Last year, after a lot of restless foraging, David Cameron found a plausible story to tell about his government. The UK is locked in a “global race”, the prime minister warned, in which only the fittest economies would keep up. Policies that cause pain now – cutting spending, taming welfare, reforming education – are the minimum required to keep us competitive against rampant rivals from the south and the east. Think of these reforms as intensive physical conditioning, with the prime minister exhorting from the sidelines like an upmarket personal trainer.
去年，英國首相戴維?卡梅倫(David Cameron)在一番搜腸刮肚之后，終于為他領導的政府找到了一個可信的故事。他警告說，英國卷入了一場“全球競賽”，只有最健壯的經濟體才能生存。目前這些令人痛苦的政策——削減支出、縮減福利、教育改革——都是最起碼的事，是我們在來自南方和東方的活躍對手面前保持競爭力所必需的。人們不妨把改革措施視為高強度身體鍛煉，而把首相卡梅倫看成在場邊勉勵的高級私人教練。