Janet Malcolm interviewed on journalists as vampires, psychoanalysis as literary technique, lawsuits and more.… 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Inevitably links go out of date.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.
Discrimination Against Men? 
Mar 14th, 2003 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Women’s colleges are ‘all full of lesbians now,’ is one rumour. ‘And what if they are?’ asks Joan Bakewell.… Read the rest
Competing Goods
Mar 14th, 2003 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Targets or no targets? How does one increase university admissions for excluded groups without discriminating against currently-included groups?… Read the rest
Student Consumers
Mar 14th, 2003 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Spot on. John Sutherland on student evaluations: ‘the one criticism which is never made is: “This professor is just an entertainer”.’… Read the rest
Liberty Letters
Mar 13th, 2003 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
In The Great War we had liberty cabbage, now it’s…Freedom Toast? What planet is this again?… Read the rest
Single-sex Education
Mar 12th, 2003 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
St. Hilda’s college votes not to admit men.… Read the rest
Single-sex Education Good for Women
Mar 12th, 2003 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
‘Women benefit from a single-sex education, whereas men benefit from a mixed one,’ a former student at St. Hilda’s says.… Read the rest
Missionary Formulas
Mar 11th, 2003 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Historian Jackson Lears suggests ‘providence’ might not be all that predictable.… Read the rest
One in Four of Everyone Has Something
Mar 11th, 2003 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
So if one in four has something, and one in four has a different something, and the number of somethings is large and growing…… Read the rest
‘Honour crimes’ and cultural relativism
Mar 10th, 2003 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Is political correctness to blame for a lack of awareness about honour crimes?… Read the rest
More on ‘Honour’ Killing
Mar 10th, 2003 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
An Iranian woman writes for the Institute for the Secularization of Islamic Society on the murder of insubordinate women.… Read the rest
Rorty Reviews Dewey Biography
Mar 10th, 2003 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
More about events of his life than resonance of his ideas, Rorty says.… Read the rest
Bristol University, social class and meritocracy
Mar 9th, 2003 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Can a university have too many well-off students?… Read the rest
Tinpot Trotskyists Running Bristol Admissions?
Mar 9th, 2003 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
The Observer samples press coverage of the row over Bristol’s acceptance of lower marks for students from state schools.… Read the rest
Green Welly Image
Mar 9th, 2003 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
The Independent on Bristol’s admissions policy.… Read the rest
A Doomed Enterprise
Mar 8th, 2003 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
John Haldane restates traditional view that religion is perfection of reason; Edward Skidelsky is not sure it can be done.… Read the rest
Nonsense, Mistakes, Barrel-Scraping Insults
Mar 8th, 2003 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Todd Gitlin demolishes Alston Chase’s anti-intellectual version of what made the Unabomber.… Read the rest
Dialogue
Mar 8th, 2003 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Two historians, one Tory one Labour, discuss Iraq and Tony Blair.… Read the rest
Happiness and Positional Goods
Mar 8th, 2003 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
If inequality makes the rich a little happier and the poor a lot more miserable, what then?… Read the rest
Two Books on Islam Reviewed in Dissent
Mar 7th, 2003 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
One makes lucid distinctions, the other leaves too much out.… Read the rest
