A key factor is whether the relevant social norms impose pressure to identify in ethnic terms.… Read the rest
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Inevitably links go out of date.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.
Sam Harris on Ten Myths about Atheism 
Dec 29th, 2006 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
‘Atheists are arrogant.’ Nonsense; we’re far too wonderful to be arrogant.… Read the rest
Academics for Academic Freedom
Dec 28th, 2006 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Ray Tallis, Norman Levitt, A C Grayling among the signers.… Read the rest
Freedom to Express Offensive Views
Dec 28th, 2006 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Statement called a ‘rebellion against the regime of political correctness.’… Read the rest
Eichmann was a Careerist
Dec 28th, 2006 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Careerism may be as lethal as idealism; ordinary vices as lethal as extraordinary ideas.… Read the rest
Fred Halliday: Letter from Jerusalem
Dec 28th, 2006 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
The phrase ‘unfinished business’ is on many lips, but what this involves is less clear. … Read the rest
Laurie Garrett on The Benghazi Six
Dec 28th, 2006 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
‘The nurses were beaten with many-stranded wire, for a long time and painfully,’ Tachev said.… Read the rest
Michel Thieren on Medicine on Death Row
Dec 28th, 2006 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
On 19 December medicine, public health, and humanitarian aid were publicly executed in Libya. … Read the rest
Scholars Demand Right to Offend
Dec 27th, 2006 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
THES says this would ‘offer backing to’ McIntosh. Eh?… Read the rest
P and Not-P, says Queen Beatrix
Dec 27th, 2006 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Free speech important, and no one has the right to insult others.… Read the rest
Books on Science and Religion
Dec 27th, 2006 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Scientists think God’s existence or non-existence is a scientific fact about the universe; theologians don’t.… Read the rest
Japanese and Chinese Historians Meet
Dec 26th, 2006 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Beginning a project to try to resolve arguments over the two countries’ shared past. … Read the rest
P Z Myers on The Courtier’s Reply
Dec 26th, 2006 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Has Dawkins not read On the Luminescence of the Emperor’s Feathered Hat?… Read the rest
H Allen Orr on Three Books on God
Dec 26th, 2006 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Failure of imagination may mean one can’t conceive that one’s imagination is impoverished.… Read the rest
Allen Esterson Replies to Geraldine Hilton
Dec 26th, 2006 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Just repeating the original assertions won’t quite do the trick.… Read the rest
Science a Branch of Entertainment Industry
Dec 26th, 2006 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
The story it tells is more interesting, intricate, and beautiful than anything anyone could make up.… Read the rest
Dawkins on the Only One in Step
Dec 24th, 2006 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Maybe McIntosh is right and the whole fuddy-duddy scientific establishment is wrong.… Read the rest
Freud and Minna Bernays Shacked Up
Dec 24th, 2006 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
At least, a hotel register would seem to indicate as much.… Read the rest
Phillip Blond Talks More Nonsense
Dec 24th, 2006 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Religious fundamentalism is an ersatz copy of liberal humanism. How’s that again?… Read the rest
The Offence of Thought for the Day
Dec 24th, 2006 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Thy rod and Thy staff they comfort me, Yea, even between Tooting Bec and Streatham. … Read the rest
