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Inevitably links go out of date.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.


Delhi gangrapists yanked the victim’s intestines out *

Dec 21st, 2012 | Filed by

Doctors say only five percent of her intestines had been left inside her when she arrived at the medial facility on Sunday.… Read the rest



Three more anti-polio campaigners shot dead in Pakistan *

Dec 19th, 2012 | Filed by

Women health workers held protests in Karachi and Islamabad. “We go out and risk our lives to save other people’s children from being permanently handicapped, for what?”… Read the rest



Cristina Odone worries about Ireland’s changed abortion law *

Dec 18th, 2012 | Filed by

Because when in doubt, let the woman die.… Read the rest



Ireland to legalize abortion when mother’s life is at risk *

Dec 18th, 2012 | Filed by

Up until now the government has not enacted legislation to give certainty to doctors as to when terminations can be carried out and under what circumstances.… Read the rest



Pakistan: gunmen shoot five anti-polio workers *

Dec 18th, 2012 | Filed by

Four women killed, one man injured for helping the “infidel” campaign against polio. At least 35 children in Pakistan have been infected this year.… Read the rest



Mali: Islamists’ attacks on people grow more brutal *

Dec 17th, 2012 | Filed by

A woman is sentenced to 100 lashes with an electrical cord for giving water to a male visitor.… Read the rest



Delhi: woman gang-raped on private bus *

Dec 17th, 2012 | Filed by

The woman was travelling with a male friend on Sunday night when they were attacked. They were brutally beaten, stripped and thrown out of the vehicle.… Read the rest



The pope has a fancy new hat *

Dec 17th, 2012 | Filed by

It’s got pictures of people on it. Carmen Miranda would be jealous. Oh and btw same sex marriage threat to peace blah.… Read the rest



Kuwait introduces death penalty for ‘cursing God and prophets’ *

Dec 17th, 2012 | Filed by

Kuwaiti MPs approved a death penalty for Muslims who curse God, the Koran, all prophets and Mo’s wives. Non-Muslims get a minimum of 10 years.… Read the rest



A scientific pioneer and a reluctant role model *

Dec 17th, 2012 | Filed by

“I have not set myself up to be a role model for women, but it does seem to be more of an issue than it used to be,” cognitive neuroscientist Dr. Brenda Milner explains.… Read the rest



The Freedom of Thought 2012 report *

Dec 15th, 2012 | Filed by

Waleed Alhusseini spent ten months in a Palestinian jail for having kept an atheist blog.… Read the rest



Debate on Islam and evolution meets opposition *

Dec 15th, 2012 | Filed by

“We eventually had to give up of getting any support from student societies because it was seen as simply too controversial.”… Read the rest



Huckabee explains school shooting *

Dec 14th, 2012 | Filed by

“We ask why there is violence in our schools, but we have systematically removed God from our schools. Should we be so surprised that schools would become a place of carnage?”… Read the rest



Nurse found guilty of manslaughter in circumcision case *

Dec 14th, 2012 | Filed by

Four-week-old Goodluck Caubergs bled to death.… Read the rest



Judge believes female body magically blocks rape *

Dec 14th, 2012 | Filed by

A  judge is being publicly admonished for saying a rape victim “didn’t put up a fight” and that if someone doesn’t want to be raped, the body “will not permit that to happen.”… Read the rest



UK: government will make same-sex marriage illegal in CofE *

Dec 14th, 2012 | Filed by

The Church of England and Church in Wales will be banned in law from offering same-sex marriages, the government has announced.… Read the rest



Nepal: girl, 16, set on fire for refusing marriage demand *

Dec 13th, 2012 | Filed by

Enragd by her rejection of his repeated proposal to elope with him for marriage, Babu Khan, 23, set Shiwa Hasmi on fire while she was asleep in her house. She died.… Read the rest



Grand Rabbi Teitelbaum blames the victim *

Dec 11th, 2012 | Filed by

“A Jewish daughter has descended so low,” he said. “There hasn’t been  such a disgusting saga in (the history of religious) Jewry.”… Read the rest



Silencing women’s rights activists in Turkey *

Dec 10th, 2012 | Filed by

Leading Turkish women’s rights activist and lawyer Canan Arin was unlawfully detained on 23 June 2012 for speaking out against child marriages.… Read the rest



Katha Pollitt on Ross Douthat *

Dec 9th, 2012 | Filed by

According to UNICEF, in France the child poverty rate is 8.8 percent; in Sweden it’s 7.3 percent. In the United States, by contrast, it’s a staggering 23.1 percent.… Read the rest