Damn!
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Inevitably links go out of date.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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Ayaan Hirsi Ali’s Life as an Infidel
‘I’d been a Muslim myself and I’d reacted in the same way when Islam was criticised.’
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Timothy Garton Ash Replies to Pascal Bruckner
‘We also need a large tolerance for cultural diversity.’
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Ian Buruma Replies to Pascal Bruckner
‘Women should be protected from abuse.’ Oh good.
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The Meaning of ‘Groundhog Day’
Is it torture or a path to enlightenment?
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Grayling Reiterates the Challenge
To explain what Christianity, a body of supernatural beliefs, had contributed to science.
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Russell Jacoby on the Seminar That Failed
The humanities are eroding everywhere thanks to: not lefty academics but market forces.
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Andrew Murray Pitches a Fit at Nick Cohen
Chair of Stoppers is very cross indeed.
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Gym Tints Windows at Behest of Synagogue
‘We have a belief in being dressed modestly, and we want our kids to see women dressed modestly.’
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So Tint Your Own Windows
‘The congregation’s rabbi said public nudity is not acceptable to his members, nor to any religious Jew.’
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David Thompson Interviews Windbag
Why does ‘Why Truth Matters’ inspire peevish emails?
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Spotting Abused Children Accused of Possession
Number of cases linked to spirit possession is small compared to total number of cases.
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Steven Pinker on the Mystery of Consciousness
Some of our deepest convictions about what it means to be human have been shaken.
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Critics Ignoring Most of Nick Cohen’s Book
The story of the Stop the War coalition fills just half of one chapter in a 13-chapter book.
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A Poem
The sympathy and support jihadists attract is traceable to failures on which we can act.
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Is Nick Cohen Right About the Left? Critics Reply
‘There is another left,’ Sunder Katwala says.
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The Truth About 9/11 Conspiracy Theories
There’s the ‘official conspiracy theory’ and then there’s the ‘truth movement.’
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Peter Singer Says Activists Have Had an Impact
McDonald’s asked questions, Smithfield slightly improved conditions for its sows.
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A Visit to the Scary People
The scary people are scary.
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Mark Vernon on Christianity and Science
‘Essentially theological ideas’ underpin science, e.g. that the universe is coherent.