Wider still, and wider? Andy Burnham ran to be prime minister with unbounded(无限的，无节制的) ambitions for the British state. Four decades of neoliberal(新自由主义的) policies would be rolled back(被逆转，被取消). Council houses would be built, the north reindustrialised(重新工业化的) and a struggling water supplier nationalised(被国有化的). Much was left ambiguous(模棱两可的) (just what is “public control”?) But a former New Labour special adviser knows the suggestive force of the English language(英语的暗示力量).
还要更宽，更宽？安迪·伯纳姆竞选首相时，对英国国家抱有无穷的雄心。四十年的新自由主义政策将被逆转。市政住房将拔地而起，北方将重新工业化，一家陷入困境的供水商将被国有化。许多内容语焉不详（“公共控制”究竟指什么？）但这位前新工党特别顾问深知英语的暗示力量。
A man who prides himself on(以……为傲) having the common touch(平易近人的魅力), Mr Burnham might check out the British Social Attitudes survey, which has been asking the same questions about taxes and spending since 1983. It charts how the public has responded to government spending like a thermostat-twiddler(拨弄恒温器的人), clicking on and off in response to cycles of largesse(慷慨施与) and restraint. When politicians spend too much, or too little, the electorate(全体选民) reliably pushes back(反向施压，抵制).
伯纳姆先生以拥有平易近人的魅力而自豪，他或许该看看《英国社会态度调查》。该调查自 1983 年以来一直就税收和支出问同样的问题。它记录下公众如何像拨弄恒温器的人一样回应政府支出，随着慷慨与紧缩的周期而开开关关。当政客花钱太多或太少时，选民总会可靠地反向施压。
At 36%, the share who now think taxes and social spending should increase is the lowest since 2013, the height of Britain’s post-financial-crisis austerity(紧缩政策) drive. It has dropped by 19 points since a peak in 2022, when governments everywhere indulged in(沉溺于，纵情于) a spree(一阵狂热，无节制的行为) of covid-19 stimulus packages and energy bail-outs(救助，纾困), and were mostly applauded. Britons who think the size of the state should be frozen are, for the first time since 2015, the plurality(相对多数). Those who want to shrink it entirely have never been a big tribe in Britain, but at 19% they are now twice as numerous as when Margaret Thatcher was at her zenith(鼎盛时期，顶点).
如今认为税收和社会支出应该增加的人只占 36%，为 2013 年以来最低，当时正值英国金融危机后紧缩政策的高峰。这一比例自 2022 年的峰值下降了 19 个百分点，当时各国政府纷纷推出新冠疫情刺激计划和能源救助，且大多受到赞誉。认为国家规模应被冻结的英国人，自 2015 年以来首次成为最大群体。想要彻底缩小国家的人在英国从来不是大群体，但如今占 19%，是玛格丽特·撒切尔鼎盛时期的两倍。
More tea, prime minister?
再来点茶吗，首相？