Why we should all hate Harry Potter... (or bring light to his fans)

In another related article, BBC journalist Robert Winder writes:

You will probably see nearly as many Half-Blood Princes as you see Da Vinci Codes on public transport for a while.

But what is it that appeals to adults about what is essentially diet-Lord of the Rings?

I myself have seen normally intelligent people reduced to gibbering wrecks, babbling incoherently about Gryffindors and Slytherins.

Author AS Byatt said that adult Potter fans are actually "reverting to their inner child" when they read Potter, and that they were "for people whose interests are confined to the worlds of soaps, reality TV and celebrity gossip".

One of the BBC News website's very own readers has the perfect response to that one, though - "I've never heard of AS Byatt," he said in a recent Have Your Say on the issue.

Now it seems to me that whilst the combined forces of Robert Winder, the author of ihateharrypotter.com and Reason iteself will have not even the slightest dampening effect on the wave of plattitudes that JK Rowling is bathing in, whilst also having no hope of persuading her ardent fans that what they're enjoying is not in fact great writing, these forces can still play an important role in providing a balm for the tired of hearing the dark words "I love Harry Potter"!