JKS: The ransom story doesn't sound right. W gave away his
fortune, though it is unclear to me exactly when.

JG: I've just looked at Ray Monk's excellent biog of W and he says 
that W discussed the situation with Sraffa and others and was 
persuaded not to rush to Austria until he was naturalised as a British 
citizen, in case he couldn't get back. While he was waiting, the 
family tried to escape to Switzerland on false passports, but were 
caught.  They tried to bribe their way out of it using family money 
that was tied up in complex trusts.  When LW got his passport, he 
went over to negotiate, and they were able to buy certificates of 
German blood using family money from Switzerland. 

Incidentally, in 1946 Sraffa decided to stop talking to W because it 
was too much hard work! W said that he would talk about anything, but 
Sraffa said, 'Yes, but in your way'!  

Monk treats the poker story very briefly, saying that no one agrees 
on what happened. Popper's version was that W was wielding a poker 
during a discussion, and stormed over to Popper with the poker and 
demanded an example of a moral rule.  P said, 'Don't threaten 
visiting lecturers with a poker.' I like that version best.

I really recommend the biog.

JKS: If Aristotle isn't profound, I don't know what the word means. 
JG: I know Marx is not the measure of all things, but he cites 
Aristotle more than anyone else except Hegel.

JKS: Anglo-American philosophy, so-called, prizes (but often fails to 
attain) clarity,precision, thoroughness, exactness, 
comprehensiveness and depth of argument -- the virtues Hegel would 
associate with the Understanding. This can be boring unless you get 
your head into that space. 
JG: I agree absolutely. I hated this stuff until I had the privilege 
of being in a reading group with a really good analytic philosopher. 
Yes, it can be dull and also often trivial, and it can foreclose on 
big questions. But I wish I'd had the formal training - it is, I think, 
a much better preparation than jumping into continental stuff. 

John Bizwas: "I think that both currents have wound up in a period of 
deep skepticism over rationality."
JG: Yes, and this is the crux, I think.  As John has pointed out, the 
differences are not as great as those involved think they are.