These icons of intellectual honesty and individual responsibility lied a lot to the people close to them.… 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Inevitably links go out of date.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.
Self-mockery as Ultimate Form of Seriousness 
Nov 15th, 2005 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Zizek a ‘card-carrying Lacanian’ who speaks more excitedly about politics than Lacan.… Read the rest
Ishtiaq Ahmed: Trust and Solidarity Universal Too
Nov 15th, 2005 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Pose the question in a philosophical way: Are humans united or estranged in their essence?… Read the rest
Just Two Little Words: ‘Natural Explanations’
Nov 15th, 2005 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Only reason to take out ‘natural explanations’ is to open the door to supernatural explanations.… Read the rest
‘Analysis’ on Political Islam
Nov 14th, 2005 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
What about Sudan?… Read the rest
Pope Could Be Even More Reactionary
Nov 14th, 2005 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Lucky us then.… Read the rest
Voltaire’s Enemy was the Infâme
Nov 14th, 2005 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Which was not JC but some of the forces of clerical reaction and feudal injustice.… Read the rest
Gordon Wood Reviews Sean Wilentz
Nov 14th, 2005 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Avoids ‘bargain basement Nietzsche and Foucault’.… Read the rest
Pollitt Reads Dowd, Who Doesn’t Read Pollitt
Nov 14th, 2005 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Dowd’s book is a Feminism Is Dead polemic, put through a Dowdian styleblender.… Read the rest
Dowd Produces the Opposite of Synergy
Nov 14th, 2005 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Wisecracks are reductive and anti-ruminative; they don’t encourage deeper analysis, they stymie it. … Read the rest
Victimising Professor Mubarak Ali
Nov 13th, 2005 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Ishtiaq Ahmed on a distinguished historian of Pakistan faced with absurd accusations.… Read the rest
Warning of Epidemic of School Bullying in UK
Nov 13th, 2005 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
‘Children are being brought up in a society where violence is the norm in many ways.’… Read the rest
Nick Cohen Says Food is a Class Issue
Nov 13th, 2005 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
A healthy eater would brand herself as a toff and be picked on for being ‘too healthy’ and ‘too brainy’.… Read the rest
Epistemology Quiz
Nov 13th, 2005 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Undiscovered ants in the Amazon…… Read the rest
A C Grayling on Libertines and Free Thought
Nov 13th, 2005 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Atheists were libertines, libertines were naughty, because atheists were naughty.… Read the rest
Olivier Roy: Fundamentalists Conspicuously Absent
Nov 13th, 2005 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Contrary to the calls of many liberals, increased emphasis on multiculturalism is not the answer.… Read the rest
French Intellectuals Speak Up at Last
Nov 13th, 2005 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Andre Glucksmann and Bernard-Henri Levy say a few words.… Read the rest
The Badness of Two Books on Prayer
Nov 11th, 2005 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
People who pray the hardest – for martyrdom, purity, the defeat of the infidel – pose the greatest threat.… Read the rest
Footballer Claims Vote Fraud in Liberia
Nov 11th, 2005 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Observers have declared the vote peaceful and transparent.… Read the rest
Debate on ‘Faith’ Schools
Nov 11th, 2005 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
British Humanist Association education officer debates Bishop of Guildford.… Read the rest
