It was bad.
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Inevitably links go out of date.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.
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Nick Cohen Argues With Todd Gitlin
A left that no longer shows solidarity with the victims of totalitarianism is not a left worth having.
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David Aaronovitch Tracks Down a Statistic
‘The average Brit is caught on security cameras some 300 times a day’ – really? No.
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Ben Goldacre Looks at Pepsi’s Sciencey PR
‘The Pepsi DNA finds its origin in the dynamic of perimeter oscillations.’ Ooooh.
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Blogging the Bible
The Song of Solomon is no allegory. Yee-ha!
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BBC Finds ‘Old Sensitivities’ in Sudan
Joyous smiles of religious fervour – the Mahdi – Gordon – Churchill – Islam – colonialism. See?
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Cultural Events ‘On the Rise’ in Saudi Arabia
Sort of. But only if you start with very low standards.
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Saudi Men Arrested for Seeking Signed Book
The writer is a woman, so accepting a signed book from her is a criminal act.
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Anti-sharia Demo in London
‘Demand one secular law and an end to cultural relativism and racism, and defend universal rights.’
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Vatican Defends Brazilian Archbishop
Cardinal says ‘the twins’ had ‘a right to live.’
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Hitchens on UN Resolution 62/154
The OIC is demanding through the UN that Islam be officially shielded from any criticism of itself.
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Namazie and Ahadi at European Parliament
To discuss the women’s rights situation in Iran, concerns about execution cases and Sharia in Britain.
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Mary Kenny Declares Atheism Immoral
Catholic church in Poland ‘upheld moral values in opposition to the official culture of atheistic materialism.’
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Hindu Fundamentalists Attack Women
Sarah Aboobacker, a Muslim social critic in Mangalore, says all fundamentalists want to control women.
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Dawkins on Purpose
The brain is a complex adaptive system with a purpose that emerges from its developmental history.
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Brazil: Health Minister Rebukes the Church
‘This religion, wrongly saying it is defending a life, puts another life in danger that is as important as any other.’
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Kenyan Human Rights Activist Killed
Oscar Kamau Kingara was known for his criticisms of the Kenyan police, whom he accused of torture and murder.
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Blair Did God a Lot
Blair had a team of ‘faith advisors’ who checked that his politics were in line with his religious beliefs.
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Black Triangle on Meningitis Vaccine Scare
The Independent runs a scaremongering headline on a non-story. Brilliant.
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Barmaid Says She Doesn’t Hate God
Jesus and Mo hate leprechauns though.