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Little England: Britain sleepwalks towards break-up
sleepwalk
[動](自)夢中遊行する.
sléep・wàlk・er
[名]小不列顛或成真Little England: Britain sleepwalks towards break-up英國《金融時報》專欄作家菲利普•斯蒂芬斯Alex Salmond addressed the Scottish National party's annual conference the other day. Few beyond Scotland will have noticed. That is a pity. As David Cameron's Conservatives resume their obsessive debate about leaving Europe, Mr Salmond is advancing Scotland's departure from Britain.
亞歷克斯•薩爾蒙德(Alex Salmond)日前在蘇格蘭民族黨(SNP)年度大會上發表了講話。在蘇格蘭以外，肯定沒什麼人注意這次講話。這真令人遺憾。就在戴維•卡梅倫(David Cameron)的保守黨(Conservatives)再次一門心思圍繞脫離歐盟展開爭論時，薩爾蒙德正在推動蘇格蘭脫離英國。North and south of the border with England, the SNP leader is a grown up among adolescents. Alone among Britain's party leaders, he has the confidence and guile to change the political weather. As Scotland's first minister he is running rings around unionist opponents in Edinburgh and Westminster.
不論是在蘇格蘭-英格蘭邊界線的哪一邊，這位蘇格蘭民族黨領袖都算得上是一位鶴立雞群的人物。在英國各政黨領袖中，唯獨他有信心和詭計來改變政治風雲。作為蘇格蘭的首席大臣，他遠比愛丁堡和威斯敏斯特的聯合派(Unionist)對手們更為能幹。Mr Cameron is comfortable in 10 Downing Street. Labour's Ed Miliband is settling in for what could be an uncomfortably long spell as opposition leader. Nick Clegg has lost the haunted expression he wore during the Liberal Democrats first year in coalition. These are not leaders, though, who rewrite the terms of political debate.
卡梅倫在唐寧街10號過得優哉游哉。工黨(Labour)的埃德•米利班德(Ed Miliband)正在適應自己的反對黨領袖身份，因為他可能會在一個長得令人心煩的時期內扮演這一角色。尼克•克萊格(Nick Clegg)的臉上已經不再掛著他在自民黨(Liberal Democrats)進入聯合政府頭一年時展現出的那種焦慮表情。不過，他們都不是那類改寫政治辯論內容的領袖。Mr Salmond is in a different class. You don't have to like or agree with him to acknowledge he has recast the argument about the 300-year-old union binding Scotland to England. Will Scotland still be tied to its southern neighbour in, say, 15 years hence? I wouldn't bet on it.
薩爾蒙德則是另一類領袖。你也許不喜歡他或者不贊同他，但你仍然會承認，他改寫了圍繞蘇格蘭-英格蘭聯盟的辯論。 300年來，這個聯盟一直把這兩個王國綁在一起。若干年後，比如說15年後，蘇格蘭還會與它南邊的鄰居綁在一起嗎？我不敢肯定。At the very least, the SNP is leading Scotland to self-rule in all but foreign affairs – an autonomy comparable to that enjoyed by Catalonia. Many will think this is no bad thing – for the English or the Scots. But surely the relationship is worthy of serious discussion across Britain? It would be curious were the union to sleepwalk towards break-up.
至少，蘇格蘭民族黨正在帶領蘇格蘭走向除外交事務外的全面自治——這種自治權可與加泰羅尼亞(Catalonia)享有的自治權相媲美。許多人會認為這不是什麼壞事——不論對英格蘭人而言還是對蘇格蘭人而言。但毫無疑問的是，兩個王國之間的關係總值得拿出來在全英國范圍內進行嚴肅討論吧。假如英國在夢遊中走向分裂，那將成為一件奇聞。Unionists are doing their best to assist Mr Salmond. The voting system for the Edinburgh parliament was designed to prevent the SNP from ever winning a governing majority. Mr Salmond has now secured just such a position. The electoral checks and balances failed to anticipate the self -destructive capacity of the unionist parties.
