After Keir Starmer, things could only get better inside Labour. But Andy Burnham’s arrival as party leader and prime minister didn’t just clear that low bar(跨过那道低门槛). It was a cause for hope, especially for those of us in the trade union movement. That’s less because Burnham is streets ahead of his predecessor as a politician – although he is – and more about just how radically the new prime minister has framed his project for the country.(这倒不全是因为伯纳姆作为政治人物远胜前任——尽管他确实如此——而更多是因为新首相对国家蓝图的构想何其激进。)
在基尔·斯塔默之后，工党内部的情况只会变得更好。但安迪·伯纳姆出任党魁和首相，可不仅仅是跨过了这道低门槛。这让人看到了希望，尤其是对我们工会运动中人而言。这倒不全是因为伯纳姆作为政治人物远胜前任——尽管他确实如此——而更多是因为这位新首相为国家勾画的蓝图何其激进。
I’ve been active in the labour movement for almost four decades. In that time, I cannot count how many times I’ve heard talk of reversing the devastation(毁灭、严重破坏) wreaked(造成（破坏）) by Margaret Thatcher. For socialists and grassroots trade union activists, this kind of political thinking is bread and butter(家常便饭、基本内容). But not so much(未必如此、不见得) for a Labour prime minister.
我在工人运动中活跃了近四十年。这期间，我听过无数次关于扭转玛格丽特·撒切尔所造成的破坏的议论，多得数不清。对社会主义者和基层工会活动人士来说，这类政治思考是家常便饭。但对一位工党首相来说，就未必如此了。
Tony Blair, between torching(纵火、烧毁) the Middle East and taking a hammer to(对……大动干戈、猛击) our civil liberties, infamously(臭名昭著地) came to build upon(在……基础上发展) Thatcher’s legacy rather than bury it. Gordon Brown and Starmer were more set against(反对、坚决抵制) the Thatcherite fracturing(撕裂、分裂) of our society than Blair. But they both continued to inhabit the political cage(困在政治牢笼中) she built: the idea that there is no alternative.
托尼·布莱尔一边在中东点火，一边对我们的公民自由挥锤，还臭名昭著地要继承而非埋葬撒切尔的政治遗产。戈登·布朗和斯塔默比布莱尔更反对撒切尔式对社会结构的撕裂。但两人都仍困在她打造的政治牢笼里：那种“别无选择”的观念。