Welcome to our archive of news stories relevant to the project of fighting fashionable nonsense. The stories are drawn from the electronic pages of the world’s media. On this page, you’ll find links to those stories that have been featured on Butterflies and Wheels during the current year. At the bottom of the page, you’ll find links to separate archives of stories from previous years.

We’re always pleased to hear about news stories that you think should be featured on Butterflies and Wheels. Just send an email here, if you want to point one out to us.

A note about links

Inevitably links go out of date. We suggest, therefore, that you make hard-copies of the stories that particularly interest you.


Whooping cough epidemic and anti-vaxers *

Aug 15th, 2010 | Filed by

At three schools in California, 80% of parents have signed a “personal belief exemption” to keep their children from being vaccinated.… Read the rest



Nick Cohen notes: David Cameron is not middle class *

Aug 15th, 2010 | Filed by

For a half a century, the British elite has pretended that it does not exist.… Read the rest



Hitchens is still doing words *

Aug 15th, 2010 | Filed by

Talking, writing and perpetuating the belief he has upheld throughout his life: in “free inquiry, open-mindedness and the pursuit of ideas for their own sake.”… Read the rest



Hauser inquiry: privacy v reliable evidence *

Aug 14th, 2010 | Filed by

Harvard is keeping its findings secret, which leaves other researchers unsure which of Hauser’s experiments can be relied on.… Read the rest



Russell Blackford on “let’s hate the new atheists” *

Aug 14th, 2010 | Filed by

There’s obviously a market for such pieces as long as they attack an easily-demonised group such as outspoken atheists.… Read the rest



Another “let’s hate new atheists” rant *

Aug 14th, 2010 | Filed by

They think they’re nonconformists but ha. They mock believers and love Satan. They are smug, shallow and arrogant.… Read the rest



Malaysia: two found guilty in church arson attack *

Aug 13th, 2010 | Filed by

The attack on a church in KL was the first of a series following the ridiculous upset over who gets to say “Allah.”… Read the rest



Let’s not mistake oppression for fashion choices *

Aug 13th, 2010 | Filed by
Every school day in Malaysia, little Muslim girls stand around at recess. They don’t skip or run much. They can’t. They’re hobbled.… Read the rest


Investigation found misconduct in Hauser’s lab *

Aug 13th, 2010 | Filed by

The findings have resulted in the retraction of a study on whether monkeys learn rules, published in 2002 in the journal Cognition.Read the rest



Questions about Marc Hauser’s research *

Aug 13th, 2010 | Filed by

Two scientific journals acknowledge problems in Hauser’s articles brought to light by an internal Harvard inquiry.… Read the rest



Exaggerate much? *

Aug 13th, 2010 | Filed by

Toby Young says no prominent Western feminist has spoken out about Ashtiani, then cites Jane Fonda.… Read the rest



Iran to world: Stoning? What stoning? *

Aug 12th, 2010 | Filed by

We never, and so do you.… Read the rest



Ashtiani “confessed” on Iranian state tv *

Aug 12th, 2010 | Filed by

Sure she did.… Read the rest



Hitchens on the dispute over the “Ground Zero mosque” *

Aug 12th, 2010 | Filed by

The way to respond to such overtures is by critical scrutiny and engagement, not cheap appeals to parochialism, victimology, and unreason.… Read the rest



Hitchens talks to Jeffrey Goldberg *

Aug 11th, 2010 | Filed by

Hitch may not be certain about god, but he is certain that the pope knows no more about it than he does.… Read the rest



CBC radio’s Promised Land presented by Natasha Fatah *

Aug 11th, 2010 | Filed by

Brilliant programmes based around a simple idea: “an escape that starts anywhere in the world but always ends in Canada.”… Read the rest



Hitchens and the epistemology of religious truth *

Aug 11th, 2010 | Filed by

Are humans at their best when they are healthy and free or when they are suffering and captive?… Read the rest



Dispute between Polonsky, Service, Figes and Palmer settled *

Aug 11th, 2010 | Filed by

It is inappropriate that a lecturer teaching about the lies in public life in Stalin’s USSR should himself be so menacing and dishonest.… Read the rest



A philosophical primate reads Simon Critchley *

Aug 10th, 2010 | Filed by

Academic theologians like Critchley seem willfully blind to the pernicious real-world consequences of faith beliefs.… Read the rest



Concerns about “honor” killing *

Aug 10th, 2010 | Filed by

“The Foreign Office said it distinguished between forced and arranged marriages.” Often a distinction without a difference.… Read the rest