How much can a Labour government change the country? According to many voters, journalists and politicians, including plenty in the party itself, the answer to that stubbornly(顽固地) recurring question has always been: not that much. Labour governments can’t restructure the economy, radically redistribute wealth, truly empower the disadvantaged or adopt a genuinely ethical foreign policy without upsetting too many powerful interests, from the British rich to the US government to global financial markets.(工党政府无法重组经济、大幅重新分配财富、真正赋权弱势群体，也无法推行真正合乎道德的外交政策，因为这样做会得罪太多强大的利益集团——从英国富人，到美国政府，再到全球金融市场。)
工党政府能改变这个国家多少？在许多选民、记者和政客——包括工党内部不少人——看来，这个反复出现的问题，答案始终是：改变不了多少。工党政府无法重组经济、大幅重新分配财富、真正赋权弱势群体，也无法推行真正合乎道德的外交政策，因为这样做会得罪太多强大的利益集团——从英国富人，到美国政府，再到全球金融市场。
This endlessly repeated conventional wisdom – internalised by some on the left as well as centrists and the right – has haunted many Labour governments, from the first, tentative ones in the 1920s to Keir Starmer’s diligent but failed administration a century later.(这套被无休止重复的成见——不仅中间派和右翼，连左翼一些人也已内化于心——困扰了多届工党政府，从1920年代最初那些试探性的政府，到一个世纪后基尔·斯塔默勤勉却失败的政府。) Yet conventional wisdom(传统成见，普遍看法) can be wrong, especially in volatile(动荡的，易变的) periods such as the current one, when precedent may count for little(无足轻重，作用甚微).
这套被无休止重复的成见——不仅中间派和右翼，连左翼一些人也已内化于心——困扰了多届工党政府，从1920年代最初那些试探性的政府，到一个世纪后基尔·斯塔默勤勉却失败的政府。然而，成见也可能是错的，尤其是在当前这样动荡的时期，先例或许无足轻重。
At last year’s Labour conference, Andy Burnham was widely deride(嘲笑，讥讽)d for what was seen as a half-launched and clumsy(笨拙的，不灵巧的) leadership coup attempt(政变企图，夺权尝试). Much of the media and Starmer’s cabinet reckon(认为，估计)ed his chances of being prime minister were gone for good(永远消失，一去不复返). Yet, at this week’s unusually packed and perhaps unwisely optimistic gathering, Burnham’s can-do presence was almost as dominant as Tony Blair’s in his early leadership years: a constant point of reference, from the main hall to the merch stands to leftwing fringe events.(然而，在本周这场异常拥挤、或许乐观得不明智的聚会上，伯纳姆那种“能办事”的存在感几乎像早年领导工党时的托尼·布莱尔一样主导全场：从主会场到周边商品摊位，再到左翼边缘活动，他始终是人们不断提及的焦点。)
在去年的工党大会上，安迪·伯纳姆因一场被视为半途而废、笨拙的党魁夺权尝试而广受嘲讽。许多媒体和斯塔默的内阁都认为，他当首相的机会已经永远消失。然而，在本周这场异常拥挤、或许乐观得不明智的聚会上，伯纳姆那种“能办事”的存在感几乎像早年领导工党时的托尼·布莱尔一样主导全场：从主会场到周边商品摊位，再到左翼边缘活动，他始终是人们不断提及的焦点。