The Lonely Bulldog
Britain has found itself swimming against the tide in the last few days, after a European Union make-or-break summit to save the euro.
The British PM David Cameron vetoed treaty changes for the 27-member bloc aimed at forging a tax and budget consensus to tackle the eurozone debt crisis.
Mr Cameron argued he had to protect Britain's financial services industry from further taxation and was praised by eurosceptic politicians in his Conservative Party who had urged him to show the "bulldog spirit". The bulldog has become an unofficial symbol of the British spirit of independence and defiance.
But many in Britain believe that the decision to go it alone has put the bulldog in the doghouse. Opposition leader Ed Milliband fears the country could be left out of the loop in future decisions taken by the continental group. And the Liberal Democrat Nick Clegg, Cameron's partner in a coalition government, has acknowledged that there is "a real danger that over time the UK will be marginalised within the EU".
Business leaders are also concerned about a perception that their country could become isolated in Europe. Ian Rodgers, director of the trade body UK Steel, says the domestic metals industry is dominated by foreign firms, which would make their investments in Britain on the basis that it was a key part of the European community.
Across the English Channel, the British stance caused some irritation. According to the European Commissions' president Jose Manuel Barroso, "the UK's position on financial regulation represented a "risk to the integrity of the single market".
