????在倫敦，銀行家無處不在，至少現(xiàn)在如此。

????他們住在英國的華爾街——“金融城（The City）”。圣保羅大教堂（St. Paul's Cathedral）四周狹窄的街道兩旁云集著眾多銀行和資產(chǎn)管理公司，高檔餐廳亦隨處可見。金融機構(gòu)還接管了金絲雀碼頭（Canary Wharf）。這個地方由地下商場、巨大的摩天大樓和大片空置的人行道組成的飛地與英國的傳統(tǒng)風格迥然不同。甚至連上流社區(qū)梅菲爾（以擁有倫敦最好的餐廳和私人會所而著稱）的大塊區(qū)域，也成為了金融家們的領(lǐng)地。對沖基金經(jīng)理已經(jīng)成為那些優(yōu)雅的、已有300多年歷史聯(lián)排別墅的新主人。

????英國首相卡梅倫上周四抵達布魯塞爾的歐盟峰會時，他帶去的要求是，保護倫敦這三塊區(qū)域免受歐盟監(jiān)管。為什么不呢？金融是英國經(jīng)濟的基石之一。在國家層面上，金融服務(wù)業(yè)為英國貢獻了約10%的國內(nèi)生產(chǎn)總值（GDP）。由于經(jīng)濟持續(xù)低迷，英國現(xiàn)在比以往任何時候都需要任何一個可供其支配的杠桿。

????即便卡梅倫的目標是健全的，他的手法也有失策之處。眼下，德國總理默克爾和法國總統(tǒng)薩科齊正面臨著壓力，需要彌合分歧，拯救歐洲經(jīng)濟。在這個節(jié)骨眼上尋求特殊待遇，顯然稱不上精明的政治舉措。當天那個漫長的夜晚快要過去的時候，其余26個歐盟成員國終于就締結(jié)政府間的“財政契約（Fiscal Compact）”達成一致意見，而卡梅倫則孤零零地獨坐在一旁。

????現(xiàn)在，就卡梅倫“孤立”（套用一下政客們的用語）英國的舉動是否正確這一問題，倫敦爆發(fā)了一場激烈的爭辯。反歐洲的保守派支持者認為卡梅倫否決該契約是“丘吉爾時刻”的再現(xiàn)。而批評者則把他比作二戰(zhàn)（World War II）期間試圖與希特勒談判的英國首相張伯倫。

????In London, bankers are everywhere -- at least for now.

????They are in the "The City," the English answer to Wall Street. Banks and asset managers line narrow streets surrounding St. Paul's Cathedral, with upscale fast-food lunch places around every corner. They have colonized Canary Wharf, a distinctly un-British enclave composed of underground malls, enormous skyscrapers, and large empty swaths of pavement. They have even taken over much of Mayfair, near London's best restaurants and private clubs, where hedge funds now house themselves in charming three-hundred-year-old row houses.

????When British Prime Minister David Cameron arrived in Brussels last Thursday for the EU Summit, the demands he brought were to protect these three pockets of London from European regulation. And why not? Finance is one of the bedrocks of the British economy. On a national level, financial services contribute an estimated 10% to British GDP. And with the economy in doldrums, now more than ever, the U.K. needs every lever at its disposal.

????Even if Cameron's goal was sound, his tactics weren't, well, tactical. Asking for special treatment when German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Nicolas Sarkozy were under pressure to find common ground and essentially save the European economy was less than politically astute. By the end of a long night, Cameron sat alone while the remaining 26 EU members agreed to move together towards a "fiscal compact."

????A great debate has now erupted in London over whether Cameron made the right move to "isolate" Britain, in the parlance of his fellow politicians. Cameron's anti-European conservative supporters called his veto a Churchillian moment. His critics compared him to Neville Chamberlain, the British Prime Minister who wanted to negotiate with Hitler during World War II.