If Britain were a football team, it would be flirting with relegation(濒临降级). Its economy is flailing(挣扎、失控), its people are demoralised(士气低落的) and another embarrassing crisis is unfolding at the top. Happily, one British industry provides a game plan for recovery. Forty years ago, English football was a laughing stock(笑柄). Today, it is a global powerhouse(全球强国/劲旅). As we report this week, the Premier League is the most-watched sports competition on the planet and generates £10bn ($13bn) in gross value added(总增加值) a year . Politicians who want to make Britain great again could do worse than learn from the Premier League.
如果英国是一支足球队，那它正濒临降级。经济低迷，人心涣散，高层又爆发出一场尴尬的危机。幸运的是，英国有一个行业为复苏提供了方案。四十年前，英格兰足球还是个笑柄。如今，它已成为全球劲旅。正如本周我们报道的，英超联赛是地球上观看人数最多的体育赛事，每年创造100亿英镑（130亿美元）的总增加值。想要让英国再次伟大的政治家们，最好的做法莫过于向英超学习。
One lesson is to play to your strengths(发挥自身优势). Britain invented football. It is also attractive to footloose capital(流动资本) and talent. The Premier League takes advantage of this, welcoming foreign investors to buy clubs and foreign coaches and players to make them excellent. It is far more open than its rivals. Openness has fallen out of fashion(过时了), but Sir Keir Starmer should know as an Arsenal fan—celebrating his team’s league title this week—that unpopular tactics(战术、策略) can work best. His government has adopted the opposite strategy, cutting work visas and keeping taxes hostile to rich foreigners. In footballing terms, he’s got the formation all wrong(阵型完全错了).
第一个教训是发挥自身优势。英国发明了足球，同时也对流动资本和人才具有吸引力。英超充分利用这一点，欢迎外国投资者收购俱乐部，聘请外国教练和球员来提升水平。它的开放程度远超对手。开放性已经过时，但作为阿森纳球迷——本周庆祝球队夺冠——基尔·斯塔默爵士应该知道，不受欢迎的策略有时反而最有效。他的政府却采取了相反策略：削减工作签证，对富有的外国人征收不利的税收。用足球术语来说，他的阵型完全错了。
Another lesson is to embrace competition(拥抱竞争). The Premier League is one of the world’s greatest experiments in self-regulation(自我监管), a case study of the value of ruthless rivalry(残酷竞争) and the free flow of cash(资金自由流动). Yet a foolish cross-party decision(跨党派决定) to impose(强加) an independent football regulator passed into law last summer. English football is no stranger to(对...并不陌生) cheating, from financial doping(财务造假（体育界术语）) to a spying scandal at Southampton. But such cases are best dealt with in-house(内部地). If the regulator, as feared, puts up hurdles to(设置障碍) investment, it would typify Sir Keir’s failure to grasp what made the Premier League (and Britain) strong.
另一个教训是拥抱竞争。英超是世界上最伟大的自我监管实验之一，是研究残酷竞争和资金自由流动价值的典型案例。然而，去年夏天一项愚蠢的跨党派决定通过了设立独立足球监管机构的法案。英格兰足球对作弊并不陌生，从财务造假到南安普顿的间谍丑闻。但这类案件最好内部处理。如果正如人们所担心的那样，监管机构为投资设置障碍，这将成为基尔爵士未能把握英超（以及英国）强大之处的典型例证。