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Inevitably links go out of date.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.


Brendan O’Neill sneers at “the new atheists” *

Apr 5th, 2012 | Filed by

Wow, that dude is so contrarian!… Read the rest



Obama hosts “Easter prayer breakfast” *

Apr 5th, 2012 | Filed by

So tough shit, people who think the state should stay out of religion.… Read the rest



Surprise! MB candidate says sharia is the main goal *

Apr 4th, 2012 | Filed by

Oh, gee, didn’t they say they were going to be “moderate” or something?… Read the rest



Pakistan will punish parents who don’t vax children for polio *

Apr 4th, 2012 | Filed by

The country is one of three – along with Afghanistan and Nigeria – that have failed to eradicate the virus.… Read the rest



John Forrester reviews The Freud Files *

Apr 3rd, 2012 | Filed by

“Is it convincing to claim that, shorn of the myth, the poverty or the plain ordinariness of psychoanalysis will be plain for all to see?”… Read the rest



Simon Blackburn on dignity: its history and meaning *

Apr 3rd, 2012 | Filed by

We all have a special dignity because we are all, alike, children of God and equal in His eyes. This is a divinely ordained, supernaturally guaranteed L’Oréal advertisement.… Read the rest



L’Express: “The psychoanalysts fight back” *

Apr 3rd, 2012 | Filed by

“We will resist, by continuing to strongly defend our beliefs. French psychiatry, which is admired throughout the world, must not be swept aside using evaluation criteria as the means.”… Read the rest



Why are the French still blaming mothers for autism? *

Apr 3rd, 2012 | Filed by

A controversial new film by French documentary filmmaker Sophie Robert reminds the world that in France these discredited and dangerous ideas still hold considerable sway.… Read the rest



India: historian denied visa renewal *

Apr 2nd, 2012 | Filed by

Peter Heehs is a scholar of Sri Aurobindo, but some devotees consider his book “blasphemous” and sued to get his visa canceled.… Read the rest



In France autism is treated with psychoanalysis *

Apr 2nd, 2012 | Filed by

“In France it is the psychiatrists – heavily influenced by Freudian psychoanalysis – who remain in charge. And they have shut themselves off from all the changes in our knowledge of autism.”… Read the rest



Hire a bully to end bullying *

Apr 2nd, 2012 | Filed by

He calls himself The Scary Guy, and his price tag can run as much as $6,500 a day.… Read the rest



India: parents ditch their newborn daughter *

Apr 2nd, 2012 | Filed by

The couple refused to accept the girl after accidentally being given the boy, who belongs to another couple, the hospital says.… Read the rest



Activists persecuted for promoting women’s rights *

Apr 2nd, 2012 | Filed by

Many British Asian women report hate mail and death threats for dealing with issues such as forced marriage and honour-based violence.… Read the rest



Priest accidentally shows naughty slides at primary school *

Apr 2nd, 2012 | Filed by

He projected the images onto a screen during a meeting for parents preparing for First Holy Communion. They were naughty pics of [gasp] men.… Read the rest



Girl, boy killed in Afghan acid attack ‘over friendship’ *

Apr 1st, 2012 | Filed by

No one has claimed the bodies, which are still in Ghazni hospital, police said.… Read the rest



Andrew Copson on getting the bishops out *

Apr 1st, 2012 | Filed by

The arguments for keeping them in are all terrible.… Read the rest



Anti-abortion campaigners target women at Brighton clinic *

Apr 1st, 2012 | Filed by

Virtually every woman, including staff, is accosted by opinionated protesters as she walks through the gates of the clinic.… Read the rest



Eric MacDonald on the heathen’s manifesto *

Apr 1st, 2012 | Filed by

Baggini never really identifies any of these supposedly rude, self-centred, self-praising atheists, nor does he provide an example of the kind of thing that he seems to object to so much.… Read the rest



US military hosts concert for atheist soldiers *

Apr 1st, 2012 | Filed by

“I’ve been an atheist pretty much my whole life, and where I was growing up in Texas, I didn’t know another atheist,” said Pfc. Lance Reed.… Read the rest



Maryam Namazie’s talk at QED *

Apr 1st, 2012 | Filed by

Secularism is not an enemy of the religious; this is the propaganda of the religion industry which some secularists have bought into. Secularism is an enemy of religion in power.… Read the rest