When a Sudanese refugee was caught attacking a man in Belfast on June 8th, Restore, a far-right(极右翼的) party, pledged(承诺，保证): “A Restore Britain government will put murderous third-world savages to death.” Tragedy brought clarity: the British right is moving right. Ideas that were until recently extreme, whether capital punishment(死刑) or mass deportations, are now mainstream. Small parties, such as Rupert Lowe’s Restore, may attract low single-digit support in polls. Yet they are pulling Reform UK and the Conservatives further to the right with a simple remorseless logic: that there is no limit to how nasty the British public can be.
6月8日，一名苏丹难民在贝尔法斯特袭击一名男子被捕后，极右翼政党Restore承诺：“一个Restore英国政府将把凶残的第三世界野蛮人处死。”悲剧带来了清醒：英国右翼正在向右移动。直到最近还被视为极端的想法——无论是死刑还是大规模驱逐——现在已成为主流。像鲁珀特·洛的Restore这样的小党在民调中可能只吸引个位数的支持率。然而，它们正用一条简单的冷酷逻辑将改革英国党和保守党进一步向右拉：英国公众可以有多恶劣，是没有底线的。
What was once taboo(禁忌) is now up for debate(可讨论的，待辩论的). After footage of the attack in Belfast emerged, Mr Lowe pledged to have the accused executed “with the British people’s approval”. Thanks to his party’s surprising breakthrough in Makerfield, which soon faces a by-election where Restore is expected to come third, way ahead of the Conservatives, these sweeping threats are now read out on BBC Radio 4 as just another political opinion. Others are more coy(腼腆的，含糊其辞的). The death penalty will “be back within the next decade as an issue of major national debate”, said Nigel Farage, Reform’s leader, last year, passively. It is something that will bubble up(自然涌现，浮现) naturally. If so, runs Mr Farage’s logic, so be it.
曾经是禁忌的话题现在已被提上议程。贝尔法斯特袭击的画面曝光后，洛先生承诺将“在英国人民的批准下”处决被告。由于他的政党在梅克菲尔德取得了惊人的突破——那里即将举行补选，Restore预计将获得第三名，远远领先于保守党——这些笼统的威胁现在被BBC广播4台当作另一种政治观点来宣读。其他政客则更加含蓄。改革党领袖奈杰尔·法拉奇去年消极地表示，死刑将“在未来十年内重新成为全国大辩论的一个议题”。这是会自然发酵的事情。如果那样，按照法拉奇的逻辑，那就顺其自然吧。
Calls for execution were soon replaced by calls for mass deportations. “Deport them all,” said one anchor from GB News, a right-wing channel ostensibly(表面上地) regulated by Ofcom. “Nothing else will stop this.” A once-lonely demand by Mr Lowe that “millions must go” has become a key policy for Reform, which sits at the top of the national polls. It is a remarkable lurch right(突然右转). In late 2024 Mr Farage still cowered(畏缩，退缩) from the idea of mass deportations. “I’m not going to get dragged down the route of mass deportations or anything like that,” he said. Skip forward a year and his tune had changed(他的论调变了). Standing in front of a mock airport-departures board with the destinations of “Sudan”, “Afghanistan” and “Yemen”, Mr Farage launched an Illegal Migration (Mass Deportation) Bill.
处决的呼声很快被大规模驱逐的呼声取代。“把他们全部驱逐出境，”GB新闻的一位主播说，该频道是一个右翼频道，表面上受Ofcom监管。“没有别的办法能阻止这一切。”洛先生曾一度孤独地要求“数百万人必须离开”，现在已成为改革党的关键政策，该党在全国民调中位居榜首。这是一个显著的右转。2024年底，法拉奇还对大规模驱逐的想法畏缩不前。“我不会被拖入大规模驱逐或类似的事情，”他说。快进一年，他的论调变了。站在一个模拟机场出发牌前，上面写着“苏丹”、“阿富汗”和“也门”，法拉奇发起了一项非法移民（大规模驱逐）法案。
Come and have a go if you think you’re hard enough
如果你觉得自己够硬，那就来试试