It’s going to go on this way only worse, experts say, as UK swelters.… 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Inevitably links go out of date.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.
Get Used To It 
Aug 10th, 2003 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
The time to adapt to weather extremes is now.… Read the rest
Nazi Pseudoscience
Aug 10th, 2003 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Aryans in Tibet, Blavatsky’s tapestry of tosh, Himmler and the Venus of Willendorf.… Read the rest
The Places Where Science Needs Interpretation
Aug 9th, 2003 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Philosophers need to know the relevant scientific facts, and scientists need to know the history of philosophy, Simon Blackburn points out.… Read the rest
Bronte-Schlock
Aug 9th, 2003 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
New BBC drama about the Brontes introduces new myths in place of the old.… Read the rest
Poetry for the Hip
Aug 8th, 2003 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
‘…less a need to communicate than a need to afflict.’… Read the rest
Which Freedom?
Aug 8th, 2003 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Anatol Lieven looks at the opacity of a concept many Americans take to be transparent.… Read the rest
Are Kites Dangerous or Un-Islamic?
Aug 8th, 2003 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Why do Lahore kite-flyers add ground glass to the strings?… Read the rest
A Public Relations Ploy?
Aug 8th, 2003 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Can corporate social responsibility be compatible with selling tobacco?… Read the rest
Nuremberg Documents Online
Aug 8th, 2003 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Harvard makes its collection of documents from the Nuremberg trials available.… Read the rest
Is Martin Amis Becoming an Old Bullshitter?
Aug 7th, 2003 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
‘Yellow Dog isn’t bad as in not very good or slightly disappointing. It’s not-knowing-where-to-look bad.’… Read the rest
Hey, Slow Down!
Aug 7th, 2003 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
More research on global warming is needed, say oil executives and their friends.… Read the rest
The Tension Between Egalitarianism and Learning
Aug 6th, 2003 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Roger Scruton tells some painful truths about the costs of egalitarianism.… Read the rest
Changes to Maths A Levels
Aug 6th, 2003 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Fewer options in applied maths, but still not an easy course, chief executive says.… Read the rest
How’s That Again?
Aug 6th, 2003 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
A professor of Moral Theology at Rome’s Pontifical University of the Holy Cross ‘clarifies’ the Vatican’s statement against homosexual unions.… Read the rest
Denis Dutton Reviews Darwinian Politics
Aug 5th, 2003 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Paul Rubin looks at the Environment of Evolutionary Adaptedness. … Read the rest
Scholar Demands Special Treatment for Catholicism
Aug 4th, 2003 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Disagreeing with the Catholic church is ‘prejudice’and ‘venom’. Because…?… Read the rest
Just How Hard-wired Is It?
Aug 4th, 2003 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Are male promiscuity and female choosiness cultural or biological? Yes.… Read the rest
A Skeptical Look at Thomas Kuhn
Aug 4th, 2003 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Eric Raymond sees some paradigm problems.… Read the rest
Pot Calls Kettle Black
Aug 4th, 2003 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Reagan administration wrote off ‘foreign policy neophytes’ in the Labour party, adding that it did not have ‘great foreign policy depth or breadth’. … Read the rest
