2015年经济学人 工党之殇 穷途末路

The Labour Party's funk

Running out of road

Labour is an increasingly unpopular party with lots of popular policies

IF POLITICAL platforms were the sum of their parts, the Labour Party would tower over its rivals.

In recent months Ed Miliband, its leader, has produced several overwhelmingly popular policies.

According to YouGov, a polling firm, voters support the party's plan to increase the top rate of income tax by three to one.

By about the same margin¹ they like its talk of tackling dodgy landlords, blocking foreign takeovers of British firms and boosting the minimum wage.

Yet Labour's polling lead over the Conservative Party is slipping.

According to YouGov it has fallen from an average of seven points in November to two-and-a-half points in May so far.

It is quite possible that the populist right-wing UK Independence Party will beat Labour to first place in elections to the European Parliament on May 22nd

Not long ago Labour staffers were confidently describing the European vote as a dry run for the general election, due to be held in a year's time.

Labour, then, is an increasingly unloved party with increasingly popular policies.

What explains this? The familiar answer is to blame the messenger.

Mr Miliband struggles to appeal to voters through the mass media, often coming across as pleading and uncomfortable.

His team have hired a broadcast expert and David Axelrod, who helped Barack Obama win two presidential elections,

to improve their man's performance and messages.

A series of awkward interviews in the run up to the European vote suggested that both would have their work cut out.

But that problem is older than Labour's poll slump². Instead, three things seem to account for the party's recent woes³.

The specific one is that Labour's propaganda machine is not working.

Policy announcements have been rushed, too close together and quickly forgotten for lack of follow-up, sighs one Milibandite.

A pledge to cut waiting times for doctors' appointments was a case in point:

unveiled with great fanfare⁴ on May 12th, it was not once mentioned by Mr Miliband in Prime Minister's Questions just two days later.

Sometimes messages clash. Labour's response to UKIP has ranged from cool dismissal to angry denouncement.

An execrable electoral video depicting⁵ the Liberal Democrats⁶ as the gullible⁷ stooges of evil Tory toffs collided head-on with Mr Miliband's talk of making politics less petty.

A bigger problem is that Labour's central economic message, that the recovery is failing to lift living standards, is running out of road.

Real wages are beginning to emerge from their long slump, making people feel, if not richer, at least not poorer.

And Labour lacks a fall-back argument: the party has done little over the past years to dispel⁸ the reputation for spendthrift ineptitude⁹ that it acquired during the financial crisis.

The Tories' lead over the opposition¹⁰ on economic competence¹¹ has grown from two to 14 points in the past year.

Finally, as the general election approaches, the main job of the opposition shifts from holding the government to account to proposing an alternative.

But Labour's messages remain deeply negative and gloomy.

It has repeatedly told people how much they are being ripped off by energy firms and other businesses,

but has failed to put forward a hopeful vision of a prosperous Britain, grumble¹² internal malcontents.

Patrick Diamond, a former policy adviser¹³ to the party, adds that by taking advantage of public mistrust of business,

Labour is at best telling voters what they already know (that the party cares about the little guy).

At worst it risks alienating¹⁴ those working in the private sector¹⁵.

These three problems add up to one big one: although voters like the party's individual policies,

they do not like the overall image that these convey.

Until Labour corrects this, says Deborah Mattinson of Britain Thinks, a polling outfit¹⁶,

the gush¹⁷ of announcements may do it more harm than good.

If people do not trust the party in the first place, she argues, they just see these as craven attempts to win their votes.

The Conservatives, by contrast, can trade on their overall competence.

“They are not out to please people,” one swing voter told Ms Mattinson, and “that means they can just get on with it.”

