That seems to me to be lumbering towards the syllogistic, SK, or at the very least drawing a false conclusion by assuming that the two positions are de facto identical.

I think, SK, you're seeing "the left" as some kind of monolithic entity marching in lockstep to the order of some tyrannical idea or person. No wonder you have no time for what you call "socialism", which seems to bear very little resemblance to that developed by Marx and his successors (among whom one could certainly not count someone like Stalin!).

Personally I regard John Fowles as tending towards the reactionary in any political viewpoint one might glean from his work, on account of his seeing politics basically in aesthetic terms: as Walter Benjamin famously pointed out, this is the antithesis of a socialistic viewpoint which instead sees aesthetics in political terms. This wouldn't prevent me from appreciating Fowles' work any more than it does (to take a much more extreme example) Wagner's.

The work of Fowles is in the thread title, however, ahh, whereas the incestuous spawn are not. 

[Just a wee bit of confusion with your quote boxes there, I notice. Have you been taking lessons from moderatrix Mort, by any chance?]

I quite like it, ahh.  I don't really know what there is to say about the Austrian case given that even those who have made the effort to inform themselves won't have had access to all the relevant information at this time; and, sad to say, most of us won't have read/heard more than what we're told in the press/radio/tv.  I certainly prefer the discussion here to reading the thoughts of people clamouring, 'Today' board style, each vying to demonstrate (s)he's more outraged than the next person.

Can we really comment seriously at this early stage on the significance of this bizarre case?  I'm sure the good people here could make a more sober atempt than those on some other boards; but I'm not sure I know what to make of something so outlandishly awful.

I agree with HtoHe too. All except the liking it part anyway. It may be inevitable, but not likeable. Personally, I doubt I could understand even with the benefit endless back-story, psychological profiling and/or a knowledge of the finer points of the Austrian legal system. Of course I'll try to make sense of it, I just I dread the thought of how much freakshow-type media attention this will get. Sometimes I'd rather not 'live' the news, but get it in digest post fact - maybe I should just get on with my gardening!

But while I'm sorting out the bindweed I'll be wondering how many people in basements there might be is Basildon right now? And whether I should finally read the Magus - dammit!