There is a long tradition of historians using knowledge of the past to assess present issues.… 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Inevitably links go out of date.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.
Afghan Women Risk Their Lives for Justice 
May 22nd, 2006 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Winning an election can be a death sentence.… Read the rest
Philosophers in Love and Hate
May 22nd, 2006 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Voltaire loved Emilie du Châtelet, Rousseau hated Hume, Voltaire and Rousseau hated each other.… Read the rest
Michael Dirda on Rebecca Goldstein on Spinoza
May 22nd, 2006 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Betraying Spinoza offers a convenient way to start exploring his thought more fully.… Read the rest
Baggini on The Simpsons as Philosophy
May 21st, 2006 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
To speak truthfully and insightfully today needs a sense of the absurdity of human life and endeavour.… Read the rest
Nick Cohen on the Uses of Truth
May 21st, 2006 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Fighting wishful thinking is like fighting the weather, but should be done anyway.… Read the rest
Ian Buruma on Ayaan Hirsi Ali and Rita Verdonk
May 21st, 2006 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Support Hirsi Ali but spare a thought also for the nameless people sent back to terrible places.… Read the rest
Is Hirsi Ali a Domestic or International Issue?
May 21st, 2006 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
About Dutch neo-cons running out of steam, or a radical liberal being silenced?… Read the rest
New Jesus Soap for BBC1
May 21st, 2006 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Did she really say that to him about us while they were looking for you?… Read the rest
Ben Franklin in Enlightenment London
May 20th, 2006 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
The Royal Society, Club of Honest Whigs, Monday Club, all at the heart of the movement.… Read the rest
How Belief in Alien Abduction Happens
May 20th, 2006 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Believers are not ‘crazy’ but they are fantasy-prone – and unskeptical.… Read the rest
Eric Lott and Richard Hofstadter
May 20th, 2006 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Lott nails right deviationism, Hofstadter shows one can be a skeptical liberal without becoming a conservative.… Read the rest
Happy Birthday John Stuart Mill
May 20th, 2006 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Anthony Skelton blows out the candles.… Read the rest
Mill Wrote at the Peak of Victorian Conformism
May 20th, 2006 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
He was confronted by the dead hand of intellectual homogeny and was appalled by it.… Read the rest
Scruton on Mill
May 20th, 2006 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
‘Harm’ doctrine has subverted laws founded in inherited sense of the sacred and prohibited.… Read the rest
New Statesman Poll of Top Heroes
May 19th, 2006 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Mandela, Tatchell, Sen, Dawkins, Chakrabarti – along with some much odder choices.… Read the rest
John Gray Reviews Martha Nussbaum
May 19th, 2006 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
The giant shadow of Rawls stands in the way.… Read the rest
Kenan Malik on Stefan Collini on Intellectuals
May 19th, 2006 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Collini’s attempts to dismiss the impact of celebrity culture are less than convincing.… Read the rest
Verdonk Agrees to Rethink
May 19th, 2006 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Public and politicians amazed at the speed with which Verdonk revoked Hirsi Ali’s citizenship.… Read the rest
McKellen Teases Da Vinci Codeophobes
May 19th, 2006 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
They should be pleased to find Jesus isn’t a poofter.… Read the rest
