Her campaign to mobilise poor women to plant 30 million trees has been copied by other countries. … Read the rest
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Inevitably links go out of date.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.
Culture a source of prejudice and ethnocentrism 
Oct 3rd, 2006 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Ayuure Kapini Atafori notes that culture can facilitate or retrogress the process of social change. … Read the rest
Eric Kaufmann Reviews The Ethics of Identity
Oct 3rd, 2006 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Appiah’s book is sensitive to community but reads as a paean to Mill, autonomy and the Enlightenment.… Read the rest
George Packer on International Inaction on Darfur
Oct 3rd, 2006 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
International intervention as a means of stopping mass slaughter has never had many supporters.… Read the rest
Spiegel Interviews Bassam Tibi
Oct 3rd, 2006 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
‘I support reforming Islam and I am not alone in this.’… Read the rest
John Banville Reads Michael Frayn
Oct 3rd, 2006 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
‘He has got hold of a simple fact about the world, which is its indeterminacy.’… Read the rest
Sophie Hannah on Wendy Cope
Oct 3rd, 2006 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
If you can read it without laughing, you need medical attention.… Read the rest
Sen’s Identity and Violence
Oct 2nd, 2006 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
How do some identities become more salient than others? … Read the rest
Journalist Wajeha Al-Huwaider Arrested
Oct 2nd, 2006 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
She was carrying a poster that said ‘Give Women their Rights!’ Religious police called in.… Read the rest
Afghan Girls Risk Their Lives to go to School
Oct 2nd, 2006 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Attackers have hurled grenades into classrooms and threatened to throw acid on girl pupils.… Read the rest
Marek Kohn Reviews The God Delusion
Oct 2nd, 2006 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Dawkins ‘disregards the risk that attacking a people’s religion may amount to an attack on them as a group.’… Read the rest
Martin Amis Says it’s All About Women
Oct 2nd, 2006 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
‘Well, I do have a solution,’ he says. ‘It’s basically consciousness-raising in Islamic women.’… Read the rest
Greens Help to Destroy Planet, Green Says
Oct 2nd, 2006 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
James Martin says opposition to nuclear power by environmentalists is irrational and dangerous.… Read the rest
No Prosecution Over Gay Police Advertisment
Oct 1st, 2006 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Insufficient evidence to bring a case against Gay Police Association under hate crimes legislation.… Read the rest
Turkish Writers Face Prosecution
Oct 1st, 2006 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Pamuk, Shafak, Dink, other Turkish intellectuals push the boundaries of cultural policing.… Read the rest
Eric Rauchway on Michael Bérubé
Oct 1st, 2006 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Chapter on postmodernism discusses in lucid, engaging, careful terms the Lyotard-Habermas debate. … Read the rest
Crispin Tickell on The God Delusion
Oct 1st, 2006 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Demolition of god delusion makes room for real inquiry.… Read the rest
Nick Cohen on Creationism in the UK
Oct 1st, 2006 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Sufferers from the ‘balance’ fallacy don’t get that you can’t have balance between truth and falsehood.… Read the rest
BBC Gives Denmark a Damn Good Scolding
Oct 1st, 2006 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
‘The question everyone is asking is has Denmark learned its lesson?’… Read the rest
Evangelical Seeks Private Prosecution
Oct 1st, 2006 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
George Hargreaves will be seeking a private prosecution of members of the Gay Police Association.… Read the rest
