Offended ethnic minorities take these things seriously: Keating really would have to take himself away on holiday.
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Inevitably links go out of date.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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David Aaronovitch, Fluffy New Britain Optimist
This is exactly the kind of offensive material that I want to see on TV.
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Thousands are Offended, BBC is Resolute
Rude words, nappies, Jesus, chocolate, lesbians – it all goes to show.
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Meera Nanda on New Intellectual Betrayal
Misguided attack on Enlightenment helps pseudoscience, superstitions and tribalism.
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Conspiracy Theorists on the Job
Maybe eco-weapons that cause earthquakes via electromagnetic waves were being tested.
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Punishment-from-Allah Theorists on the Job
Corruption, sin, infidels, heresy, man-made laws, fornication, sexual perversion.
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Some Uncertainties More Uncertain Than Others
The first duty is to rewrite the encyclopaedia every day – except the semiotics entry.
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Fraud in Science
Science may be self-correcting but fraud wastes money and does harm.
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The Fight Against Poverty Neglects Science
UN advisers: potential of science and technology against poverty much more than governments realise.
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Anderson, Sowell, Crosby on Affirmative Action
Affirmative action is recursive: whether it works depends on our interpretations of it.
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Thomas DeGregori onTragedy as Teacher
How and how not to think about tsunamis; how and how not to help afterwards.
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Were Astrologers Asleep or What?
Why didn’t they mention the tsunami? And why are they still making ‘predictions’?
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AFL-CIO Condemns Murder of Iraqi Trade Unionist
Hadi Salih was shot by assassins who broke into his Baghdad home January 4.
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Shock and Revulsion at Torture and Murder
Attack on the right of Iraqi workers to trade union representation.
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Unionists Around the World Condemn Murder
Last month at ICFTU congress Salih spoke of hopes to build a democratic union.
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Politics of Religious Appeasment at all Costs
Salman Rushdie laments collapse of liberal principles before religions’ strident demands.
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A Culture of Conformity in the Humanities?
Scholes, Appiah, Menand, Guillory and others discuss the problem.
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Steven Weinberg on Oppenheimer Biography
He was wide open to new ideas and had the ability to understand anything.
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Massimo Pigliucci on Nonsense on Stilts
Rhetoric, mistaken claims, sweeping statements, unhelpful analogy taken for deep insight…
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Francophobia Cool in US
Don’t speak French, don’t have French relatives, don’t eat or drink French, don’t think French.