奈杰尔·法拉奇周一在肯特郡海斯举行的新闻发布会上。法拉奇周一在新闻发布会上表示，伯纳姆是在撒谎。这显然只是又一个旨在削弱他的阴谋，我们得面对现实。俄罗斯可能试图干预英国脱欧公投这一想法，显然是荒谬的。我的意思是，一个敌对国家究竟能从制造英国与欧盟之间的分裂中获得什么好处呢？我们都知道，弗拉基米尔·普京一心只为欧洲民主国家谋求最大的利益。
Nigel Farage during a press conference in Hythe, Kent, on Monday. Burnham was lying, Farage told a press conference on Monday. This was clearly just another plot to undermine him et’s face it. The very idea that Russia may have tried to interfere with the Brexit referendum is clearly absurd. I mean, what could a hostile state hope to gain from sowing division between the UK and the EU? We all know that Vladimir Putin has nothing but the best interests of European democracies at heart.
正因如此，他才入侵了乌克兰——为了帮助乌克兰变得更加民主。那种备受推崇的民主，以至于99%的公民都投票支持其领导人。要是其他国家也能像俄罗斯一样就好了。
That’s why he invaded Ukraine. To help it become a bit more democratic. The sort of democracy which is so highly prized that 99% of its citizens vote for its leader. If only others could be more like Russia.
实际上，普京更希望英国留在欧盟内部，而他之所以没有公开表示这一点，完全是出于公正。再说了，俄罗斯人又为何要卷入一个政治意义如此微不足道的事情——一个他们视为敌人的组织的部分解体？这根本不合逻辑。而且，俄罗斯也并没有什么秘密海外活动的历史。接下来，人们或许还会声称，俄罗斯向改革党在威尔士的前领导人内森·吉尔支付了至少3万英镑，以换取他在欧洲议会发表支持性演讲，并招募其他欧洲议会议员。
If anything, Putin would have wanted the UK to remain within the EU and it was only his impartiality that prevented him from saying so. Besides which, why would the Russians want to get involved in anything so politically insignificant as the partial break-up of an organisation it considers an enemy. It just makes no sense. And it’s not as if Russia has any track record of clandestine foreign engagement. Next people will be suggesting Russia paid Reform’s former leader in Wales, Nathan Gill, at least £30,000 to make helpful speeches in the European parliament and recruit other MEPs.
安迪·伯纳姆的看法则截然不同。上周末，他声称自自己成为首相以来，已经看到了无可辩驳的证据，证明俄罗斯人在公投期间参与了虚假信息宣传活动。但他并未具体说明这种干预采取了何种形式，只是强调这是事实。因此，周一上午在肯特郡举行的一场改革党新闻发布会上，当被问及对此有何反应时，奈杰尔·法拉奇的反应也就不足为奇了。
Andy Burnham sees it rather differently. Over the weekend he claimed that since he had become prime minister he had seen incontrovertible proof that the Russians had been involved in a misinformation campaign during the referendum. He didn’t say exactly what form the interference had taken. Merely that it was a reality. So it was no surprise that Nigel Farage was asked for his reaction during a Reform press conference in Kent on Monday morning.
“首相是个骗子，”尼格厉声说道。“没错，就是个骗子。”尼格愤怒得几乎要失控了。他一天比一天更容易被激怒。这不过是既得利益集团又编造出来的一个谎言，又是他们试图重新质疑公投结果的又一个借口。整件事明显是一场针对他的阴谋。世界上发生的一切，不知为何总能与尼格个人扯上关系。他的自我中心主义遮蔽了一切。我们所有人，都只不过是他想象世界中的卫星。等他死了，我们所有人也会随之消亡——当然，前提是他没有先把我们干掉。
“The prime minister is a liar,” Nige snapped. “Yes, a liar.”Nige was beside himself with anger. He is getting more thin-skinned by the day. This was yet another myth fabricated by the Establishment. Another excuse to try to relitigate the result of the referendum. The whole thing was clearly a plot to undermine him. Everything that ever happens in the world somehow always becomes personal to Nige. His solipsism eclipses everything. We all only exist as satellites of his own imagination. When he dies, we will all die with him. If he hasn’t killed us first.
事情就是这样。如果俄罗斯试图干预公投，他肯定会是第一个知道的人。而且坦率地说，他对自己从未被任何人收买深感失望。在Cameo网站上，已有不少人以每人80英镑的价格下注支持他。但尽管手握数十亿石油卢布，俄罗斯人却完全无视了他。
It was like this. If Russia had tried to interfere with the referendum then he would have been the first to know about it. And frankly he had been deeply disappointed that no one had tried to buy him. Numerous punters had bought him for £80 a pop on Cameo. But despite having billions in petro-roubles, the Russians had blanked him.
先是震惊，继而愤怒。如今你几乎能感受到尼格的绝望。此前一切进展得如此顺利，持续了那么长时间。在长达18个月的时间里，改革派在民意调查中始终领先10个百分点，而工党和保守党则停滞不前。尼格甚至一度被视为可能接任的下一任首相。然而，随后金融丑闻爆发，伯恩汉姆意外当选，法拉奇突然发现自己被边缘化了。他那套诉诸不满的政治主张，也不再那么有吸引力了。
First the sound, then the fury. You can almost sense Nige’s desperation these days. It had all been going so well for so long. Reform had been 10 points clear in the polls for the best part of 18 months as Labour and the Tories flatlined. Nige was even being taken seriously as a possible next prime minister. Then along came the financial scandals and the election on the nod of Burnham and suddenly Farage found himself marginalised. His politics of grievance were no longer quite so attractive.
