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Inevitably links go out of date.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

The time to adapt to weather extremes is now.… Read the rest



Nazi Pseudoscience *

Aug 10th, 2003 | Filed by

Aryans in Tibet, Blavatsky’s tapestry of tosh, Himmler and the Venus of Willendorf.… Read the rest



Global Hotting *

Aug 10th, 2003 | Filed by

It’s going to go on this way only worse, experts say, as UK swelters.… Read the rest



The Places Where Science Needs Interpretation *

Aug 9th, 2003 | Filed by

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

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

‘…less a need to communicate than a need to afflict.’… Read the rest



Which Freedom? *

Aug 8th, 2003 | Filed by

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

Why do Lahore kite-flyers add ground glass to the strings?… Read the rest



A Public Relations Ploy? *

Aug 8th, 2003 | Filed by

Can corporate social responsibility be compatible with selling tobacco?… Read the rest



Nuremberg Documents Online *

Aug 8th, 2003 | Filed by

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

‘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

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

Roger Scruton tells some painful truths about the costs of egalitarianism.… Read the rest



Changes to Maths A Levels *

Aug 6th, 2003 | Filed by

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

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

Paul Rubin looks at the Environment of Evolutionary Adaptedness. … Read the rest



Pot Calls Kettle Black *

Aug 4th, 2003 | Filed by

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



Interview with Michael Walzer *

Aug 4th, 2003 | Filed by

On just war, complex equality, universal ideals of justice, and more.… Read the rest



Scholar Demands Special Treatment for Catholicism *

Aug 4th, 2003 | Filed by

Disagreeing with the Catholic church is ‘prejudice’and ‘venom’. Because…?… Read the rest



Just How Hard-wired Is It? *

Aug 4th, 2003 | Filed by

Are male promiscuity and female choosiness cultural or biological? Yes.… Read the rest