2015年经济学人 英国政治 法拉奇反抗主流政坛

British politics

Farage against the machine

Mainstream¹ politicians seeking to rival the populism of Nigel Farage's party are on a hiding to nothing

INSURGENT² populist parties are now a familiar feature of the European political landscape, yet their rise is so recent and so sharp that it still has the power to shock the mainstream. In by-elections on October 9th the right-wing UK Independence Party (UKIP), which wants to stop immigration and pull Britain out of the European Union, not only won its first parliamentary seat, which it took from the Conservative Party, but also nearly grabbed one from the Labour Party, which hitherto regarded UKIP as the Tories' problem. Polls since the by-election have put the party anywhere from 13% to 25% of the vote nationally. Next month another by-election offers UKIP the chance to grab another Tory seat.

Neither David Cameron, the Tory prime minister, nor Ed Miliband, Labour's leader, has much sympathy for UKIP's positions. But both are trimming their policies in an effort to emulate³ the insurgent's success. To placate⁴ his party's perennially⁵ disaffected⁶ right—from which two MPs have so far defected to UKIP—Mr Cameron has promised to renegotiate freedom of movement within the European Union ahead of a referendum on Britain's membership. He is now being urged to say that if he fails in that renegotiation, he would advocate leaving the EU. Mr Miliband, under pressure to produce a rival populist offer as Labour's vote crumbles⁷ to UKIP in the party's northern redoubts, has come up with an incoherent promise to crack down on immigrant welfare-claimants.

There are three problems with this approach. First, Britain's EU membership and high level of immigration bring it huge benefits in terms of economic growth, cultural vibrancy⁸ and clout⁹. Abandoning either would, in this paper's view, weaken the country in a multitude of ways. Indeed, the two other parties should spend far more time pointing out the contradictions in UKIP's back-of-a-beer-mat economics.

Second, pandering¹⁰ to UKIP will not work, because it misreads the nature of the party's appeal to a core of disgruntled, down-at-heel, poorly skilled voters, in bad jobs or no jobs. Having been most damaged by the downturn, then by austerity, they will be the last to feel the benefits of the recovery. Their main complaint, echoed across the Western world, is against powerful and irreversible economic trends—globalisation and automation—from which they are the losers. Their antipathy¹¹ towards the EU and immigration is part of a wider deep-seated insecurity that is hard for any politician to assuage¹². UKIP's solutions would make the disaffected worse, not better, off, as business and jobs migrated elsewhere. Besides, many such voters trust establishment politicians like Mr Cameron and Mr Miliband so little that they would not believe them even if they did promise the same sort of things as Nigel Farage, UKIP's engagingly blokeish leader.

The third problem is that, in trying to placate these irreconcilables, the mainstream parties risk alienating¹³ a larger, milder group of voters, who fear the consequences of leaving Europe and dislike their leaders bashing immigrants. The lesson of every election for three decades is that the path to power lies on the centre ground.

That lesson is especially relevant to Mr Cameron, who came to power as a result of his efforts to detoxify the Conservative brand. Pandering further to UKIP might well restore the Tories' old reputation for nastiness. Mr Farage is not going to go away; but the election is still going to be fought mainly over the question of who will manage the economy best.

1 mainstream   

n.（思想或行为的）主流；adj.主流的

参考例句：

• Their views lie outside the mainstream of current medical opinion.他们的观点不属于当今医学界观点的主流。
• Polls are still largely reflects the mainstream sentiment.民调还在很大程度上反映了社会主流情绪。

2 insurgent   

adj.叛乱的，起事的；n.叛乱分子

参考例句：

• Faruk says they are threatened both by insurgent and government forces.法鲁克说，他们受到暴乱分子和政府军队的双重威胁。
• The insurgent mob assembled at the gate of the city park.叛变的暴徒聚在市立公园的门口。

3 emulate   

v.努力赶上或超越，与…竞争；效仿

参考例句：

• You must work hard to emulate your sister.你必须努力工作，赶上你姐姐。
• You must look at the film and try to emulate his behavior.你们必须观看这部电影，并尽力模仿他的动作。

4 placate   

v.抚慰，平息(愤怒)

参考例句：

• He never attempts to placate his enemy.他从不企图与敌人和解。
• Even a written apology failed to placate the indignant hostess.甚至一纸书面道歉都没能安抚这个怒气冲冲的女主人。

5 perennially   

adv.经常出现地；长期地；持久地；永久地

参考例句：

• He perennially does business abroad. 他常年在国外做生意。 来自辞典例句
• We want to know what is perennially new about the world. 我们想知道世上什么东西永远是新的。 来自互联网

6 disaffected   

adj.（政治上）不满的，叛离的

参考例句：

• He attracts disaffected voters.他吸引了心怀不满的选民们。
• Environmental issues provided a rallying point for people disaffected with the government.环境问题把对政府不满的人们凝聚了起来。

7 crumbles   

酥皮水果甜点( crumble的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• This cake crumbles too easily. 这种蛋糕太容易碎了。
• This bread crumbles ever so easily. 这种面包非常容易碎。

8 vibrancy   

n.活跃；震动

参考例句：

• I like the vibrancy of her character.我喜欢她的活泼性格。
• Tom felt himself being drawn towards her vibrant personality. 汤姆感觉自己被她充满朝气的个性所吸引。

9 clout   

n.用手猛击；权力，影响力

参考例句：

• The queen may have privilege but she has no real political clout.女王有特权，但无真正的政治影响力。
• He gave the little boy a clout on the head.他在那小男孩的头部打了一下。

10 pandering   

v.迎合（他人的低级趣味或淫欲）( pander的现在分词 )；纵容某人；迁就某事物

参考例句：

• This magazine is criticized for pandering to the vulgar taste of some readers. 这家杂志因迎合某些读者的低级趣味而遭到批评。 来自辞典例句
• We're four points up there; we don't need to get hit for pandering. 我们在那儿领先四个百分点；我们不必为了迎合一些选民而遭受批评。 来自电影对白

11 antipathy   

n.憎恶；反感，引起反感的人或事物

参考例句：

• I feel an antipathy against their behaviour.我对他们的行为很反感。
• Some people have an antipathy to cats.有的人讨厌猫。

12 assuage   

v.缓和，减轻，镇定

参考例句：

• The medicine is used to assuage pain.这种药用来止痛。
• Your messages of cheer should assuage her suffering.你带来的这些振奋人心的消息一定能减轻她的痛苦。

13 alienating   

v.使疏远( alienate的现在分词 )；使不友好；转让；让渡（财产等）

参考例句：

• The phenomena of alienation are widespread. Sports are also alienating. 异化现象普遍存在，体育运动也不例外。 来自互联网
• How can you appeal to them without alienating the mainstream crowd? 你是怎么在不疏忽主流玩家的情况下吸引住他们呢？ 来自互联网