然而，尼杰根本控制不住自己。按常理来说，如果民众情绪正逐渐回归到传统两党政治的中间路线，他本该也朝那个方向靠拢才对。可如今，他那“和善好人”的伪装——“我说的都是大家心里想的”——正在逐渐剥落。尼杰的真实面目显露无遗：他从头到尾都是个极其讨人厌的人。再也不见“咱们就喝杯酒、闲聊几句”的假象了，一切都变得极其恶劣不堪。
Yet Nige can’t help himself. Logic would suggest that if the public mood was shifting more back to the centre ground of traditional two-party politics, then he would be better off heading in that direction himself. Instead, the Mr Nice Guy carapace – “I’m only saying what you’re all thinking” – is falling away. Nige is revealing himself to be a deeply unpleasant person all along. There is no longer the pretence of “let’s just have a pint and some bantz”.
他只能退回到那15%死忠支持者的阵营里寻求庇护——对这些人来说，再恶劣的事也算不上恶劣。甚至到了这种地步：尼杰又开始和齐亚·优素福同台露面了。这家伙的恶劣程度，简直让“诚实鲍勃”詹里克都显得值得信赖、甚至有点可亲了。
Everything has become actively nasty. Retreating to the safe ground of the 15% for whom nothing can ever be nasty enough. So much so that Nige is even back to sharing a platform with Zia Yusuf. A man who makes Honest Bob Jenrick look trustworthy. Almost cuddly.
改革党此次巡回宣传活动在肯特郡举行，目的是鼓吹尼杰与齐亚针对移民的极端政策。按照他们的说法，英国遭到了“入侵”，所有移民都必须滚出去，哪怕是面带笑容、有着悲惨身世的移民也无一例外，阿富汗的妇女儿童更是连立足之地都没有。
The Reform roadshow was in Kent to promote Nige and Zia’s war on immigrants. The UK had been invaded and everyone had to go. No exceptions for migrants with winning smiles or tragic backstories. There was no room for Afghan women and children.
这完全就是毫无掩饰的恶劣言论与赤裸裸的偏见。美国人因为小船偷渡问题，把轰炸机从费尔福德皇家空军基地撤走了。可尼杰压根没琢磨过：为何美国总统却把部分飞机留在了英国的其他空军基地呢？他还扬言要对那些不愿接收本国移民的国家征收关税，甚至发动空袭。齐亚坚称，寻求庇护不过是个骗局，他还要让乘小船偷渡的移民挨饿受冻、得不到任何药物救治。至于那些拒绝执行大规模驱逐令的公务员，则要在多佛白崖前被统统枪决。
This was Toxicity Unfiltered. Prejudice 101. The Americans had removed their bombers from RAF Fairford because of the small boat crossings. He didn’t pause to wonder why the US president had kept some planes at other UK airbases. There would be tariffs on any countries who didn’t want their migrants back. Maybe even airstrikes. Asylum was just a scam, Zia insisted. He would starve the migrants in small boats. Refuse them medicines. Any civil servants who declined to activate the mass deportations would be lined up and shot in front of the white cliffs of Dover.
活动临近尾声时，尼杰又开始语无伦次地胡言乱语。至于乌克兰问题？他说每个人都有自己的底线，自己可受够了泽连斯基。不可能永远无休止地支持盟友吧。还有《太阳报》怎么了？不久前这报纸还对尼杰吩咐记者写什么就照单全登，如今居然敢对凯米客气起来，这简直不可容忍，绝对是蓄意针对他！
Come the end we were treated to Nige’s stream of unconsciousness. Ukraine? Well, everyone had their limits and he was a bit fed up with Zelenskyy. You couldn’t go on supporting your allies indefinitely. And what had happened to the Sun? Not so long ago it would print any old bollox Nige told its reporters to write. Now they were daring to be nice to Kemi. It was an outrage.
下午回到下议院，你几乎能感觉到岁月在倒退，仿佛又回到了十年前的“脱欧”大战。而且，这甚至还没到伯纳姆提议英国重新加入欧盟的程度。他唯一说的是，他会尝试以各方都能接受的方式重启两国关系，并让经济每年增长100亿英镑。在整个过程中，英国公众都将拥有最终决定权。这对凯米来说简直难以忍受。当然啦。她指责首相在破坏公投结果——因为，呃，他说了实话——并表示，她宁愿经济零增长，也不愿以与欧盟关系更密切为代价。这简直和过去如出一辙。我真是太想念那些日子了。
A stitch-up. Back in the Commons in the afternoon, you could almost feel the years peeling away in a return to the Brexit wars of a decade ago. And that’s without Burnham even suggesting the UK rejoins the EU. All he said was that he would try to reset the relationship in a way that worked for all parties and would grow the economy by £10bn a year. At all stages the British public would be boss. This was far too much for Kemi. Natch. She accused the prime minister of undermining the referendum result – for, er, speaking the truth – and that she would much rather the economy had zero growth than it came at the cost of closer ties with the EU. It was quite like old times. How I’ve missed them.