Some 50 winters ago, the UK home secretary Reginald Maudling gave up on the outright defeat of Irish Republican terrorism. What might be feasible, he said, almost spoofing the British art of managing decline, was to keep the bloodshed down to “acceptable” levels. What was at the time a quite sensational gaffe went unmarked on its semicentennial last month. This was a sheepish admission that he had not been callous or defeatist, but prescient.
大約50年前的冬天，英國內政大臣雷金納•麥德寧(Reginald Maudling)放棄了徹底擊敗愛爾蘭共和軍恐怖組織的想法。他以近乎搞笑的方式祭出英國管理衰落的藝術，稱也許可行的做法是將流血事件控制在「可接受」的水準。當年引起輿論譁然的這一食言事件，在上月風平浪靜地度過50週年紀念日。這相當於一種羞怯的承認：麥德寧並非冷酷無情，也不是失敗主義者，而是有先見之明。
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