Cameron was talking about the UK sinking or swimming yesterday. And about competition. And about being alone in the world. It was an isolationists speech; a speech that gave no hint that we might "all be in this together" internationally, and that there might be reason for cooperation to tackle the problem. Instead he sang the praise of his veto, and ignore any allies he might have (there must be some).

It was a message massively out of tune with the real world. Take this from the FT Alphaville mail this morning:

IMF managing director Christine Lagarde said [yesterday] that urgent action was needed, as political fractiousness in the developed world was causing widespread economic uncertainty. According to Reuters, Lagarde said to reporters in Tokyo: "We expect action and we expect courageous and cooperative action on the part of our members."

Quite so, for the all the reasons I noted yesterday.

But Cameron does not get it.