Then in the '80s and '90s and early 2000s, things improved.

接著到了八零和九零年代及二十一世紀初，一切有了進步的改變。

But now I find when I travel in Europe and elsewhere, people ask me what's wrong with Britain?

但現在我發現，當我到歐洲或是其他地方旅行時，人們會問我英國發生了甚麼事？

And it sounds very familiar to me, it reminds me of my childhood.

對我來說，那聽起來十分熟悉，它讓我想起了我的童年。

So this will be my answer.

這是我的答案。

We are facing six interlocking crises simultaneously.

我們正同時面對著六個互相緊密連結的危機。

The first is economic.

第一個是經濟問題。

We experienced the financial crisis.

我們遭遇金融危機。

But we've sort of overcome that.

但我們算是解決它了。

But the big problem is that productivity is stagnant.

但大問題是生產力停滯。

In fact, we have almost the worst record on productivity among all the rich countries apart from Italy.

事實上，我們是除了義大利以外，所有富裕國家中生產力最低的國家。

That makes life very, very difficult because on average, we're not getting better off.

這讓生活變得非常、非常困難，因為平均而言，我們的狀況並沒有變得更好。

The second crisis is over national identity, and in particular the fundamental question about whether national identity is exclusive; one must have absolute sovereignty in the nation one identifies with; or whether it can be complex, can one be European and British at the same time?

第二個危機是有關國家民族的認同，尤其是最核心的問題，究竟國家身分是否排外；一個國家一定要有該國家認同的絕對的主權；或者更複雜地來看，一個人可以同時是歐洲人和英國人嗎？

And this relates, of course, to the way this particular crisis has emerged, which is Brexit, the divisions over Brexit which divide the country evenly and lead one side to conclude that the other side is essentially treacherous because it has betrayed its country for this European cause.

而這當然涉及到讓這特定的危機產生的因子，就是脫歐，有關脫歐的分歧意見將這個國家分裂為二，導致一方覺得另一方根本是叛國，因為他們為了整個歐洲背叛了自己的國家。

The fourth crisis is political or of politics.

第四個危機是有關政治的或是政治本身。

These divisions over Brexit, these divisions over national identity, in other words, made into a political cause, divide our parties.

這些對於脫歐的分歧，這些對於國家民族身分的分歧，換句話說，被轉變成政治立場，分裂了我們的黨派。

They have rendered both the Conservative party and the Labour party incapable of performing their functions as governing parties or as the opposition party.

他們使得保守黨和工黨都無法以執政黨或是在野黨的身分好好運作。

And that, of course, makes political life basically impossible.

而那當然讓政治生活變得一點都不可能。

The fifth crisis is constitutional.

第五個危機是憲法問題。

These are not just narrowly political questions.

這些不單單只是政治上的問題。

Membership of the EU was a constitutional settlement for Britain.

歐盟的會員資格在過去是英國憲法中明定的。

It resolved, as it were, the rules of the political game for well over 40 years.

它如同過去決定了這場政治遊戲的規則超過四十年之久。

Undoing it by a referendum was itself a constitutional device.

我們也用了明定在憲法中的公投來破壞它。

We've had this now for a few decades.

我們已經這麼做幾十年了。

But we've never really thought seriously about how you implement constitutional decisions of this kind made by referendum because parliament has to do it.

但是我們從來沒有真的認真思考過你該怎麼實施這些由公投決定的憲政改變，因為國會必須遵照它。

And the referendum's meaning is not obvious.

而公投的意義並不顯而易見。

And the final crisis, and possibly the most important of all, is simply one of leadership.

最後一個危機，可說是其中最重要的，就是領導力。

Political leadership has been extraordinarily weak now for quite a long time.

政治領導力已積弱甚久。

And it looks likely that the next election will be between Boris Johnson leading the Conservatives and Jeremy Corbyn leading the Labour party.

而一切看似下一場選舉很有可能會是 Boris Johnson 領導的保守黨對上 Jeremy Corbyn 領導的工黨。

If so none of these issues that I've discussed are likely to be resolved.

若真是如此，那以上我所提到的議題，備解決的機會大概相當低。

And the overwhelming likelihood is that the British constitution, political settlement, and political life will continue to be a troubled mess for the indefinite future.

那麼非常有可能發生的事是，英國的憲法、憲政和政治圈將會是無止盡的大亂。