Holding a Lisbon referendum regardless would have been potentially disastrous for the Tories, the country, or both;it might have set Britain on a path that led to its ejection from the EU.

若是执意举行公投，则要么对保守党不利，要么损害英国利益，要么就是两败俱伤，也许这样就让英国走上了被欧盟除名之路。

youdao

But the president says health care costs have put the federal budget on a "disastrous path."

VOA: special.2009.05.15

"We are on such a disastrous path with public education that we need to pursue every opportunity for real improvement, " said Mr. Harrington, who sends his children to private school.

WSJ: Segregation Fear Sinks Charter School

The establishment embraced Mr Bush because he seemed to promise an easy chance of rehabilitating itself after a disastrous few years when it had been outfoxed by Bill Clinton and led up the garden path by Newt Gingrich.

ECONOMIST: An elephant never forgives (they say)