LESS THAN two years ago Sir Keir Starmer was elected promising to save Britain from populism(民粹主义). As with Emmanuel Macron in France and Friedrich Merz in Germany, his mission was to show that the fruits of sober, competent policymaking(清醒且胜任的政策制定) are worth more than the empty promises of demagogue(煽动家)s.
不到两年前，基尔·斯塔默爵士当选，承诺将英国从民粹主义中拯救出来。与法国的埃马纽埃尔·马克龙和德国的弗里德里希·默茨一样，他的使命是证明清醒、有能力的政策制定的成果比煽动家的空洞承诺更有价值。
This week it became clear how abjectly Sir Keir has failed. A drubbing(惨败；痛打) for Labour in elections for councils in England and parliaments in Scotland and Wales on May 7th has sparked a revolt(叛乱；反抗) in the parliamentary party. As we went to press, the prime minister was about to face at least one serious challenger for his job. It would be in Britain’s interest for him to go.
本周，基尔·斯塔默爵士的失败已昭然若揭。5月7日，工党在英国地方选举以及苏格兰和威尔士议会中惨败，引发了议会党内的叛乱。截至本刊付印时，首相即将面临至少一位强有力的职位挑战者。他的下台符合英国的利益。
The moral for some who look at the miserable(可怜的；糟糕的) polling of Messrs Macron, Merz and Starmer—all decent men—is that European social democracies have become ungovernable(无法治理的；难以控制的). Caught between low growth, high taxes and borrowing and the demand for more public spending, exhausted centrist(中间派；温和派)s seem incapable of bringing about change or seeing off(击退；送走) the populist challenge from the right and the left. Nowhere more so than in post-Brexit Britain, which, with five heads of government in six years, has got through prime ministers almost as fast as Chelsea has replaced its managers.(没有比脱欧后的英国更典型的了，该国六年内换了五任政府首脑，更换首相的速度几乎和切尔西足球俱乐部换经理一样快。) Larry, Number 10’s chief mouser, has become a furry beacon of stability.
对于那些关注马克龙、默茨和斯塔默（都是体面人）可怜民调数字的人来说，得出的结论是欧洲社会民主制已变得无法治理。夹在低增长、高税收与借贷以及更多公共支出的需求之间，疲惫的中间派似乎无力带来改变，也无法击退来自左右两翼的民粹主义挑战。脱欧后的英国尤其如此，它在六年内换了五任政府首脑，更换首相的速度几乎和切尔西足球俱乐部换经理一样快。唐宁街10号的首席捕鼠官拉里，反而成了毛茸茸的稳定象征。
Purrsonality test
喵格测试