聯合派正在不遺餘力地幫薩爾蒙德的忙。愛丁堡議會的選舉制度是為阻止蘇格蘭民族黨贏得執政多數席位而設計的。而薩爾蒙德的政黨現在恰恰贏得了執政多數席位。選舉制衡機制難敵聯合派政黨的自我毀滅能力。The rot began to set in for Conservatives, of course, during Margaret Thatcher's heyday. But the big failure since has been the Scottish Tories' unwillingness to adjust to devolution. Decisions about health, education and welfare – things that matter to voters – are now taken in Edinburgh. Tories invite the charge of irrelevance by talking about nothing but the union.
當然，保守黨的衰落在瑪格麗特•撒切爾(Margaret Thatcher)的鼎盛時期就開始了。但蘇格蘭保守黨在那之後的重大失誤，是不願針對英國政府向蘇格蘭移交部分權力作出調整、以適應這一現實。現在，蘇格蘭關於醫療、教育和福利（這些都是與選民息息相關的事務）的決策，都是在愛丁堡做出的。保守黨卻除了蘇格蘭-英格蘭聯合議題什麼也不談，難怪選民批評他們“離題萬里”。Labour has been laid low by hubris. Gordon Brown saw Scotland as a personal fiefdom. It sustained Labour's (disproportionately Scottish) politicians at Westminster. The party's best and brightest from north of the border would not waste their time in local politics when they could play on a British stage.
工黨則敗於傲慢。戈登•布朗(Gordon Brown)視蘇格蘭為個人封地。這種傲慢使得工黨（工黨內的蘇格蘭人多得離譜）的政治家們不願離開威斯敏斯特。當有機會在英國的舞台上施展拳腳時，那些最出色、最聰明的蘇格蘭工黨成員是不會把時間浪費在蘇格蘭地方政治上的。Unsurprisingly Scottish voters have woken up to the insult. Why should they back a party that treats their parliament as a parish council? Even now, leading Scottish Labour figures such as Jim Murphy and Douglas Alexander prefer opposition at Westminster to a shot at the top job in Edinburgh.
面對這種侮辱，難怪蘇格蘭選民會醒悟過來。他們為什麼要支持一個把他們的議會當作教區委員會(parish council)的政黨呢？即使是現在，像吉姆•墨菲(Jim Murphy)和道格拉斯•亞歷山大(Douglas Alexander)這樣的蘇格蘭工黨頭面人物，也仍然更願意呆在威斯敏斯特當反對黨，而不是在愛丁堡爭當執政黨。The Lib Dems are paying a price for throwing in their lot with Mr Cameron. Mr Clegg wants to show that the party can shoulder responsibility at Westminster. A noble ambition. But there are better ways to win friends in Scotland.
自民黨把他們的籌碼壓在卡梅倫這邊，他們正在為此付出代價。克萊格想要證明，自民黨可以在威斯敏斯特承擔責任。這是一個宏大的抱負。但是，他可以選擇更好的方式在蘇格蘭爭取到朋友。None of this is to deny Mr Salmond's achievement in taking nationalism from the margins to the mainstream of Scottish politics. Not too long ago much of polite society in Edinburgh, Glasgow or Aberdeen saw the SNP as a collection of leftish cranks. Now it has begun to look like the party of the establishment.
上述這一切並不能抹殺薩爾蒙德的成就，在他的帶領下，民族主義從邊緣地帶走入了蘇格蘭政治的主流。不久以前，愛丁堡、格拉斯哥或阿伯丁上流社會的許多人還把蘇格蘭民族黨視為一群左翼怪人。現在，蘇格蘭民族黨看上去已開始像個統治階層的政黨了。This is not to say the business and professional classes have embraced separatism. My Scottish friends always draw an important distinction. They can vote for the SNP in Scotland while backing unionist parties in British general elections. Mr Salmond cannot be sure of winning if the choice posed in his promised referendum is a straightforward one between the status quo and independence.
