The Western Illness Brian May THE suicide of Pierre Beregovoy may be usefully discussed in a broader perspective than thai provided in Frederic F Clair- mont's article (EPW, May 22). It is proposed here to extend the background by brushing in elements not only of the French economic crisis, but of the stale of western Europe as a whole, and by bringing in Toynbee's views on the decline of civilisations. We can thus transcend personalities and get somewhere near the heart of the general European malaise, of which the collapse of the French Socialist Party is merely a symptom. Also relevant to the view taken here is Rajni Kothari's illuminating idea of a 'world without alternatives' (EPW, May 29).
