Another edifice of Britain's decaying social structure crumbled when the anti-capitalist Occupy Wall Street movement crossed the Atlantic in October. But, proving once again that the English do farce rather better than revolutions, it was the Church of England, not the fat cats of the City, which has been seriously damaged. 

The favela of tents and banners proclaiming "capitalism in crisis" outside St Paul's Cathedral provoked a crisis which came from within — and the reason is that at some point the creed of equality, that 21st-century pastiche of socialism, replaced Anglicanism as England's national religion, and the Church of England became the First Church of Christ, Marxist.

No one better exemplifies that evolution than the Rev Dr Giles Fraser, former Canon Chancellor of St Paul's, who in the first days of the occupation appeared on television news telling police to back away, and then resigned when the City of London Corporation began a legal bid to evict the protesters. Echoing the half-educated sociology graduates outside whose banners asked, "What would Jesus do?" (he'd probably sell that iPhone in your pocket and give the proceeds to the poor), Dr Fraser proclaimed: "I could imagine Jesus being born in the camp." 

The canon's resignation was followed by those of the Dean, Graeme Knowles, and a part-time chaplain, while the clerk of the works is now off with stress. The Church has been left a laughing stock, but Dr Fraser is the new poster boy for the protests.