Race is a fiction, therefore everyone must learn to be completely obsessed by it. Eh?… 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Inevitably links go out of date.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.
Say Anything and Say It Murkily 
Jun 20th, 2003 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
A mash note to Alan Sokal in the Guardian.… Read the rest
A Recipe not a Blueprint
Jun 20th, 2003 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Matt Ridley on the way genes and experience interact.… Read the rest
Bristol Reaffirms Admissions Policy
Jun 19th, 2003 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Bristol University will continue to consider backgrounds as well as academic records.… Read the rest
Who Took What When?
Jun 19th, 2003 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
The reporter who investigated what happened at the Baghdad Museum says the waters are still being muddied.… Read the rest
A Debate on ‘Diversity’ in the Arts
Jun 19th, 2003 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Whether the arts should be judged on aesthetic grounds, or on ethnic representation.… Read the rest
How We Do Love Female Victims
Jun 18th, 2003 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Virginia Woolf told jokes, including obscene ones, Doris Lessing points out.… Read the rest
Virginia Woolf Being Unpleasant
Jun 18th, 2003 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Woolf’s early notebook reveals – surprise! – she had her flaws.… Read the rest
Atwood on Orwell
Jun 18th, 2003 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
How quickly rebels can move to the other side.… Read the rest
A Psychologist’s Choice
Jun 18th, 2003 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Authoritarian cults that demand sensitivity or else, or hard-headed researchers who ask questions.… Read the rest
Not New but Timely
Jun 17th, 2003 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
An interview with Bernard Williams in the Guardian last November.… Read the rest
A Rich and Moving Elegy
Jun 17th, 2003 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Richard Wollheim on Bernard Williams in The Independent.… Read the rest
Grayling on Williams
Jun 16th, 2003 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
A.C. Grayling on Bernard Williams in The Financial Times.… Read the rest
Daniel Dennett Interview
Jun 15th, 2003 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
The spectre of creeping exculpation, the discomfort of discontinuity, and more.… Read the rest
Who Would Mate With Rational Economic Man?
Jun 15th, 2003 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Is Feminist Economics less silly than it sounds?… Read the rest
Williams in The Times
Jun 15th, 2003 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Another good obituary essay on Williams’ work and why it mattered.… Read the rest
Bernard Williams
Jun 14th, 2003 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
‘He deconstructed as Derrida would do if he were cleverer and more pledged to truth,’ says the Guardian.… Read the rest
What the Koran Really Says
Jun 13th, 2003 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Ibn Warraq calls for critical thought and a sceptical attitude in reading the Koran.… Read the rest
Williams in The Telegraph
Jun 13th, 2003 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
‘He wanted a moral philosophy that was accountable not only to psychology but also to other branches of human enquiry, especially history.’… Read the rest
Nonsense, Not True, Made Up, Bollocks
Jun 12th, 2003 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
David Aaronovitch on the looting of Iraq’s antiquities and how it was reported.… Read the rest
