Simply a theory that suggests there is more than one way of looking at the world. Ah.… 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Inevitably links go out of date.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.
Australian Creationist Begins Tour of Britain
Apr 21st, 2006 | Filed by Ophelia BensonWill give a series of talks over three days at anonymous Lancashire secondary school. … Read the rest
Peter Wilby on ‘Faith’ Schools
Apr 21st, 2006 | Filed by Ophelia BensonParents want them because they have better discipline.… Read the rest
Sean Wilentz on Bush’s Historical Standing
Apr 21st, 2006 | Filed by Ophelia BensonUnswerving adherence to a simplistic ideology that abjures deviation from dogma as heresy.… Read the rest
Geoffrey Wheatcroft: Blair is Worse Than Bush
Apr 21st, 2006 | Filed by Ophelia BensonThe harder Blair’s arguments are looked at, the more curious they seem.… Read the rest
Top Sydney School’s Boring Approach to Shxpr
Apr 21st, 2006 | Filed by Ophelia BensonYou can read Othello in two of three ways: ‘Marxist, feminist, race’. Zzzzz.… Read the rest
A Second-rate Utilitarian but a First-Rate Liberal
Apr 20th, 2006 | Filed by Ophelia BensonMill quoted Bentham’s opinion that pushpin was as good as poetry – as evidence of his short-sightedness. … Read the rest
Torture Doesn’t Work
Apr 20th, 2006 | Filed by Ophelia BensonMilitary common sense has been abandoned in favour of the brutal, politically driven shortcut.… Read the rest
Iran Cracks Down on Women’s Clothing
Apr 20th, 2006 | Filed by Ophelia BensonTaxi drivers will be responsible for passengers dressed ‘inappropriately’.… Read the rest
Muslim Students Complain of Fundamentalism
Apr 20th, 2006 | Filed by Ophelia BensonStudents training to be imams at London college cite doctrines which describe nonMuslims as ‘filth’.… Read the rest
Spiegel Samples Some Friday Prayers
Apr 20th, 2006 | Filed by Ophelia Benson‘If a woman, even a Muslim woman, is naked and you have no way of covering her up, it is legitimate to kill her.’… Read the rest
NUT Rejects Vote Against ‘Faith’ Schools
Apr 19th, 2006 | Filed by Ophelia BensonProposals in government bill could give ‘faith groups’ a much bigger role in running of schools. … Read the rest
We Underestimate Our Bias, Overestimate Theirs
Apr 19th, 2006 | Filed by Ophelia BensonBrain cannot see itself fooling itself, so the only way to avoid bias is to avoid situations that produce it. … Read the rest
Anthony Seldon on Teaching Happiness
Apr 19th, 2006 | Filed by Ophelia BensonDraws on Epicurus, Seneca, Kant, Mill.… Read the rest
Hepatitis B May Play a Role in ‘Missing Women’
Apr 19th, 2006 | Filed by Ophelia BensonVirus could account for 75% of China’s missing women, less than 20% of India’s.… Read the rest
On Some Criticisms of the Euston Manifesto
Apr 19th, 2006 | Filed by Ophelia BensonHa ha, wrong station, hee hee, they met at a pub, nyah nyah, Nick Cohen and Francis Wheen.… Read the rest
Adam Smith Would be New Labour, says Brown
Apr 19th, 2006 | Filed by Ophelia Benson‘The Chancellor has long attempted to claim the giant of the Scottish Enlightenment for Labour.’… Read the rest
Academics on TV
Apr 18th, 2006 | Filed by Ophelia BensonThey risk the Carl Sagan effect, but they can make knowledge more widely available.… Read the rest
Dwight Macdonald
Apr 18th, 2006 | Filed by Ophelia BensonA singular, wised-up, cant-free voice that is pure intelligence at play.… Read the rest
Gordon Wood on Why History Matters
Apr 18th, 2006 | Filed by Ophelia BensonA society whose best students have a thin understanding of its past is a society in trouble.… Read the rest