Books by a superb (albeit incorrigibly centrist) reporter and a radical social critic.… Read the rest
Fashionable nonsense has been with us since the time that prehistoric man first transcribed Of Grammatology on to the walls of the Lascaux caves. Here we cast an eye back at some historical highlights.
The new Taliban codex
Apr 10th, 2010 | Filed by Ophelia BensonIt is forbidden to work as a teacher under the current puppet regime. Teachers must recieve a warning; next time, a beating; next, death.… Read the rest
Young Afghan women turn to suicide
Apr 10th, 2010 | Filed by Ophelia BensonDriven to desperation by forced marriages and abusive husbands, more and more are seeking release through self-immolation.… Read the rest
AIDS Denial is Pseudoscience
Apr 10th, 2010 | Filed by Ophelia BensonThe scientific evidence is overwhelming and has been published in peer-reviewed medical journals, the way science is supposed to be done. … Read the rest
A chat with Rome’s Exorcist
Apr 10th, 2010 | Filed by Ophelia Benson‘If the pupils are looking up, the demons in possession are scorpions. If looking down, they are serpents.’… Read the rest
Pragna Patel: Failed by religious law
Apr 10th, 2010 | Filed by Ophelia BensonThe sentiments expressed by the archbishop are indicative of those who call themselves “progressive” or “liberal” but who are often the most insidious. … Read the rest
Dick Taverne rebukes Prince Charles
Apr 10th, 2010 | Filed by Ophelia BensonA democratic country cannot tolerate a monarch whose views command notice not because of expertise, but because of his birth.… Read the rest
Iran’s bloggers in censorship protest
Apr 10th, 2010 | Filed by Ophelia BensonHundreds of Iranian online journals have been protesting against media censorship by renaming their blogs after pro-reformist newspapers and websites that have been banned or shut down by the authorities.… Read the rest
Afghan women seek death by fire
Apr 10th, 2010 | Filed by Ophelia BensonDelegates from countries like Bangladesh, Iran, India and Sri Lanka – which have similar female suicide rates – discussed the problem at a conference in Afghanistan in November 2006.… Read the rest
April 2002 HRW report on Gujarat riots
Apr 10th, 2010 | Filed by Ophelia BensonWe Have No Orders To Save You.… Read the rest
The Power of One: An Interview With Shukria Barakzai
Apr 10th, 2010 | Filed by Ophelia BensonShukria Barakzai, founder and editor of a newspaper for Afghan women, was named Worldpress.org’s 2004 International Editor of the Year. … Read the rest
Pope Says No to Gender-neutral God
Apr 10th, 2010 | Filed by Ophelia BensonAnyone baptised using terms such as “Creator”, “Redeemer” and “Sanctifier” would have to be re-baptised using the traditional ceremony.… Read the rest
Katha Pollitt on Palin the Affirmative Action Babe
Apr 10th, 2010 | Filed by Ophelia BensonThere’s the fun of watching conservative pundits scramble to deny the obvious.… Read the rest
John Stachel on recurrent hostility to Einstein
Apr 10th, 2010 | Filed by Ophelia BensonRelativity has been attacked in the name of US pragmatism, German idealism, English Hegelianism, French Bergsonianism (by fellow Jew Henri Bergson!), Soviet “diamat” (dialectical materialism) and Nazi “Deutsche Physik”… Read the rest
Cambridge Mosque press release [on mosque site]
Apr 10th, 2010 | Filed by Ophelia BensonCites sorrow and anger, demands apology for insult to honour of prophet. … Read the rest
Postmodernism and Fabrication of History
Apr 10th, 2010 | Filed by Ophelia Benson‘Historians are always making up figures,’ said Lyndall Ryan. Oh really?… Read the rest
Michelle Goldberg on the Dover trial
Apr 10th, 2010 | Filed by Ophelia BensonEmboldened by their growing political power, religious conservatives are once again storming the barricades of science education. … Read the rest
Women constantly under threat in Afghanistan
Apr 10th, 2010 | Filed by Ophelia BensonThe state cannot protect women and ensure that they can go about their work safely. … Read the rest
Little help available for minors fleeing FLDS
Apr 10th, 2010 | Filed by Ophelia BensonService providers cannot help them because they’re minors and runaways. … Read the rest