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Inevitably links go out of date.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.


Why E P Thompson Mattered and Matters *

Feb 18th, 2005 | Filed by

‘Political loyalties and antipathies were always central to his reception.’… Read the rest



The Victorians and Shakespeare *

Feb 18th, 2005 | Filed by

Crucial question: who owned Shakespeare, the elite or the people?… Read the rest



Confronting a Fashionable View of Empire *

Feb 18th, 2005 | Filed by

Now widely asserted that British public culture was deeply ‘imperialized,’ but was it?… Read the rest



Getting to Auschwitz Punctually *

Feb 18th, 2005 | Filed by

Deborah Lipstadt on the surrealism, embarrassment, cold, and memories at the death camp.… Read the rest



James Buchan Reviews Book on Al-Jazeera *

Feb 18th, 2005 | Filed by

If honour trumps liberty and comfort, al-Jazeera may be less a force for democracy than for Arab nationalism.… Read the rest



Deity Makes Hash of 10 Cmndmts, Needs Help *

Feb 17th, 2005 | Filed by

Enjoy life. Don’t steal. Don’t hog the remote. Work out every day.… Read the rest



Fun in Florida *

Feb 17th, 2005 | Filed by

With those zany folks who believe in ‘the Rapture’.… Read the rest



Is Sectarianism a Myth or a Problem? *

Feb 17th, 2005 | Filed by

And do Rangers and Celtics games defuse tensions or stoke them?… Read the rest



Ernst Mayr’s What Makes Biology Unique? *

Feb 16th, 2005 | Filed by

Biology as a scientific discipline, what it means to be a species, more.… Read the rest



Does ‘Spiritual Healing’ Work? *

Feb 16th, 2005 | Filed by

Well, the ‘healing energy’ is elusive, but the placebo effect is solid.… Read the rest



Life Slowly Improving for Women in Afghanistan *

Feb 16th, 2005 | Filed by

Millions of women and girls have returned to work and school since fall of Taliban.… Read the rest



Harry Frankfurt *

Feb 16th, 2005 | Filed by

‘I could never make up my mind what I was interested in, and philosophy enabled you to be interested in anything.’… Read the rest



Intelligence Without Language *

Feb 15th, 2005 | Filed by

New research casts doubt on the claim that intelligence requires language.… Read the rest



Three Powers: Britain, Russia, Madame de Staël *

Feb 15th, 2005 | Filed by

A political and literary intellectual in an age when women weren’t expected to be either.… Read the rest



Scott McLemee on Harry Frankfurt on Bullshit *

Feb 15th, 2005 | Filed by

Indispensable for those at the fragrant crossroads of academe and journalism.… Read the rest



Brenda Maddox on Women and Science *

Feb 14th, 2005 | Filed by

Shock-horror: she doesn’t care whether women go into science or not.… Read the rest



Competing for Title of ‘Most Sensitive’ *

Feb 14th, 2005 | Filed by

Tendency to assume loudest religious groups represent everyone in their communities.… Read the rest



Fatwa on Rushdie Reaffirmed *

Feb 14th, 2005 | Filed by

‘History shows that the Muslims have in no era accepted their sanctities being defiled.’… Read the rest



A Certain Storman ‘Norman’ Geras on Radio *

Feb 13th, 2005 | Filed by

Famous obscure Marxist talks about blogs and Iraq war.… Read the rest



President of NAAS Contradicts Michael Behe *

Feb 13th, 2005 | Filed by

‘Because “intelligent design” theories are based on supernatural explanations, they can have nothing to do with science.’… Read the rest