Self-appointed rebel heroes like to adorn themselves with flattering titles.… 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Inevitably links go out of date.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.
Knowing our own Minds 
Dec 4th, 2005 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Do we have privileged access but not peculiar, or peculiar but not privileged?… Read the rest
John Gray Calls Himself a Heretic
Dec 4th, 2005 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
‘His fiercest scorn has switched to the disciples of rationalism and of science.’… Read the rest
New Homeopathy ‘Study’ a Tiny Bit Flawed
Dec 3rd, 2005 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
No control group, glaring exclusions and bias, little things like that.… Read the rest
Instead of Celebrating Einstein Year
Dec 3rd, 2005 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Physicists worry about dramatic decline in the number of pupils studying physics at school.… Read the rest
Chet Raymo on Meera Nanda
Dec 3rd, 2005 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
What looks like tolerant ‘permission to be different’ is actually condescension.… Read the rest
Naturalism v Supernaturalism
Dec 3rd, 2005 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Worldview based on empirical inquiry, not faith or authority, is the clear choice against totalitarianism… Read the rest
Tories Pick Posh Leader Thanks to Hugh Grant
Dec 3rd, 2005 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
‘Notting Hill’ made it cool to be posh therefore Eton is okay. Eh?… Read the rest
Nothing Like Squalor to Trigger Nostalgia
Dec 3rd, 2005 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Fleet Street hacks get bad rap; Scoop, Boot, Beast, set tone.… Read the rest
Richard Dawkins on the Illusion of Design
Dec 3rd, 2005 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
The unaided laws of physics could come to mimic deliberate design.… Read the rest
Having a Higher Truth is Different from Lying
Dec 2nd, 2005 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
And bullshitting is not the same as either.… Read the rest
Garton Ash Talks to Hirsi Ali
Dec 2nd, 2005 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Right to free speech is under threat from people whose position is: if you say that, we will kill you. … Read the rest
Ayn Rand’s Version of Utopianism
Dec 2nd, 2005 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
It’s not just capitalism that Rand makes ridiculous by her worship.… Read the rest
Founder of the Ljubljana Lacanians
Dec 2nd, 2005 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Zizek grew up bingeing on philosophy books and Hollywood movies.… Read the rest
Stephen Eric Bronner on the Enlightenment
Dec 2nd, 2005 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Many on the left have come to consider the Enlightenment as imperialist and a form of domination.… Read the rest
Eve Garrard on Gearty on Ignatieff
Dec 2nd, 2005 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
It’s no good saying our rights must never be violated if respecting one right involves infringing another.… Read the rest
Full Text of Lord May’s Speech to Royal Society
Dec 1st, 2005 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Enlightenment science and its consequences; Twilight for the Enlightenment?… Read the rest
How Did Samira Munir Die?
Dec 1st, 2005 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Norwegian defender of women’s rights received death threats. Was this a ‘train accident’?… Read the rest
Chomsky is not Sacred
Dec 1st, 2005 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
The left has a tradition of guruising radical thinkers and cracking whips over its articles of faith.… Read the rest
Webcast to Honor Einstein
Dec 1st, 2005 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
One of many events this year to mark the centenary of Einstein’s theory of relativity. … Read the rest
