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Inevitably links go out of date.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.

Victimhood Envy

Anne Applebaum considers new books that claim the Germans were also victims in WW II.

October 16, 2003
One Tributary of Darwinism

The geologist James Hutton wrote of adaptation and survival late in the 18th century.

October 16, 2003
Neil Postman Remembered

‘He was expert in nothing. Therefore nothing was off limits.’

October 16, 2003
Therapy and Moral Panic

Is the emphasis on stress and counseling in universities teaching students to think learning is too much for them?

October 16, 2003
How Natural Are These Disasters?

David Stanway looks at environmental degradation in China.

October 15, 2003
Always Look on the Bright Side of Life

‘…even ruthlessly secularized activities can have a religious feel to them.’

October 15, 2003
Woolly Jumpers and Even Woollier Language

The aim was to ‘reduce a text to a kind of fine powder of politico-sexual assumptions.’

October 14, 2003
Pets I Mean Companion Animals

Do we spend too much money on them? Should we like them less and people more?

October 14, 2003
Science Within Reason

Review of Susan Haack’s new book.

October 13, 2003
Oh Dear, the National Review?

Yes, but the piece on the diversity essay is hilarious.

October 13, 2003
Why No Lampshades on Their Heads?

Why do US conservatives keep pretending they’re a persecuted minority?

October 13, 2003
The Politics of Sensitivity Training

Defining political protest as hate crime, if the protest is against the Vatican.

October 13, 2003
Lists Are Always Fun

The Observer offers its list of the best 100 novels.

October 12, 2003
Whither Canonicity?

Nobody ever said canon formation was easy. Robert McCrum on The List.

October 12, 2003
Catholic Church Lies About Condoms

Anger at claim that condoms don’t offer protection against HIV.

October 12, 2003
What Happened to Secularism?

Paul Kurtz considers the reasons for the retreat from science and reason in the US.

October 12, 2003
BHL the Anti-anti-American

Bernard-Henri Levy looks at the concurrent rise of anti-Semitism and anti-Americanism.

October 11, 2003
How It’s Done

Add or omit quotation marks, call it ‘superweed’ or ‘wild hybrid’ – it all adds up.

October 10, 2003
Celebrity Equals Entitlement

David Aaronovitch on what footballers and other athletes think of women.

October 10, 2003
Public Intellectuals

A Tory squire and a Palestinian exile, but both thought academics should reach a broad public.

October 10, 2003