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Inevitably links go out of date.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.


Octuplets Not Really an Occasion for Rejoicing *

Jan 31st, 2009 | Filed by

‘The cost of taking care of multiples is huge. It’s not going to finish when the babies go home.’… Read the rest



Drink Coffee, See Dead People *

Jan 31st, 2009 | Filed by

Ben Goldacre takes a closer look, finds the usual confusions; academics are sadly unblameless.… Read the rest



No Reason to Worry About Thimerosal in Vacs *

Jan 31st, 2009 | Filed by

Researchers find no risk of thimerosal in vaccines causing brain problems.… Read the rest



Octuplets’ Mother Plans Exciting TV Career *

Jan 31st, 2009 | Filed by

Will portray a childcare expert stranded in the wilderness with only a knife and a pacifier.… Read the rest



Anti-Semitism in Venezuela, Egypt and Iran *

Jan 31st, 2009 | Filed by

Nostalgia for Auschwitz and other japes.… Read the rest



Samantha Power to Take Job at NSC *

Jan 31st, 2009 | Filed by

Author of A Problem From Hell to be senior director for multilateral affairs at the NSC.… Read the rest



Michelle Goldberg on Tragic Ted Haggard *

Jan 30th, 2009 | Filed by

By preaching against homosexuality and allying with anti-gay politicians, he caused real damage – and trapped himself.… Read the rest



Women Gather to Cheer Female Submission *

Jan 30th, 2009 | Filed by

Signers affirm that women and men were designed to reflect God in ‘complementary and distinct ways.’… Read the rest



Obama Calls Wall Street Bonuses Shameful *

Jan 30th, 2009 | Filed by

Rewarding themselves for trashing the economy and causing mass impoverishment not okay.… Read the rest



John Patrick Diggins *

Jan 30th, 2009 | Filed by

‘He was the most philosophical-minded of the American historians,’ said the political historian Paul Berman.… Read the rest



Mother of Octuplets Has Six Children Already *

Jan 30th, 2009 | Filed by

So she needed fertility treatments because…… Read the rest



FGM in Denmark *

Jan 30th, 2009 | Filed by

A Danish woman has been convicted of having two of her daughters genitally mutilated.… Read the rest



Forced Marriage in Syria *

Jan 30th, 2009 | Filed by

Muna, 15, dreads being married off to cousin who hits his mother with an iron bar.… Read the rest



Abu Hamza Gets it Wrong Again *

Jan 30th, 2009 | Filed by

If a husband rapes a wife, she might call the cops, or ‘accept it with laughter and embarrassment.’… Read the rest



Obama Wants UN to Put Pressure on Mugabe *

Jan 29th, 2009 | Filed by

He is discussing a US-led diplomatic push to get tough new UN sanctions imposed against the regime.… Read the rest



The Pope and the Irony Meter *

Jan 29th, 2009 | Filed by

Jesus and Mo ponder the Vatican on the arrogance of elected officials.… Read the rest



Christopher Hitchens on Assassins of the Mind *

Jan 29th, 2009 | Filed by

Almost every historic battle for free expression has begun as a struggle over what is and is not ‘blasphemy.’… Read the rest



Eve Garrard in Praise of Again *

Jan 29th, 2009 | Filed by

Novels, poetry, landscapes, music, all repay being revisited again, and again, and again.… Read the rest



HRW on Crisis Without Limits in Zimbabwe *

Jan 29th, 2009 | Filed by

New 33-page report details the government’s responsibility for Zimbabwe’s humanitarian crisis. … Read the rest



Godless Virtue *

Jan 29th, 2009 | Filed by

In secular Denmark and Sweden rates of violent crime are among the lowest on earth.… Read the rest