這並不是說商界和專業人士階層已經接受了分離主義。我的蘇格蘭朋友心中始終有著一個重要的區分。他們可以在蘇格蘭議會選舉中把票投給蘇格蘭民族黨，同時在英國大選中把票投給統一派政黨。如果在薩爾蒙德承諾舉行的全民公決中，給出的選項只有“維持現狀”和“獨立”兩個，那麼公決結果不一定會合他的心意。Now, though, we know that there will be a third option. Mr Salmond used his conference speech to throw his weight behind a three-question plebiscite – with the third option providing for what is called “devolution max”. The implication is that the return to Scotland of full control over the economy, spending, taxation and borrowing would represent a moderate third way.
不過，現在我們知道，還會有第三個選項。薩爾蒙德在上述年度大會的講話中，全力倡導帶有三個選項的全民公決。這第三個選項即是所謂的“最大限度移交權力”。言下之意是：英國政府把對蘇格蘭經濟、支出、稅收和舉債的控制權完全交還給蘇格蘭，代表著溫和的“第三條路”。It would be nothing of the sort. Devolution max would put Scotland on the threshold of independence. It would demand a rewriting of the constitutional settlement that would inevitably leave many Scots asking why not independence. The fact that such an arrangement is presented as a “ sensible compromise” speaks to Mr Salmond's political genius in reframing the debate.
事情決非如此。 “最大限度移交權力”將把蘇格蘭推到獨立的臨界點。它要求對憲法性共識進行改寫，最終會不可避免地會讓許多蘇格蘭人自問：為什麼不干脆獨立呢？薩爾蒙德將這種安排稱為“明智的妥協”，這是他在重構這場辯論中表現出的政治天賦的明證。For many in Mr Cameron's party, however, it seems that severing ties with Brussels is more important than preserving them with Edinburgh. Before they know it, the sceptics may find themselves demanding England's rather than Britain'sdeparture from the European Union. Perhaps they will call themselves Little Englanders.
然而，對保守黨中的許多人來說，斬斷與布魯塞爾的聯繫似乎比維持與愛丁堡的聯繫更為重要。這些懷疑論者可能會在不知不覺中發現，他們的訴求變成了要英格蘭而不是要英國脫離歐盟。或許那時，他們得稱自己為“小英格蘭”人（Little England，與Great Britain即“大不列顛”相對——譯者註）。
譯者/方舟
vest
- 発音記号[vést]
[名]
2 ((英))（そでなしの男性用）肌着, シャツ（((米))undershirt）；((米))（女性・子供用）メリヤスシャツ.
3 （婦人服の胸の）V字型前飾り.
4 ((古))衣服；外衣, 法衣.
5 防御用胴衣.
6 ((米俗))幹部, お偉方.
play it close to the vest
((略式))無用な危険を冒すのを避ける.
━━[動](他)
2 ［vest A with B/vest B in A］((しばしば受身))〈A（人・団体・委員会）にB（財産・権利・権限）を〉与える, 授ける
━━(自)
1 衣服［法衣］を着る.
2 〈権力などが〉与えられる；〈物・財産が〉（人の）所有となる, （人に）帰属する((in ...)).
Reichstag building
Office in Berlin, Germany
The
Reichstag building is a historical edifice in Berlin, Germany,
constructed to house the Imperial Diet, of the German Empire. It was
opened in 1894 and housed the Diet until 1933, when it was severely
damaged in a fire. Wikipedia
10 Downing Street
Building
10
Downing Street, colloquially known in the United Kingdom as "Number
10", is the headquarters of Her Majesty's Government and the official
residence and office of the First Lord of the Treasury, an office now
invariably held by the Prime Minister. Wikipedia
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue
美國白宮
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue
美國白宮
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