Lionel Blue maundering on Thought for the Day looks like golden age of secularism.… 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Inevitably links go out of date.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.
French Hijab Ban Widely Accepted 
Nov 3rd, 2005 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Bizarre headline bears no relation to article.… Read the rest
Eve Garrard Reviews Michael Ignatieff
Nov 3rd, 2005 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Rights are far more ethically significant than a useful device to ensure that executive power is not abused.… Read the rest
Jon Pike Reviews Ted Honderich
Nov 3rd, 2005 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
‘book ought to have done very serious damage to his reputation as one of Britain’s leading philosophers.’… Read the rest
P. Charles Wants Yanks to Appreciate Islam
Nov 2nd, 2005 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Wants to be defender of ‘faiths’ not ‘faith’.… Read the rest
Watered-down ‘Issues-led’ Science Curriculum
Nov 2nd, 2005 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
If you are taught about issues without facts, you’ll learn uninformed prejudices of the day.… Read the rest
Football Fatwa
Nov 2nd, 2005 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Do not play in two halves. Play in one half or three halves to differentiate yourselves from the heretics.… Read the rest
Super-charged Placebo Effect
Nov 2nd, 2005 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
However traditional treatment is not invalid, it’s just that the nonsense helps.… Read the rest
Times Gets Early Start on Xmas Moaning
Nov 2nd, 2005 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
South Lambeth taking the Christ out of Xmas.… Read the rest
South Asian Earthquake Toll Jumps to 73,000
Nov 2nd, 2005 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Relief commissioner Farooq Ahmed Khan said more than 69,000 were injured; expects casualty toll to rise. … Read the rest
Anniversary of Murder of Theo van Gogh
Nov 2nd, 2005 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Killer said he murdered out of religious conviction, would kill again in the name of Islam if given a chance. … Read the rest
Doug Ireland on Michel Onfray
Nov 2nd, 2005 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
The brightest star among the younger French philosophers.… Read the rest
Van Gogh Commemoration Calls for Unity
Nov 2nd, 2005 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
“We must not abandon each other,” Dutch PM Jan Peter Balkenende told a gathering in Amsterdam.… Read the rest
Furtive Political Campaigns are the Wrong Kind
Nov 2nd, 2005 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
A retreat into the mire of a furtive, grubby campaign of individual acts of anti-Semitic discrimination.… Read the rest
Hey, the Return of the Caliphate Wouldn’t be so Bad
Nov 1st, 2005 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
This thing about sharia is just some silly mix-up.… Read the rest
Atheism not Postmodern Enough Shock
Nov 1st, 2005 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Oxford don calls NSS website a ‘museum of modernity, untroubled by the awkward rise of postmodernity’.… Read the rest
Joan Bakewell, Others on Religious Hatred Bill
Nov 1st, 2005 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
‘The bill creates a climate where self- censorship will be almost unavoidable.’… Read the rest
Irshad Manji on the Universality of Human Rights
Nov 1st, 2005 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
When we sanctify those constructs called cultures, we make them static, we end up with group-think.… Read the rest
Hate the Belief but not the Believer?
Nov 1st, 2005 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Nah, that would rule out hating the Pope.… Read the rest
Cultural Sensitivity About Forced Marriage
Nov 1st, 2005 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
‘I wish I had been able to say to my parents at 14, “You can’t do this to me because it is illegal.”‘… Read the rest
