Fashionable nonsense has been with us since the time that prehistoric man first transcribed Of Grammatology on to the walls of the Lascaux caves. Here we cast an eye back at some historical highlights.


Swimming in Saudi Arabia *

Apr 10th, 2010 | Filed by

Foreign woman demands to use pool in international hotel, succeeds.… Read the rest



Religious police prevented schoolgirls from escaping fire *

Apr 10th, 2010 | Filed by

Saudi Arabia’s religious police stopped schoolgirls from leaving a blazing building because they were not wearing correct Islamic dress; fifteen died.… Read the rest



A Conversation with Akbar Ganji and Martha Nussbaum [audio] *

Apr 10th, 2010 | Filed by

Iran’s most prominent political dissident talks to the philosopher.… Read the rest



Spanish women’s groups sue imam *

Apr 10th, 2010 | Filed by

His book gives advice on wife-beating. Not too hard, not on the tender bits; do it right.… Read the rest



Aids Denialists [pdf] *

Apr 10th, 2010 | Filed by

AIDS denial plays a corrosive role in the health policies of many countries, but nowhere has the damage been as extreme or as enduring as in South Africa.… Read the rest



Syed Soharwardy’s complaint to AHRC *

Apr 10th, 2010 | Filed by

against the publishers of Jewish Free Press and the Western Standards for sighting [sic]hate against Muslims… Read the rest



Hanan Dover notes that homosexuality is haram in Islam. *

Apr 10th, 2010 | Filed by

‘The acceptance of one’s God-given sex is a form of surrender to God or sumission to Allah.’… Read the rest



Saudi Arabia: more female graduates, no more jobs. *

Apr 10th, 2010 | Filed by

Only 16% of Saudi women work, mostly teaching in segregated classrooms.… Read the rest



George Scialabba on Jacoby, Bernstein and Multiculturalism *

Apr 10th, 2010 | Filed by

Books by a superb (albeit incorrigibly centrist) reporter and a radical social critic.… Read the rest



The new Taliban codex *

Apr 10th, 2010 | Filed by

It is forbidden to work as a teacher under the current puppet regime. Teachers must recieve a warning; next time, a beating; next, death.… Read the rest



Young Afghan women turn to suicide *

Apr 10th, 2010 | Filed by

Driven to desperation by forced marriages and abusive husbands, more and more are seeking release through self-immolation.… Read the rest



AIDS Denial is Pseudoscience *

Apr 10th, 2010 | Filed by

The scientific evidence is overwhelming and has been published in peer-reviewed medical journals, the way science is supposed to be done. … Read the rest



A chat with Rome’s Exorcist *

Apr 10th, 2010 | Filed by

‘If the pupils are looking up, the demons in possession are scorpions. If looking down, they are serpents.’… Read the rest



Pragna Patel: Failed by religious law *

Apr 10th, 2010 | Filed by

The sentiments expressed by the archbishop are indicative of those who call themselves “progressive” or “liberal” but who are often the most insidious. … Read the rest



Dick Taverne rebukes Prince Charles *

Apr 10th, 2010 | Filed by

A democratic country cannot tolerate a monarch whose views command notice not because of expertise, but because of his birth.… Read the rest



Chomsky and Foucault *

Apr 10th, 2010 | Filed by

Debate human nature.… Read the rest



Iran’s bloggers in censorship protest *

Apr 10th, 2010 | Filed by

Hundreds of Iranian online journals have been protesting against media censorship by renaming their blogs after pro-reformist newspapers and websites that have been banned or shut down by the authorities.… Read the rest



Afghan women seek death by fire *

Apr 10th, 2010 | Filed by

Delegates from countries like Bangladesh, Iran, India and Sri Lanka – which have similar female suicide rates – discussed the problem at a conference in Afghanistan in November 2006.… Read the rest



April 2002 HRW report on Gujarat riots *

Apr 10th, 2010 | Filed by

We Have No Orders To Save You.… Read the rest



The Power of One: An Interview With Shukria Barakzai *

Apr 10th, 2010 | Filed by

Shukria Barakzai, founder and editor of a newspaper for Afghan women, was named Worldpress.org’s 2004 International Editor of the Year. … Read the rest