She was arrested “on suspicion of inciting religious hatred.”
Category: Latest News
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Inevitably links go out of date.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.
-
£415 fine for “offensive comments” about Allah
Prosecutor said the comments were bound to cause harassment, alarm or distress because of Leicester’s multicultural society.
-
Hitchens defeats Blair in audience vote
Blair talked the usual wool, Hitchens noted the usual difficulties.
-
PZ on GQ and “Jerry’s Kids”
We get a throw-away gimmick of having smart people stand next to popular entertainers, as if glitz were infectious.
-
Iran is about to execute Shahla Jaahed
Shahla is one of many victims of a misogynist and tyrannical regime.
-
Believers are desperate for atheist approval
They think their religion is a special snowflake.
-
HRW on rights abuse in Western Sahara
Moroccan security forces repeatedly beat and abused people they detained following disturbances on November 8, 2010 in El-Ayoun.
-
Jesus and Mo throw a party
But attendance is sparse.
-
Salman Rushdie in conversation with Maria Tatar
The scholar of folklore talks to “the powerful creator of a new syncretic mythology that offers an alternative to the clash of civilizations.”
-
UK: plan to measure national well-being
Potential indicators include how people view their own health, levels of education, inequalities in income and the environment.
-
Facebook wants to trademark the word “face”
Face! Face face face face face face. Face face face face face. Face. Come and get me.
-
Kasha Jacqueline at Oslo Freedom Forum
“People complained at school that I was not behaving like a proper African woman.”
-
Who will stand up to the superrich?
“How can hedge-fund managers who are pulling down billions sometimes pay a lower tax rate than do their secretaries?”
-
Thor Halvorssen on that UN vote
The resolution voted on in the General Assembly is significant for its clarity of message: “It’s okay to kill the gays.”
-
Nick Cohen on that UN vote
Rival dictatorial ideologies – African Nationalist, Islamist, Communist, crony capitalist – will sink their differences and unite in opposition to liberalism.
-
Theologians puzzle over pope’s meaning
Catholic church opposed contraception because Protestant churches didn’t, and it wanted to be Special.
-
Little girls wearing hijab
Getting a little girl “used to” the hijab effectively obliterates the “free choice” element by the time the girl is old enough to think.
-
Martin Robbins on “rockstars of science”
Oh look, a scientist standing next to a rapper. That will make everyone think science is cool, right?
-
Unmarried women banned from using cell phones
They might use them to arrange “forbidden” marriages for themselves.
-
Panorama part 2
Islamic and Evangelical schools were allowed to opt out of the inspection system.