a coup during my very well recorded coup attempt.'

Almost most worrying is that if this recent @prospectmagazine.co.uk podcast is anything to do back, culture secretary Lisa Nandy doesn’t understand broadcasting impartiality rules either www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/podcasts/med...

Elon Musk’s AI service Grok is so drunkenly, transparently biased that it would be funny – if it weren’t a mortal threat to democracy This week’s column by Stewart Lee www.thenerve.news/p/stewart-le...

Sometimes our culture recommenders are so passionate its impossible to resist. Subscribed and ordered! 📚🛒 🙏 thanks to the wonderful (and genius composer) @nicomuhly.bsky.social for a great list (link below)

Big news for arts education. After 16 month review, government has pledged to reverse the secondary status that - partly due to EBacc - arts subjects have come to occupy in the national curriculum (in England), V helpful thread from @campaignforthearts.org below

“quite laid back, not too faffy or complicated” she says. This is my kind of recipe….

The prince, the paedophile and the walk in the park: why did Andrew meet Epstein that day in New York? The former prince has one big question to answer, writes @johnsweeneyroar.bsky.social www.thenerve.news/p/windsor-pr...

must-read analysis of how Musk's twitter is drenching new users with right-wing propaganda news.sky.com/story/the-x-...

Such a bloody pity he can never run for prez