25 NOVEMBER 1995, Page 42

Semantic error

Sir: In his article 'Faux amis' (4 November) John Laughland jumped to a conclusion that was based on a semantic error. When President Chirac declared that the 'French State' was guilty of the crimes of Vichy, he was not putting the blame on France as such, but on TEtat Francais', official desig- nation of the Vichy regime. Chirac's state- ment was very much the same as saying that the 'Third Reich' was guilty of Nazi crimes or the 'New State' in Italy responsible for the Fascist crimes — with the difference that the last two were not 'puppet' regimes. G.M. de Brito

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