来源：《卫报》
原文刊登日期：2021年2月7日
The most eye-catching of the measures proposed by Ireland’s cultural recovery taskforce, set up last November, was a three-year pilot of a universal basic income (UBI) for artists. The Green party culture minister, Catherine Martin, is giving enthusiastic backing to the idea, and seeking cross-party support for the scheme. The notion is that self-employed artists and creative workers should be given a weekly income of €325 (£285), without losing any existing support, and be able to earn on top of that.
爱尔兰文化复兴工作组于去年11月成立，它提出的措施中，最引人注目的是对艺术家实行为期三年的全民基本收入(UBI)试点。绿党文化部长凯瑟琳·马丁热情支持这个点子，并寻求跨党派的支持。其理念是，自雇艺术家和创意工作者应获得325欧元(285英镑)的周薪，同时不失去现有的任何支持，而且能够在此基础上赚取收入。
Such a measure, on mature consideration, may not be exactly right for the nations of the UK. But in a way that is a side issue. The point is that the Irish government is taking the arts seriously – and as a set of highly skilled, professional people, who deserve to be nurtured and supported because of value they bring to the reputation and wellbeing of the country as a whole.
从成熟的角度来看，这种措施可能并不完全适合英国。但在某种程度上，适合与否是个次要问题。关键是，爱尔兰政府正在认真对待艺术——作为一群高技能、专业的人才，艺术家理应得到培养和支持，因为他们为整个国家的声誉和福祉带来了价值。
A UBI would, argue its backers, help to minimise loss of skills from a sector of the economy that is particularly hard hit by the pandemic, and encourage growth as soon as it becomes possible. In some ways, the measure’s closest cousin, in UK policy terms, would be that Conservative invention of the early 1980s, the enterprise allowance scheme. While aimed at helping the creation of new businesses generally, it had the unintended effect of supporting a number of British creative businesses and artists. The Irish UBI pilot is, at the least, a piece of imaginative, bold thinking, the likes of which is utterly lacking in Westminster and Whitehall.
其支持者认为，全民基本收入将有助于最大限度地减少受疫情打击特别严重的经济部门的技能损失，并在可能的情况下尽快鼓励增长。在某种程度上，从英国政策的角度来看，这项措施的近亲是保守党在上世纪80年代初发明的企业津贴计划。尽管该计划的目的是帮助创建新企业，但它意外地支持了一些英国创意企业和艺术家。爱尔兰UBI试点项目至少是一种富有想象力、大胆的想法，而威斯敏斯特和白厅完全缺乏类似的想法。