A Taxing Problem
I must have been less well turned out than normal - because an earnest young chap came along and asked if I would fill in a survey form - to explain why I had joined the protest.
I answered that I was just passing by and we had a thoroughly pleasant chat - about what brought him and his friends to St Paul's - but I came away believing that they were just having a laugh.
Serious minded and well intentioned as they are - the protesters are a mixture of alternative lifestyle drop-outs, full-time political agitators and some others - whom life has not smiled upon too kindly.
But they have no idea what they're about - in terms of trying to engage with the wider public - many of them don't have jobs and have no interest in working - as far as I could tell.
So they don't pay taxes or make any other kind of contribution to society - other than to appoint themselves as the spokespeople for the 99% - whom allegedly hate greedy bankers and capitalists.
Now I'm the first to admit that I hate greedy bankers and capitalists - but I hate greedy politicians too - and I hate double-plus-extra-good the useless, incompetent and dishonest ones - some of whom pretended to be running the country - before the economy went up in smoke.
But hating nameless greedy bankers 'does not a movement make' - instead it's just a small rabble camping out and having a good time - before the bad weather sets in and everyone gets fed up and sends them on their way.
What I want to know is - what do they want, when do they want it and - more to the point - how are they going to get it?
Me - I'm less put out by nameless greedy bankers.
Because we've nationalised and own most of the banks these days - so what exactly is there to gain from beating up the Royal Bank of Scotland, for example?
Far better than empty slogans about banks and bankers - the country should be turning its attention to the widespread use of tax avoidance - as a way of replenishing the public coffers.
It's not just the bankers and politicians who have been getting away with murder for years - the fact is that professional football clubs engage in what amounts to organised tax avoidance schemes - for all their major stars.
Which mean that start players - like Wayne Rooney - hand over only a small percentage of their earnings in income tax - unlike most ordinary working people - because their clubs pay their 'salaries' into tax-avoiding-trusts.
Rangers Football Club is currently fighting an HM Customs & Revenue million back tax bill for £49 million - and Scottish football is small beer compared to England's Premier League.
And football is probably small beer compared to what goes on - in the wider business world.
So why not focus on the huge amount of organised tax avoidance in the UK - along with other measures to make the world a better fairer place?
The protesters at St Paul's don't represent ordinary people who go to work every day - people who pay their fair share of taxes - which support public services and a civilised society.
If the trade unions became less about the vested interests of their members - and dropped the 'what we have we hold mentality' - then the unions could become a real movement for change.
But at the moment there is no inspiring leadership.
Everyone is in favour of higher taxes - so long as someone else pays them.
Just as everyone is in favour of cutting public spending - so long as someone or something else faces the chop.
How many trade union leaders or senior public sector workers have you heard say - 'I agree, final salary pension schemes are a disgrace - they favour the better-off and represent a tax on lower paid workers'.
None - and that's part of the problem.
