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Inevitably links go out of date.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.


Ocean Fish Will be Gone in 50 Years *

Nov 3rd, 2006 | Filed by

Stocks have collapsed in nearly one-third of sea fisheries; the rate of decline is accelerating.… Read the rest



Politicians Support Elkin Deligöz *

Nov 3rd, 2006 | Filed by

Parliamentarian received death threats after urging Muslim women in Germany to take off headscarves.… Read the rest



Scott McLemee on Lawrence Levine *

Nov 2nd, 2006 | Filed by

He looked at the diversity of cultural traditions making up American life. … Read the rest



Man Sentenced to Prison for FGM of Daughter *

Nov 2nd, 2006 | Filed by

Khalid Adem found guilty of aggravated battery and cruelty to children by a Georgia court. … Read the rest



US, Vatican Impede Sexual Health Goals *

Nov 1st, 2006 | Filed by

Religious zealots prefer STDs and unwanted pregnancies to birth control.… Read the rest



Danny Postel and Nader Hashemi on Max Boot *

Nov 1st, 2006 | Filed by

Iranian dissidents want the support of human rights groups, intellectuals, NGOs, not of foreign powers.… Read the rest



Turkish Archaeologist Acquitted *

Nov 1st, 2006 | Filed by

Charges were brought against her by a Turkish lawyer who took offence at her 2005 book.… Read the rest



Michael Collins on Sen’s Identity and Violence *

Nov 1st, 2006 | Filed by

Fluid and evolving nature of identities, and differences within cultural groupings, are obscured. … Read the rest



John Gray on Michael Burleigh on Secularism *

Nov 1st, 2006 | Filed by

Much of the book is a laboured defence of the Vatican against charges of complicity with Nazism.… Read the rest



Nick Cohen Reviews Debating Humanism *

Oct 31st, 2006 | Filed by

The politically literate will notice that this collection of essays comes from the RCP.… Read the rest



Elephant Recognises Herself in Mirror *

Oct 31st, 2006 | Filed by

Showing self-awareness seen before only in humans, great apes and bottlenose dolphins.… Read the rest



Terry Glavin on Salah Uddin Shoaib Choudhury *

Oct 31st, 2006 | Filed by

The phony charges against him were revived by a notorious Islamist judge; his trial is next month.… Read the rest



Atheists’ ‘Nauseous Undertone of Racial Superiority’ *

Oct 31st, 2006 | Filed by

White people are atheists, non-white people are theists, therefore atheists are as bad as Cecil Rhodes.… Read the rest



Faith, Hope, and Selective Schools *

Oct 31st, 2006 | Filed by

Amendment will give greater freedom to discriminate on grounds of religion in hiring staff and teachers.… Read the rest



Christopher Shea on Reading Nafisi at Columbia *

Oct 30th, 2006 | Filed by

Some observers question the intellectual merit of the brand of literary criticism Dabashi practices.… Read the rest



Review of The God Delusion *

Oct 30th, 2006 | Filed by

Perceptive recognition of excess respect for religious beliefs, regardless of content.… Read the rest



Romano on Young-Bruehl on Why Arendt Matters *

Oct 30th, 2006 | Filed by

Hint: ‘the banality of evil’ is not all.… Read the rest



Jihad in 1857 *

Oct 30th, 2006 | Filed by

Educated Delhi Muslims rejected the west and the gentle Sufi traditions of late Mughal emperors.… Read the rest



Garry Wills on Faith-Based Everything *

Oct 30th, 2006 | Filed by

Faith-based war, law enforcement, education, medicine, and science. … Read the rest



Atheists Top Book Charts by Teasing Deity *

Oct 29th, 2006 | Filed by

Publishers eager to replicate success of Russell’s Why I Am Not a Christian.… Read the rest