1 margin   

n.页边空白；差额；余地，余裕；边，边缘

参考例句：

• We allowed a margin of 20 minutes in catching the train.我们有20分钟的余地赶火车。
• The village is situated at the margin of a forest.村子位于森林的边缘。

2 slump   

n.暴跌，意气消沉，（土地）下沉；vi.猛然掉落，坍塌，大幅度下跌

参考例句：

• She is in a slump in her career.她处在事业的低谷。
• Economists are forecasting a slump.经济学家们预言将发生经济衰退。

3 woes   

困境( woe的名词复数 )； 悲伤； 我好苦哇； 某人就要倒霉

参考例句：

• Thanks for listening to my woes. 谢谢您听我诉说不幸的遭遇。
• She has cried the blues about its financial woes. 对于经济的困难她叫苦不迭。

4 fanfare   

n.喇叭；号角之声；v.热闹地宣布

参考例句：

• The product was launched amid much fanfare worldwide.这个产品在世界各地隆重推出。
• A fanfare of trumpets heralded the arrival of the King.嘹亮的小号声宣告了国王驾到。

5 depicting   

描绘，描画( depict的现在分词 )； 描述

参考例句：

• a painting depicting the Virgin and Child 一幅描绘童贞马利亚和圣子耶稣的画
• The movie depicting the battles and bloodshed is bound to strike home. 这部描写战斗和流血牺牲的影片一定会取得预期效果。

6 democrats   

n.民主主义者，民主人士( democrat的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The Democrats held a pep rally on Capitol Hill yesterday. 民主党昨天在国会山召开了竞选誓师大会。
• The democrats organize a filibuster in the senate. 民主党党员组织了阻挠议事。 来自《简明英汉词典》

7 gullible   

adj.易受骗的；轻信的

参考例句：

• The swindlers had roped into a number of gullible persons.骗子们已使一些轻信的人上了当。
• The advertisement is aimed at gullible young women worried about their weight.这则广告专门针对担心自己肥胖而易受骗的年轻女士。

8 dispel   

vt.驱走，驱散，消除

参考例句：

• I tried in vain to dispel her misgivings.我试图消除她的疑虑，但没有成功。
• We hope the programme will dispel certain misconceptions about the disease.我们希望这个节目能消除对这种疾病的一些误解。

9 ineptitude   

n.不适当；愚笨，愚昧的言行

参考例句：

• History testifies to the ineptitude of coalitions in waging war.历史昭示我们，多数国家联合作战，其进行甚为困难。
• They joked about his ineptitude.他们取笑他的笨拙。

10 opposition   

n.反对，敌对

参考例句：

• The party leader is facing opposition in his own backyard.该党领袖在自己的党內遇到了反对。
• The police tried to break down the prisoner's opposition.警察设法制住了那个囚犯的反抗。

11 competence   

n.能力，胜任，称职

参考例句：

• This mess is a poor reflection on his competence.这种混乱情况说明他难当此任。
• These are matters within the competence of the court.这些是法院权限以内的事。

12 grumble   

vi.抱怨；咕哝；n.抱怨，牢骚；咕哝，隆隆声

参考例句：

• I don't want to hear another grumble from you.我不愿再听到你的抱怨。
• He could do nothing but grumble over the situation.他除了埋怨局势之外别无他法。

13 adviser   

n.劝告者，顾问

参考例句：

• They employed me as an adviser.他们聘请我当顾问。
• Our department has engaged a foreign teacher as phonetic adviser.我们系已经聘请了一位外籍老师作为语音顾问。

14 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

15 sector   

n.部门，部分；防御地段，防区；扇形

参考例句：

• The export sector will aid the economic recovery. 出口产业将促进经济复苏。
• The enemy have attacked the British sector.敌人已进攻英国防区。

16 outfit   

n.（为特殊用途的）全套装备，全套服装

参考例句：

• Jenney bought a new outfit for her daughter's wedding.珍妮为参加女儿的婚礼买了一套新装。
• His father bought a ski outfit for him on his birthday.他父亲在他生日那天给他买了一套滑雪用具。

17 gush   

v.喷，涌；滔滔不绝(说话)；n.喷，涌流；迸发

参考例句：

• There was a gush of blood from the wound.血从伤口流出。
• There was a gush of blood as the arrow was pulled out from the arm.当从手臂上拔出箭来时，一股鲜血涌了出来。