Athens is more ‘Eastern’ than European, for a start.… 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Inevitably links go out of date.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.
March for Inoffensive Free Expression 
Mar 25th, 2006 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
No Motoons please. Okay but what’s the march for then?… Read the rest
Susan Haack: ‘Pragmatism Old and New’ [pdf]
Mar 25th, 2006 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Contemporary Pragmatism, Volume 1, Number 1.… Read the rest
Jacoby on Tenured Vacuity and Mock Radicalism
Mar 25th, 2006 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
A fiery radical marches – but only only from the podium to the speaker’s table.… Read the rest
Bullywatch
Mar 24th, 2006 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
The Guardian urges mayor to ‘learn that sometimes the best thing he could do is shut up.’… Read the rest
Amnesty International on Abdul Rahman
Mar 24th, 2006 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Freedom of religion and belief entails the right to replace current belief with another or adopt atheist views.… Read the rest
Motoon Imam Threatens to Blow Up a Guy
Mar 24th, 2006 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
TV crew secretly filmed Akkari threatening to have founder of Democratic Muslims bombed.… Read the rest
This Thing About Meddling in Domestic Affairs
Mar 24th, 2006 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
When it’s cartoons, meddling is virtuous; when it’s execution for conversion, meddling is naughty.… Read the rest
Geoffrey Wheatcroft on Peerages for Sale
Mar 24th, 2006 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Whither purer than pure?… Read the rest
Lecturer Suspended for IQ Claims
Mar 24th, 2006 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Claims about average intelligence among groups.… Read the rest
Atheists Most Distrusted Minority in US
Mar 23rd, 2006 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
No kidding.… Read the rest
The Selfish Gene Event
Mar 23rd, 2006 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Dennett, Ridley, McEwan, Krebs, Dawkins speak.… Read the rest
Blow Up Those Guilty Women
Mar 23rd, 2006 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
‘The biggest nightclub in central London, no one can put their hands up and say they are innocent – those slags dancing around.’… Read the rest
On Wieseltier on Dennett’s Breaking the Spell
Mar 23rd, 2006 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
‘The first question…about Wieseltier’s review is why he was asked to submit it in the first place.’… Read the rest
Kenan Malik on ‘Too Much Respect’
Mar 23rd, 2006 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
‘There is no reason to treat Muslims—or, indeed, any religious believers—as special cases.’… Read the rest
Ignatieff on Torture
Mar 23rd, 2006 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Problems begin when we descend into the particular, when we ask what exactly counts as torture. … Read the rest
Swedish Foreign Minister Quits Over Cartoon Fuss
Mar 22nd, 2006 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Laila Freivalds resigned after allegations she shut down far-right website for soliciting new caricatures. … Read the rest
No Upside-down Hobbesian Contract
Mar 22nd, 2006 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
‘We are not consumers who buy our security and we are not living in Hobbes’s imaginary state of terror.’… Read the rest
The Begum Judgment in Full
Mar 22nd, 2006 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Brother and ‘another young man’ went to the school and spoke to assistant head, who felt threatened.… Read the rest
UN Rapporteur Warns Racism is on the Rise
Mar 22nd, 2006 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Prophet cartoons illustrate the emergence of racist and xenophobic currents in everyday life.… Read the rest
